Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana: Mages of Strixhaven

An Unearthed Arcana playtest document for the upcoming Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos hardcover has been released by WotC!

"Become a student of magic in this installment of Unearthed Arcana! This playtest document presents five subclasses for Dungeons & Dragons. Each of these subclasses allows you to play a mage associated with one of the five colleges of Strixhaven, a university of magic. These subclasses are special, with each one being available to more than one class."

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It's 9 pages, and contains five subclasses, one for each the Strixhaven colleges:

• Lorehold College, dedicated to the pursuit of history by conversing with ancient spirits and understanding the whims of time itself
• Prismari College, dedicated to the visual and performing arts and bolstered with the power of the elements
• Quandrix College, dedicated to the study and manipulation of nature’s core mathematic principles
• Silverquill College, dedicated to the magic of words, whether encouraging speeches that uplift allies or piercing wit that derides foes
• Witherbloom College, dedicated to the alchemy of life and death and harnessing the devastating energies of both

 

[Faolyn]

If I recall correctly, didn't DND, in like the really early editions, have basically the Wiccan as a class or something? I recall one of the reasonings why that still isn't around is cuz actual Wiccans weren't too thrilled about it, especially during the time of the whole Satan Pact saga of DND's history.

No. There were, however, like three different Witch classes presented in various issues of Dragon Magazine. I think they were all women-only. Some of them (can't remember how many) were specifically built to charm and control men. As in, they had spells like charm man and that literally meant male humanoids.

 

[Weiley31]

So, how Beefy is the Lorehold's Ancient Companion pet/summon compared to say like the Creation Bard's Animated Object, Tasha's Beasts of the (insert term) and prior pet/summons from 5E so far?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I’m not sure how “they use the symbol of their guild to channel the authority granted to said guild by a plane-wide ritual that is enforced by the maintenance of each guild’s civic duties” is the equivalent of “because.” Maybe if you find that explanation lacking you could ask more specific questions?

What I hear you saying is "their planet-spanning guild is the replacement for their god." I get that.

I do not understand why a magical mega-corporation should in any way actually replicate what a god can grant a cleric. I felt like I was expressing that with my repeated questions, but maybe not. But what I've gotten back is "because it does."

Surely the D&D/MTG designers (especially ones with backgrounds in divinity!) have a more detailed answer than that, no?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

4e did it as a Wizard....alternate, essential things class thing at the tail-end of the edition, which you can take as indicator of where it at least was on Wizards priority list.

I did not know that. Where did it pop up? I assume this was an Essentials-era book?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

If I recall correctly, didn't DND, in like the really early editions, have basically the Wiccan as a class or something? I recall one of the reasonings why that still isn't around is cuz actual Wiccans weren't too thrilled about it, especially during the time of the whole Satan Pact saga of DND's history.

I have a hard time picturing "Drums on Fire Mountain" TSR worrying about what wiccans said. I think it's more likely that the Satanic Panic made them even less likely to have witchcraft in books they were busily erasing the words "demon" and "devil" from.

 

[Charlaquin]

I guess. I keep asking for explanations on how Ravnica clerics make sense and keep getting told the equivalent of "because." Maybe it's just me, but I suspect I'm not alone on this hill.

Let me try a different tactic here. Think of the Guildpact as a God with 10 domains within its portfolio. Each guild is (among other things), a church dedicated to one of those domains. All Ravnican clerics are ultimately clerics of the Guildpact, as filtered through their Guild’s domain.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

What I would do is: give as many spells as possible upcasting ability (even those that don't do damage), and say that you can automatically upcast spells from your school.

Automatically upcasting all your subclass school by a level or two would be a pretty good start, if everything could be upcast. Still not terribly flavorful, but at least they'd be better at their speciality than everyone else.

 

[TwoSix]

I think if 4e had lived long enough to fill out Elemental magic, Arcane could have been more defined and grew more as something other that "All non religious magic".

I don't disagree with that, but Red being the "earth/fire" color and Blue being the "Water/Air" color was always going to make for a difficult fit, as D&D historically hasn't divided up elemental spells.

 

[Rikka66]

I do not understand why a magical mega-corporation should in any way actually replicate what a god can grant a cleric. I felt like I was expressing that with my repeated questions, but maybe not. But what I've gotten back is "because it does."

The mega-corp is also a religion, so it has that going for it. And here's this quote from the DMG:

In some campaigns, believers hold enough conviction in their ideas about the universe that they gain magical power from that conviction. In other campaigns, impersonal forces of nature or magic replace the gods by granting power to mortals attuned to them.

I did not know that. Where did it pop up? I assume this was an Essentials-era book?

Heroes of the Feywild. November of 2011. I wasn't exaggerating with "tail-end", it was one of the last releases for the edition, and maybe the last before they announced Next.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

So how are people feeling about these subclasses just giving you the subclass spells and not counting against your spells know as a warlock? Isn't it rather unfair compared to all other warlock subclasses who don't get that?