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

 

[Kurotowa]

Warlocks don’t manipulate the weave themselves. They entreat beings of great magical power to do it for them. If you like, hink 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.

This is not a settled point. Different books and dev commentary have pointed in different directions. Is a Warlock patron the source of the Warlock's magical power or a source of magical secrets? Sometimes it's the former and the patron is a very hands-on and micromanaging deity who has to personally grant every favor, which obviously means they can cut off the Warlock at any point. Sometimes it's the latter and the patron is supplying cosmic cheat codes or ways to mimic the powers of innately magical beings like themselves, which give the Warlock a path to mastering mystic might that is entirely within their own control.

It's hard to say either approach is wrong or incorrect, given the inconsistency of the official material. But nothing requires either approach either, and if you prefer your class features to not rest on an NPC's continued favor than it shouldn't be required either.

 

[Parmandur]

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.)

Yeah, and this is nothing like that Prestige Class, which was soundly rejected in playtesting at the time.

 

[Argyle King]

Yeah, and this is nothing like that Prestige Class, which was soundly rejected in playtesting at the time.

I wouldn't go so far as to say "nothing," but I would agree with much of the rest of your statement.

 

[Yaarel]

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.

Thats what I said. ;-)

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.

Some sorcerers are made, not born. In either case, the physical body (and "blood") is inherently sensitive to the weave.

Warlocks don’t manipulate the weave themselves. They entreat beings of great magical power to do it for them. If you like, hink of a warlock’s patron imbuing the warlock with spells, as a wizard might do with a wand.

That is an interesting idea: a Warlock is the "wand" of a patron mage.

Yet this suggests that the body of the Warlock is a kind of material spell component. Thus not much different from a Sorcerer whose body is also a kind of weave conduit.

 

[Charlaquin]

This is not a settled point. Different books and dev commentary have pointed in different directions. Is a Warlock patron the source of the Warlock's magical power or a source of magical secrets? Sometimes it's the former and the patron is a very hands-on and micromanaging deity who has to personally grant every favor, which obviously means they can cut off the Warlock at any point. Sometimes it's the latter and the patron is supplying cosmic cheat codes or ways to mimic the powers of innately magical beings like themselves, which give the Warlock a path to mastering mystic might that is entirely within their own control.

It's hard to say either approach is wrong or incorrect, given the inconsistency of the official material. But nothing requires either approach either, and if you prefer your class features to not rest on an NPC's continued favor than it shouldn't be required either.

Very true! My post is trying to describe the distinction between the three classes in a way that would be satisfying for someone who prefers each class to have a very clear and distinct Lore identity, with little to no overlap. The kind of folks who question how a warlock who studies at Strixhaven isn’t just a wizard (because studying magic is what wizards do).

My personal preference is not so strict. As I’ve mentioned, my preference for the warlock/patron relationship is for it to be analogous to an artist/patron relationship. The patron freely grants the warlock magical power to use as they see fit, with the expectation that the warlock will use it to do something they will like. Though there is an unspoken understanding that the patronage is contingent on the warlock keeping the patron appeased. There’s no contractual obligation, but if the patron doesn’t feel they’re getting enough return on their investment, they’ll likely take their patronage elsewhere.

 

[Yaarel]

Very true! My post is trying to describe the distinction between the three classes in a way that would be satisfying for someone who prefers each class to have a very clear and distinct Lore identity, with little to no overlap. The kind of folks who question how a warlock who studies at Strixhaven isn’t just a wizard (because studying magic is what wizards do).

Why do some Warlocks use books?

 

[Charlaquin]

Why do some Warlocks use books?

Well, the doylist answer is because the book of shadows is a common witch trope, something the warlock class tries to capture. The Wattsonian answer is because it’s a gift from the patron. It isn’t a catalogue of Arcane formulae, it’s a manifestation of the patron’s power.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Continuing my run-through from last night:

4) Silverquill

Eloquent Apprentice: Sacred Flame is a nice damage cantrip for bards, and skills that you would have taken anyway for free is nice.

Inky Shroud: This is a very strong power. And free darkness on the spell list is a nice bonus for devil's sight warlocks.

Infusion of Eloquence: More strong stuff. Works with Eldritch Blast. Bards may find themselves a bit lacking in the multitarget damage spells needed to leverage this ability.

Word of Power: Another strong ability.

All in all, another strong (OP?) subclass, which warlocks get the most mileage from. Maybe because warlocks are not supposed to get as much from their subclass as bards?


5) Witherbloom

Turn your warlock into a short rest healer. Has the potential to get annoying. Doesn't seem to offer much for druids. Might have been an okay choice for sorcerers, but they don't get this.


Conclusion. I'm not convinced that shared subclasses works in 5e, with some classes getting more from their subclass, and others less. Balance-wise these subclasses are all over the place, with two very overpowered (Lorehold, Silverquill) and two very underpowered (Prismari, Quandrix). I would throw out this version of Prismari all together and replace it with a bard subclass that adds elemental damage spells to their list.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

MTG typically don't have specific patrons but they still some sort of black mana creature to start the process and draw power from.

What makes you a warlock is that power from another being unlocks or fuels your spells. A caster who uses black mana but never draws power from a black creature would advance as a wizard, sorcerer, cleric, or bard, not a warlock.

Technically that would depend on the colour of the Warlock, a mono red or blue Warlock for example might have same colour Patron.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The interesting thing about the demons of Strixhaven is they are hybrid mana green and black, most other Demons in MtG are mono black or black & or red or in Kaldheim mono red so these nature Demons are new.