New empath

[Tonic]

Looking to do an empath for an alt, I have never played one before or any of the magic users. I was thinking of just using max stats but have no clue about training. I was thinking of trying to do like a plague dr tyoe build if that helps with any thoughts or suggestions. Would like to use a cane/staff type weapon or one that has a hidden blade. I was also leaning towards half elf or dark elf as a race. Looking forward to your feedback.

[Nothing]

Warpaths are certainly possible, but I'd recommend against going the sword and board route with it. They're not bad below level 20ish, but by that time you'll either want a weapon with more oomph (like a polearm or THW) or be relying on your spells for attack and your weapon will be purely for defense.

In the later case, the TPs spent on OHE/Shield will be preventing you from getting the lores and extra spell ranks that could be making you a real force to be reckoned with if you were carrying a runestaff instead.

[Tonic]

I ended up finding a couple guides for a thw empath going to try that route and use a staff for now. I can get one with a 4x katana from Roblar if I continue on this route. With training in spells do you train for life or stop once you get to the spells you want?

[Orp]

capped spells for an empath are 67, 67 & 166, personally I would not worry about lores, but hey each to their own

[wetsand]

My empath did UAC til 20. Then I fixskilled into a pure build. I kinda wish I kept him as a warpath. Most people do +21 in empath, 215 and 120 to start with spells. If you continue down the warpath route I'd strongly suggest making 211/215 a priority. Those will both help a ton with AS.

[Nothing]

You're going to want to train for life in spells, but it's where your priorities are that's important. As a warpath, as much of your AS/DS will come from your spells as your training (if not more), so once you have all the spells that help there (1109, 1119, 1130, 211, 215, 219, 103, 120), you'll want to continue getting ranks in the Empath circle to boost the AS benefits from those spells (1109, 1119, 1130).

You'll also be using spells while hunting to disable critters and set them up for your melee attacks. 1106 can be used for this purpose, but it's not as reliable from a disabling perspective as the other three options empaths have (110, 118, and 214). So, you'll want to pick one of the spirit circles to continue putting spell ranks in as well to keep your CS up for whichever disabling spell(s) you think you'd prefer.

[Velfi]

With training in spells do you train for life or stop once you get to the spells you want?

It depends. Personally, I stopped without even being 2x in spells so that I could use my TPs more effectively for combat skills. You mentioned looking up THW empath guides, I'm assuming you mean Tsalim's. I mostly agree with his guide, it's how I set my THW empath up to start though I've made some changes along the way to accomodate how I like to play.

You definitely want all of your AS/DS improving spells like 1109, 1119, 1130, 211/215 etc as mentioned. Continuing spells beyond a certain point to me just depends on how much you want to be casting in the fight vs swinging your weapon. I try to save all of my mana for healing/sigils, maybe a 1120 if the room gets hairy, and do my work with my maul.

Having said all of this, I always have a wizard partner to hunt with so that definitely has changed my skill layout as I can rely on e-waves and stuff in tricky situations. If you're only gonna be solo, you probably want to be stronger with your casting options. This is my 11.1m xp warpath, for reference:

 Velfi (at level 100), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
  Skill Name                         | Current Current
                                     |   Bonus   Ranks
  Armor Use..........................|     130      35
  Combat Maneuvers...................|     201     101
  Two-Handed Weapons.................|     201     101
  Multi Opponent Combat..............|      70      15
  Physical Fitness...................|     403     303
  Arcane Symbols.....................|     201     101
  Magic Item Use.....................|     201     101
  Harness Power......................|     201     101
  Elemental Mana Control.............|     102      24
  Mental Mana Control................|     105      25
  Spirit Mana Control................|     201     101
  Spiritual Lore - Blessings.........|     200     100
  Spiritual Lore - Summoning.........|     130      35
  Mental Lore - Transformation.......|     157      57
  Perception.........................|     201     101
  Climbing...........................|     160      60
  Swimming...........................|     160      60
  First Aid..........................|     302     202

Spell Lists
  Major Spiritual....................|              43

Spell Lists
  Minor Spiritual....................|              43

Spell Lists
  Empath.............................|             105

edit: I'm currently saving for 2x SA, then more MoC, then I'm gonna work on my spells/lore some more.

[Tonic]

I was trying to come up with a combination of Tsalim and the other guide from the WIKI. This is what I did for initial stat placement and what I have planned thru 30 (still dinking around level 5). Not interested in doing fix skill or fix stat later on. Looking to squeeze in MOC up to 30 and more Armor up 50. Other than that I haven't planned much farther than that.

30
STR 88 92
CON 77 84
DEX 73 82
AGL 73 82
DIS 70 80
AUR 70 80
LOG 49 65
INT 49 63
WIS P,M 49 70
INF S,M 62 77

Armor Use 15 (0.5X)
Two-Handed Weapons 31 (1.0X)
Combat Maneuvers 31 (1.0X)
Multi-Opponent Combat
Physical Fitness 31 (1.0X)
Climbing 15 (0.5X)
Swimming 10 (0.3X)
Perception 16 (0.5X)
First Aid 62 (2.0X)
Harness Power 31 (1.0X)
Spirit Mana Control 31 (1.0X)
Mental Mana Control
Spell Research 62 (2.0X)
Major Spirit 19 (0.6X)
Minor Spirit 13 (0.4X)
Empath 30 (1.0X)
Spiritual Lore
Blessings

[Velfi]

I was trying to come up with a combination of Tsalim and the other guide from the WIKI. This is what I did for initial stat placement and what I have planned thru 30 (still dinking around level 5). Not interested in doing fix skill or fix stat later on. Looking to squeeze in MOC up to 30 and more Armor up 50. Other than that I haven't planned much farther than that.

I didn't look at how the stats end up, but 30 MOC is gonna be very expensive, and 50 AU is unnecessary unless you're trying to get into more than brig, which I don't recommend. You only need 35 AU for minimum spell hindrance in brig.

[Tonic]

ok sounds good, just saw where people were talking about getting into double chain, and 30 moc was far down the road. I'll keep plugging away. I appreciated the help.