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

 

[jmartkdr2]

There has never been a D&D caster (except one time in an odd moment with 3.0 psionics) where spellcasting wasn't tied to a mental stat. It's because Str/Dex/Con are usually good on their own, and it would be amazing to get rewarded hp AND spell-stat every ASI.

Con warlocks were a thing in 4e. PHB1 option.

It's not common but it's a recurring idea.

 

[PsyzhranV2]

Sure. But then the PCs kill the dragon. They win in the end. If it's not a win then it isn't the end. Winning has a cost. in this case the cost was the destruction of the village.

Sometimes Thanos snaps his fingers. In which case the heroes win in the sequel.

Game of Thrones is the prime example of "how do you bring a narrative to a satisfactory conclusion without the protagonists winning?" The answer is, you can't. Either the heroes win or the conclusion is unsatisfactory, or in the case of GoT, both.

That is a very Hays Code informed view of fiction.

A tragedy is just a comedy told from the point of view of the villain. In Macbeth the good guys win in the end.

That is not how Shakespearean tragedy works...

Hamlet? Hamlet is ostensibly the "good guy" when compared to Claudius, but only just; and all of his struggles throughout the story, and ultimately his own doom, are of his own making by refusing to commit to killing Claudius until the very last moment. And Ophelia, perhaps the only innocent person in the play, kills herself sfter hearing of her father'a death.

What about King Lear? Complex web of political machinations that collapses in a domino effect due to Lear's own incompetence with regards to his two elder daughters. And the play ends with only Edgar and Albany still alive; are they the "good guys" by mere virtue of survival then?

Othello? Iago succeeds in ruining Othello's life through his manipulations, albeit at great cost to himself.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I mean, I don't know if I can, if you think Kinetic Artistry wouldn't be useful lol! Because good grief, it most certainly would, especially the lightning one. I mean Dash as a bonus action alone is pretty great.

It's great if you are a melee fighter, but this is for casters. I find they don't often move about that much. "Do you want to move?" "Nah, I'm okay here". The lightning version is okay, but the fire one is garbage if you are not a melee character.

I literally can't understand how you don't see that stuff as useful if you actually play D&D 5E. The same for Functions of Probability, which is literally a free d6 bonus/penalty (the bonus to be applied after a roll, too!) whenever you cast a damn slot spell lol. How is that "of little value in actual play"? I mean what?!?!?!? That's just confusing.

It's such a faff I doubt my players would remember to use it. It's a prime example of something that looks good on paper but is unfun in practice.

 

[Parmandur]

It's great if you are a melee fighter, but this is for casters. I find they don't often move about that much. "Do you want to move?" "Nah, I'm okay here". The lightning version is okay, but the fire one is garbage if you are not a melee character.

It's such a faff I doubt my players would remember to use it.

The point is to give the character a reason to move, nay, dance around the field of battle.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The point is to give the character a reason to move, nay, dance around the field of battle.

Dancing around in the middle of a battle is fine if you are a fighter or a rogue, but if you are a caster you want to stand at the back.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Hamlet?

An inbred and weak ruling house kills itself off without heirs. How is that not a win?

 

[Parmandur]

Dancing around in the middle of a battle is fine if you are a fighter or a rogue, but if you are a caster you want to stand at the back.

Depends on the build, and the point of this is to encourage just such a build.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Depends on the build, and the point of this is to encourage just such a build.

Then it needs to come with some way to increase the character's hp and/or AC, or they will just get splatted. It's not as if bards can take this subclass. Look at me! I have an AC of 15 and d6 hit dice! But you can't hit me because I can bonus action dash!

 

[Parmandur]

Then it needs to come with some way to increase the character's hp and/or AC, or they will just get splatted. It's not as if bards can take this subclass. Look at me! I have an AC of 15 and d6 hit dice! But you can't hit me because I can bonus action dash!

Sorcerers and Wizards already have solutions for those concerns, if built for it.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Mage Hand Press has a good witch class, with subclasses and everything. Has a strong de-buff theme.

That's a good one, yes. I also like the one by Walrock Homebrew and the one from Reddit that was /u/Zarieth's updated by /u/EinarTheBlack.

More 5E witches here.