Ogrork the Mighty said:
So why the heck would anyone ever even consider taking Sudden Empower?!?!?
Three reasons:
1) Because it is a free feat for WarMages.
2) Because after taking Sudden Maximize, you then take Sudden Empower. Since Sudden Maximize is once per day, this gives you the option of doing either one or the other, situation depending. Having both is better than having just one.
3) Because D4 attack spells do 4 points of damage with Sudden Maximize and 3.5 points of average damage with Sudden Empower (Magic Missile at D4+1 does 5 and 5 on average). D6 spells do 6 points of damage with Sudden Maximize and 5 points of average damage with Sudden Empower. But, these are averages. If you are using a low number of dice spell, it is very common to "roll high" and crush the numbers. This does not happen with Sudden Maximize, but it can easily happen with Sudden Empower.
For example, Enervation bestows 1D4 negative levels. The Empowered possibilities are: 1, 3, 4, or 6 negative levels. Someone who generally rolls lucky (or who likes rolling as opposed to set outcomes) might just decide that he doesn't care about the actual result as much as the chance to do great.
Even better is Spell Turning. It turns 1D4+6 spell levels. The Maximized possibilty is 10 spell levels. The Empowered possibilities are: 10, 12, 13, or 15 spell levels.
This is just how it works since Empower beefs up the add to the variable amount in addition to the variable amount.
