The classroom for the Witherbloom College functions more of a muster point for where classes start, but not where they often take place. These classes are built into the trunk of both living and dying massive trees. They are large enough to host the whole class when the occasion calls for it, but more often than not, the professor will take the class to a location suitable to the current lesson for the day.
The trunk classrooms are filled with tanks, enclosures, and equipment for the biological and biochemical study of living and dying things. It is just as likely to see a small tank with a preserved creature who had perished, as a small pen with a living creature, actively being studied.
Witherbloom students first learn patience before any other skill. Their class work can be comparatively more involved than other colleges in early years, because they are expected to grow and foster their own plants and animals for their studies.
Biotics focuses on the processes of life, usually with specialization around understanding how things grow, regenerate, and sustain themselves. Students at first must grow plants and rear animals without the aid of magic but most quickly catch on and are permitted the use of simple spells to aid in the process
Skill DC = 10 + (2 x year)
After a student learns a spell to aid in the growth process, they can use that spell to reduce the spell save DC by 4.
At the discretion of the DM another spell may be used that is not learned from this activity.
It is not until students have mastered the ability to foster life, that they are permitted to experiment with extinguishing it. Necrotics focuses on death, and the draining of life force from living things. Students are only permitted to draw life force and exert death upon plants and creatures they themselves have brought into the world. Because of this, necrotics is the least studied practice in all of Strixhaven.
Skill DC = 12 + (2 x year)
At the discretion of the DM another spell may be used that is not learned from this activity.
Students who progress through necrotics and wish to further their knowledge in the domain will proceed on to vampirics and transference, the study of not just extinguishing life force, but the ability to transfer life force from one creature, to another.
Skill DC = 16 + (2 x year)
At the discretion of the DM another spell may be used that is not learned from this activity.
Students who show an aptitude for the study of life force are encouraged to extend their studies to the domain of bioexotics. This is the study of living entities with non-biological forms as well as creatures that exist in an undead state.
Skill DC = 16 + (2 x year)
At the discretion of the DM another spell may be used that is not learned from this activity.
These spells do not count against any spells known restrictions a class might have.
3 Successes (Any): Infestation, Druid Craft, Mold Earth, Shape Water, Poison Spray
5 Successful Biotics: Animal Friendship, Speak with Animals, Locate Animals or Plants, Speak with Plants
8 Successful Necrotics: Vampiric Touch, Plant Growth, Blight, Animal Growth
Animal Growth is a spell that functions with the same intention as Plant Growth for animals. It can be used to age a single creature to maturity with roughly 5 casts. The 10th cast of this spell, or when cast on a creature in the last 10th of its life, will cause the creature to die. When cast over an 8 hour period, all creatures in the area will be healthier and stronger. This spell has no effect on creature who have an intelligence score over 4.
10 Successful Vampirics and Transference: Life Transference, Enervation, Negative Energy Flood, Antilife Shell
10 Successful Bioexotics: Charm Monster, Dominate Beast, Create Undead
As students progress through Witherbloom classes, they will continually improve at the skills they put to use. Once per term, after passing at least one Witherbloom class in this classroom a student can take a permanent +1 bonus to Nature, Arcana, Animal Handling or Investigation , to a maximum of +3
After +3 a student can elect to become proficient in the skill, removing the bonus
If already proficient, the character gains expertise, removing the bonus
The first time a student chooses Nature, they may choose the base skill to be Wisdom
The first time a student chooses Arcana, they may choose the base skill to be Wisdom
The first time a student chooses Animal Handling, they may choose to extend the skill to include plants.
Students who graduate with an expertise in vampirics can be turned, becoming a vampire themselves
Students who graduate with an expertise in bioexotics gain the ability to use Animal (Plant) Handling on creatures of any type as means to properly pacify and engage with them safely.
All graduates of Witherbloom may choose to unlock either all necromancy spells, regardless of their class, or all druid spells regardless of their class. They still can only take spells for which they have a spell slot they can cast it from. These spells are considered to be part of their class spell list(s).
Storrev is an infamous and revered lich within the city of Ravnica and the Golgari Swarm. She was one of the first Golgari Devkarin elves to attend Strixhaven, and she used the knowledge she attained to become Ravnica's first known lich. With her eternal existence, when she sees promise in a young member of her guild she will use her position as an advisor to the Witherbloom College board to place a student into the school without cost or question. She serves as the domain expert for the school on Lichdom.
- Strixhaven Custom Report Card from Adaptive Dungeons