Character Options — Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos

The campus of Strixhaven draws a student body from across the world—or many worlds. With your DM's permission, you can create just about any Strixhaven character you can imagine, drawing on player character rules from the Player's Handbook and other D&D books. This chapter adds to that wealth of options with the material in the following sections:

"2" presents the owlin, a character race option perfect for playing an owl-like student.

"2" gives advice on building a character for adventuring in Strixhaven.

"2" presents a background option for each Strixhaven college, linking a character to one of the five colleges.

"2" offers Strixhaven-themed feats for use with A Curriculum of Chaos and other adventures.

"2" reveals some spells that were developed at the university.

"2" collects magic items that Strixhaven students might acquire on their adventures.

Race Option

The owlin is a race option for player characters in Strixhaven and other D&D settings.

Choosing a College

At Strixhaven, students choose their colleges at the start of their second year. But even during a character's first year, you make college-related decisions for your character, such as a background choice. From the start, your character is making decisions that will lead to their eventual college choice.

1 describes each of the colleges. How do you decide which of these colleges is right for your character? Consider these approaches:

Read the college descriptions in chapter 1, and choose the college that appeals to you.
Read the descriptions of 2 and 2 in this chapter. If one of them catches your eye, choose that college.
If you have access to Magic: The Gathering cards from the Strixhaven set, find a card that appeals to you and build that character.

A Strixhaven Party

If you're starting a Strixhaven campaign with the introductory adventure in 0, that adventure gives all the advice you need to bring a party of characters together. The adventure assumes that the characters are first-year students who are participating in orientation activities together.

If you start the campaign at higher level, using one of the adventures in later chapters of this book (or an adventure of your DM's creation), give some thought to what has brought your characters together as a group. The easiest explanation is that you met as first-year students, perhaps living in the same residence hall or taking the same classes, or united by a common extracurricular interest.

It's also possible that your characters are just meeting for the first time. The events of the adventure might throw you together more or less at random. You could all be taking the same class, you might be working the same campus job, or you could be introduced by mutual friends.

Strixhaven Backgrounds

This section presents five backgrounds that you can choose to reflect your character's studies preparing to enter one of Strixhaven's colleges. You aren't limited to these backgrounds in a Strixhaven campaign; they're just one way you can choose to dive deeply into your character's college affiliation.

If you do choose one of these backgrounds, you can assume that your life to this point has been consumed by the education that has made enrolling at Strixhaven possible for you, and you might not have much experience of the world beyond that preparatory work. You're ready to excel as a student—and that, in turn, will prepare you to excel at whatever path comes after graduation.

Backgrounds

Lorehold Student
Prismari Student
Quandrix Student
Silverquill Student
Witherbloom Student

Trinkets

Feats

This section introduces feats that give your character benefits associated with the colleges of Strixhaven. These feats are available to you whenever you normally choose a feat, and they follow the 6 in the Player's Handbook.

Feat Descriptions

These feats are presented in alphabetical order.

Spells

Created at Strixhaven, the spells presented in this section are available to the backgrounds offered in this chapter. The spells also appear on the class spell lists indicated in the Spells table below.

Spells
Level	Spell	School	Class
1st	Silvery Barbs	Enchantment	Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard
2nd	Borrowed Knowledge	Divination	Bard, Cleric, Warlock, Wizard
2nd	Kinetic Jaunt	Transmutation	Artificer,* Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard
2nd	Vortex Warp	Conjuration	Artificer,* Sorcerer, Wizard
2nd	Wither and Bloom	Necromancy	Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard

Magic Items

This section presents some magic items that are created at Strixhaven. These items, along with a few from the Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG), can be purchased on campus using the prices in the Magic Items for Sale table.

Magic Items for Sale
Item	Rarity	Cost
Bottle of Boundless Coffee	Common	100 gp
Cuddly Strixhaven Mascot	Common	100 gp
Lorehold Primer	Uncommon	300 gp
Prismari Primer	Uncommon	300 gp
Quandrix Primer	Uncommon	300 gp
Silverquill Primer	Uncommon	300 gp
Spell Scroll (1st-Level Spell; DMG)	Common	50 gp
Strixhaven Pennant	Common	100 gp
Weapon, +1 (DMG)	Uncommon	300 gp
Witherbloom Primer	Uncommon	300 gp