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

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Looks interesting, I can see other places where this approach could work. Eberron's Greensinger sect would work well as subclass for both Druids and Bards.

Specific to Strixhaven, I'm a bit disappointed they didn't leverage the mascots more. Lorehold seems to be the only one to incorporate them into the class, and theirs are probably the least appealing to me. I find Inklings, Fractals, and Pests all more interesting.

 

[Rikka66]

Are these akin to Prestige Classes?

No.

 

[Kurotowa]

Specific to Strixhaven, I'm a bit disappointed they didn't leverage the mascots more. Lorehold seems to be the only one to incorporate them into the class, and theirs are probably the least appealing to me. I find Inklings, Fractals, and Pests all more interesting.

Remember that this isn't the whole book. It's only the second UA with material for it, and not everything gets a UA test. So there's a lot more left to see. And the popularity of those critters may, in fact, make them less likely to be attached to a subclass. Instead we'll see them as feats or magic items or something else more widely accessible.

 

[Aldarc]

What does it mean for the Warlock to have the "College serve as their Patron"? They've "eschewed their patron’s usual boons for learning these more esoteric manifestations of power." If I am a Warlock and I select this College, with whom did I enter into a pact? What types of pacts would they make with me? Why? Normally, warlock pacts have some obvious paths (although you can certainly subvert expectations).

Oh, well if you want it to be a bargain with dark powers it should definitely be a student loan rather than a scholarship

A pact made with a powerful patron for knowledge and advancement in return for occasional services and tasks? Warlock or a doctoral student's relationship with their doctoral thesis adviser?

 

[Charlaquin]

Doesn't work.

You can't learn to be a warlock. You have to be made or cursed into one.
If Titania cheats you into Silverquill, you'll be taught to be a bard or wizard. Your teachers cannot make you into a fey warlock unless one of them is a high fey who can make pacts.

The only abilities a Warlock gets from their patron are an expanded spell list and subclass features at 1st level, 6th, 10th, and 14th levels. Everything else is just part of being a warlock. Accordingly, a Warlock who’s patron pays their way through Silverquill is taught a different expanded spell list and subclass features at those levels. Same as a Silverquill wizard or bard learns.

 

[Argyle King]

No.

Seems similar to me.

Each one has certain classes which qualify for it. No skill or feat requirements like there were in 3e, but there are class requirements (and a requirement to be able to cast spells).

That's not a drastic departure of prestige classes (or something similar to 4E's paragon paths).

 

[Kurotowa]

Seems similar to me.

They're subclasses. Subclasses have existed since the start of 5e. The only new factor is that they can be applied to more than one class, potentially. You're not able to jump tracks or mix and match between them and another subclass of the same class. That's only very slightly more prestige class like than subclasses have always been.

 

[Charlaquin]

Storywise,

I view the Wizard as directing the magical properties inherent in spell components. (They are sorta the chemists of the Wizard World.)

I view the Sorcerer as directing the magic infused within ones own body. (They are sorta the athletes of the Wizard World.)

I am less sure about what a Warlock is. I am unconvinced that the Patron concept even makes sense in the first place. Ok, the pact initiates some kind of transformation, but what is being transformed exactly? Is the Warlock now able to learn from a book and study? Is the sword an Elric-style demon that is doing all the magic? Does the Patron follow the Warlock around doing all the work? Is the body of the Warlock transformed to now do magic, like the Sorcerer? What exactly changed?

Now, if the Warlock can benefit from all of the ambient magic from students studying magic at a university, that actually makes sense to me.

I don’t think this is consistent with the lore in D&D. D&D Wizards are people who learn magic through study. They learn how the Wave functions and how to manipulate it with words, gestures, and materials, to achieve a desired magical effect. Theoretically, anyone could do what wizards do, but it takes a great deal of dedication and no small amount of intelligence to learn to do. Wizards learn spells as magical formulae, and record these formulae in spellbooks, so they can access more of them than anyone could hope to memorize.

A sorcerer is someone who is born with an inherent ability to manipulate the weave. What wizards dedicate their lives to learning to do comes as second nature to sorcerers. They can even manipulate the weave to a finer degree than wizards can, though it takes a concerted effort to do so - represented by sorcery points and Metamagic.

Warlocks don’t manipulate the weave themselves. They entreat beings of great magical power to do it for them. If you like, think of a warlock’s patron imbuing the warlock with spells, as a wizard might do with a wand. That’s theoretically why warlocks’ spell slots work differently than anyone else’s. They’re like the “charges” in a wand, that you spend to cast spells from the wand.

 

[Argyle King]

They're subclasses. Subclasses have existed since the start of 5e. The only new factor is that they can be applied to more than one class, potentially. You're not able to jump tracks or mix and match between them and another subclass of the same class. That's only very slightly more prestige class like than subclasses have always been.

These are also the first few examples of how the idea can be applied. If it goes well, I imagine there will be other ways of approaching the idea. (5E did preview an idea for how prestige classes might work in 5E a while back.)

 

[cbwjm]

I've always kept the inherent magical talent as part of the wizard, not just anyone can study and do magic, you need that spark. The sorcerer seems to have stolen that since 3e, but I still keep it as part of wizardry. Probably part of bard as well which is what separates the bard class from other musical lore keepers. Clerics and warlocks generally overcome this inability via service to higher powers, at least for my generic fantasy worlds.