Can’t we all just get along?!
If you’re asking the Peace Cleric in D&D 5e, the answer is a resounding “yes.”
These Clerics are more than just healers and advocates for peace, love, and understanding. With the power granted to them by the deities they worship, they can form powerful and lasting bonds between people.
After all, the sum result of people working together is greater than the individual contributions.
Whether we’re talking about diplomatic relations between nations, an organization (like a temple or guild), or a ragtag group of adventurers, Peace Clerics serve an important role.
Do you have what it takes to build these relationships and spread peace?
Then enjoy this full subclass guide to the Peace Cleric in D&D 5e!
What is the Peace Cleric in D&D 5e?
Peace and togetherness are at the core of any healthy group of people.
Nations that are at peace with each other benefit from trade, shared culture, and mutual defense. This allows the people to live rich and fulfilled lives free from the ravages of war.
As treaties and diplomatic negotiations are necessary, Peace Clerics are a staple in overseeing these practices and events. There, they foster a sense of mutual understanding toward the greatest outcome.
When times are harder, Peace Clerics can build and steel the resolve of a community. By sharing each other’s burdens and working together, the load can be lightened for everyone.
Temples, guilds, and other organizations similarly benefit from Peace Clerics’ wisdom and influence.
As you can expect, the Peace Cleric seeks a world of understanding and harmony. With guidance from their deity, they work tirelessly to create the changes that they want to see in the world.
But don’t get them mistaken!
To defend the peaceful communities and groups in which they operate, Peace Clerics take no issue with violence.
After all, sometimes the quickest route towards restoring peace is to meet threats with an overwhelming force to ultimately prevent more suffering.
Deities commonly revered by Peace Clerics include:
- Eldath, Goddess of peace, comfort, quiet places, and pools of water
- Rao, God of peace, serenity, and reason
- Angharradh, Elven Goddess of Spring, fertility, planting, and wisdom
- Berronar Truesilver, Dwarven Goddess of safety, truth, healing, and home
- Cyrrollalee, Halfling Goddess of trust, friendship, hospitality, and home
- Gaerdal Ironhand, Gnome God of warriors, protectors, and vigilance
The Peace Cleric appears in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything alongside the Order Domain and Twilight Domain Cleric subclasses.
Role in the Party
The theme of the Peace Cleric definitely plays into a very pacifistic type of character, not unlike the Redemption Paladin.
However, the real thematic focus of the Peace Domain is on the forming of bonds.
While they are great at using diplomacy and nonviolent solutions, their real strength is in bringing out the bond formed between people. To defend those bonds, Peace Clerics have no problem resorting to violence.
In combat, the Peace Cleric has plenty of features and spells to support their allies. When it comes to healing, buffing, and protection, Peace Clerics are great to have!
Peace Clerics aren’t ideal for the party’s frontlines, but can greatly strengthen the party from the middle or back of the party’s formation!
Outside of combat, Peace Clerics make for excellent diplomats and advisors.
This is especially true in situations where tensions are high and things might be becoming unreasonable. A well-made point of wisdom from a Peace Cleric could potentially end an entire war if it falls on the right ear to spur the right action!
Peace Cleric Features 5e
Most of the Peace Cleric’s features are about creating bonds with their party. Once created, these bonds offer many benefits including bonuses to rolls and reducing incoming damage.
Meanwhile, the Peace Domain spell list gives a very solid set of defensive options to help you protect your allies.
Also Check Out: Using Turn and Destroy Undead in D&D 5e!
Peace Domain Spells
Every Divine Domain (Cleric subclass) also comes with its own unique list of bonus spells. These are called Domain Spells.
You gain these Domain Spells when you hit the level on the table below. These spells are considered to always be prepared for you and they don’t count against the number of spells you can prepare each day.
Some Domain Spell lists might include spells that aren’t normally on the Cleric spell list. In these cases, the spell counts as a Cleric spell for you and uses your Wisdom modifier as the spellcasting ability.
So, let’s check out what you get for choosing the Peace Domain!
| Cleric Level | Domain Spells |
| 1 | Heroism, Sanctuary |
| 3 | Aid, Warding Bond |
| 5 | Beacon of Hope, Sending |
| 7 | Aura of Purity, Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere |
| 9 | Greater Restoration, Rary’s Telepathic Bond |
Thoughts on the Peace Cleric Spell List
As expected, the focus here is on defensive spells with some healing options for good measure. All in all, it’s a very solid list of spells to always have prepared.
Heroism is a great spell for giving a party member an extra buffer of temporary hit points in combat. Even better, it’s a reliable way to deal with enemies who like to frighten your party members.
When you need to really protect yourself or a squishier teammate, Sanctuary is very nice to have handy.
Aid is a staple Cleric spell that you’ll probably just get into the habit of casting at the start of every adventuring day. Having that always prepared is great!
You’ve got the hit points to justify using Warding Bond. The extra AC and save bonus you and an ally get will come in handy, not to mention having an early way to resist all incoming damage!
Beacon of Hope is very situational but nice to have when things look especially grim. Sending offers some nice utility when you need to communicate with someone far away which is also situational.
Against certain enemies that like to inflict various conditions on the party, Aura of Purity is great to have. Resilient Sphere is great for defending party members, putting enemies in time out, or utility in certain cases.
Always having Greater Restoration is great. It’s situational in the same way a parachute is: you hope you won’t need to use it but will be very happy you’ve got it if things start to go very bad.
Rary’s Telepathic Bond is essential for teamwork and will be great for improving the party’s communication and tactics. Also note that it’s a ritual spell, so you won’t even need to spend the spell slot for it!
Implement of Peace (Level 1)
It’s always nice to gain a new proficiency and with Implements of Peace, you’ve got choices!
You gain proficiency in the Insight, Performance, or Persuasion skill (your choice).
Performance might be handy if you’re needing to give a speech to a large audience, but Persuasion is just as well.
Persuasion is a good choice, particularly if you’re investing in your Charisma score and acting as the party’s face.
That said, there are several classes in 5e that rely on having a Charisma score so that might be more of an area for your party’s Bard, Warlock, Sorcerer, or particularly chatty Rogue.
But more than the others, Insight is the best option for you. Your Wisdom score is your priority as a Cleric and gaining proficiency with the Insight skill will greatly help you read people and situations.
Insight is a criminally underrated skill in D&D 5e, which is honestly such a shame! I’d recommend checking out my guide to using the Insight skill to learn the ins and outs!
Emboldening Bond (Level 1)
This is the most important feature for Peace Clerics. You’ll be getting a ton of use out of this!
As an action, choose a number of willing creatures within 30 feet of you (this can include yourself) equal to your proficiency bonus. You create a magical bond among them for 10 minutes or until you use this feature again.
While any bonded creature is within 30 feet of another, the creature can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw it makes. Each creature can add the d4 no more than once per turn.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
This is effectively a supercharged version of the Bless spell.
If you really want your party to love you, keep in mind that Emboldening Bond does stack with Bless to give a bonus +2d4 to attack rolls and saving throws!
Furthermore, this is only going to get better and better as you level up since it improves with your proficiency bonus.
If we’re being honest, it’s crazy that such a powerful feature is available right at level 1. It’s remarkably impactful and will quickly become a core element of your party’s strategy in combat!
The most important thing to consider with this feature is who you should use Emboldening Bond on. You won’t be able to give this to the entire party. At least not yet anyway!
| Levels | Emboldening Bond Targets |
| 1 – 4 | 2 |
| 5 – 8 | 3 |
| 9 – 12 | 4 |
| 13 – 16 | 5 |
| 17 + | 6 |
Oh, and don’t forget that this bonus is once per TURN and not per ROUND!
Channel Divinity: Balm of Peace (Level 2)
All Clerics get unique ways to use their Channel Divinity feature based on their Divine Domain.
For the Peace Cleric, Balm of Peace helps you disengage from a sticky situation while dishing out some healing for your allies.
As an action, you can move up to your speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
When you move within 5 feet of any other creature during this action, you can restore a number of hit points to that creature equal to 2d6 + your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1 hit point).
A creature can receive this healing only once whenever you take this action.
This is a great use of an action, particularly at level 2 when you get this feature! You’re getting an extra burst of movement with the benefit of a disengage and the ability to heal as many allies as you can move next to.
And it’s not just for your party members! NPCs, summoned creatures, and more can benefit from this if you so choose.
At lower levels, this is a significant amount of healing. As you level up, though, it will be less useful and more for picking up allies to prevent a TPK and making a quick escape if you need.
That said, this feature just does so much!
As far as Channel Divinity options go, Balm of Peace ranks among the best!
Protective Bond (Level 6)
When you hit level 6, you get an excellent buff for your Emboldening Bond.
When a creature affected by your Emboldening Bond feature is about to take damage, a second bonded creature within 30 feet of the first can use its reaction to teleport to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the first creature.
The second creature then takes all the damage instead.
There are two major benefits to Protective Bond.
First and foremost, this is great for offering extra protection to your squishier party members. If the party’s Wizard is about to find the wrong end of an enemy’s battleaxe, Protective Bond can let the Barbarian teleport next to the Wizard and take the hit instead.
For the low cost of a reaction, that’s a great deal!
Not to mention, you can now focus your healing on the party’s meatshield instead of having to spread your attention!
Secondly, Protective Bond can be great for mobility.
Let’s say the party needs to leapfrog across a giant pit of certain death while a group of enemies peppers them with arrows from the other side.
The Paladin (and their heavy armor) isn’t exactly geared for the acrobatics required to do this. However, they just so happen to be bonded with the party’s Monk.
The Monk expertly gets to the other side of the pit. As long as the Paladin is within 30 feet of the Monk, they can safely teleport across the pit the second one of the enemies tries to hit the Monk.
Using this for mobility is a bit more situational than a spell like Misty Step because of the requirement that a bonded creature is about to take damage. But in certain situations, it can be great at keeping your party’s heavy hitters on the offensive!
Potent Spellcasting (Level 8)
Level 8 sees you getting a handy buff to your spellcasting damage output!
You add your Wisdom modifier to the damage you deal with any Cleric cantrip.
Peace Clerics are strongly geared more toward spellcasting than melee combat. Getting to tack on some extra damage to your cantrips is very nice.
Sacred Flame and Toll the Dead are classic and dependable staples for Clerics.
Hopefully, you’ve prioritized boosting your Wisdom score by this point and have gotten it to 20. At the very least, it should be 18.
Potent Spellcasting means you’re dealing an extra 4 or 5 damage (depending on your Wisdom score) with each successful hit of these cantrips. That will add up quickly!
Just be aware that this buff specifically only applies to Cleric cantrips. If you gain other cantrips from multiclassing or a feat like Magic Initiate, those won’t benefit from this.
Expansive Bond (Level 17)
For the Peace Cleric’s capstone feature, your bonds just got A LOT stronger!
The benefits of your Emboldening Bond and Protective Bond features now work when the creatures are within 60 feet of each other.
Moreover, when a creature uses Protective Bond to take someone else’s damage, the creature has resistance to that damage.
At level 17, you’ve got a +6 Proficiency Bonus which means you can form bonds between up to 6 people. At most tables, this will be more than enough to cover your entire party.
Doubling the range of your bonds from 30 to 60 feet means you and your allies will very rarely be out of each other’s range.
Furthermore, gaining resistance to damage taken when using Protective Bond is massively impactful. With all damage effectively being cut in half, everyone in the party can pass damage around to greatly reduce the overall amount of damage enemies can inflict.
The thing that makes this work, though, is that it’s going to take the team working together. I mean, hopefully, that’s been a thing for a while now, but it’s still necessary to point out.
If everyone is willing to take a little bit of damage, it greatly thins out what enemies are capable of dishing out.
Connections
So how might you connect a Peace Cleric to the adventure and party?
Thankfully, Peace Clerics are easy to hook into a campaign. If there is a threat that needs to be prevented from harming the people of the community, a Peace Cleric will gladly volunteer to stand against it.
The Cleric or an elder in the temple might have been receiving visions of some great evil awakening. To keep it at bay and silence the drums of war, a Peace Cleric would have a great reason to join an adventuring party.
It’s also pretty easy to hook a Peace Cleric into a party. I mean, bonding party members together is what this Divine Domain is all about, after all!
When it comes to fostering cohesion in a party, few are as qualified as these characters!
In fact, by focusing on maintaining their bonds and buffing the party, the Peace Cleric makes for a surprisingly good shot-caller in combat.
Peace Clerics work great as a type of glue that keeps the party together. If there is ever a disagreement in the party, the Peace Cleric will very likely attempt to help the situation.
I could absolutely see a Peace Cleric giving a powerful and passionate speech like this one from Doctor Who:
Is the Peace Cleric Good?
The Peace Cleric isn’t just good, it’s absolutely amazing. In fact, it’s in a similar category to the Twilight Cleric (also from TCoE) in that it’s so game-changing and powerful as to be nearly broken.
Even at the earliest levels of the Peace Cleric, the Emboldening Bond feature has a colossal impact. Plus, it only continues to get stronger and the Peace Cleric can bring more people into the bond.
The benefits that the Peace Cleric provides to the party start strong and then compound more with every level to keep getting exponentially more incredible.
It’s rare that a subclass has a feature that forces Dungeon Masters to find completely new ways of building encounters that properly challenge the party.
Additionally, the Peace Cleric provides an INCREDIBLE incentive for the party to coordinate and work as a team. If a group of players doesn’t already have that habit, this is a strong way to build those behaviors.
(Honestly, it will also create habits that will improve the group’s experience as a whole, too. Even beyond the current campaign, the Peace Cleric’s influence will expand out from the game and to your table!)
It might be easy to write the Peace Cleric off as some kind of good-intentioned-but-ultimately-ineffective hippie. But that would be such a dire mistake!
The Peace Cleric certainly finds itself among the top Divine Domain subclass options!
Want More? Check out my ranking of every Cleric subclass in D&D 5e!
Conclusion – Peace Cleric in D&D 5e
I hope you’ve found this guide to the Peace Cleric in D&D 5e helpful!
There are a ton of ways that you can bring one of these Clerics to life in your game. If you’ve got a fun character concept for a Peace Cleric or any questions about this subclass, let’s chat in the comments!
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