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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cheiromancer" data-source="post: 3062300" data-attributes="member: 141">Post 98 makes the success % seem pretty dismal.  Sep recalculated the save DCs in post 133, assuming a more powerful headband, and now they aren't too bad.i.e assume a 50 intelligence (base 16, +9 level, +20 headband, +5 inherent bonus) and the base spell DC is 40.  Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus can bring it up to 42, meaning that a young adult force dragon (save +33) fails on an 8 or less.The 42 USP spell we were considering is just the destroy seed (40d6 at USP 16) with +26 USP additional damage.  With Herald of the Eschaton raising the base to 120d6 and giving +6d6 per +1, that came out to 276d6, or 966 hp.  Each +1 to the DC will cost +2 USP, which means 12d6 (42 hp) less damage.   But it improves the chance that it will do full damage.  Unless I've messed up my math, I think boosting the DC by +8, and reducing the damage to 180d6 (630 hp) would be nearly optimal for a USP of 42 vs force dragons.  It'll affect one 80% of the time and do 90% of its average hit points in damage.  You could lower the chance of success a little and increase the damage; a +6 DC boost would do it (70% chance of success).  Or make it a little more reliable at the cost of less damage.  But I'd think that around 12 to 20 of the final USP would have to be in DC heightening factors; it reduces effectiveness by about a third.The effect of splitting the DC is to make the spell 50% effective against a wide range of DCs.  With a split DC of 52/32, anything with a base save between +21 and +41 needs an 11 to save.  The higher a creature's save is in this range, the less sense it makes to increase the lower save DC, since the first increases to the DC will only reduce the damage without changing the chance of success.  However it will make sense to increase the upper save DC to better affect creatures with saves in the 40s; that's not true of the current system.</blockquote>

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