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This does not, however, mean that players will be forced to follow every rule. They may even be met with making choices to defy faculty and deans for the greater good. Players will be part of a community of students and are able to participate in a variety of endeavors. Strixhaven is located in the world of Arcavios from the Magic: The Gathering Trading Card Game multiverse. However, DMs can choose to place Strixhaven in any world of their choice.
Strixhaven Mission Statement and Origin
Like many universities, Strixhaven University’s goal is to discover and preserve magical knowledge. Strixhaven also promotes the open study of all forms of magic, to enhance the lives of people throughout the world. The university’s philosophy is centered around the idea of exploring opposites in hopes of understanding the greater whole. What sets Strixhaven apart from other universities is its founding: it was created seven centuries ago by five ancient dragons.
While Strixhaven may seem much like Hogwarts (focusing mainly on spellcasters), any class is encouraged to attend the university. Certain subclasses of Barbarians, Fighters, and Rogues, may be able to excel at one of the five colleges. Students and faculty come from a variety of backgrounds and multiversal planes, meaning there are plenty of interesting faces to find around the campus.
Students studying at Strixhaven University must complete four years of study. In their second year, students will choose their area of specialty at one of the five colleges: Lorehold, Prismari, Quandrix, Silverquill, and Witherbloom. They will then complete the remainder of their academic endeavors through their college of choices programs.
The Five Colleges
Strixhaven University consists of five colleges, each offering unique curriculums:
Lorehold College is known as the College of Archaeomancy. Students attending this college devote themselves to the study of history. Prismari College is the College of Elemental Arts. Players who choose to attend this college will practice intertwining magic with art. The curriculum focuses on visual and performing arts, with some overlap with other campuses for literary art and art history.
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Quandrix College is the College of Numeromancy. Players will find their characters studying topics such as mathematics, physics, logic, statistics, metaphysics, and various fields of theoretical magic. Artificers in particular might enjoy this college. Silverquill College is known as the College of Eloquence. Bards in particular will enjoy the curriculum provided at this campus. Mages who study at Silverquill campus will learn to craft spells with witty words and dramatic performances. Witherbloom College is where students go to learn how to draw power from the forces of life and death. Known as the College of Essence Studies, Witherbloom centers around the study of life sciences.
Campus Life
Most players will begin their adventures at the university, living on the central campus. After their first year of university, they can choose to stay or move into one of the dorms available at their college of choice. Students can even take on the role of resident advisors at their dorms.
The university is made up of six campuses, spread across hundreds of acres. While Dungeons & Dragons campaigns often involve players walking to and from their destinations, Strixhaven University has automated shuttles. The shuttles take on the appearance of large carriages drawn by horselike automata.
The campuses also have teleportation circles for advanced students and faculty to use. However, this method of transportation may result in unexpected results. There is also a cafe and park for students to spend their free time on the central campus.
Mascots
Each of the five colleges at Strixhaven Univerisity has its own mascot.
Lorehold College - Spirit Statue Mascot Prismari College - Art Elemental Mascot Quandrix College - Fractal Mascot Silverquill College - Inkling Mascot Witherbloom College - Pest Mascot
These mascots often wander around their respective campuses, though versions of Witherbloom’s mascot can be found throughout the world around the university. The mascots of Lorehold, Prismari, Quandrix, and Silverquill are the result of magic. Mascots can become companions to students, as well as willing test subjects, and duel partners.
Character Backgrounds
Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos introduces five potential backgrounds players can use to build their characters.
Lorehold Student Prismari Student Quandrix Student Silverquill Student Witherbloom Student
Each background is designed to offer a quickstart background for players who want to build a character for a specific college. Each background gives players the Strixhaven Initiate feat, for which they must choose the college they are building the character for.
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Within those feats, players gain two-cantrips and one spell that can be cast without a spell slot. These spells are also added on top of the spells players gain from the character background for each college.
Players who choose to multiclass and have multiple spell lists will add these spells to all of their known spell lists. This means players are able to better manipulate their advantages and spellcasting ability modifiers. This means that Warlocks now have a lot more flexibility when using spells.
Friends & Foes
Strixhaven also adds more than forty creatures and NPCs who live in and around the university. The stat blocks provided include the faculty of each campus as well as the founding dragons.
Some of the creatures added include:
Archaic: towering multi-armed creatures overflowing with magic. Daemogoth: Powerful fiendish creatures that feed on misery and other negative emotions. Mage Hunter: Spider-legged creatures employed by the Oriq to pursue magic-wielders. Groff: Canine-like swamp creatures with large appetites.
Points Of Interest
The library in Strixhaven University is called the Biblioplex. In the Biblioplex’s Hall of Oracles, students can find a luminous Snarl, making up the heart of the campus. Snarls are the result of tangled magical weaves that can amplify or distort magic near them. A Star Arch also floats above the library. Players may even find that some of the chambers inside the library are so huge they have their own weather patterns, while other chambers are crossable only by boat.
Pillardrop is a series of buildings excavated out of the cliffs of the Lorehold campus. The area is one part natural chasm, one part archaeological excavation, and one part new construction, meaning there are plenty of things hidden throughout. Players will want to watch their steps, as the bridges in the area are notoriously dangerous.
Elite students with a musical focus may want to attempt to join Strixhaven’s Orchestra of the Arcane. The orchestra fills the sky with explosions of elemental magic, in the form of storms.
The Arithmodrome is hidden on the Quandrix campus, behind one of the many dynamic water sculptures. While on the outside the Arithmodrome looks like an ordinary structure, the inside suspends the rules of reality. This makes the Arithmodrome a sought-after study zone.
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