Quote Originally Posted by Schroeswald View Post
Yeah, the defenses probably aren’t epic, because those are rare, and if V was able to level up, if I understand the rules correctly, V would cast an epic level stone to flesh (Blackwing’s stone).
+1 Caster Level =/= Epic.

Epic is a higher tier thing. An ordinary spell cast by a Level 21 Caster is pretty much the same as the same spell cast by a level 19 caster.