Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaostakes players through a level one-through-ten campaign. Students will progress through each of their characters levels as they complete a year of studying and campus life. While manyDungeons & Dragonscampaigns center around adventuring, Strixhaven uses adventuring as a way to reinforce studying. In a way,Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaoswill take on a more life-simulation style of gameplay, rather than action and adventuring.
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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 theMagic: The Gathering Trading Card Gamemultiverse. 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, andWitherbloom. 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:
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Campus Life
Most players willbegin 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. WhileDungeons & Dragonscampaigns 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.
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 Chaosintroduces five potential backgrounds players can use to build their characters.
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 theStrixhaven 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 theiradvantages and spellcasting ability modifiers. This means thatWarlocks now have a lot more flexibilitywhen 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:
Points Of Interest
The library in Strixhaven University is called theBiblioplex. 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 tangledmagical 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.
Pillardropis 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’sOrchestra of the Arcane. The orchestra fills the sky with explosions of elemental magic, in the form of storms.
The Arithmodromeis 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.
