Empower Vs Maximize

This is to record mainly opinions and some supporting facts around the discussion of which of these two feats is more worthwhile taking.

Mathematics
The main thing to focus on is the Average Damage. Over time and many castings you are more likely to do this amount of damage, more damage will happen just as often as less so they will work to even each other out. Maximum Damage and Minimum damage are also generally factors in any discussion about this.

Damage is MdN, so a 5d6 fireball for example, the 5 would be M, and the 6 wound be N.

Normal Average Damage is M*(N + 1)*1/2. Minimum Damage is M, Maximum Damage is M*N. Note that the average damage is never half the maximum damage, but rather a bit above that. This is because given 1d6, you'll get 1-3 half the time, and 4-6 the other half, which makes the middle number actually 3.5 between these two.

Empowered Damage is similar to normal damage, but instead of 1/2, it does 3/4. This gives you M*(N + 1)*3/4. However the range is also affected, and the minimum damage is M*1.5 and the maximum damage is N*1.5.

Maximized Damage is always the same M*N, very reliable.

On average, Maximize is always better than Empower for any die greater than d3, but with low dice, not by much.

The math goes like this: suppose a spell does MdN damage. Cast normally, this results in damage of M*(N + 1)*1/2. Cast Empowered, you get M*(N + 1)*3/4. Cast Maximized, it is simply M*N.

If N was, say, 20, then you gain 5.25 points per die from Empowering and 9.5 points from Maximizing so the latter is well worth the extra level. But NWN2 does not have d20 spells -- the most common case is actually N = 6 where you gain 1.75 points per die when Empowering and 2.5 points per die when Maximizing.