"You have seen the powers my calling has granted me. How can I not devote my entire soul to the divinity in the wild?"

-Leruun Anstrun, Disciple of the Wild

All warlocks harbor at least a grudging respect for the entities responsible for their powers. They are clearly beings of great mystical might, and thus worthy of regard. A rare few warlocks go beyond this attitude to actual reverence or worship of the fiendish, fey, or extraplanar powers that have made them far more than mortal. Such is the life of an eldritch disciple devoted to a deity who granted her the arcane talents of the warlock. Though her powers might take different forms, she knows that the source is the same.

BECOMING AN ELDRITCH DISCIPLE

Most eldritch disciples begin their careers as clerics, gaining reverence and insight into divine mysteries through that class before beginning to explore eldritch secrets. Both Corellon Larethian and Lolth commonly encourage their most devoted and charismatic worshipers to become eldritch disciples (typically through powerful agents such as eladrins or demons), but any chaotic or evil deity has room for such an individual. Occasionally, a warlock who "gets religion" finds his way into this class after dabbling as a cleric, but this instance is less common.

PLAYING AN ELDRITCH DISCIPLE

You are the favored and most devoted disciple of beings far beyond mortal ken. Some mock or doubt your devotion, claiming that you have sullied the pure worship of the gods with eldritch trickery, but you understand that your connection is more potent than mortals can hope to understand. You stand ready to serve when called upon, but since divine beings rarely interact with mortals directly, you spend your time in pursuit of your own goals. Others see this as convenient hypocrisy on your part, but you know that as you advance your own causes and increase your own power, so too do you advance the causes and honor the power of your patron.

As long as you don't actively alienate other followers of your deity, you can fit into any organization that would welcome a cleric or similar character. If - as is all too common among eldritch disciples - you don't quite fit in with a large-scale church, you might belong to a small or obscure cult dedicated not to your deity but to the otherworldly agents (infernal, fey, or otherwise) responsible for your arcane talents. Far more likely, you engage in your religious practices on your own, considering them more personal than any shared experience in a church.

Combat

Your eldritch blast is still your most potent weapon, but your divine spells offer you a wider variety of options. Although you have access to powerful offensive spells, consider using your magic to increase your own, or your companions', combat prowess. Don't neglect your ability to heal yourself or your allies, but don't burn through your spells early in an attempt to do so; make the most efficient use of your spells in battle, saving the healing until combat is over or it becomes absolutely necessary. Try to avoid standing on the front lines when possible, since you likely lack the defensive prowess of a single-classed cleric.

Advancement

The belief of the eldritch disciple is an intensely personal one, and one that you did not acquire through any organized faith or practice. You work now to increase your divine and eldritch powers both, and to make yourself as potent and skilled a servant of your patron as possible. You might seek to complete a specific goal laid out for you by your patron deity or other, more powerful emissaries thereof; more likely, you pursue your own objectives, knowing that as you advance you honor the entity who empowers you.

Extra Turning is likely the single most valuable feat for you to select, since it gives you extra uses of your gifts. Beyond that, focus on feats that benefit both of your arcane classes (such as Spell Penetration). Choose invocations that don't tread too closely on your divine spellcasting - as long as you have the option of versatility, you might as well use it. Investing additional ranks in Knowledge (religion) allows you to stay aware of the realities both of your own faith and of those around you, which can help your long-term survival. Keep both your Wisdom and Charisma as high as you can - the former for your divine spellcasting, the latter for your invocations and divine gifts.

Resources

Eldritch disciples are normally loners in terms of their religious practices - or, at best, are members of very small and often illicit cults. As such, they have few outside resources on which they can draw, other than those that they or their adventuring companions can acquire on their own.

ELDRITCH DISCIPLES IN THE WORLD

"Worshipers of hellish or unnatural beings, practitioners of illunderstood magic... I find these initiates to be deluded at best, and heretics of the vilest and most dangerous type at worst."

-Jozan, cleric of Pelor

Eldritch disciples represent the most devoted and most misunderstood servants of divine powers. They might wander alone or serve as leaders or operatives of underground cults, but they rarely hold positions of great prominence or power - or at least, they rarely do so openly. As such, this prestige class is well suited to secret cabalists or religious conspirators who function behind the scenes. Members are, to the last one, religious zealots, so even those who do not have sinister agendas or dangerous secrets are likely treated by others as if they do. The eldritch disciple class allows players and DMs both to delve more thoroughly into the questions of what sorts of beings grant the power available to warlocks, and what sorts of individuals seek that power out.

Organization

Although quite a few eldritch disciples join cults or similar organizations devoted to the power or patron whom they serve - and often hold positions of high esteem in those organizations - no orders specifically devoted to the eldritch disciple as a class exist.

NPC Reactions

Few people react well to the presence of an eldritch disciple. The common folk do not understand the powers wielded by warlocks and think of them (sometimes accurately) as servants of darkness. Add to that an overt fanaticism devoted to secretive entities other than the gods with which most people are familiar, and the fear and suspicion only increase. People react to an eldritch disciple one step nearer to hostile than they normally would, and clerics and other religious individuals react two steps nearer to hostile unless they have a deity or alignment in common.

ELDRITCH DISCIPLE LORE

Characters who have ranks in Knowledge (religion) or the bardic knowledge ability can research eldritch disciples to learn more about them. When a character makes a successful skill check or bardic knowledge check, read or paraphrase the following, including the information from lower DCs.

DC 10: An eldritch disciple is a believer in divine heresies, wielding both arcane and divine abilities.

DC 15: An eldritch disciple gains innate arcane powers as other warlocks do, but she supplements them by actively worshiping the source of those powers. She channels divine energy as clerics do, but uses this power to mimic the abilities of terrible, otherworldly beings.

DC 20: An eldritch disciple combines the arcane and the divine to make herself resistant to injury, weaken the will of her enemies, or heal critical injuries. The most powerful eldritch disciples even escape the bonds of aging.

DC 30: Characters who achieve this level of success can learn important details about a specific eldritch disciple in your campaign, the areas where she operates, and the kinds of activities she undertakes.

Characters seeking to contact an eldritch disciple have little recourse other than to attempt to locate a cult or cabal that worships the same power as the initiate they seek and hope the organization knows of her location... and is willing to share the information.

ELDRITCH DISCIPLES IN THE GAME

An eldritch disciple can first appear as a lone servitor of strange powers, or as the figure behind a mysterious cult. Because these characters often interact with powers outside traditional divinities, they are a useful way of introducing those concepts. For instance, perhaps the PCs first learn of the existence of the faerie courts when researching the strange abilities of a new foe.

The eldritch disciple class is appropriate for players who enjoy portraying or exploring beliefs outside the mainstream of the campaign setting, players who would like to add a bit of variety to the warlock's relatively limited arsenal, or players who want to add some combat "punch" to a divine caster.

Adaptation

The most obvious alteration to the eldritch disciple is to drop the turn/rebuke undead requirement and provide a similar ability (usable only to activate gifts) at 1st level. While this removes some of the class's flavor, it does open the eldritch disciple to a wider range of druid/warlock or favored soul/warlock multiclass combinations. Alternatively, you might go to another extreme in a campaign, allowing only worshipers of one particular entity or group to become eldritch disciples.

Sample Encounter

PCs might find themselves adventuring or fighting alongside eldritch disciples who seek to aid others or to advance themselves without harming others in the process. Unfortunately, the majority of patrons who empower eldritch disciples are beings of wild chaos, if not outright evil, and a significant number of eldritch disciples are likewise destructive. PCs could face lone initiates or entire cults and never identify the being whom the worshipers serve.

EL 10: When the PCs encounter her, Leruun Anstrun (CN female human cleric 3/warlock 3/eldritch disciple 4) is seeking to win over a village to the worship and service of the wild. Although she does this by aiding them when possible, she is also swift to punish those who refuse to heed her instructions. Her chaotic nature makes her a capricious leader, and the villagers turn to the PCs for aid.