Epic levels

Epic Levels
With Menace of the Underdark the game is making a clear distinction between Heroic (levels 1-20) and Epic levels (level 21 and above). From Epic levels 21 to 25 there are no Heroic class levels or Enhancements; it's all focused on Epic levels and additional customization through swappable Epic Destinies.

Epic levels and Epic Destinies are two different things. Epics levels are granted for any player. However, Epic Destinies are paid ability, either by expansion purchase or DDO Store purchase.

Characters earn "Epic Experience points" from any experience gain, but Epic dungeons will usually give you more experience than Heroic dungeons. A character that reaches Heroic level 20 will automatically begin to accumulate Epic Experience, progressing through Epic levels 21 through 25. XP required to level is identical for all characters, regardless of number of TR's.

Regardless of their heroic class(es), all characters gain the same benefits from epic levels. You cannot select e.g. to become level 21 wizard. This applies also to multi-classed characters, a Monk 2/Cleric 18 cannot progress in their heroic class progression. Instead, all gain the same generic epic class:

Notes:
 * Characters that are level 21 or higher may select Epic Feats or Heroic Feats as their level 21 and 24 feat selections.
 * Epic levels grant +1 to all skills each level for levels 21-25.
 * There's no spell point progress nor caster level progress, however some of the Destinies have such benefits.
 * Game that did not grant ability increase at level 24 has been fixed.

Unlike heroic classes, epic "class" does not grant any action points to spend on enhancements. Thus they have no Ranks within. However, players can use Epic Destinies to progress their character with an enhancement-like system.

Power-leveling penalties still apply in level 20 and up dungeons however the penalty is reduced by the following rules that were introduced in U14 Patch 2: Players in CR 20 quests will have the spread between the quest CR and the max player level reduced by 1. In CR 21+ quests, the spread will be reduced by two. This will prevent over-level penalties caused by level 25 players running CR 20-23 quests.