Fanaelialae
Legend
I do not care for this approach to differentiating magic. Light isn't worth a 2nd level spell slot, so unless you were completely out of other options, the end result was that no one took those overpriced spells. All it did was pad the spell list without adding anything of actual substance.I always like when the same spell was different level for clerics and wizards in olden editions. Light, for example, used to be a 1st-level spell for clerics, and a 2nd-level spell for wizards, IIRC. And the memory is a bit foggy, but I seem to recall some spell were reversible on one list, but not on the other... but I could be wrong on this.
Also, one of the major differences between arcane and divine magic was the number of spell levels. Divine casters only got spells up to 7th level, while arcane casters (well, wizards, as they were the only full arcane spellcasting class back then) got up to the 9th-level spells.
I found the different spell levels weird. I'd guess what they were going for was a partial caster, as clerics were reasonably competent in melee. However, it created issues once they started branching out into other options, like unarmored priests (cloistered clerics). It also had some odd world building implications - are the gods supposed to be weaker than an arch mage? (Unlikely.) Do they simply hoard their power? Why can't/don't deities grant their most devout emissaries magic on par with that of the greatest mages?
I much prefer divine spells going to 9th and all spells being at a fixed level based on what they are arguably worth. It's something I've wanted since the old days, but it always seemed too overwhelming a task to do it myself.
That said, I wouldn't mind it if spells worked differently for arcane and divine casters. For example, you could have a short paragraph in fireball that changes the damage type to radiant when cast by a divine caster. Differentiate the spells with little modifications that don't actually change the spell level. Admittedly, that ship has pretty much sailed; that sort of thing would have probably smacked too much of 4e's keywords for some people's tastes.