Here's a neat trick :
Take a lowly 1st level spell from SpC, Hail of Stone. Emulate it from one of the 22nd level Shadow Miracles of my Shadowcraft Red Wizard (Sanctum Spell+Earth Spell+Circle Magic ftw!) for automatic 220% reality, and fire off Reserves of Strength to uncap it. We're at (current version is sitting at a level 12 Node I believe, and a final CL of 150 something...we'll say 150 after RoS) 150d4*2.2=330d4*1.5 empowered for free (thanks Circle Magic!)=445d4 effectively. Average damage of 890...Rocks fall, you die! Now, lets have some fun with it. We're a proper SCM, and packing a constant Collar of Umbral Metamorphosis, giving Shadow spells a maximized effect for free. 1780 damage. Twinned? 3560 damage. Sculpt it now. And Widen it. 40' radius sphere of death! Rocks fall, everyone dies! No save, no SR. Still not done. Remember that node level? We're at +5 metamagic right now. A regular wizard can do this (granted, far less damage, but doable) without Circle Magic or anything else. But we like our No Save Orbital Bombardment <3 Now
chain it. Hi, I'm DM NPC X! ROCKS FALL, EVERYONE DIES! now has stats
You can literally take out every deity in Deities and Demigods if they were on the battlefield together. From a single Shadow Illusion that most likely began life as a cantrip.