New player, any help?

[semajin]

Just started a new empath, and I've been looking for a good empath guide. Doesn't seem to be much out there, anyone know of one or able to help me with empath creation?

[Latrinsorm]

Do you want to heal, hunt, or both?
If you want to heal, it's about as simple as you'd imagine. 2x harness, at least 1x Empath circle, get some Mental Lore: Transformation, and get enough Physical Training to max your health (between 20 and 24 ranks, depending on race).
If you want to hunt, your two main choices are Boneshatter (1106, wholly CS-based) or Empathic Assault and Fire Spirit (1110 and 111, bolt spells, 1110 also has a CS component). Boneshatter is easy to train for; single in Mental Lore: Manipulation and at least 2x First Aid along with Empath circle training. Obviously if you want to bolt you should 2x Spell Aim. Each bolt spell has a bunch of lore effects, go to Carabele's lore summation chart for more information on those.
You could also hunt with weapons. Best bet there I think is to focus on Major Spiritual. Boneshatter is a ridiculously good spell at the moment though, it's probably best to hunt with it.
If you want to do both, probably lay off the Transformation lore to free up points for your hunting things.

[Sean of the Thread]

Empath guide: 213 cast. Bitch. Moan. 213 cast. Sit.

[Shari]

Xyelin is only half right.

If you are a female char, you wear all KINDS of pinworn fluff, even if it doesn't match. Make sure you wear really short skirts, skimpy, slutty clothing to show off all the massive wounds you'll be carrying. Eat lots of chocolate and don't call yourself an empath, you're an empuff, or puffie, or anything that sounds cute and cuddly.

If you are a male character, well...you just follow the same rules as the females.

[Gan]

Follow the link to the thread here in the PC for the quintessential empath guide.

http://forum.gsplayers.com/showthread.php?t=7407

[Shari]

I don't care how many times I read it, that thread just cracks me the fuck up.

Thanks for finding it, as I was too lazy to do so.

[Satira]

*gives Shari the finger*

[Sean of the Thread]

Hahhaa. Artha's post is the shit.

I will however be the first to admit I really enjoyed playing my mid (48?) level empath.. don't think I ever casted sanct once in the career however.

She was an archer puff and was great fun and I'd suggest trying that down the road.. I think Velvette still does the archer puff and does it well.

[Amber]

I've a brawling/archer empath who's loads of fun to play too. I love all the hunting options open to her.

[Ignot]

That's hilarious! Thanks for find that post.

[WRoss]

I have a nice casting/swinging mix empath. Here you go. And I'm no Bunnyhugs empath either......

Rogane (at level 33), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 130 35
Combat Maneuvers...................| 54 11
Two-Handed Weapons.................| 130 35
Physical Fitness...................| 128 34
Arcane Symbols.....................| 105 25
Magic Item Use.....................| 105 25
Harness Power......................| 132 36
Spirit Mana Control................| 99 23
Mental Lore - Transformation.......| 90 20
Perception.........................| 108 26
Climbing...........................| 74 16
Swimming...........................| 90 20
First Aid..........................| 111 27

Spell Lists
Major Spirit.......................| 20

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 25

Spell Lists
Empath.............................| 32



You have committed 42 crimes in Wehnimer's Landing in the last six months. They are:
1 count of hooliganism
9 counts of assault with a deadly weapon
1 count of petty theft
17 counts of murder
7 counts of high crimes against the state
7 counts of endangering public safety

As you can see, I don't cast sanct either

[Himmy]

...
If you want to hunt, your two main choices are Boneshatter (1106, wholly CS-based) or Empathic Assault and Fire Spirit (1110 and 111, bolt spells, 1110 also has a CS component). Boneshatter is easy to train for; single in Mental Lore: Manipulation and at least 2x First Aid along with Empath circle training. Obviously ... Boneshatter is a ridiculously good spell at the moment though, it's probably best to hunt with it....

That's not how you train for boneshatter. You don't need nearly as much manipulation lore as you would think. It's been tested by a few of us, and I only run five ranks. A couple empaths I know only run one. Boneshatter strength is mostly age-based, but it takes at least one rank of manipulation lore to activate that. Now, First Aid is another thing I don't have. Because, fully tripled with max ranks only gives you 15% chance of instant-death. If you have FA equivalent to a capped character singled in it, that's 5%. Doubled adds another 5, etc. Weak. You don't need it. Best bet is to go for CS if you want boneshatter. Use a shield and brawl and work on getting your empath spells up until you're at 60 ranks over your train. After that, it's more beneficial to train in spiritual spells because of diminishing returns. Whatever, boneshatter rocks and when they nerf it I bet all I'll have to do is channel rather than cast.

[Flurbins]

Hell, you don't even need that 1 rank for bone shatter.

Here's how you REALLY train for bone shatter.

(at level 15), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Physical Fitness...................| 74 16
Arcane Symbols.....................| 74 16
Magic Item Use.....................| 74 16
Harness Power......................| 124 32
Mental Mana Control................| 5 1
Spirit Mana Control................| 74 16

Spell Lists
Major Spirit.......................| 2

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 5

Spell Lists
Empath.............................| 40
Training Points: 112 Phy 0 Mnt (556 Phy converted to Mnt)
PsiNet has recorded your current skills.
(Use SKILLS BASE to display unmodified ranks and goals)

And yes, I get both crits, can hunt from empty to fried self spelled, and generally ruin anything I come in contact with. I always channel with both hands open from offensive.

[Himmy]

If you can hang in OTF with empty hands, props. But, I can't. I can do like-level areas open-handed, depends on what kind of swarms happen. Hunting is probably the easiest thing ever:
Shield Use.........................| 180 80
Brawling...........................| 180 80
Physical Fitness...................| 102 24
Arcane Symbols.....................| 102 24
Magic Item Use.....................| 102 24
Harness Power......................| 180 80
Spirit Mana Control................| 102 24
Mental Lore - Manipulation.........| 25 5
Perception.........................| 102 24
Climbing...........................| 90 20
Swimming...........................| 90 20

Spell Lists
Major Spirit.......................| 46

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 49

Spell Lists
Empath.............................| 138

[Himmy]

Oh, and arcane symbols + MIU is really a luxury. You don't need those either.

Edited to add: Also, I cast rather than channel. Right hand open in guarded when I hunt.

[Flurbins]

By the time anyone's ready for OTF the training points will open up enough to get the lores to cast with stuff in your hands, but under 30 or so, runestaff + no lores is really the way to go.

[Himmy]

Boneshatter wasn't an option when Himmy was that age. He's six years old now, shit. Started him with a cleric back in the day as support characters.. He done growed up.

[Flurbins]

Heh, at least this person isn't getting advice from the officials.

Goes something like this there:
Zomg, I cannot cast spells with my level 25 empath, helpz!
reply: Lolz, you dummy, you don't have enough manipulation lore, GET MORE NOW.

Funny thing is, manipulation lore really doesn't mean shit for low levels. I fixskilled at level 20 once from 1x manipulation down to 0x, and threw it all into spells. My shatters did about 10 points less damage maybe on a comparable cast, but it was more than made up for in the CS difference and the fact that the second crit showed up a hell of a lot more with an ass ton of spells compared to an ass ton of manipulation lore.

[Himmy]

Yeah, CS is really the main thing. It's such a good spell that if you can ward it, you can kill it. I dropped from 1x manipulation to 5 ranks and yeah it does a little less damage.. But I picked up enough CS to offset that. I'd rather have big CS than all the lores.

[WRoss]

Having played a boneshatter, empathic assault, OHE, and now two handed empath. I'd say that in later years, boneshatter seems to be the most effective. Though I've found that I enjoy playing my two handed empath the best. Empathic assault requires a lot of lore and I'm sure it could (and theoritically should be with stat placement) be an awesome choice. But in the end, with my two handed empath, I just swing until the critter goes into defensive, then I just shatter it to death. You can see my stat placement in a previous reply here. At 32, I cast at 170 in empath and still swing 304 with self spells and strength with a 4x weapon......plus having brig and all the DS boost from empath/spirit spells makes it a great mix. There are my two cents.

What I've found though are that empaths are, in my opinion, the most versitile profession around (some would argue bards though), because there are many many training paths that you can choose from.