disc brakes with road levers?

I am thinking about building up a cyclocross bike and would like to get disc brakes. I want to use road levers to operate the cable disc brakes. I know about the incompatibility of v-brakes with non v-brake levers and assume that the same thing would happen with cable operated disc brakes. The thing is I don't know why the two types of brake levers are not interchangable, and what would happen if I decided to use road levers with non road-specific cable operated disc brakes?

Your brake levers will bottom against the handlebar before you get adequate stopping power.

Solution is to use Avid road calipers or a cable pull augmentation device like Travel Agent or Side Track.