Powers and Priests (PWH)

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By now, a canny cutter might be saying, "This is all fine and well for wizards, but what about priests?" Well, here's the chant, pure and simple: Priests aren't subject to any of these constraints. They don't have to worry about school alterations, except for the planar absolutes noted on table III. When priests violate the pathway restriction, their deities simply make their spells work by bending the laws of the planes a bit. A priest can access the Astral Plane via an astral spell even on the plane of Ash, where no Astral connection exists. A power's a power and a priest is the direct servant of that power, so a priest's spells work just about anywhere. That's the true might of the powers, and why it's worth a blood's time to follow and serve them.
But priests have their own unique problems. Due to common agreement among the powers, the farther away a planewalker priest travels from the plane of her deity, the more her abilities wane. Powers don't much like the servants of others tramping all over their territory. To discourage one power's army of servants from barging into the realm of another, the followers' magic decreases the farther they get from "home." It's an added deterrent to power-sponsored warfare on the planes.
The long and the short of it is, a priest functions at one level lower than she normally does for every plane separating her and her deity's home plane. This means a priest is at her proper level only on the deity's plane and those adjacent to it. The temporary level loss only affects spell use—not hit points, THAC0, the ability to turn undead, or other character statistics. Thus, a priest on a far-removed plane can cast fewer spells each day and she casts them less effectively if they have ranges, areas of effect, or other factors based on level.
Spell loss occurs immediately upon entering the new plane; the player may choose which spells are lost. Likewise, the priest instantly regains levels as the basher gets closer to the plane of her deity, but new spells must be regained normally through prayer.
To determine the number of levels lost, count the number of planes between the priest's current location and the deity's home plane. For example, assume a priest's deity is based on the Outer Plane of Arcadia. On Mount Celestia, Mechanus, the Outlands, and the Astral she loses no levels, since those planes directly adjoin Arcadia. If she goes to Limbo, she loses six levels, since Mount Celestia, Bytopia, Elysium, the Beastlands, Arborea, and Ysgard separate the two planes. (Count around the Ring, not through the Astral.) On the Ethereal she's down two levels, since she must travel through the Astral and then through the Prime to reach it. If she travels to the plane of Earth (or any other Inner Plane) she loses three levels, tracing from the Astral Plane to the Prime Material to the Ethereal—not counting the plane the priest and the god are on.
This works exactly the same way on the Inner Planes, although those planes have a different layout. Because the Elemental Planes are so interconnected, there can never be more than three planes of separation between a deity's home and the farthest point on the loner Planes.
 Table 4: Priest Level Loss by Plane (Quick Reference)
Deity's Plane	Priest Plane 	Loss
Astral 	Outer Planes 	0
Astral 	Prime or Sigil 	0
Astral 	Ethereal Plane 	-1
Astral 	Inner Planes 	-2
Ethereal 	Inner Planes 	0
Ethereal 	Prime or Sigil 	0
Ethereal 	Astral Plane 	-1
Ethereal 	Outer Planes 	-2
Inner Plane 	Ethereal, Prime, or Sigil 	0
Inner Plane 	Astral Plane 	-2
Inner Plane 	Outer Planes 	-3
Inner Plane 	adjacent Inner Plane 	0
Inner Plane 	other Inner Plane 	varies
Outer Plane 	Astral, Prime, or Sigil 	0
Outer Plane 	Ethereal Plane 	-2
Outer Plane 	loner Planes 	-3
Outer Plane 	adjacent Outer Plane 	0
Outer Plane 	other Outer Plane 	varies
Prime 	Ethereal or Astral 	0
Prime 	other prime world or Sigil	0
Prime 	Outer or Inner Planes 	-1
See the diagrams of the Great Wheel (page 13) and the Inner Planes (page 26) to determine adjacent planes. Remember that all Outer Planes are adjacent to the Astral (and the Outlands), and that all Inner Planes touch the Ethereal. For a complete chart of all planar changes to priest spells, see page 156.
Note that a priest whose power dwells on the Outlands has it made on the Great Ring; he's at full strength since there's no separation "between" the Outlands and those planes. The same applies to the Astral Plane, a fact with which Athar clerics (who draw their power from their faith in the "Great Unknown," which they believe lies on the Astral) like to taunt other priests. It's an ironic fact of the planes that grants those sods who don't believe in gods at all the full range of priestly powers.
This subtraction of levels doesn't happen at all in two places: Sigil and the Prime Material Plane. For whatever reason (probably two completely different reasons, actually), priests function normally in these places no matter what power they serve.
But most planewalking priests find that the level loss makes adventuring difficult. Sure, they can use clerical scrolls, but those are subject to the planar pathways rule and other planar alterations (see "Magical Items," below). Fortunately, just like wizards, priests're able to find keys that make their restrictions more livable.
==Power Keys==
Like spell keys, power keys are additions to normal spellcasting. As direct gifts from powers to their priests (usually through a proxy), such keys are very, very rare. They are rewards to faithful servants, or special weapons that aid priests in direct and dire service. Unfortunately, for priests worshiping ideas like those in the Athar or the clerics who revere the Source (as in the Believers of ... ), no one can give them power keys. They're simply out of luck, a fact that might be the death of an Athar priest on the Inner Planes.
A clerical spell cast using a power key becomes as effective as it possibly can be under normal circumstances. Curative spells always heal the maximum amount of damage, while attack spells inflict maximum damage.
Also like spell keys, power keys can be general or specific in their effect—that is, a priest's cure light wounds always functions at full potential with a specific power key for that spell, while a general power key for the Healing sphere ensures that all healing spells function at their full potential. These keys have no effect on level loss, however. If a priest has a key that makes his cure serious wounds spell function at its highest level, but he goes to a plane where he loses his ability to cast 4th-level spells, the key is useless.
A greater power key, on the other hand, actually reduces the level Joss as a priest moves away from his deity's plane. Thus, a greater power key of two levels allows a priest to function normally up to three planes away from his power's home, losing one level for every plane removed beyond that. No greater power key has ever been known to grant a reprieve of more than four levels.
Say, for example, that Lathander (a power based on the Outer Plane of Elysium) granted a cleric a greater power key of two levels. The cleric would be at full power on Elysium, Bytopia, the Beastlands, the Outlands, and the Astral (as normal) and would also retain full spellcasting capabilities on Arcadia, Mount Celestia, Arborea, and Ysgard. She'd lose one spellcasting level on Mechanus and Limbo, two levels on Acheron and Pandemonium, and so on through the rest of the Ring.
Greater power keys must be used with each spell that would normally be lost to planar distances, adding at least 1 to the casting time of the spell. A priest never gains levels by using these keys.
Power keys are naturally subject to the whims of the deities who hand them out. Sometimes they change without warning, and sometimes a power intentionally creates them to only function temporarily. Some evil (and usually chaotic) powers create false power keys that actually pervert, cancel, or alter a spell when cast, sometimes even without the caster's knowledge. A priest has to be a little peery about the source of a power key when he receives one.