Planar Effects on Divine Casters

A revision of clerical spellcasting level loss when travelling the planes.

Clerics and wizards receive magical power in different ways. A cleric receives his spells from his deity, and it's simply divine will that the magic isn't affected by planar conditions. A wizard, on the other hand, learns them from books, and must contend with the fact that his spells might be altered or nullified, depending on the planar modifications when he casts a spell.

Contacting their gods to receive spells isn't the problem for clerics – wandering into enemy territory is. Here's the chant – the planes – Inner, Outer, and even some of the demiplanes – are territory specifically beholden to one group of powers or another, deities that don't look kindly on interlopers, especially not provocateurs from some other plane. Some deities, especially those down on the Lower Planes, have enough trouble holding to a truce with rivals on their own plane, let aone with gods from planes that differ both morally and physically. All the sodding clerics out to impress their high–ups could make the Outer Planes a very bloody place. Still, putting every priest in the dead–book's only going to make trouble for a deity, and since it's not possible to lock all the doors to a plane, the powers find other ways to suppress the meddling agents of their rivals.

When a cleric character is on a plane other than where his deity resides, his spellcasting power is reduced for every plane between himself and his deity's home plane.

For each plane between the cleric and his deity's home plane, his effective casting level for his spells is reduced by 1. Furthermore, for each separating plane, the cleric loses one prepared spell of the highest level (player's choice).

For example, Nayla the Righteous is a priest leading a band of faithful warriors into the heart of Pandemonium. She is normally a 7th-level cleric. The home plane of Nayla's deity is Bytopia. Moving around the outside of the Great Ring, Elysium, the Beastlands, Arborea, Ysgard, and Limbo all lie between Bytopia and Pandemonium. Therefore, while on Pandemonium Nayla's effective casting level is reduced by 5, and she loses both of her 4th-level spells, and all three of her 3rd-level spells. Nayla casts spells as a 2nd-level cleric (although she has more prepared spells than a true 2nd-level cleric can have).

If Nayla the Righteous leaves Pandemonium and travels to Limbo, there are only four planes separating her from Bytopia. Thus, the penalty to her spellcasting level is reduced to –4, although she doesn't regain any lost spells. If Nayla then moves on to the Abyss, her penalty increases to –6, and she loses one more of her highest-level prepared spells.

Note that Nayla's "power conduit" doesn't trace the shortest route to her home plane, like magical items do. Why? Because the gods don't want it to work that way! It stands to reason that a priest from Bytopia should have a tougher time casting spells on Pandemonium than on Limbo – not everything that powers do is unfathomable, berk. On the other hand, if a priest's deity resides on one of the Inner Planes, he only suffers a –3 penalty to his spellcasting level, as the Astral, Prime, and Ethereal lie between him and his power source. The same limitation applies to those clerics of the Outer Planes who visit the Inner Planes.

Divine Plane of Divine Spellcasters

It is simple to determine the home plane of a cleric's deity: Simply consult On Hallowed Ground, which contains an index of all D&D deities, their alignments, and the planes upon which their realms can be found. If this source is unavailable, the DM should choose the deity's home plane based on its alignment and cultural significance. Note that most of the Celtic deities reside on the Outlands, as do most halfling deities; most Norse deities reside in Ysgard; and most gnomish deities reside in Bytopia. Druids, rangers and paladins who devote themselves to a specific god follow these same guidelines.

Characters that are devoted to a force or philosophy rather than a specific deity are usually tied to an Outer Plane that is similar in alignment to their own. The DM should determine the "divine home plane" of such characters based on the individual character's ethos, with the following points in mind:

• Clerics are usually tied to an Outer Plane of the same alignment as their own. In some campaigns (such as the DARK SUN setting) there may exist elemental clerics that devote themselves to the primal forces of an Inner Plane. In these cases, the cleric is tied to an Inner Plane related to her chosen Domains (such as Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Healing, and Death).
• Druids are usually tied to the Outlands. However, in campaigns such as the DARK SUN setting, druids might be tied to the primal forces of the Prime Material Plane. The DM might also decide to choose a druid's "divine home plane" according to her alignment: Neutral good: The Beastlands. Lawful neutral: Arcadia. Neutral: The Outlands. Chaotic neutral: Ysgard. Neutral evil: Carceri.
• Rangers are tied to the natural forces of their home plane (for example, the Prime Material). "Unnatural" planes, such as Gehenna and Limbo, don't produce many rangers.
• Paladins are tied to one of the following planes: Arcadia, Mount Celestia, or Bytopia.

The loss of cleric spellcasting levels, as described in the Planescape campaign setting boxed set, is overly harsh and requires updating for the new D&D game.Pro:

This house rule does not incapacitate clerics quite as much, and has some similarity to the negative levels imposed upon characters who use weapons of a different alignment.Con:

As with any system that penalises spellcsters, this house rule may discourage players from taking divine spellcaster characters.