D&D 5E Strixhaven: Orientation

WotC has released an overview of the upcoming Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos, as adventurers of levels 1-10 uncover a plot against the university. Teased are activities like tavern games, a magical frog race, an improv festival, and other social encounters. You can also take exams to improve your skills, join clubs, or get jobs.

Also included is a bestiary of over 40 new creatures.

The Bibloplex contains most of the information in the multiverse. Plenty of other locations fill the book, such as Captain Dapplewing's Manor, a mansion built for the university professors. One adventure has the PCs breaking into the manor. Another adventure involves the main Strixhaven student sport, Mage Tower.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

some people just want to say it is HP D&D and nothing we say will convince them... even if there is lots of information on stryxhaven out there. And a good portion of those won't read the book when it comes out either.

Absolutely, it's just frustrating. Just dislike the thing you dislike. That's fine. No one actually cares. But extremely reductive takes that dismiss the quality or validity of the work are just bad form.

 

[darjr]

who are treated as a minor inconvenience on the way to lunch.

This could be true of the Strixhaven adventure. At least that’s how I’m running it.

Oh and when I have the luggage show up, it’s a mimic! So don’t go getting any ideas.

 

[Bolares]

Absolutely, it's just frustrating. Just dislike the thing you dislike. That's fine. No one actually cares. But extremely reductive takes that dismiss the quality or validity of the work are just bad form.

I get why someone would assume HP... I was kind of afraid of that when it came out in MTG. But once you have so much information on a place as stryxhaven has it's hard to keep arguing the same thing.

 

[Bolares]

This could be true of the Strixhaven adventure. At least that’s how I’m running it.

That's how Professor Onyx sees it sometimes in her story in stryxhaven

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I'm sorry, but y'all are seeing "a school with magic" and letting your confirmation bias run absolutely hogwild.

If Strixhaven is "Harry Potter DnD" then it is literally impossible to make a school with magic in DnD and have it be anything else, at which point the comparison is completely useless.

What those people are missing is that Strixhaven is where the Hogwarts kids would go to after they graduate from high school, since it is a University.

Plus, the Kids on Bikes supplement, Kids on Brooms, is much more a Harry Potter ripoff, yet we hear barely a peep about that because that started at an indie company and they don't "deserve" the same hate that some people hold for WotC.

 

[bedir than]

That's a great idea! I was reffereing more to characters that not only don't want to cast spells/can't cast spells, but also don't have an interest in magic or a magic school in any way. If that's the case I don't get why you would play in a stryxhaven game. Your idea is a non caster that has a reason to be there, and that's great!

This is part of why I reference Winx Saga rather than HP. Because there is canonically space for the protectors, non-magic types who work and/or go to the school to help protect it and the mages.

 

[Older Beholder]

The character I'm most excited to run if my friend goes through with running a Strixhaven campaign next year is a mundane scholar of the arcane, who at most will have some feat based magic. I'm leaning toward Cobalt Soul/Inquisitive Rogue, especially since my Eberron PC that is that had to become a DMPC (which in my games, is never the main character, always support staff and occasionally a quest giver), so I haven't been able to see the build fully unleashed.

The idea of a character that comes from a well to do wizard family, being sent to Strixhaven after failing to show signs of magic all his/her life (be it whatever non-casting class you want) sounds like a lot of fun, with great potential for roleplay to me.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The idea of a character that comes from a well to do wizard family, being sent to Strixhaven after failing to show signs of magic all his/her life (be it whatever non-casting class you want) sounds like a lot of fun, with great potential for roleplay to me.

Hell yeah.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

The idea of a character that comes from a well to do wizard family, being sent to Strixhaven after failing to show signs of magic all his/her life (be it whatever non-casting class you want) sounds like a lot of fun, with great potential for roleplay to me.

So like the main character of the first few Xanth novels by Piers Anthony, if he were sent to a college.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

This could be true of the Strixhaven adventure. At least that’s how I’m running it.

Oh and when I have the luggage show up, it’s a mimic! So don’t go getting any ideas.

I'm pretty sure the included adventure is written around the PCs being students, since it takes place over a four year course.

But I would certainly run it as a Terry Pratchett style comedy if I ever do run it.