Strixhaven | Everything You Need To Know | D&D 

Step 1: Pick Variant Human Step 2: Take Keen Mind Feat Step 3: Ace Exams.

I really wanted Todd to say playing an Owlin was a hoot.

Magic schools is a homebrew setting I see a lot, I think this could be very useful to show how to do a school setting.

"How was school today, dear?" "Fine. We learned how to raise the dead and make pacts with evil dragon gods. That reminds me, can you sign this permission slip so we can go to the Shadowfell for a night?" "All right, just don't bring back any Sprites again."

I really want an antimagic sect. Like there is so much magic in d&d... It's strange to me that no cult or something that views magic as bad and has found or created a way to fight magic with feats or items. It would be awesome to have either the school or the sect be evil.

Man, I was really exited about the flexible subclasses, that could’ve brought so much potential to the game! Imagine: an armorer druid, a hexblade cleric, a gloomstalker rogue! GAH, that kind of pisses me off

Imagine that a lot of players would get a real 'hoot' out of playing one of the owl folk :)

disappointed that they cancelled the subclasses. thought they were going to start trying weird stuff to spice things up. at least theyre expanding into more fantasy genres

I really liked the idea of universal subclasses, it just is really hard to work with 5e's system. I have to see more of the feats to make sure that they do enough to make it feel like a major part of your character but it's a smart idea in concept. And as someone playing a Runeknight with the Archeologist background, I'm very excited to fit a Lorehold feat in there

This is what I call having insider access! Strixhaven looks amazing, can't hardly wait 'til November!

I’m with you, I liked the flexibility from the UA. Maybe in the next addition they can improve the flavor of the classes and have flexibility with subclasses. You might not have the complaint if the class could stand on its own better? Either way I am excited as well.

After going through the subclasses for Strixhaven, I wouldn't say subclasses that fit multiple classes were a bad thing, the ones they presented though needed another serious pass, because they weren't thought out very well. Witherbloom was quite overpowered compared to the rest, and Lorehold was decent, but Prismari didn't match the flavor of the cards, Silverquill did work well with the classes it was assigned to, and Quandrix needed to be thrown out and started over. If the book wasn't supposed to come out in November, they would have had time to handle the issues properly, but with such a tight turnaround to fix and test and get to the printer, I'm not surprised they choose to go in another direction.

I liked the Witherbloom subclass, especially for Warlocks, but the others didn’t seem that great. Bards get hosed in them as they only get three features instead of four. Foundationally the classes aren’t designed to have shared subclasses. Maybe some of these were reworked to be one class subclasses?

I love me some Wizards, so naturally love Magical Schools. Might incorporate my main character in there although I’m sorely tempted to make an Owlin, they’re too cute!

What often ends up happening is that after something is confirmed gone, the group that lost tends to be the most vocal, I’m here to present my (and potentially some other people’s) perspective on why it’s a good thing that this design philosophy isn’t continuing in its current state. The large reason why I think this isn’t good for the game is that subclasses are balanced at different levels depending on your class, subclasses aren’t primarily balanced compared to other classes’s subclasses. As an example, an average cleric subclass is stronger than an average warlock subclass, this is because the cleric class derives a larger portion of its power from its subclass than its main class, whereas warlock derives less power from its subclass than its main class. What do we gain from this? The design of subclasses are dependent on the classes to determine how strong they should roughly be. If we were to make subclasses that could be applied to multiple classes, it would either comparatively overshadow other subclasses for a class that depends on the base class features, or it would be comparatively too weak for a class that depends on subclass features. I should also mention that subclasses are structured very differently depending on which class they are designed for. Let’s take Ranger and Fighter as an example as they are two subclasses that have the structure that I am most familiarized. Ranger: 3rd Level: Offensive Augmentation 7th Level: Defensive Buff 11th Level: Multiattack or # of attacks-related feature 15th Level: Strong Defensive Buff -As a note none of these features are almost never limited to short rests or long rests (and they shouldn’t) this is because Rangers derive a very large portion of their power from their subclass, so if it were limited to short or long rests, the main source of power of the class would be denied after a certain # of uses, which is not good for martials. Let’s compare this to the structure of the fighter: 3rd Level: Offensive augmentation or combat utility 7th Level: Roleplaying-related feature 10th Level: Buff to existing fighter or subclass feature 15th Level: Buff to existing fighter or subclass feature 18th level: Ability that encapsulates the playstyle intended for the subclass -As a note Fighter features should be either weaker and always active (like champion fighter) or they should be short rest-based. Do not use long-rest features for a fighter. (This is for the fantasy best said by Captain America “I can do this all day” that the fighter is known for) What do we gain from a comparison of these? We can’t follow both of the design structures of these subclasses at once which is our first issue, but furthermore, if we were to attempt to follow both somewhat close, we would find that the Ranger’s structure doesn’t allow for short rest features as a main principle, but Fighter subclasses tend to use that, so instead we have to use the fighter subcategory of weaker but always active abilities, but this doesn’t combine well with the Ranger’s potent, and always active abilities. So either we have to create a weaker than average subclass for the ranger, or a stronger than average subclass for the fighter. We come with a similar issue when we address level 7 either being a defensive feature or an RP ability.

i work at a middle school and ive ben considering starting a weekly dnd club so ill be keeping an eye on the strixhaven book, seems like its really fitting for a school club campaign

A great familiar for an Owlin? A Flying Monkey (Tomb of Annihilation)! Not only can it fly with you, but it'll be a wink and nod to human wizards and owl familiars. 😉

Thank you for this videos Todd! I like the concise overviews. Definitely one I will be checking up on once it's out.

Goog video! I don't know if you know "The Kingdom of Sorcery" trilogy, an AD&D game-book trilogy, written by Morris Simon 30 or 40 years ago, before Harry Potter, and that it had a LOT, a LOT of this flavor... about what this new book for 5e is about. It was with a more mature tone, of course, more in the vein of D&D, a bit like what you have commented on the wizards of the Dragonlance. Actually, already in the books of "Earthsea", by Ursula K. Le Guin, the subject of an academy of magicians was dealt with, much longer ago. Throughout the entire trilogy, in the three book games of "The Kingdom of Sorcery", we progressed like a school mage student, confronting various dangers, and some sinister students and teachers. Great books, those of Simon.

I was on the fence about this book, but now I’m 100% in baby! Thank you Todd

Thank you for your posts sir. I appreciate your perspective, your intelligence, and the quality of your videos

Misfits and Magic: *exists* WoTC: "Write that down! Write that down!" /S

A sorting hat for magic schools would be an awesome idea like the shy introvert going to school of enchantment

I'm thinking of using this setting to introduce a friend to DnD. She's big into Harry Potter, so it's basically made for her. Though I'm throwing out all the existing NPCs. I much prefer NPCs I made myself, bc I find them more fun to play.

The flavour of this is great! Thanks, Todd!

Dude exam mechanics sounds like so much fun xD

Wizards and owls are two things I love probably way more than I should, this book is right up my alley.

I was excited about this because I was hoping for more of a 17th-century Oxford vibe, with all kinds of "town-vs-gown" shenanigans, and delving into the school's secrets, etc. Then I saw a freaking D&D Beyond post called "5 YA-Novel Inspired Side Plots for Your D&D Campaign Set in Strixhaven." And I went...nope.

The Strixhaven Initiate feats are only free if you choose the relevant backgrounds. They are given to you at first level if, and only if, you choose one of the five backgrounds associated with the five colleges. Otherwise, you have the option to choose the feat whenever you would normally choose a feat. Nowhere in the book does it say every single Strixhaven student automatically gets this feat for free.

You still have the best D&D update videos Todd. 👍

I'm really looking forward to running this for my friends.

Ah yes, Exams, Prom and Dating, just what I needed. I'm not surprised that quite a few weren't so keen on this

Major Hogwarts vibes but I'm liking the sounds of it so far.

Worried that a lvl 10 will feel way too powerful for someone still at school. Even lvl 5 feels too much.

I feel like when the bosses came and said hey, we're doing a magic school for MtG and we're gonna port it to D&D and someone said "Oooooh, I have a Harry Potter homebrew campaign I've been running for the last three years!" And the bosses said...email it to Perkins.

The whole book is practically a meme fanfic with the WotC logo on.

Looking forward to this!

Darn I really liked the idea of a few near universal subclasses. Seemed unique and fitting for the way they implemented it.

I'm kind of disappointed not getting the new subclasses, I like some of these could have been used as a single class subclass and still be utilized but what's in the book now feats and theros book piety like material?

im kinda wondering why owlfolk(UA) where recieved well since Aarakocra is banned in alot of games and form dms i played with fligth early lvls is very hated can some one who has tested this explain it an little bit thx :D (im srry for my terribel english)

Can't wait for it . I'm using it as a Harpell School of magic ,like a Xavier muntant mansion

"But they really are about building up these NPC relationships, they have incredibly fleshed out NPCs, and mechanics to back that up. I think that's really fascinating and kind of an experience we have not seen in D&D before." Well, gee, I guess Ravnica and Wildemount didn't have any mechanics for this at all. Definitely not embedded in character creation. Normally I find your takes pretty interesting, Mr. Kenreck, but this one is just false. Quote from about 2:55.

Imma be honest Tod is the only person I trust to hype me for up coming books

Bummed it's been bumped back all the way to November. Maybe it'll be the Game Hole Con book though....

Free feats ? Curious how those will be distributed , perhaps like the boons alternative reward ?

Any idea where they will try to place Strixhaven in Faerun?

Thank you Todd.

*The magical school thing is neat .* *But it's more entry-level content that D&D 5e already has a lot of .* *At some point Wizards of the coast absolutely has to create more stuff for paragon levels ( 11 to 20 ) & epic levels ( 21 to 30 ) .*

Hopefully I can convert this for Morgrave University. I've been wanting to make that place more interesting!

But how do I cast Inkblade?

I don’t find it underwhelming I just wanna be a funky owl

> Build meaningful relationships that benefits your adventure We Persona now?

imo, I think that strixhaven should come with a "Full/Half Casters Only" Rule, because honestly? Who wants to be literally the Filch in a school of people throwing around magic like it's going out of style? That'd feel so... lame and would feed into a whole "measuring up vs everyone else" mentality, imo.

You played an Owlkind and didn't have a hoot?! What a poor game that was had. :p I find it disappointing that the play testers didn't like the multi-class subclasses. It gave me hope that there would be more options for characters in the future. For right now except in a few cases, once you pick your subclass you really have not other choices in you character. Unless your a caster. These games are most fun when its about different choices you have to make. And after level three you don't really have choices to make. And these gave even MORE choices to the classes that have the most but still. I had hopes for the future. The book sounds good and makes me a bit curious as to why, other then the biggest shopping time of the year. Wizard's is releasing so many books so close together. Thank you for all the work that is put in to these videos.

Please tell me that Avren is going to be the next Professor of the Warlock Dark arts. If we get a Heroes Breakfast club that would be swell as well.

🔥🔥🔥

bro I liked the video and I'm new here in your channel but i have to ask. Why did you kidnapped Alvin and his brothers?

Harry Potter games galore. 😋

I was ready to commit crimes when I heard they cut the universal subclasses... Sure, some of them looked a bit fidgety but I can say that about loads of existing subclasses But They Were Innovative. Something I wish WotC did more instead of barely reskinning everything again and again..

This UA rubbed me wrong, and this book does not allay my trepidation. Would've preferred Kaldheim, if I'm honest.

Okay so it a college based magic school. So I just need to know what are the mechanics for drinking contests and picking up chicks.

It’s…. a school. That’s it?

I'm incredibly disappointed with the playtesters

It sounds like Harry Potter meets D&D. Very fairy tale vibe 🧚‍♀️. Good for kids or teenagers but not for me no thanks.

Subclasses gutted? Lmaoooooooo guess I’ll get Kids on Brooms instead

Mmm free Alert Feat.

Are the subclasses no longer in the book ??? :(

The only way I would ever run this setting would be if my PCs negotiated their release from Barovia under the terms that that everyone in this place, every student, and professor would be put to the sword. Only to realize that Strixhaven has become a Domain of Dread.

"ive never gotton to experiience that in dnd" in reference to recurring villians, characters coming back after you meet them, and character devolopment of npcs into interesting things so..... you have never played dnd then? because that is litteraly what a dnd game is.

Here's what you need to know: MAXIMUM cringe. This company is turning into an unmitigated JOKE.

Ugh owlin are so lame! Dnd is becoming Paw Patrol.

Who would want to play this?? It’s dungeons and dragons not Harry Potter! Weird just weird.

so another harry potter rip off

I didn't think it could be worse after the garbage Ravenloft they just put out. I stand corrected.

WotC has lost its mind....this setting is not DnD, it is just garbage

This is by far the most woke and non-D&D thing yet to come out of WotC lately. This is not D&D.