Gnome Cleric Build Guide

Levels 1-4

Start by selecting the Forge Domain. With your 14 Strength and 8 Dexterity, you desperately need the heavy armor proficiency. Forge grants you Blessing of the Forge at level 1, letting you magically infuse your chain mail to reach an early 17 AC. Stick to Toll the Dead for damage, as your melee DPR is a pathetic 3.9 even at this tier. At level 4, take the Fey Touched feat. Choose Wisdom to bump your 15 to a 16, and grab Misty Step. This completely solves your 25-foot Gnome speed issue, letting you teleport directly into the fray to drop a Cure Wounds.

Levels 5-10

Level 5 brings third-level spells, fundamentally changing your playstyle. Cast Spirit Guardians, wade into the frontline, and let your Forge Domain AC and Gnomish Cunning keep you safe. At level 6, Soul of the Forge bumps your AC by another +1 and gives you fire resistance. At level 8, take the Resilient (Constitution) feat. This bumps your awkward 13 Constitution to a 14 and secures your concentration checks, ensuring your Spirit Guardians doesn't drop from a random goblin arrow.

Levels 11-16

By tier 3, your melee weapon is entirely obsolete (3.58 DPR vs 10.18 spell DPR). Rely exclusively on your cantrips and leveled spells. Level 12 is where you max your Wisdom to 18 with an Ability Score Improvement. At level 16, cap Wisdom at 20. Your primary role here is casting Heal to rescue dying martial allies and dropping Blade Barrier to control the battlefield. Your Gnomish Cunning will be putting in serious work against high-level enemy casters slinging Feeblemind or Dominate Person.

Levels 17-20

At level 17, your Forge Cleric gains Saint of Forge and Fire, granting immunity to fire damage and resistance to nonmagical physical attacks. Combined with your Gnomish Cunning advantage on mental saves, you are practically invincible. Spend your level 19 ASI on War Caster. Even with Resilient (CON), taking 40+ damage from a dragon's breath weapon requires rolling high on concentration; War Caster's advantage guarantees your 9th-level Mass Heal or Holy Aura won't go to waste.

Cantrips

Take Toll the Dead and Guidance immediately. With an 8 Dexterity and 14 Strength, your weapon attacks are a trap. Toll the Dead scales to 13.2 DPR at level 17, vastly outperforming any mace you could swing. Guidance is mandatory for boosting your party's initiative and skill checks.

Level 1-2 Spells

Healing Word is your essential bonus-action revival tool. Bless is perfect for tier 1 buffing, stacking wonderfully with your Gnomish Cunning for mental saves. At level 3, prepare Spiritual Weapon to weaponize your bonus action, allowing you to deal force damage while taking the Dodge action to protect your 25-foot-moving Gnome frame.

Level 3-5 Spells

Spirit Guardians is the Cleric's magnum opus. Because you are a slow Gnome, cast it and force enemies to come to you. Revivify is non-negotiable tax for any support build. Banishment is excellent crowd control, utilizing your maxed Wisdom DC to remove a threat from the board entirely.

High-Level Spells

Heal at 6th level is a flat 70 HP restoration, far superior to upcasting Cure Wounds. At 8th level, cast Holy Aura. When combined with Gnomish Cunning, Holy Aura gives you advantage on absolutely all saving throws and imposes disadvantage on fiends and undead attacking your party.

Fey Touched

Take this at level 4. A 25-foot movement speed is a death sentence for a Cleric trying to position Spirit Guardians. Misty Step gives you the crucial mobility you lack, and you can bump your starting 15 Wisdom to a respectable 16. Pick up Silvery Barbs or Gift of Alacrity as your 1st-level spell if your DM allows it.

Resilient (Constitution)

Take this at level 8. Your starting Constitution is an uneven 13. This feat rounds it to 14, granting you extra hit points, and adds your proficiency bonus to Constitution saves. You need this to maintain concentration on Bless and Spirit Guardians while taking hits on the frontline.

War Caster

Grab this at level 19 (or earlier if you feel squishy). While Gnomish Cunning protects your mental stats, War Caster gives you advantage on Constitution saves to maintain concentration. It also allows you to cast Toll the Dead as an opportunity attack when an enemy tries to walk past your Gnome to attack the Wizard.

Telekinetic

If you don't take Fey Touched, take Telekinetic. It weaponizes your bonus action to shove enemies back into your Spirit Guardians area of effect. Because Gnomes are Small, you can't easily grapple or shove enemies physically with your 14 Strength, making this magical shove invaluable.

Tier 1 (Levels 1-4)

Acquire Chain Mail and a Shield immediately to hit 18 AC (19 if you use the Forge Domain's Blessing of the Forge). Carry a mace just in case, but rely on Toll the Dead. Grab a block of incense for Augury rituals.

Tier 2 (Levels 5-10)

Upgrade to Plate Armor as soon as you scrounge up 1,500 gold. Seek out an Amulet of the Devout +1. This boosts both your spell attack rolls and your saving throw DCs, making your Banishment much harder for enemies to resist, while also giving you an extra Channel Divinity use.

Tier 3 (Levels 11-16)

Hunt for a Devotee's Censer. While your melee DPR is low, this flail allows you to emit a healing cloud as a bonus action, which is perfect for a slow-moving Gnome anchoring the frontline. Pair this with a Cloak of Displacement to force disadvantage on attacks against you, stacking your heavy armor defenses.

Tier 4 (Levels 17-20)

Aim for an Amulet of the Devout +3 and +3 Plate Armor. If you can secure a Tome of Understanding, push your Wisdom beyond the cap to 22. Your spell save DC will be astronomical, ensuring your Fire Storm and Spirit Guardians shred through legendary resistances.

As a 25-foot speed Gnome Cleric, you are a localized anchor rather than a dynamic skirmisher. You pair exceptionally well with a Cavalier Fighter or a Path of the Ancestral Guardian Barbarian. These classes can lock down enemies and prevent them from simply walking away from your Spirit Guardians radius, compensating for your inability to chase them down.

You also shine alongside a Graviturgy Wizard or a Swarmkeeper Ranger. Because your mobility is so limited, having allies who can forcefully reposition enemies—pushing them back into your area-of-effect spells or dragging them away from you when your HP drops—turns your slow movement from a liability into a tactical centerpiece.

Fighter 2 Dip

Taking two levels of Fighter grants you the Defense Fighting Style (pushing your heavy armor AC even higher) and the legendary Action Surge. Action Surging to cast Blade Barrier and then taking the Dodge action in the same turn makes your Gnome virtually impossible to kill while dealing massive damage.

Clockwork Soul Sorcerer 1 Dip

A single level of Sorcerer gets you access to Shield and Absorb Elements. While Gnomish Cunning gives you advantage on saves against magic, Absorb Elements halves the damage when you inevitably fail a Dexterity save against a dragon's breath weapon due to your 8 DEX.

• Wasting actions on melee attacks: With 14 STR, your melee DPR hits a ceiling of 3.9 at level 5. Do not swing your mace; cast Toll the Dead for double the damage.
• Choosing a light/medium armor domain: With an 8 Dexterity, domains like Light or Grave will leave you with a maximum AC of 13. You must pick heavy armor domains like Forge or Life.
• Forgetting Gnomish Cunning limits: It only grants advantage on INT/WIS/CHA saves against magic. It will not help you against a Dragon's Frightful Presence or a mundane poison trap.
• Ignoring your 25ft speed: If you don't draft Misty Step or secure a mount, enemies with 30ft speed will simply kite your Spirit Guardians all day long.