30 Empath Skill Check

[Erous]

At 30, my empath seems to be doing well, but wanted to level set with folks here, specially around lores and whether or not I should spec spell aiming for more hunting diversity. My only annoyance right now is I really don't have the mana to sustain using Wither for non-corp critters, and bone shatter is limited. Appreciate the feedback.

(at level 30), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 40 8
Physical Fitness...................| 162 62
Arcane Symbols.....................| 122 31
Magic Item Use.....................| 122 31
Harness Power......................| 162 62
Spirit Mana Control................| 122 31
Spiritual Lore - Blessings.........| 50 10
Mental Lore - Transformation.......| 54 11
Perception.........................| 124 32
Climbing...........................| 96 22
Swimming...........................| 96 22
First Aid..........................| 162 62

Spell Lists
Major Spiritual....................| 5

Spell Lists
Minor Spiritual....................| 16

Spell Lists
Empath.............................| 51

I just want to hunt effectively and efficiently both solo and with a cleric. I'm CoL for wracking as I didn't really have the patience for voln, but I do see Empath's going GoS at later trains. I did read the other thread about dropping lores for more spell ranks, but I feel like I'm losing utility doing so, so I'm looking for a good balance. Appreciate the feedback.

[Tgo01]

Yeah for critters without bones younger pure empaths are kind of screwed because their other options cost a lot of mana.

As far as where to get some more TPs if you're hurting for them I would say depending on where you hunt you can either leave climbing/swimming alone for a while or possibly even lower swimming all the way to zero for a while (this is especially true if you hunt Icemule.)

I'm also a firm believer of leaving harness power at 1x until you're at cap. For all of those extra TPs you're spending to get 2x in harness power it only accounts for 1/4 of your total mana.

If you're still hurting for TPs you could probably make do with 1x in PF for a quite a while yet.

Also if you're training in Arcane Symbols and Magic Item Use because you use those skills then that's fine, if you're just training in them for cheap magic skill ranks you would probably be okay bringing those down to zero as well, as long as you use the points in other magic skills. Sure you would lose a few DS points bringing those to zero but if you put them in other magical ranks the DS points might not even trouble you in guarded stance plus you can gain other benefits from whatever other magic ranks you put them in.

Other than that I would say you're looking pretty good.

[Erous]

Great, thanks. Appreciate the feedback. I may keep it as is then and just continue on. The added defense and PF has been great for bandits, so I may suck it up and just let it play out as I move up in train. Once wither becomes more sustainable, then hunting should get better then.

[Tgo01]

Oh yeah, as far as spell aiming goes I personally wouldn't bother. I know some empaths think 1110 is good but personally I think it's pretty pointless compared to our other spells.

The only other real spell aiming option is 111, which isn't bad but you would have to at least 2x in spell aiming to make it good and that's a lot of training points for 1 spell. Also since you said you're in CoL then your spell aiming AS would be pretty craptastic after you wrack.

Also I tried both spirit lore blessings and spirit lore summoning. Blessings was nice for the increased mana bread regeneration and a few other perks but spirit lore summoning makes a huge difference in the strength of your wither. But it will be a while before you have the mana to hunt effectively with wither so it's up to you.

[Gnomad]

I agree with TGO.

1x HP. 2x HP is a scam at 1 mana for 8 MTP. You're paying 254 MTP for 32 mana. 1x or 1.5x PF for now. You don't need stamina, and there's not many critter maneuvers to worry about.

Blessings and spell aim are both way more useful for Sunfist empaths. 111 and 118 bolt is great to ruin a grim troll's day, and 1107 refilling stamina + sigil of power is a no-brainer.

For CoL, blessings doesn't make your bread's spirit regen any better, so it's not as pressing. 1110 is really good but also completely unnecessary for empaths; 1106/1115 are more than enough (if a little boring). You can use it on stuff that's immune to both 1106 and 1115, but I'd rather just hunt something else at that point.

Also, if you're going spell aim, you'll want to be deeper into Major Spirit for Bravery and Heroism. That's another 40+ AS. Locate is cool and all, but not that useful without 130 or Voln.

I don't do much public healing, so I've never cared much for Transformation lore. Troll's blood takes care of the little hits, and without sanct, I wouldn't do too much major field healing. If RT is really an issue, you can munch herbs instead with the super cheap FA empaths get. If you do like to heal, then things are different.

I'd also briefly consider either leather breastplate (15 ranks armor use, 4% hindrance, 3 for MnS) or brig (35 ranks armor use, 7% hindrance, 6 for MnS). You can train off brig soon, and it does help. I don't recommend anything in between the two. Empaths can get their day ruined by really bad headshots and bodyshots. I don't think anything can fatally crit a limb, and they're easy to fix. (Easier still if you bite the bullet and forgare up/pay for a 50 bite bundle of clove.) It's a question of: do you want no hindrance, some hindrance and more body coverage, or more hindrance and more head and body coverage.