You'd need alot more than a +30 spellcraft item to cast a decent epic spell! Seriously, I was extremely disappointed by the epic spell system. The DCs are outrageously high for the effect involved. You have to add a +20 to the DC just to make the spell have a 1-action casting time! That's another 20 levels in Wizard just to do what you can do with almost every non epic spell! The spells are outrageously expensive to develop too.
And to make it all worse, the spell seeds suck! Their effects start out as like 1st to 5th level spells, mostly. By the time you can use epic spells you should be way beyond that. The cariables such as range, duration, etc are stuck at what they would be at 20th level. You have to pay just to make them as good as you are. A good example is the dispel seed. It's caster level is stuck at +10, just like regular Dispel Magic. That's a 3rd level spell! You have to pay just to increase it and make it as good as your level.
Another thing I really hate about the epic spells is the way they favor clerics with the heal and life seeds. Anyone else who wants to use them has to get 24 ranks in knowledge religion! Psionics "get around" this requirement but are punsihed by having base DCs in the FIFTIES for those seeds!!! And why? That's so stupid! Why can the Cleric do anything with epic spells, but other classes can't? What makes the Cleric so special? And please people, don't reply by saying that they should be better because of gods since that is just ridiculous. Even if that's so, why are Druids punished? In my game we are ignoring that rule. When it comes to epic spells it's fair game. If a cleric can use an epic spell to throw fireballs, then there's no reason a Wizard can't use an epic spell to heal.
I do like the basic idea behind the epic spell system, but the implementation is greatly flawed. I think I'm just going to go back to 10th - 12th level spells!
And to make it all worse, the spell seeds suck! Their effects start out as like 1st to 5th level spells, mostly. By the time you can use epic spells you should be way beyond that. The cariables such as range, duration, etc are stuck at what they would be at 20th level. You have to pay just to make them as good as you are. A good example is the dispel seed. It's caster level is stuck at +10, just like regular Dispel Magic. That's a 3rd level spell! You have to pay just to increase it and make it as good as your level.
Another thing I really hate about the epic spells is the way they favor clerics with the heal and life seeds. Anyone else who wants to use them has to get 24 ranks in knowledge religion! Psionics "get around" this requirement but are punsihed by having base DCs in the FIFTIES for those seeds!!! And why? That's so stupid! Why can the Cleric do anything with epic spells, but other classes can't? What makes the Cleric so special? And please people, don't reply by saying that they should be better because of gods since that is just ridiculous. Even if that's so, why are Druids punished? In my game we are ignoring that rule. When it comes to epic spells it's fair game. If a cleric can use an epic spell to throw fireballs, then there's no reason a Wizard can't use an epic spell to heal.
I do like the basic idea behind the epic spell system, but the implementation is greatly flawed. I think I'm just going to go back to 10th - 12th level spells!