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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cheiromancer" data-source="post: 3049914" data-attributes="member: 141">That's an interesting idea, Sep.  Effectively the DDQ mechanic will be used in the design of epic feats that improve epic spellcasting.  Not in the factors.I like how the Earthscorcher feat makes a 2000 ft. radius fireball cost about the same as with the DDQ.  A little bit cheaper, but a feat as narrowly focused as this should give a good bonus.  I'd drop the fire requirement.  Otherwise you'd have four feats that do basically the same thing- it'll look like padding.  I suppose you could say that the feat could be taken four times, once for each type of energy, but I don't see the harm of a battlefield mage having different elemental spells that all benefit from the same feat.The weather seed would be another good candidate for a 10-fold increase in duration and area.  A bonus to the transport seed to mitigate factors that increase the number of people transported would also be nice.  I wonder how much benefit.  For Earthscorcher the best case scenario is that the caster gets 3 1/3 ddq widens, extends and enlarges at the cost of a feat.  Theoretically that's +33 USP but tor most spells the caster won't get anywhere near this amount of benefit; instantaneous spells have no duration and so the extends are wasted, and if the target is close by the enlarged range is useless.  And in a 50 ft. room who cares if the fireball has a radius of 200 ft..  But even if the caster only gets about 30% of the theoretical maximum value it is still a good feat.I'd guess that about +10 USP (average benefit) would be about right, as long as the benefit applies to just one seed (or a few related, weak seeds).  And use the ddq method to calculate the numerical increase of factors that enhance the appropriate factors.Let's see.  Suppose we design an "Epic Blaster" feat that doubles the damage done by energy spells.  Double damage is +8, and should normally provide nearly full value, so not much discount.  Maybe add in +2 to caster level checks to apply against SR, dispel effects, and caster level checks.  The latter two will be wasted most of the time, so we'll heavily discount them. Require the same prerequisites as Earthscorcher.  There's no place for ddq to apply (I don't think it is appropriate for the bonus to caster level), so the feat will only double the base damage of a seed (and thus double the effect of factors; each +1 USP will add +2d6 to the fireball).  But it will provide a small edge when overcoming wards, SR and opposing counterspells.  I think it'd be a nice little feat.Other feats could help the dispel, reflect and/or ward seeds, providing about a +10 USP benefit.  That should be enough to allow certain defensive spells to be cast as an immediate action.  Ooh- a DDQ feat that extends the duration of divinations would be nice.  Make an all-day foresight.  Then you wouldn't need quickened defensive spells- you'd have a round's notice (as I understand the spell) to take the appropriate action.I wonder if there should be a way for a USP 37 spell to do 160d6 damage. Might need another feat to double the damage yet again; a caster with epic blaster I and II could do 148d6.  That's not bad.About the metamagic caster who gets an epic buff: even if everyone fails their save, that's basically equivalent to doubling the damage.  Two characters together should be at least twice as effective as one.  I agree it is powerful, but I'm not sure that it is more powerful than it should be, considering the power of teamwork.  An intensified disintegrate with an impossible save would sure be scary, though.  Typeless damage!  2d6/caster level!And then there is problem is in deciding how to play characters with an intelligence in the high 50s.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f615.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":confused:" title="Confused    :confused:"  data-smilie="5"data-shortname=":confused:" /> Speaking of disintegrate - should the Enhance Spell feat add 20d6 to the cap?  As written it provides no benefit since the damage is neither 1d6 per level nor 1d6 per 2 levels.  And do you allow Enhance Spell to work with Intensify Spell, or is Enhance Spell an example of a "feat that affects the variable, numeric effects of a spell"?</blockquote>

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