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

 

[DEFCON 1]

But apparently that is going out the window with these subclasses, which wash away narrative and mechanical niches.

You may want to just wait until this kind of thing actually appears a second time in another book before getting all up in arms. Something made for a specific setting does not mean it's now throwing things out the window.

Eberron made new sub-races for the dragonmarks but that mechanic hasn't appeared since. So this multi-subclass thing could be a one-and-done for Strixhaven as well. We won't know until we're a ways down the line.

 

[Weiley31]

Oh, I don't recall seeing those. Can you specify where one or two of them are? I'm intrigued to see how they word those.

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Flesh Rot option

Hallow

You touch a point and infuse an area around it with holy (or unholy) power. The area can have a radius up to 60 feet, and the spell fails...

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Energy Vulnerability option

 

[TwoSix]

Is it just me, or do these schools of magic sound a little Harry Potter-esque (at least the names)?

10 points for Witherbloom!

 

[Kurotowa]

It states in the document that not all members of a particular college have to choose the subclass. So, there certainly can be Prismari bards, just not with the Mage of Prismari subclass.

Right. You don't have to use these subclasses to be a part of the College. The "Mage of Prismari" subclass is for people specialized in using elemental magic in a specific way. You could be a Bard using illusions. You could be a Wildfire Druid using Control Flame. You could be an Artificer who's on the stage and prop manager track. Or, dare I say it, you could even be a non-spellcaster who's part of the College. I can promise you there will be options to support that.

 

[Marandahir]

Right. You don't have to use these subclasses to be a part of the College. The "Mage of Prismari" subclass is for people specialized in using elemental magic in a specific way. You could be a Bard using illusions. You could be a Wildfire Druid using Control Flame. You could be an Artificer who's on the stage and prop manager track. Or, dare I say it, you could even be a non-spellcaster who's part of the College. I can promise you there will be options to support that.

THANK YOU. This is very important.

I imagine that a MAJORITY of Prismari students are Bards of say, College of Glamour. But this shows the alternative educational track in the college.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

As I said in the other thread:

This makes me think that subclass structure should have been built to be able to trade around between classes from the beginning - like Heroic Themes, Paragon Paths, and Epic Destinies in 4e.

Obviously many if not most subclasses should be specific to a class, but this opens up a world of options within that layer. Why couldn't a Purple Dragon Knight be both Fighter and Paladin? Why can't Eldritch Knight be both Fighter and Artificer? Arcane Archer be both Fighter and Ranger?

As I recall, the designers said this was the original intent early in D&D Next. For example, you might choose the "Necromancy" theme, which would work equally well with a fighter or wizard or rogue. Apparently that approach proved unpopular with early alpha testers. Sad. I would have really liked that flavor of D&D.

 

[Faolyn]

While I like the idea a lot, I think if 6e is going to go this route, the levels at which each class gains a subclass ability should all be the same (such as at level 1 and every odd level you only get your base class abilities, while at level 2 and every even level you get your subclass abilities.) Something like that would make it much easier to swap around sub-classes between different classes.

Another possibility might be one such level per tier (which could vary from archetype to archetype). Then the archetype would simply say what ability you get at each tier.

 

[Marandahir]

As I recall, the designers said this was the original intent early in D&D Next. For example, you might choose the "Necromancy" theme, which would work equally well with a fighter or wizard or rogue. Apparently that approach proved unpopular with early alpha testers. Sad. I would have really liked that flavor of D&D.

It seems like it's coming back. This could be early steps toward 5.5e in 2024 or even 6e.

This was also a concept in 4e, mind you - Heroic Themes, Paragon Paths, and Epic Destinies worked the same way, as a flexible layer you could add to your class. I imagine in a 5.5e you would be able to choose from a bunch of different themes with different class or lineage prerequisites, or else you could just go with a default subclass like Champion Fighter or Life Cleric, etc.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Forget 5.5, this would be 6E

nah. They wouldn't need to rewrite anything, just add more stuff. It's just a continuation of the edition.

 

[Marandahir]

nah. They wouldn't need to rewrite anything, just add more stuff. It's just a continuation of the edition.

I'm feeling this is more of a 5.5e continuation of 5e. I'm guessing that there'll be like a 2024 Rules Cyclopedia that remixes the core rules with the various dials added over the past 10 years, but it's not a replacement for the PHB/MM/DMG. Then in 2034 we can get a true 6e.