I've been thinking about fun ways to extend the empath class into something a little more than it is today, and the idea of a sorcery feels like an easy win. It's a long shot, but hear me out.

1. Find a scroll with the signature spell you want to cast.
2. Empaths get a new extension to link. This works like the existing link. They link <target> meld.
2. If the link code is too convoluted to deal with, then make it a spell. For flavor, tie it to the link being active and using a (not the) skill that the target spell uses.
3. The link/spell target must have learned the spell (temporary or permanent is fine), and not be an empath*.
4. Uses sorcery to cast. Standard difficulty.
5. Due to the nature the spell and the method it's learned, you will not retain your spell at death (no matter what the cleric says).
6. Learning a signature spell forces you to forget all previously learned scrolls.

Does not work for spells requiring a quest, because they aren't on scrolls. It also means that two-part spells (like teleport or moongate) are off the table, because they only work with Focus Moonbeam. I mean, if you had the empathy and utility, you could learn it, but you wouldn't want to cast it. As far as balance is concerned, it's an empath. It's not like they're suddenly going to destroy the world. It should also come with a huge warning regarding necromantic magic. Bad stuff (call from beyond, for example) could happen if you weren't careful - or maybe just make it give shock and fail to learn.


\* Very, very high empathy can let you chain a spell from an empath that already knows the spell. As it stands, the empathy skill (modified by spell strength, if a spell) lets you determine which spells you can learn.

> I'd rather see more Link stuff that has nothing to do with magic. I.e., Linking critters together such that some of the damage one receives is spread to the other (and maybe some splashes to you). Linking to your GS so you can have more control over it (but maybe less control of your own actions). Etc.

I think that would be pretty cool, but it looks like magic is the way to get new work in the queue now a days. I'd guess because of how magic 3.0 eased the development process. Something like this would give empaths a unique and wide-reaching niche, especially as you work through synergy in the sorcery system. It also gives them a lot of variability without requiring additional work for what appears to be a under-utilized class.