Class is back in session. This week, we shall drink deep of the Holy Water of Oghma, in order to discover the mystical secrets of the Knowledge Domain. Clerics who follow gods of knowledge such as Azuth and Oghma of the Forgotten Realms, gods of secrets and mystery like Vecna of Greyhawk, or even gods of craft such as Reorx of Krynn. Even gods who pursue knowledge as a means to an end, such as the gods of magic Mystra of the Forgotten Realms and Boccob and Wee Jas of Greyhawk, have been known to grant their clerics access to the Knowledge Domain. Unfurl your parchment, pop open your inkwells, and put on your thinking caps. It’s time to learn about the divine domain of Knowledge.

We’ve completed our first full rotation of the twelve classes, and exhausted all the content that the Basic Rules have to offer—as far as classes go, that is. This next wave of the Class 101 series will appraise every subclass within the Player’s Handbook and break down each subclass’s strengths, weaknesses, thematic elements, and everything else a player would want to know before playing that subclass. Because of this, you will need to own the Player’s Handbook (or purchase the subclass a la carte on the Marketplace) in order to make full use of this series.

Check out other articles in the Cleric 101 series, like our broad overview in Cleric 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Playing the Divine, and Cleric 101: Life Domain. If you’re interested in playing other classes, check out the entire Class 101 series.

Story of the Knowledge Domain

“Your god is a fool, cleric of Boccob.” A gaunt man in sleek, black clothes stood at the top of a stairwell. His skin was light brown, but it seemed ashen and pale. He looked down the bridge of his nose, eyes glinting crimson, at the scholarly cleric that sat hunched over a desk within a cramped study at the bottom of the stair.

The cleric of Boccob, god of magic, didn’t turn to look at his uninvited guest. He knew the voice—the voice of the vampiric cleric of Vecna that had appeared to him many times before, to tempt him with magical secrets hidden even to Boccob’s all-knowing eyes. Golden candlelight flickered around the scholar’s purple robes and shone upon his brown brow, which was slick with cold sweat. “You would do well to leave my study, vampire. The words of your god are poison.”

The vampire chuckled. He stood at the threshold to the cleric’s study. Rain poured down outside, soaking the debonair monster to his bloodless core. Nevertheless, he was bound by his cursed nature to enter another’s abode only if invited. “Poison, you say?” he said. “Perhaps, but it is a poison that burns away all of the foolish limitations of the mortal mind. The cosmos are vast, my friend, and there is more to be learned than can be learned in a thousand lifetimes. I can provide you with those endless years. My Lord Vecna can provide you with time eternal.”

The cleric of Boccob screwed shut his eyes and pretended not to listen, just as he had done a dozen times before over the past several months. Every time the vampire appeared at his doorstep, he succumbed more to his offers. This night, the scholar had even left his door open, so they could converse more freely. But he still had strength of will left within his body. The cleric raised a hand, and summoned a simple spell of thaumaturgy.

“I said, begone!” he shouted. He spun around, not meeting the vampire’s hypnotic gaze, and slammed the door shut in the unholy cleric’s face with a furious gesture. He stood in silence for a moment, hearing nothing but the sounds of his own heavy breath and the pattering of rain. Then, his visitor’s voice slithered into his ear.

“Another night, perhaps. We shall meet again, my friend. And I do hope that, next time, you will invite me to join you.”

Knowledge Domain Features

A divine domain is a suite of abilities innately tied to an aspect of a god’s divinity. A god may possess many domains within their expansive power, but a mortal being can only ever receive the powers of a single one. Clerics who receive the power of the Knowledge Domain are studious people who wish to learn, perhaps as a means to an end, or simply to acquire knowledge of knowledge’s own sake. These clerics gain several features that demonstrate their worldliness, as well as their aptitude for acquiring new knowledge.

The cleric gains access to five subclass features at 1st, 2nd, 6th, 8th, and 17th level. You can read all of the Knowledge Domain features in the Player’s Handbook. In summary, your subclass features allow you to:

• Gain proficiency in several academic subjects, and double your proficiency bonus when making Intelligence checks with any of those skills.
• Always have a specific selection of domain spells prepared.
• Channel your god’s divine power to gain temporary proficiency with a skill or tool, or to read a creature’s mind and magically influence it.
• Improve the destructive power of your cantrips.
• See into the past.

Benefits of the Knowledge Domain

The Knowledge Domain grants its clerics access to powers that make them skilled in the social interaction pillar of D&D. Gaining a handful of extra skill proficiencies, plus the ability to read minds and magically influence people, makes the Knowledge Domain an attractive option for a cleric in an intrigue-heavy (or otherwise roleplay-focused and character-driven) campaign. However, this isn’t the only thing they’re good at. If you love digging into the lore and secrets of a campaign world—and you will probably be your Dungeon Master’s favorite person on the planet, if you do—the Knowledge Domain makes it simple to unearth secret information.

So, even in a campaign rife with dungeon exploration, your Knowledge Domain cleric can discover hidden knowledge that could help your party get the upper hand in the next encounter, discover the boss monster’s weakness, or even learn cryptic lore that could help your party avert crisis later in the campaign. This role of the Knowledge Domain cleric is best suited to campaigns run by a DM that loves to withhold secrets, expecting that the player characters will try to sniff them out.

Your domain spells support this role well, with spells like speak with dead and augury making it easy to learn information beyond that which the environment or even other NPCs could tell you. Your domain even grants you access to a few nice spells like arcane eye and confusion that aren’t available to other clerics.

Drawbacks of the Knowledge Domain

The Knowledge Domain doesn’t have any lackluster class features that drag the entire subclass down. Nevertheless, its focus on the social interaction pillar of the game can make it feel hard to contribute in scenarios when the combat and exploration pillars take center stage. Even in situations like this, however, the cleric’s spell list is expansive enough that simply preparing guiding bolt, shield of faith, and a few other combat staples should make you able to contribute to any sticky situation your party finds itself in. While you won’t excel in combat in the same way that a War Domain cleric might, you’ll still have plenty of oomph just on the merits of your class alone.

The Knowledge Domain encourages you to invest in your Intelligence ability. After all, if you want to be a smart cleric that knows many arcane mysteries of the world, it only makes sense to have a high Intelligence. Unfortunately, putting points in Intelligence can make it difficult to survive on the battlefield, further skewing this subclass’s specialization towards low-combat campaigns. While many clerics gain proficiency in heavy armor that can make it easier to have a low Constitution, the Knowledge Domain grants you no such benefit. Instead of taking to the front lines like a Light or War Domain cleric, you’ll be best suited to staying in the back ranks of the party, like a wizard.

Suggested Build

If you’re playing a Knowledge Domain cleric from 1st level, you should choose a race that gives you a bonus to your Wisdom score, like a hill dwarf. Races with bonuses you can assign to any trait, such as a variant human or a half-elf, also allow you to allocate your ability score bonuses as you see fit, while also letting you get some other useful traits, too, like extra skill proficiencies. After Wisdom, it’s worth having a high Intelligence score to let you take advantage of your proficiency in skills like Arcana and History. Strength will help you wear medium armor better and use melee weapons, whereas Dexterity will help you wear light armor better and use ranged and finesse weapons—this choice is up to your personal preference.

As usual, your character’s background is up to you. Many clerics come from an acolyte background, having been trained in the priestly arts since birth, but others come to faith later in life. Perhaps you were a soldier who dedicated years of your life to a temple after suffering a terrible wound and miraculously surviving. Perhaps you were a charlatan who was nearly stoned to death in the streets of a scummy city, but were saved by the charity of a humble cleric and became her pupil.

Selecting EQUIPMENT when creating your cleric is a good idea. Since you aren’t proficient in either heavy armor or martial weapons, you’ll want to select a mace and scale mail (if your Strength is higher than your Dexterity) or leather armor (if your Dexterity is higher). Details like what type of holy symbol you wear are aesthetic decisions, and thus entirely up to you.

Spells

Fortunately, as a cleric, you have the entire cleric spell list available to you whenever you prepare spells at the start of the day. Nevertheless, when playing a cleric, I like to have a typical spell list that my cleric always has prepared—unless I specifically choose otherwise. This saves me the trouble of having to re-select all my spells at the start of each day. Since you’re primarily going to be playing a supportive role in your party, having spells that buff allies and debuff enemies will be useful to you. Your Domain Spells feature is geared towards discovering information and out-of-combat utility, so your “average adventuring day” spell selection should include a few spells that help support your allies in combat.

As a 1st-level cleric, you know three cantrips and can prepare a number of 1st-level spells equal to 1 + your Wisdom modifier. Odds are, your Wisdom modifier will be either +2 or +3 right now, so you’ll be able to choose either three or four 1st-level spells whenever you complete a long rest. As a support character, the guidance cantrip will allow you to always have a way to help your party, since the spell never runs out of uses. Even as a support character, you’ll want to have at least one offensive cantrip; sacred flame is a good choice. Beyond this, your cantrips are simply a matter of preference, and almost any will serve you well.

You can prepare any 1st-level spells from the cleric spell list, but you can use this list of suggested spells to prepare an all-purpose spell loadout that will serve you in most circumstances. As you go on adventures and learn what dangers your character tends to face, you can personalize your spell loadout. Try to choose one spell labeled SUPPORT, one labeled DEFENSE, and one labeled OFFENSE. If you have a high Wisdom score and can prepare additional spells, choose others of your choice. Note that this list only includes some spells from the Player's Handbook, so if you want to choose more unusual spells, or have other sources like Xanathar's Guide to Everything, you'll have to do a little self-directed research. This list is just here to get you started if this is your first time playing a Knowledge Domain cleric.

(Note that, thanks to your Domain Spells feature, you always have the command and identify spells prepared, and they don’t count against the number of spells you can prepare each day.)

• Bless (SUPPORT)
• Bane (DEFENSE)
• Detect magic (EXPLORATION) [this spell can be cast a ritual, which means you can cast it without expending a spell slot, if you spend an extra 10 minutes casting it]
• Guiding bolt (OFFENSE)
• Healing word (SUPPORT)
• Inflict wounds (OFFENSE)
• Protection from evil and good (DEFENSE) [This spell requires that you have 25 gp worth of holy water, which the spell consumes]
• Shield of faith (DEFENSE)

Feats

At 4th level, you get to gain either an Ability Score Increase or a feat. Choosing an Ability Score Increase lets you increase one ability score by +2 (such as increasing your Wisdom score from 16 to 18) or increase two ability scores by +1 (like increasing your Wisdom from 15 to 16 and your Intelligence score from 13 to 14). Increasing your ability scores makes you better at a wide variety of things; for instance, increasing your Wisdom score makes it harder for enemies to resist your spells, makes it easier for you to hit with your spells, and also makes you better at making Wisdom checks.

Feats, on the other hand, give you a special ability that could be more helpful in a specific circumstance, as opposed to the broad improvement that an Ability Score Increase could give you. Wisdom is your most important ability score, since it governs your spellcasting abilities. Once you’ve increased your Wisdom score to 20 (its maximum value), or even just to 18 (a pretty good value), you may want to choose a feat. You can choose any feat you want to support your character concept, but there are some feats that may be more useful to your character than others. These feats include:

Keen Mind. This is a niche feat, but thematically appropriate for a Knowledge Domain cleric. This gives you a +1 bonus to your Intelligence score, and gives you the interesting trait of being able to remember anything you’ve seen or heard in the past month, among others.

Linguist. Like with Keen Mind, this niche feat makes it even easier to lean into your role as a mortal encyclopedia. It can be of limited use in dungeon-delving campaigns, but the ability to know lots of languages and create secrets codes could be invaluable in an intrigue-heavy campaign.

Lucky. This feat is always useful. It’s one of the less interesting, but more broadly useful, feats in the game. You can be the judge of whether or not that’s fun for you.

Heavily Armored. If your Dungeon Master makes it difficult for you to sit around in the back rank and cast spells while safely protected by warriors, you may need heavy armor to protect you. This feat has your back, but isn’t necessary otherwise.

War Caster. As a support character, you’ll be casting a lot of buff spells on your allies, and many of these spells require you to maintain concentration. Concentration can be broken by taking damage, but War Caster makes it easier to hang on to your concentration after taking damage. It has several other valuable benefits.

If you want more advice for building a cleric, check out Cleric 101. Have you ever played a Knowledge Domain cleric? What advice would you give to players that want to make a character like this?

James Haeck is the lead writer for D&D Beyond, the co-author of  Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and the Critical Role Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, a member of the Guild Adepts, and a freelance writer for Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Adventurers League, and other RPG companies. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his fiancée Hannah and their animal companions Mei and Marzipan. You can find him wasting time on Twitter at @jamesjhaeck.