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

 

[Paul Farquhar]

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

Only by picking certain subclasses, which they can't do because they have picked this one. Or are use suggesting the college hangs a sign on it's door that reads "only dwarves and tortles need apply"?

 

[Weiley31]

Despite how crazy it is that the UA topic has went from man these are cool/awesome to Where's my Patron, Harry? the only thing I can say about Patrons is this.

Some Patrons don't exactly care about their Warlocks.

Then there are Patrons who call in that favor.

It just depends if the Deposit Request is ever called in, and that's where the variance comes in.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I mean, the DM can just kill the players any time they want.

That's illegal in many countries.

The skill for DM'ing is not doing that, and keeping up the illusion so players don't feel compelled to think too hard about what's going on behind the curtains.

Whilst I have nothing against such illusionism, some groups prefer to play in a manner where the player decisions matter more, where their victories are real, and that necessitates the possibility of losing being real too.

I have literally ended a campaign (not D&D) by the bad guy blowing up the world. Granted, that was due one character betraying the others, so I guess that character did 'win' in a way (though they died too.)

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Expecto Patronum!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Whilst I have nothing against such illusionism, some groups prefer to play in a manner where the player decisions matter more, where their victories are real, and that necessitates the possibility of losing being real too.

You don't need to use any illusions, the 5e rules make it very difficult to kill PCs, even if your monsters try their darndest! It's a ruleset based around the principle of a heroic narrative.

 

[Rabulias]

I'm actually kind of surprised it hasn't been brought back for 5E, it seems like the sort of thing which would sell. I suspect it's just down to FFG being a bit weird about RPGs these days. Still, FFG are selling Dawnforge (Yawn-forge more like, am I right?) which is literally and explicitly less successful than Midnight.

Last year, a 5e Midnight was announced as being in the works: D&D 5E - Midnight: Legacy of Darkness announced at GenCon Online

 

[Weiley31]

Explain how this works with a GOO lock.

Well Azathoth, the blind idiot god, and Vestiges are probably ones that don't care at all or nothing registers.

Nytharlthotep? Oh you bet he's gonna call in that favor with an "or else" somewhere in there.

 

[Greg K]

Well, no. What I am saying is that it should up to the player, not the DM. That is not implicit at all in “the player and the DM work it out together.

As far as I am concerned, the ability of a Patron (or Deity) to take away powers should not be the player's decision. The character exists in the world and certain powerful beings grant power in exchange for having their interests furthered. What those interests are which should be worked out or made known to the players before character creation. Knowing, what is expected by a Patron, it is up to the player to decide if they want to deal with the terms, find a more suitable patron for the character (if one exists), or play something else (I hold the same view on for clerics and paladins losing powers). Then again, when it comes to warlocks my influences for Fiendish Patrons are not Constantine, Spawn, or Ghost Rider- if I wanted those as inspiration, I would run a comic book rpg

Personally, I don't allow Fiendish Patron warlocks for PCs. I have no interest in running a game in which players fulfill evil ends and, as a DM, my influence for Fiendish Patrons are one's where the Patron permanently removes the warlock who fails to achieve the patrons end by transforming them or outright killing the offending character and there are no second chances to regain powers. These influences include Kolchak' The Devils Advocate (the warlock fails to achieve the Devil's goals and is turned physically and mentally into a rotweiller), 70s occult horror films in which the Devil kills servants that failm him, Supernatural's Malleus Maleficarum in which the demon kills the members of the book club for trying to pull out of a the contract or tried to help defeat her), and Supernatural's Swap Meat episode (in which Gary's friend wants to be made a warlock and begins demanding too much that a demon kills him while Gary is smart enough not to sell his soul to the Devil and helps Sam exorcise the demon.

Other influences for me on warlock patrons are Curupira, the forest Demon from the television series, Beasmaster and sidhe in the Gates of Avalon episode of Merlin. Curupira (whom I see as more of a Fey) from the TV series Beastmaster and is responsible for giving Dar his powers and reminds him several times that she can take his powers away if he does not protect "her" animals and forest (I can't recall if she ever did, temporarily, take away his powers. I think she did. However, her arch-enemy Iara definitely did take them away after imprisoning Curpira and Dar spurned her advances). In the Gates of Avalon episode of Merlin, the Sidhe elders want Arthur's soul and will take Sophia's soul if she and her father cannot deliver Arthur's soul to them. If I recall correctly, Sophia's father was a Sidhe stripped of his powers and trapped in a mortal body and is trying to get back into Avalon rather than a warlock, but the Sidhe elders' demands fit as another example of an Archfey pact might look like.

 

[Parmandur]

Only by picking certain subclasses, which they can't do because they have picked this one. Or are use suggesting the college hangs a sign on it's door that reads "only dwarves and tortles need apply"?

I was thinking Spell choice, but Tortles are actually appropriate for Prismari in the Setting, actually.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I was thinking Spell choice.

I think it's been pretty well demonstrated that even for a bladesinger selecting spells to keep you from dying in melee is a mechanically inferior choice.

Tortles are actually appropriate for Prismari in the Setting

It's tortles all the way down.