Spellcraft ranks for epic spells

[Halfwit Genious]

I've never quite understood how this works. I heard that if the epic spell requires 34 ranks in spellcraft then you have to have no kidding base of 34 spellcraft. No feats, no items, no nothing. Which would mean you have to be 31st lvl before being able to take the spell because you can only have lvl + 3 in skills. This is not what puzzles me though. I've seen certain epics cast these spells when they are below the lvl that should be required to cast it if this were the case as far as spellcraft ranks. So what I'm asking really is what is the deal? What does it take into account for the X-spellcraft required for to be able to take the spell? Thanks for any help

[Pibemanden]

It is base ranks, and I have never seen anyone cast the spell you are thinking of so it requires 31st level

Edit: After a quick look over the epic spells, most of them requires around 20-30 SC with the exception of mummie dust and epic warding which is below and above that. So you can cast spells like epic mage armor rather easy at the begining of the twentyish levels, just not the super great spell epic warding.

[D Blaze]

Not all epic spells have the same Spellcraft requisite, some need less than 34 ranks, but all of them obviously needs you to be at least level 21 in a caster class capable of casting 9th circle spells (so no bard).
Epic Warding is the only Epic spell requiring 34 ranks in Spellcraft.

The lowest requisite for an Epic Spell is Mummy Dust, which is only 15 ranks (but you must still attain level 21 in a caster class).

All other Epic Spells fall between these two in Rank Requirements.

Perhaps the Epic feat you have seen cast as you say, is Epic Mage Armor, which several lvl 21+ arcane casters have.

[Lord of the Forest]

What Pibemanden and D_Blaze already stated is correct. In general you could say that the more powerful a spell is te more ranks in SC you'll need.

To cast lvl 9 spells for example you need a rather high stat of your ability like wis/int/cha, what ever class you are. So a wizard for example has to be smart enough to cast those. But now why SC for epic spells? Given said wizard is smart enough to understand lvl 9 spells and wants to progress further with epic spells. He might be smart enough to actually cast them, yet they are somewhat complexive and to form them you'll need much knowledge to form such an epic spell.
The more complexive the spell is the more knowledge you'll need which is reflected in the SC, imo as it shows the unterstanding in the weave.

I hope that helps you why things are how they is.

Note: That's just my view on these things