Strixhaven Campaign: Strixhaven background & class combinations

[KilgoreTrout1]

Hello All,

First time poster, long time lurker.

We are potentially starting a Strixhaven campaign soon and selecting one of the Strixhaven backgrounds is mandatory. Since the background comes with the respective school's feat that grants an expanded spell list, I was wondering what interesting Strixhaven feat-class combinations are out there.

Personally, I have settled on Silverquill-Trickery Cleric, although I seriously considered Silverquill-Order Cleric and Witherbloom-Shadow Sorc.

Additionally our DM allows dragonmark races, so this could potentially be a dragonmark race-strixhaven feat-class combination discussion. I thought Mark of Shadow Elf-Silverquill-Trickery Cleric created a very interesting spell list, but I chose a non-dragonmark race for roleplaying purposes.

I'm interested in what others think up and I look forward to some interesting ideas.

Note: We are aware Silvery Barbs is busted, we'll probably boost it to a 2nd level spell initially and then tweek it further if necessary.

[Bobthewizard]

If I ever play a Strixhaven campagin, I'd play a Quandrix wizard. It gets you the best familiar, Fractal, when you take the Strixhaven Mascot feat. Plus you can add Guidance and Aura of Vitality, and a free Goodberry once per day. But mostly it's for the Fractal mascot. That thing is amazing.

You don't need to be a wizard to gain the mascot, but if I'm playing a game in Strixhaven, I'm playing a wizard. If Eberron races are on the table, I'd consider mark of handling and treat conjure animals as summoning fractal beasts. And it fits Quandrix's druid/wizard vibe. But I'd probably play an Owlkin and really lean into Strixhaven.

[ender241]

I just started a campaign as a Fairy Bladesinger from Lorehold. The idea is that Lorehold adds Spirit Guardians so I can fly above enemies just out of their reach but close enough to proc SG. On my turn I'll either drop down to BB + extra attack then fly back up, or just stay in the air and blast from above. And I picked up Healing Word as the free 1st level spell, since healing is something Wizards usually can't do. We're only level 3 so haven't been able to really see what this build can do yet but it seems like it has potential.

Another option I thought about for leveraging SG from Lorehold would be a Moon Druid. A lot of wild shapes have auto-grapple/restrain on hit, so once you get hold of someone they either have to waste their action to try to escape and maybe get out of range of SG if they have enough movement (while also triggering an OA from you, which could re-grapple them) or continue to be blended by SG while possibly being restrained and pounded on by you. You would just want to make sure your con saves are good enough to tank and keep SG up.

[KilgoreTrout1]

Hey all,

Thanks for the input.

I forgot Lorehold grants Spirit Guardians. That's a big deal for any melee or tank builds.

I'm not convinced that Quandrix has the best mascot. Witherbloom's Pest Mascot can regenerate and deal damage while grappling. It's a real pest...:smallamused:

[tiornys]

I was hoping to find some strong Enchantment/Divination spells that aren't already on the Sorcerer/Warlock/Wizard lists for an Aberrant Mind Sorcerer to exploit with Psionic Sorcery, but honestly I don't see anything (other than Dissonant Whispers which AM already gets). Maybe someone else can spot something worthwhile here?

My next thought for exploiting expanded spell access is filling in the types of spells that various casters don't normally get. The biggest winner here is Winterbloom with a great healing package (Cure Wounds, Lesser/Greater Restoration, Revivify, Death Ward) that a Wizard or Warlock could really exploit (or a non-Divine Soul Sorcerer). For Warlocks, Quandrix and Silverquill have some great low level options where the base Warlock list is thin, and these schools also offer a little extra control for Clerics. Quandrix + Life Cleric is enticing for Goodberry (from the feat) & Aura of Vitality + Disciple of Life shenanigans.

The best feature of the mascots is the teleportation swap. Quandrix is the easy winner here since the mascot can literally go through walls. Silverquill is close with a mascot that can squeeze fit through 1" spaces (explicitly without squeezing, so you could likely argue for squeezing through a smaller gap). None of the mascots are particularly inspiring from a combat perspective (which is too bad, I was hoping to pull some Pact of the Chain shenaningans).

[LumenPlacidum]

I've been playing around with Beastmaster Ranger and either Quandrix or Prismari. Haste is an excellent buff for your animal, which can do a much damage as a martial character. A Deep Rothe will do stupendous damage on charge. A Giant Poisonous Snake does a lot of damage also. It essentially yields two attacks @5, three @9 (with Haste) and four @11. You still have a bonus action to use as desired.

Plus, with the free background feat, you can get Mage Armor for the snake. Its AC becomes 19 at level 1.

Giant Poisonous Snake and a kobold will do 64 damage with a draconic cry and heavy crossbow at level 11. The snake has AC 22 and enough reach and speed to keep away. It can interpose itself between you and your foe. Moreover, you can focus on Wisdom and not decrease the damage much. Then you can focus more on utility feats and being a perception god.