Arcane devotee

Arcane devotee is a prestige class on Faerûn comprised of arcane spellcasters dedicated to the deity they worship. Usually they expand their studies into divine magic and acquire lesser divine-related abilities. Arcane devotees often work for the respective church of their deity and are among their most respected members. Devotees also support the church's armies during times of conflict.

The churches of Azuth, Mystra, Lliira and Bane attract the highest number of arcane devotees.

Culture
Although many deities appeal specifically to certain niche groups, most of the greater gods pull followers from all walks of life. Arcanists in particular hold few solid allegiances to the god other than, formerly, Mystra, and many of those who study and use arcane magic can be found worshiping just about any of the major deities. Although many arcanists, particularly wizards, are not particularly devout in their worship and ally themselves with their church primarily for reasons of caution or convenience, others can be truly pious individuals who are willing to give themselves over fully to their patron god's will. Some of these pious arcanists go on to become arcane devotees.

Arcane devotees are useful assets to any church that possesses them because they complement the divine power of clerics or paladins with the arcane power of mages. As a result, many arcane devotees become important and respected members of their god's followers, using their arcane power to both aid the church in times of war or create powerful magic items. In combat, arcane devotees often fight near the front line in order to wreak havoc on enemy forces or destroy the divine spellcasters of opposing gods.

Abilities
Primarily, arcane devotees are arcanists and, for a large part, continue to develop along whatever previous training they had in the Art. Among the most basic of these arcane abilities available to them is the power to enlarge the range of their spells by twofold, an ability arcane devotees learn before taking on any formal training as a devotee. Arcane devotees can enhance their spells in such a way a number of days roughly proportional to their own strength of personality and willpower.

However, as part of their part-arcane, part-divine training, arcane devotees obtain a number of unusual powers and abilities. One of these is the so-called sacred defense, which allows arcane devotees protection from the prayers of others or the supernatural abilities of outsiders. Similarly, the most experienced arcane devotees gain the ability to, once per day, surround themselves in an aura of divine power that grants them resistance against hostile magic. Another ability arcane devotees possess is the ability to focus their god's moral conviction into divine power, allowing them to cast prayers that draw upon the forces of good, law, evil, or chaos for their strength.