The Essence thread was getting a bit long so I thought I would start a new one for Channeling Realm. I've decided to call this Project BASil (Brians Alternate Spell Law).
So Channeling...To me, Channeling can't work like Essence or other realms. If there is an assumption that Deities have a tacit awareness of their followers than it follows they will allow certain powers to some and not to others. This would be based on the followers devoutness and role in the religion. A god is not going to grant higher or exclusive powers to some congregate who happens upon a scroll or "prayer book" and learns a spell. Therefore we divided up Channeling into three categories--it also makes it easy to adapt to the RM system of Open, Closed and Base. The categories are:
Holy Servants. These are spells meant for leaders of the God's religion, what would be considered "Holy Powers" or are fundamental powers of Nature (for pagan societies).
Aspect Lists. These are specialized lists whose access will be dependent on the Gods "Aspect" or are specialized and may be given to a follower in service of their Diety. ( Visions might be granted to a non-priest believer for instance). Aspect lists are unlimited--a GM could adopt Fire Law spells from Essence for a priest of the Fire God, or Magic Mastery for the God of Magic etc.
Holy Followers. These are basic, weaker generalized lists for any devout follower of a God. These are simple prayers of protection, healing etc.
One last note. We use a Prayer skill that ties into this categories and restrictions. A player can't cast a spell higher level than his Prayer skill (which equates devoutness with granted ability) and the Prayer skill bonus is used as the casting skill bonus. Whether than makes sense I would still offer that Channeling spell lists should still be tied to the setting and diety.