Dungeons and Dragons' latest addition to the Unearthed Arcana supplement is Mages of Strixhaven, a set of playtest material containing five different subclasses, each based on a different college from Magic: The Gathering's latest set, Strixhaven: School of Mages. Strixhaven is what Magic players call a "faction" set, based around players throwing in their allegiance with one of multiple different groups. In this case, those groups are different colleges for the magical school of Strixhaven, which are a little like a mix between a declared major and a fraternity. Each college practices magic in its own way, and creating subclasses based on them is a great tool for players looking to play a Strixhaven-centric campaign.

But these subclasses don't pigeon-hole players into one specific class to be associated with each faction. It's easy enough to draw comparisons between the colleges and certain spellcasters -- Witherbloom with druids, Quandrix with wizards -- but Mages of Strixhaven makes a huge departure by creating cross-caster subclasses, each available to a handful of different main classes. This lets players explore some of the variance present within each guild while also choosing whichever class best suits their own playstyle.

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Lorehold

Lorehold is a college based around evoking the spirits of the past, as befitting their study of history. It makes sense that the Mage of Lorehold subclass would be available to Bards and Wizards, with Warlocks as a stranger inclusion. Each of these classes gains new known spells at first, third, fifth, seventh and ninth level. The most notable of these are Spirit Guardians and Destructive Wave, powerful area-of-effect damage dealers normally only available to Clerics and Paladins. Lorehold Mages also gain access to their signature ability at first level, an animated statue companion.

The Ancient Companion can take three different forms, Warrior, Sage or Healer. The Warrior increases direct combat strength, the Sage out-of-combat intelligence checks, and the Healer spells that restore hit points. The type of spirit can be switched out with a short or long rest. But the Ancient Companion pales in comparison to the Lorehold Mage's later class abilities. War Echoes inflicts vulnerability to a specific type of damage as a reaction, which can more than double a well-balanced party's damage output for a round. History's Whims is the class's level 14 capstone and forces the Mage to cycle through three benefits -- a bonus to saving throws, resistance to damage and an increase in movement speed.

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Prismari

An Azra elementalist wielding twin coils of fire and water, along with text saying "PRISMARI - express yourself with the elements."

Prismari focuses on performance and self-expression, evoking the elements themselves to create powerful visual art. As such, the Mage of Prismari subclass is available to Druid, Sorcerer and Wizard -- all classes with plenty of elemental damage to spare. Instead of receiving new spells, Prismari Mages gain proficiency in two skills from Acrobatics, Athletics, Nature and Performance. The rest of the subclass's abilities focus on fire, cold or lightning. At first level, they gain a bonus-action Dash, with either whirling tides to knock nearby enemies prone, flames to burn them to a crisp, or lightning to avoid attacks of opportunity.

Level 6 grants resistance to a chosen damage type from fire, cold and lightning, as well as the ability to expand that resistance to nearby allies. Level 10 brings with it a bonus to spells that already deal the chosen damage type. Cold spells now slow enemies, fire spells burn them while granting temporary hit points to allies and lightning spells prevent enemy reactions. The class's capstone is an odd exception to their trend of focusing on elemental damage, instead granting them the ability to "take 10" on Dexterity saving throws.

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Quandrix

A dark-skinned human mage with frizzy hair, wearing coppery glasses and holding up a glowing polyhedron. Beside her is the text "QUANDRIX - math is magic"

Quandrix is the college of magic through math, of arithmancy and fractal reflection. But the Mage of Quandrix subclass is only available to two classes, Sorcerer and Wizard. Both receive access to new spells at first, third, fifth, seventh and ninth level, although the stand-out inclusion here is Circle of Power, a spell normally only available to 17th-level Paladins. It provides advantages on saving throws to all allies within 30 feet and an equivalent to the Evasion feature on every kind of saving throw. They also gain an incentive to buff their allies or damage their enemies with Functions of Probability, which lets them add or subtract a d6 from the next attack roll of any creature within 30 feet.

Sixth level brings with it a sneakily powerful ability in the form of Velocity Shift. This lets the Quandrix Mage teleport a creature 30 feet as a reaction. That doesn't sound like a game-changer but can be devastating when combined with the right environmental hazards. Enemies can be teleported off of cliffs or into pools of boiling lava, while allies can be moved away from the same dangers. Level 10 gives the Quandrix Mage a straightforward debuff to Strength, Dexterity and weapon damage, but it's their Level 14 capstone that's bizarre. Quantum Tunneling gives them resistance to all physical damage and lets them walk through walls at the cost of 1d10 force damage per five feet of obstruction. This makes for a huge boon to stealth, especially when combined with the invisibility Sorcerers and Wizards already have access to.

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Silverquill

A male wizard with a silver quill emblem on one arm, along with streams of ink he pulls through the air. Next to him is text that reads "SILVERQUILL - Sharp style. Sharper Wit."

Silverquill is a college all about the power of the written or spoken word, dealing in light and darkness. The Mage of Silverquill subclass is naturally available to Bards but also works for Warlock or Wizard. Like Prismari, they gain two skill proficiencies, but this time from Deception, Intimidation, Performance or Persuasion. Their other first-level feature is Silvery Barbs, which forces a target to reroll a successful ability check, attack roll or saving throw. If the new roll fails, the Silverquill Mage can provide the inverse benefit to an ally, letting them reroll to turn a failure into potential success.

Level 6 gives the subclass Inky Shroud, which provides a free use of the Darkness spell while also empowering it to deal psychic damage. Infusion of Eloquence is the Silverquill Mage's level 10 ability and its most powerful one by far. Any spell that deals damage now automatically forces the target to become either frightened or charmed, without even so much as a saving throw. This seems like an oversight in terms of design, but as-is lets the class pull off some truly broken feats. A Silverquill Wizard can frighten a whole room with an upcast Magic Missile, while a Silverquill Bard can charm a target for round after round with Heat Metal. The Level 14 capstone Word of Power seems tame by comparison but is genuinely very useful when it makes enemies vulnerable to specific damage types.

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Witherbloom

A dryad wielding a flurry of green magic, along with the text "WITHERBLOOM - Get Your Hands Dirty."

Witherbloom can be likened to a medieval chemistry or bio major, focusing on the subtle science of life and death. The Mage of Witherbloom fits most obviously with a Druid but is also available to Warlocks. Their bonus spells aren't of great import, with two prominent exceptions. Revivify gives both Druids and Warlocks the ability to bring back fallen party members, while Greater Restoration is mistakenly made available to the subclass at seventh level. Neither main caster can cast the spell until ninth level when they gain fifth level spell slots, so it seems like a genuine typo on Wizards of the Coast's part. Witherbloom Mages also gain the Essence Tap ability, which lets them choose between spending Hit Dice to regain hit points in combat or channeling necrotic damage through all of their spells.

Sixth level lets the subclass brew potions, a feature normally absent in Fifth Edition. Their choices are between resistance to damage, limited healing/status removal and a powerful poison. Level 10 brings with it the deeply underwhelming Witherbloom Adept ability, dealing extra damage or healing extra hit points equal to the Mage's proficiency bonus. The final capstone at 14th level is the more interesting Withering Vortex, which drains life from an enemy already hit by a damage-dealing spell. The spell in question has to deal necrotic damage, but that can easily be accomplished through the judicious use of Essence Tap.

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