The easiest thing to do is just change the orb so the penalty is only on one saving throw. That beings it in line with the other implement powers and pretty much fixes all the problems with it as well.
I think the VSC system can survive a bit of rounding without becoming unusable. The benefit doesn't change, so all you're doing is adding math for the sake of (unnecessary) accuracy. Epic D&D is complicated enough without introducing decimal multipliers into the mix.
That's sort of what I've been considering, but I'm not sure yet what good method for recharging would be, as Artificers can burn through wands like firecrackers if they want to.
Actually, I'd love to know this, too. I've been mentally toying with a Artificer deity, but I have no idea how to price things like wands and staves under UKs rules.
Would it work to just change VCSs base damage (if this is possible at this point) to scale linearly instead of exponentially? I agree that VSCs are a good idea, but having anything scale exponentially is going to lead to problems at some point down the line.