Strixhaven Supplemental Volume 2:

The Rulebook

Contents
Student Skills
Academic Life
Free Time
Mage Tower Revisions

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Strixhaven Supplemental | Table of Contents

1
 Student Skills
Students come from all walks of life. Some might be the
heirs to impressive noble families while others come from
nothing and work their way up. Some students might be
brainiacs who love to study while others only care about what
others think of them and spend much of their time
maintaining appearances. Players should be encouraged to
play their Strixhaven character their way.
However, it doesn't make sense for someone who loves
studying and doing homework to get the same grades as the
jock who only has eyes for Mage Tower. It likewise doesn't
make sense for those two to perform the same during an
actual game of Mage Tower. That's where student skills come
into play. Below we'll look into five skills that are intended to
both provide bonuses to certain skill checks during a player's
time at Strixhaven and to give players more control over the
type of student they build.
Studied Learning (Classes and
Homework)
Characters with a bonus in Studied Learning enjoy
knowledge for knowledge's sake. They tend to follow along
better during professor lectures and have an easier time
connecting the dots during homework assignments such as
readings or writing essays These bonuses, as the title
suggests, should be applied to classroom learning and
homework assignments.
Applied Learning (Labs and Exams)
Some individuals make great students in the classroom but
don't take tests well. Others might miss things in class but
make the connections they need during labs or exams. The
Applied Learning skill gives bonuses to those students who
are better at learning after getting a little hands-on
experience with the subject matter. These bonuses, as the
title suggests, should be applied to labs and exams.
Extracurriculars
Students on athletic scholarships or those who know that
they want to spend the rest of their time on stage or behind a
music stand might worry a little less about their studies and
instead prefer to spend their time honing their skills in other
ways. These students should gain bonuses from the
Extracurricular skill when engaged in different clubs and
sports. For example, a Mage Tower player might get extra
bonuses from this skill when passing or receiving the artifact
(more on the artifact in the mage tower section). It is at DM
discretion whether to apply these bonuses to any sort of club
or sport activity or only those in which the student is an active
member.
Jobs
Attending college is expensive and many students need to
take on a little extra work to make enough to get by. Those
without financial packages or even students wanting a little
extra spending money might be willing to put in a little extra
elbow grease during their part-time jobs. Students with
bonuses in the Job skill may use those bonuses when
working and may find themselves earning even more gold
than they'd planned.
Strixhaven Supplemental | Student Skills
2
Popularity
What would any school experience be like without parties,
cliques, and social circles? Students who like to meet new
people, hang out with friends, and expand their social
horizons should focus on building up their popularity. These
bonuses apply to different social situations and cause one to
befriend people faster and anger people more slowly.
Side note on popularity: DMs building in social interaction
into classes, Extracurriculars, jobs, etc. are encouraged to
change the relationship point threshold for Friends and
Rivals to something much higher such as 10 and -10 instead
of 2 and -2.
Allocating Student Skill Points
At the beginning of your adventures at Strixhaven I
recommend giving each student 3 points to put into any
Student Skills they wish. Students may not go over 2 points
in a single skill at first.
In addition to the free 3 points, students may take negative
dips in skills, up to -2 points, to give themselves extra points
that can be put in other skills. The book-smart character
might be a complete klutz in Mage Tower and unable to carry
a tune during musical performances so they need fewer
points in their Extracurricular skill and want more points in
their Learning skills. Someone who only cares about the
Drama Society and making connections might want more
points in Extracurriculars and Popularity and fewer points in
doing something as lowly as menial labor.
As players adventure in Strixhaven they should gain extra
points towards their Student Skills. My recommendation is
that this happens between school years and up to once
during the school year, perhaps after second exams. Some
DMs may opt to just give points between school years. The
bonuses players gain from Student Skills should feel more
like they're getting bonuses from being the type of student
they are rather than something they need to invest in more
than their normal skills and stats. Because of this, I
recommend no more than 2 extra points be given out per
school year.
Student Skill Extras
After having 3 or more points in a certain skill students
unlock an extra perk, detailed below.
• Studied Learning: You are devoted to studying and doing
homework assignments. You may opt to work on one
homework assignment between classes.
• Applied Learning: You start each exam with one reroll
available.
• Extracurriculars: Your student die from Extracurriculars
is now a d8. Gain one additional student dice each week.
• Jobs: Your hard work has been noticed. You are offered
better positions that offer more gold per day than before
(earn 1 gold per Job point per day of work.)
• Popularity: Your threshold for friendships is lowered by
two points per extra point of popularity above 2. Your
threshold for rivals is increased by two points per extra
point of popularity. For example, a popularity of 4 has
thresholds at 6 and -14.

Academic Life
Classes and Homework
Academic performance plays a major role in being a student
and is something the book addresses only with
job/extracurricular suspension and roleplay. For DMs
wishing to enhance the realism of attending a university: the
rules below are for you.
Volume 1 of Strixhaven Supplemental contains a number
of new classes, each with their own associated rolls or skills.
These checks are recommendations for DMs who wish to
roleplay out a student's class session, a homework
assignment, their time spent in the lab, or what happens
during an exam.
Classes should be spent as mostly roleplay or with the DM
describing what's taught. It's completely practical to describe
a week's worth of lessons at a time instead of trying to come
up with unique descriptions for each class. DMs are
encouraged to make sure students are paying attention
during class by asking them to make a roll of the DMs choice.
With a success nothing happens but on a failure a student
might have to roll a negative d4 for their next homework, for
example.
Students typically attend a class 4 times a week and are
assigned two homework assignments for the class with
homework being due at the end of the week.
Homework is something DMs shouldn't spend too much
time on during a session but something they're encouraged
to have students roll for each and every time they do
homework. Make sure to take note of the number on the roll
or check. Mark anything above a 20 as a 20. Example grades
can be found below.
To determine a student's total homework grades you can use
the following equation: (sum of homework grades x 5)/(total
number of homeworks).
Using this equation with the table below you should add up
each of the homeworks, multiply that number by 5, and divide
the whole thing by 12. With rounding you should arrive at 78,
giving you that student's percentage in the class.
Example Homework Grades
Week H.W. 1 H.W. 2 H.W. 3 H.W. 4 Total
1 16 20 8 13 57
2 15 17 20 7 59
3 20 20 16 15 71
Any student with a 70 or above is considered passing. This
means a student needs to maintain a 14 average to pass. This
might initially be considered too high, especially for lower
level characters with lower proficiency bonuses, but that's
where student dice and student skills come into play.
For DMs looking for a bit of extra realism and challenge for
their players, consider subtracting 1 from a player's rolls for
each year after the first year to symbolize the increased
difficulty of the coursework. For example, a third-year student
doing homework might roll an 18 arcana check (after any
applicable student dice and student skill bonuses) which
could be noted as a 16.
Labs
Strixhaven doesn't have a standardized curriculum and as
such the weights different professors use for labs and exams
can be different. DMs are encouraged to keep exam and lab
weights as higher or equal to homework so the Applied
Learning Student Skill has value.
Labs should be time to let a player really come into their
own. DMs should use practical, hands-on experiences for
different labs and each lab session should be a small little
story moment that gradually shows the growth of the student
throughout the course of the year.
Labs at Strixhaven typically take place on the last two days
of every week (see Free Time section below for examples of
schedules). Similar to homework, labs should be graded by
using any skill check or roll a DM asks for and noting the
result. To find a student's grades, sum up the total of the lab
scores, multiply the result by 5, and divide the total by the
number of lab classes.
Exams
Exams are another great measure of a student's growth
during the term. Exams should be both creative and
thematic, building off of the ideas behind the course. Exams
take place on the last day of the week (see Free Time section
below). Students may spend the previous day studying as
described in the book but I recommend DMs forgo the
studying skill checks and instead just grant one reroll at the
cost of the time spent studying. Spending additional time
studying before the exam should grant an additional reroll.
Contrary to the book, students may spend these rerolls as
they would advantage, using the higher number instead of
whatever the new number is. Also contrary to the book,
students may make multiple rerolls for the same check, up to
the number of rerolls they have available. An exam's grade is
averaged between the two rolls a player performs.
Final Grades and Passing/Failing
Final grades are decided by adding appropriate weights to
homework, labs, and exams. Using the examples on the table
below, the first course, including a lab component, is
weighted such that homework is worth 40% of the final grade
and the lab and exams are each worth 30%. The second
course, with no lab, has homework worth 30% of the final
grade with the exams being heavily weighted towards 70%.
By multiplying the scores of the three different categories by
the percentages of the weight values and adding the resulting
numbers up we can find a student's final score.
For this particular example the first course has a final
score of 84 and the second course has a final score of 69.
Despite the student's admirable homework performance in
the second class the exams were weighted heavily enough
that the poor performances there were enough to cause the
student to fail. Instead of dropping their extracurriculars and
jobs, students who fail exams spend a certain amount of time
on nights or weekends taking remedial classes. Those who
fail classes may attempt to retake that class next year. Failing
multiple classes means academic probation.
Final Grade Example
HW Lab Exam
78 - 40% weight 92 - 30% weight 84 - 30% weight
83 - 30% weight N/A 63 - 70% weight
Strixhaven Supplemental | Academic Life
3

Free Time
A student's life at school is determined as much by the
classes they take as it is by what they do with their free time.
For the most part, the classes a student takes happen during
the day. There are a few classes from Volume 1 that are noted
as taking place at night. In these cases a student's free time
should take place during the morning, midday, or afternoon
time spans.
In general, the below activities can take place during free
time slots. DMs and players are welcome to come up with
additional examples. Despite having no daytime free time,
roleplay may occur during the morning, midday, and
afternoon times between classes. DMs are welcome to even
have players get drawn away from classes briefly for short
adventures during the day; depending on the gravity of the
situation they may even earn excused absences from class.
• Homework: Students are typically assigned two
homework assignments per class per week for 8 total
assignments. These assignments are due at the end of the
week. Students who feel they did poorly on a particular
assignment may attempt to re-do up to two assignments a
week before submitting their work.
• Extracurriculars: Most Extracurriculars take place during
evenings with a few having performances or games on the
weekends. Students taking remedial lessons may miss out
on weekend events but remain in the Extracurricular
during the weekdays. Unlike in the book, students gain
two student dice per Extracurricular and gain them back
at the beginning of the new week.
• Jobs: Instead of paying students at the beginning or end of
the week they earn 1 gold per day when they work.
Students with 3 or more points in the Student Skill for
jobs earn additional gold. Students who do not wish to
work every single day may work with their supervisor to
come up with an agreeable schedule.
• Hangouts: Chances to target specific NPCs for
relationship points. If you want to mend a broken
relationship or advance a friendship consider inviting an
NPC to hang out with you!
• Office Hours: Struggling with homework or lab work?
Looking for some extra assistance? Try visiting a
professor during their office hours. Students using office
hours may gain 1d4 during a lab or homework check
within the same week as the office hour visit.
• Misc.: Sometimes students just want to grab some fresh
air, explore campus, check out their friend's performance,
enjoy a long meal at the dining hall, tackle a personal
project, or any number of other things. These things add
to the roleplay of being at Strixhaven but do not have any
direct benefits unless the DM determines they do.
Strixhaven Supplemental | Free Time
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Remedial Lessons
As mentioned in the "Academic Life" section, students who
fail an exam may take remedial lessons. These shorter
lessons are typically offered (and required) four times during
the week on evenings and three times during the week on
weekends. While remedial lessons are not required when
failing an exam it's typically a good idea to take them if you
want to pass the class. There are no remedial lessons offered
for final exams.
Adventure is out there!
Sometimes a perfectly scheduled week doesn't end up going
according to plan. DMs are welcome and encouraged to
throw adventure at their players during any point in the week.
Sometimes events may occur between classes but at other
points students going to the Biblioplex for a homework
session might end up doing anything but homework. Let
students know to be cognizant of this fact while they plan out
their free time so they're not caught on the last day of the
week with over half of their homework left to do.
The Wonders of Caffeine
Despite the magic and mystery, Strixhaven is still a university
and any university student knows the wonders of a fresh cup
of coffee. Students who own a Bottle of Boundless Coffee or
those who stop by the Firejolt Cafe for a quick pick-me-up
may attempt to use their beverage to squeeze more time into
the day. These individuals may, at times, receive an extra free
time slot during the mornings, before class, or during the
night, noted by an "xx" on the example schedules below.
Students should be warned not to rely on this method all
the time as those who abuse their caffeinated beverages may
find themselves becoming exhausted rather than getting
things done. DMs should allow players two to three times a
week to use caffeine, should they wish, before starting to give
warning signs of tolerance. Students who keep attempting to
drink up should start to gain points of exhaustion.
Only certain free time activities can take place during the
early morning or late night times. Most students and
professors will likely be asleep but students can study, do
homework, or other miscellaneous activities as they deem fit.
Example Schedules
A number of example schedules can be found on the
following pages. Time on Arcavios is measured in tenday
weeks where the first 8 days are spent on studies and taking
classes and the remaining 2 days, known as the weekends,
are mostly left up to students. As things move a little slower
on the weekends there's not as much free time as there would
be on a weekday without classes. Students have three free
time slots on weekday evenings and five free time slots on
each weekend day.
To make things simple, Strixhaven is on a trimester
system. Academic years take place over nine months where
each month is 3 tenday weeks for 30 total days. Exams take
place on the last weekend of every third month. DMs are
welcome to incorporate holidays such as Midwinter,
Greengrass, Midsummer, Highharvestide, and Feast of the
Moon or to come up with their own holidays for Arcavios.
Example Empty Schedule
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Morning Class 1 Class 2 Class 1 Class 2 Class 1 Class 2 Class 1 Class 2
Midday Lunch+Travel Class 4 Lunch+Travel Class 4 Lunch+Travel Class 4 Lunch+Travel Class 4
Afternoon Class 3 Lunch+Travel Class 3 Lunch+Travel Class 3 Lunch+Travel Class 3 Lunch+Travel
Evening-1 Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free
Evening-2 Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free
Evening-3 Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free
Evening-4 xx Sleep Sleep xx Sleep Sleep Sleep xx

Example Schedule
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Morning Class 1 Class 2 Class 1 Class 2 Class 1 Class 2 Class 1 Class 2
Midday Lunch+Travel Class 4 Lunch+Travel Class 4 Lunch+Travel Class 4 Lunch+Travel Class 4
Afternoon Class 3 Lunch+Travel Class 3 Lunch+Travel Class 3 Lunch+Travel Class 3 Lunch+Travel
Evening-1 Job Job Job Job Job Job Job Job
Evening-2 HW 1 HW 2 HW 3 HW 4 HW 5 HW 6 HW 7 HW 8
Evening-3 EC Hang Out EC Office Hours EC Hang Out EC Misc
Evening-4 xx Sleep Sleep xx Sleep Sleep Sleep xx

Example Remedial Schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Morning Class 1 Class 2 Class 1 Class 2 Class 1 Class 2 Class 1 Class 2
Midday Lunch+Travel Class 4 Lunch+Travel Class 4 Lunch+Travel Class 4 Lunch+Travel Class 4
Afternoon Class 3 Lunch+Travel Class 3 Lunch+Travel Class 3 Lunch+Travel Class 3 Lunch+Travel
Evening-1 Job Job Job Job Job Job Job Job
Evening-2 HW 1 Remedial HW 2 Remedial HW 4 Remedial HW 5 Remedial
Evening-3 EC Hang Out EC HW 3 EC Office Hours EC HW 6
Evening-4 xx Sleep Sleep xx Sleep Sleep Sleep xx

Strixhaven Supplemental | Example Schedules

5
 Example "Weekend" Schedule
9 10
Early Morning Job Job
Late Morning Lab HW
Early Afternoon Lab HW
Late Afternoon Lab Hang Out
Evening Hang Out Misc
Night Sleep Homework due

Example Remedial Schedule

9 10
Early Morning Free Free
Late Morning Free Remedial Lessons
Early Afternoon Free Remedial Lessons
Late Afternoon Free Remedial Lessons
Evening Free Free
Night Sleep Homework due

Example Exam Weekend Schedule

9 10
Early Morning Free Free
Late Morning Study Exam 1
Early Afternoon Study Exam 2
Late Afternoon Study Exam 3
Evening Free Exam 4
Night Sleep Homework due

Example Remedial Exam Schedule

9 10
Early Morning Study Remedial Exam
Late Morning Remedial Lessons Exam 1
Early Afternoon Remedial Lessons Exam 2
Late Afternoon Remedial Lessons Exam 3
Evening Study Exam 4
Night Study (Caffeine) Homework due

Strixhaven Supplemental | Example Schedules

6

Mage Tower
Changes to the map
In the published adventure Hunt For Mage Tower the ground
of the Strixhaven arena is described as having difficult
terrain. I've decided to dump that rule for two reasons. It
completely trivializes any strategic use of utility spells that
create difficult terrain and having everything be difficult
terrain would make actually traversing across the field with
the interactive rules below be terribly boring.
The actual towers for Mage Tower are shown in various
artworks but are far too tall for practical use. Instead the
tower itself is a four-story tall construction with each floor
being 10 feet off the ground such that someone standing on
the fourth and final floor would be roughly 30 feet off the
ground. The second and third floors are completely open with
no walls but the bottom floor is almost completely enclosed
except for a small entrance facing away from the other team's
tower. A magical device is stored in this area that is discussed
in the next section.
The middle of the arena, instead of being home to a large
hill, is made of special arcane-enhanced concrete. Crossing
ten feet of this terrain only uses 5 feet of movement.
The entire arena is adjustable such that walls and
obstacles could be placed in different configurations for
different matches.
Gameplay Differences
Leaving things to a number of different phases determined by
skill checks was a complete let down for me. In these rules,
Mage Tower is an actual battle pitting the players against
their rivals (or another team of your choice). For RP purposes
DMs can describe the arena as being under a dampening
field such that all spells become non-lethal. Alternatively, you
could create a magic item (preferably not requiring
attunement) that provides students with enchanted armor
and weapons and allows them to cast spells while within the
dampening field. The enchantments have a "life total" which
equals the player's max hitpoints. When that life total reaches
zero players essentially "die" and they are no longer able to
cast spells or use their enchanted armor or weapons.
However, if players return to the bottom floor of their home
tower they are able to "respawn". By using two full rounds to
interact with the device stored in the bottom section of their
tower students are able to essentially gain the effects of a
long rest. They receive full health and regain all of their spell
slots and other resources.
Players should be able to make use of mascots from the
Strixhaven Mascot feat without having any extra confusion.
For that reason this version of the game will use large, egg-
shaped objects called "artifacts" instead. These heavy,
metallic objects are special arcane devices that phase
through an individual unless they are being held with two
hands. This means only spells without somatic and material
components can be cast while in possession of the artifact.
Additionally, concentration saves made for spells that were in
effect before a player took possession of the artifact are made
at disadvantage while that player holds the artifact.
A player could make the strategic decision to drop the
artifact they are carrying in order to cast a spell at any
pursuers. However, enemy athletes can teleport their artifacts
home by using an action while within melee range of the
artifact so long as it is not being possessed by another player.
Because of this it is ill advised to drop the artifact for too
long.
Players might also drop the artifact involuntarily when
taking damage. Whenever a player takes more than 4 damage
while in possession of the artifact they must make a
Concentration saving throw where the DC equals 10 plus 2
for every additional 5 points of damage taken over 5, rounded
down. Example damage totals and DCs are below.
Artifact Possession DC Examples
Damage Difficulty Class
9 10
13 12
18 14
21 16
29 18
Picking up the artifact requires using both an action and a
bonus action, however one can still move on their turn when
picking up the artifact.
Players may also attempt to toss the artifact to a teammate
by using an action with the receiver using their reaction to
attempt to catch. Doing so requires both the passer and
receiver making their own checks. Passers make either a
Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Athletics) check while
receivers make either a Strength or Dexterity saving throw. If
the average of the two rolls is equal to or greater than the
difficulty class in the table below, the pass is successful. If the
average is below the difficulty class then the pass fails and
the artifact is dropped in a location of the DMs choosing
based on how badly the pass went. The DC for a five foot
pass is 5 and increases by 2 for every additional 5 feet.
Passing Distance and Difficulty Class
Distance Average DC Requirement
5 (adjacent square) 5
10 7
15 9
25 13
40 19
The goal of the game is to bring the opposing team's
artifact from the top of their Mage Tower to the top of yours.
All spells and attacks are fair game in an attempt to stop
them. Because running around for three phases of 200
rounds each would get really boring really quickly this new
version of Mage Tower is played until one team has three
points. In the event of a stalemate, DMs can call for a sudden
death where the first team to take possession wins.
Strixhaven Supplemental | Mage Tower
7