Discipline Domain Cleric/priest: D&D 2024 (5.5e) Subclass Optimisation Guide

Draw upon sources of holy and shadow magic to damage and heal in equal measure with this brand new subclass from D&D: World of Warcraft.

At a glance

Discipline domain features

Discipline spells (Lv3) – 3/5

Level	Spell
3	Arcane vigor, guiding bolt, magic weapon, shield of faith
5	Prayer of mending, protection from energy
7	Guardian of faith, stoneskin
9	Circle of power, destructive wave

Prayer of mending is the only new spell on this list and I don’t think it’s that great. You basically place it on an ally and they’re healed a small amount when they take damage. It then jumps to an ally and they have to wait till they take damage then it heals a small amount again. It can do this healing up to 5 times. Problem is, that’s longer than many encounters and some creatures don’t lose damage in a round so this won’t activate anyway. It’s slightly less healing than mass healing word which is the same level, affects more targets, is instantaneous and is just a bonus action. Sadly, I’m not that keen on this spell.

Arcane vigor is pointless on a cleric. It’s just a worse version of healing word you can only cast on yourself and expends hit dice. It’s a spell for wizards and sorcerers with no other source of healing.

I also find protection from energy hard to justify for the concentration and level 3 spells slot cost to guess what resistance will be best for a character.

The rest of the spells are decent though.

Holy bolt (Lv3) – 4/5

Channel divinity is replenished a bit on a short rest so even at level 3, you’re probably getting to use this 3-5 times per day (and that increases a bit with levels).

Healing word is a level 1 spell that does a similar amount of healing with your bonus action. It also does damage like inflict wounds but with range and a bonus action so I’d say this is like quite a good level 2 spell. Handily, it’s not a spell so you can use levelled spells with your action in the same turn as this.

I think this is really solid and always useful. It would have been nice to be able to use it more, but combined damage and healing on some bonus actions is pretty great.

Atonement (Lv3) – 2/5

There’s a bit of setup here. Heal allies to bless them for a round then use a damage dealing spell to restore a few hit points. At its best, you can use mass healing word and then a damage dealing spell your next turn and restore some hit points per ally.

I think this is supposed to work in conjunction with prayer of mending so you have automatic heals blessing allies for when you deal damage later.

My problem is this is very fiddly with just minor benefits. You could maybe spam mass healing word a fair bit, but that will still only work every other turn and relies on a decent level spell slot the next turn. At lower levels, that healing will be tiny and at higher levels, it may be too small for the level to really build around.

I think there’s too much fiddling around with spells for not enough benefit when other spells might be more ideal.

Luminous barrier (Lv6) – 5/5

This is a much better use of your atonement’s blessing. Mass cure wounds will be perfect here as you can cast it then use your bonus action to grant temporary hit points and resistance to all damage. Mass healing word is good too, but you’ll need a setup turn as both use your bonus action.

As you level up, those temporary hit points will increase a fair bit. This is still good on a single target, but I’d really be inclined to get it affecting the whole party where possible. Just be aware that it eats into uses of holy bolt (and vice versa).

Ultimate penitence (Lv17) – 5/5

This could be really potent. A teleportation and more bolts per level of a spell slot you expend. Considering one bolt is worth roughly a level 2 spell, expending a level 1 or 2 spell slot to get 1-2 extra bolts is an absolute no-brainer! I still think it’s worth higher spell slots too. Even if we compare it to spirit guardians, holy bolt will be causing instant damage and healing with a bonus action and no concentration. It’s not necessarily better than spirit guardians, but I think it’s worth higher level spells.

I think this is great for nova turns where you blast loads of holy bolts to also grant lots of healing and still have an action for a high level spell.

How good is the discipline domain subclass?

I think it’s a shame that atonement is a bit underwhelming as largely, this is a really good subclass and perhaps one of the few cleric subclasses that I think is genuinely interesting.

It takes this idea of a cleric who smites enemies and heals allies and combines that nicely into features that can handle both simultaneously. I think holy bolt is just a really great addition to their repertoire and luminous barrier is a really strong, protective feature.

I might quibble that there’s too much demand on your channel divinity with this subclass or that prayer of mending could have been a bit better. I’d have liked atonement to be less fiddly or more impactful, but largely, this ends up as quite a good subclass.

4/5

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Building an optimised discipline cleric/priest

Building a discipline domain cleric/priest works much the same as most cleric subclasses. You’ll want to build around spellcasting and perhaps some resilience as well with plenty of damage and healing spells.

While the discipline domain has been created specifically for the World of Warcraft setting, there’s no reason why it can’t be used in other settings or that character options from other books can’t be used with it. As such, in my build advice below, I’ve considered character options from all 5.5e books. I’ll also add character options from D&D: World of Warcraft once they become widely available.

Ability scores

Recommended options

• Wisdom: This is primarily to enhance your spellcasting (which is a big deal for a cleric). It will also give a bit of a boost to some of your features like luminous barrier and holy bolt.
• Constitution: The higher this is, the longer you’ll last. You’ll also want to get this high to help your concentration.
• Strength/Dexterity: You’ll need one of these for your AC. I wouldn’t max this out, instead aim for 14 dexterity and medium armor or 15 strength and heavy armor. Heavy armor has a higher ceiling but a little more investment in strength and your divine order. You don’t really need these aboloity scores for weapon attacks as you should be prioritising spellcasting so they don’t need to be really high.

Options to avoid

• Intelligence: Of little use for a cleric.
• Charisma: Clerics aren’t built for face skills and you’ve got more important ability scores to focus on.

Ability score	Point Buy	Standard Array
Strength	8/15	8/14
Dexterity	14/8	14/8
Constitution	15/15	13/13
Intelligence	8/10	12/12
Wisdom	15/15	15/15
Charisma	8/8	10/10

Skills

Recommended options

• Arcana: If you go with the thaumaturge divine order, you can gain improved arcana making this a good proficiency.
• Insight: Decent wisdom skill that can be handy in conversations.
• Religion: Decent knowledge skill. You can enhance this further by taking the thaumaturge option so you’re less reliant on intelligence here.

Species/race

I’d look for species with the following qualities:

• Toughen up: With just d8 hit dice, no matter your AC, you’re still a little light on hit points.
• Damage dealing: A big part of your role will be dealing damage through your spells. Enhancing or supplementing this however you can will be useful.
• Innate spellcasting: More spells and spell castings will be useful for a full caster.

Recommended options

• Aasimar (2024): Two resistances for extra durability. You get some extra healing to reduce the strain on your spell slots. Celestial revelation will also give you options for flight or some close combat effects letting you mix up your approach.
• Elves (2024): Lots of extra spells to cast. High Elf gives some great spells and a some flexibility too.
• Human (2024): An extra skill is nice. More heroic inspiration is useful for any class and an extra origin feat could help fill gaps in your repertoire. You could consider something like tough to up your HP. There’s also lucky and musician for rerolling dice.
• Tiefling (2024): Some innate spellcasting and a damage resistance is nice. You’ve got some of the most common damage types to choose from for your resistances here.
• Warforged (2024): If you want a bit more resilience, then a Warforged is a good route to go for improved AC and resistances.

Backgrounds

Backgrounds are much more important now with D&D 2024 with ability score increases, origin feats and skills all now linked to your background.

For the discipline domain, I’d prioritise wisdom and then constitution, dexterity or strength for your ability score increase.

Name	Ability scores	Origin feat	Skill proficiencies	Tool proficiency
Familiar trainer (AU)	Constitution, intelligence, wisdom	Familiar friend	Animal handling, arcana	One kind of gaming set
Farmer	Strength, constitution, wisdom	Tough	Animal handling, nature	Carpenter’s tools
Genie touched (HoF)	Dexterity, wisdom, charisma	Magic initiate (wizard)	Perception, persuasion	Glassblower’s tools
Guide	Dexterity, constitution, wisdom	Magic initiate (druid)	Stealth, survival	Cartographer’s tools
Hermit	Constitution, wisdom, charisma	Healer	Medicine, religion	Herbalism kit
Horizon weaver initiate (AU)	Dexterity, constitution, wisdom	Portal jumper	Acrobatics, survival	Weaver’s tools
Moonwell pilgrim (HoF)	Constitution, wisdom, charisma	Magic initiate (druid)	Nature, performance	Painter’s supplies
Sage	Constitution, intelligence, wisdom	Magic initiate (wizard)	Arcana, history	Calligrapher’s tools
Wayfarer	Dexterity, wisdom, charisma	Lucky	Insight, stealth	Thieves’ too

Feats

Origin feats

I’d say the below are your best origin feats for the discipline domain:

• Familiar friend (AU) – Get an enhanced familiar which is useful for all sorts of utility.
• Lucky – Grant advantage or disadvantage on important d20 tests.
• Magic initiate – Grab some spells from another spell list.
• Musician – Give everyone in the party a regular supply of heroic inspiration.
• Portal jumper (AU) – Teleport out of danger with your movement and gain a damage resistance. Handy for weaving around enemies more with spirit guardians.
• Tough – Great way to grab some extra hit points, especially if you want to dive into the front lines.
• Transmuted anatomy (AU) – More speed and better constitution saving throws will help your concentration.

General feats

At level 4, you can start picking up general feats. These are some of the better options for the discipline domain:

• Abjuration adept (AU) – Clerics/priests cast a lot of abjuration spells. This will give you more of these known and add some temporary hit points when you cast them.
• Divination adept (AU) – Gain some information gathering spells and grant advantage or disadvantage on some d20 tests.
• Fey-touched – 2 more spells prepared and 2 free castings expands your repertoire nicely. Misty step works well for moving where you need to be.
• Inspiring leader – Go for the wisdom increase and bestow temporary hit points on the party each rest. A good idea to have someone in your party with this. This combines nicely with something like aid as well which increases hit point maximum rather than temporary hit points.
• Mage slayer – Get better at dealing with mages plus a form of legendary resistance.
• Magic connoisseur (AU) – Grab a couple more spells known and a couple of free castings. Great on a spellcaster.
• Medium armor master – Improved AC while wearing medium armor if you want to take dexterity up to 16 for the extra AC.
• Ritual caster – Can really expand your spell repertoire for some utility spells, plus they don’t require spell slots when cast as rituals. Good if no one else in the party can get things like detect magic.
• Shadow-touched – 2 free castings of spells expands your spell uses nicely and invisibility is a great option.
• Speedy – If you plan on using spirit guardians a lot, having a bit of extra movement is a pretty good idea.
• Spell resistant (AU) – A damage resistance and spell resilience is good for your durability.
• War caster – This will help you maintain concentration and juggle spellcasting and shields.
• Warlike familiar (AU) – Battle familiar is really good for extra damage output and a bit of a meat shield and this gives you an even better battle familiar.

Weapons

Discipline domain clerics should mostly be focused on casting spells. This probably means very little in the way of weapon attacks.

With this in mind, I think it doesn’t make sense to build around high damage weapon attacks. You’ve got cantrips and spells as standard for when you do want to deal damage. Instead it makes sense to build around defence which means grabbing a shield and a one handed weapon for the odd occasion you might need one. A quarterstaff is a good option.

Armor

If you go for a dexterity build, take 14 dexterity and half plate when you can afford it. You don’t need a really high dexterity as you won’t make many weapon attacks so I’d stick with medium armor. If you go for a strength build, you’ll eventually want 15 strength to get the best heavy armor. Plate armor is great when you can afford it, but it is pricey.

No matter your armor, you should also grab a shield. You shouldn’t be making many weapon attacks so this shouldn’t inhibit your damage, but will help your defence.

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