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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greybar" data-source="post: 3068630" data-attributes="member: 4938">If I can suggest a simplifying concept, which may be hella bad in implementation, vis-a-vis the epic ____ of incredibly boosted ____.  This may be a bit talking as I think before I have to post and attend to an active 2.5 yr old.One aspect I like in some suggested variants which push these boundaries is that gear becomes less and less important compared to the inherent power of the beings.  To drive it all the way to the divinities, the description of a battle god doesn't show him tripped out with cloaks of resistance, girdles of strength, and horns of morale-boosting beer.  Any such items tend to be exceptional in power, or irrelevant and only for flavor.  If the epic rules headed in the buff/permanency direction of assuming that beings were perma-buffed, then perhaps it would be easier to balance.  Further, what if we consider that the being's own mortal capacity to be infused with such energy is limited?  This could might explain why non-epic headband of intellects cap out at +6.So, here's a base proposal to be picked apart and destroyed (constructively, I hope).Base attributes of a character have a limited amount of boosting they can sustain.* They can be optimized within their own natures using inherent increases (which as wish, manuals, etc.) equal to KR/2 in total, but only KR/4 for a specific attribute.  (Design: working backward from +5 inherent limit in non-epic ruleset)* They can be enhanced further, but with decreasing returns (nonlinear)* Other boosts (insight, sacred, profane, etc.) combined can contribute as much as the enhanced bonuses.The idea being that a 20th level wizard might have Int18+5(lvls)+5(inherent)=23 on a permanent basis, plus another +6 from a headband for Int29.  But as he gets to higher levels the limitations on the items/temp-boosts becomes a smaller and smaller portion.  By the time we hit deific levels, the items and temporary boosts become effectively irrelevant.Now, might we still want it possible for a character to swell their attributes beyond those limits?  Sure.  Pushing their corporeal natures past their limits is what heroes do.  But it is a punishing and dangerous thing, perhaps causing backlash of some kind that racks the hero during the entire duration, and rising in intensity as the duration continues.  For instance, boosting your Int to 110% of its limit for 10 rounds to fight a combat scene might merely have hit point consequences, while trying to keep your Int at 150% for a hour might end with the caster writhing in pain and 6 negative levels, or some ability damage that can only be healed by time.So, Mostin can raise his intellect into incredible realms to manipulate the web of motes, but trying to sustain that level might fracture the very abilities he is trying to boost.By limiting our upper range, we are also then able to balance things by making the SV bonuses more of a known quanitity.useful or too much limitation/complication?</blockquote>

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