Review: D&D’s Strixhaven book understands what makes college memorable

It’s easy to forget the contents of a lecture you took in college or what you wrote in that onerous 20-page final paper, but memories made with your college friends tend to linger longer than anything that took place in a university classroom. This understanding is the heart of Strixhaven: The Curriculum of Chaos, a Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook based on the The Gathering: Magic and the Gathering Set Strixhaven School of Mages.

Sadly, the main plot of the adventure — which is designed to take a party of about five characters from level 1-10 — is a fairly forgettable affair. The great times you will have at the table with your fellow classmates are worth it.

[Warning: This story contains light spoilers for Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos.]

Strixhaven puts players in the role of students at the titular university, where they’ll complete their four years of study over the course of four adventures. If you don’t want to commit to the whole campaign, there’s suggestions for making each of them modular by tweaking the plot a bit.

Parties certainly aren’t expected to be made up entirely of dedicated spellcasters, and there are new feats associated with each of Strixhaven’s five colleges that allow any class to cast two cantrips and a first-level spell. But the game’s themes will probably work best if everyone plays a character who has at least a little magical flavor, which can mean having your rogue be an Arcane Trickster or encouraging your barbarian to embrace the Path of the Ancestral Guardian and draw power from spirits.

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

Students don’t join a college until their second year, though a set of powerful new backgrounds correlating with the five groups strongly encourages players to make their choice immediately. Five colleges in Strixhaven each have a different color. The Gathering: Magic and the GatheringThese descriptions are available in The Curriculum for ChaosTo promote this idea, they should focus on conflict in order to stimulate academic debate. One example is the College of Lorehold, which has a dean for order and one for chaos. These two men give contradicting lectures to discuss whether the history of the past is controlled by predictable forces or the efforts of ambitious individuals.

Perhaps the most surprising thing in the book is that there isn’t a singular evil faculty member pulling strings behind the scenes. It’s understandable that the designers wanted to avoid Harry Potter comparisons by having a de facto evil school, but when the vampire leader of Witherbloom, a school focused in part on necromancy, is neutral, you have to wonder what the point of alignment even is in this game.

The campaign gets off to a gentle start — in all the fights from level 1-3 there’s a powerful non-player character able to provide the player characters with backup should they fail. It’s a mechanic that lets the party feel good about victory while avoiding accidental death when the group is at their most fragile. The encounters are often low-stakes and fun, like a chest that was given to a move-in party turning out be a replica. Even the dungeon crawls can be quite silly. For example, a stag-party on campus for a magical doll that had been stolen with a foul-mouth was a stag do.

Graphic: James Bareham/Polygon

Many encounters revolve around the use of the novel relationship subsystem. There are many players who hang out on campus with their quirky, non-player characters. Their choices can make them friends, rivals, and even romantically entangled. The main event is the school improv fest, which brings everyone together. There’s also individual downtime activities, such as extracurricular activities or campus jobs.

All of these activities provide players with additional chances to interact and receive benefits. Club membership gives players a d4 “student die” they can roll once per long rest to retroactively boost a check using an associated skill. Participating in the Fantastical Horticulture Club can make a character more proficient at Survival and Nature. The jobs are disappointingly boring, and reward characters with five gold pieces each week. Considering characters will be earning plenty of quest rewards throughout the campaign, this doesn’t seem like a worthwhile trade unless the player really doesn’t care about skills.

The character can also be given student dice to gain skills that they can apply before the adventure ends. Extra benefits may be available if you do well in an exam. There’s a lot of fluff provided in the first-year section, listing trivia about owlbears and slaadi students are expected to have learned, but sadly less attention is given to the exams in later sections.

The testing mechanics also don’t quite work with the flavor. The character will be disadvantaged on their ability to pass the test if they study for it. However, pulling an all-nighter gives them two rerolls and a chance to practice their skills. An extra reroll can’t come close to counteracting how bad it is to have to roll two d20s and take the worse result. It would be a good house rule to make sure exhaustion does not set in immediately after the test. That will put the character at risk for future encounters. Studying as a group gives the characters advantage on the ability check, effectively negating the exhaustion, but you’re still much better off never taking the all-nighter option as written.

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

This book, which draws on many art sources, is organized well and visually appealing. The Gathering: Magic and the GatheringMaps are also available on cards. You will also find original imagery. Flyers, invitations and flyers for campus events are a great addition. It also demonstrates publisher Wizards of the Coast’s commitment to inclusiveness and accessibility. Strixhaven’s buildings magically shift to accommodate anyone regardless of their size or mobility, and the book contains trans and nonbinary NPCs.

Strixhaven: The Curriculum of Chaos isn’t a perfect book, but the new subsystems and whimsical adventures provide some really fun material, whether you’re running the adventure as written or borrowing elements to slip into a homebrew campaign. Strixhaven is like any college experience. It all depends on how you get along with your friends and what you are willing to ignore for a fun time.

Strixhaven: The Curriculum of Chaos will arrive at retail on Dec. 7, with a special collector’s edition available only at Local game shops. Wizards of the Coast provided a copy of the book to review. Vox Media is an affiliate partner. They do not affect editorial content. However, Vox Media might earn commissions for products bought via affiliate links. Here are some links to help you find. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.