GameMaster Estild
Cleric/Empath Team
SALIM - Re: Salim on 08/23/2006 10:40 PM CDT
http://forums.play.net/forums/GemStone%20IV/Empaths/So%20You%20Want%20to%20be%20an%20Empath%3F/view/49
Here is my standard reply for anyone interested in a two handed weapon wielding empath.
| First pros and cons. |
| Cons: You will be behind other empaths in terms of magical and "fun to have" skills. If you truly dedicate your character to heavy weapons you'll be training in fewer expensive skills rather than many of the normal empathic skills. I'd also say that in terms of uberness you'll fall behind spell casting empaths, so if you want to make an uber empath of dooooom it won't be for you. |
| Pros: Fun, and it is a whole lot of fun. Role-play, training a mashal empath opens up quite a few role-play options. Ease of play, once you learn the basic hunting tactics involved with large weapons character advancement isn't difficult. In fact prior to level 20 using a claidhmore is far easier than attempting to hunt with spells. Did I mention fun? |
| Now on to race selection. |
| Forget about picking a hardier race for the extra AS because they're too slow. I'd recomend one of the elven varieties, either dark, half, pure, or woodland but playing a halfling or a gnome would work too. The only problems with the latter two will be their negative strength bonuses. |
| [soapbox] |
| Please, please read (or reread) the race and culture documentations prior to deciding on a race, and pick one that you'd be comfortable role-playing. My bigest pet peeve is PCs who do totally disregard the impact thier race has on thier personality. Culture should be more integral to the character than profession. |
| [/soapbox] |
| How to train your empath. |
| The only character crippling mistakes you could make when training an empath would be to not train in either harness power, physical fitness, or empath spells. If you train in those three skills and nothing else you can cap as a healer. You don't even need to be fully trained in any of them, sad isn't it. |
| But this isn't about general empath training, you want to learn how to beat the snot out of your foes with a great big sword which means the first skill you'll need is twohanded weapons. |
| Keeping in mind that you're still going to be mechanically playing an empath you can't neglect the professions core training. 2x spells, 1x PT, and 1x-1 harness power. 1x-1 is my term for not training past your actualy level in harness power because the rate of return, 1 mana, is not worth the TP investment. |
| You'll also see that I recomend 1x PT for ever instead of stopping once you reach your max HP like a lot of healers do. PT not only increases health points it also increases stamina which you'll be using a good bit. PT also helps reduce the amount of climbing and swimming needed, increases HP regeneration(which I admit is unnecessary for empaths) and also helps avoid or reduce the severity of some maneuver attacks. A great skill for minimal cost that empaths pay. |
| Which spells when? That's easy, 1x empath, or close to it. Just make sure to get 1130 at 30. In the major circle you'll need 211 at 11 and 215 at 15 then stop training in it for a while. In the minor circle you'll want 103 asap and then once you get 215 start working towards 120. After that you'll know what spells you want to focus on. Just a hint, teleportation spells aren't a big deal because you'll be too busy knocking your enemies hearts out of thier back to worry about rescues. Besides you'll get to those spells eventually, no rush. |
| Armor: Get 15 ranks ASAP and wear leather breastplate, it'll work just fine until around level 48 when it's time to migrate skills around so that you have 50 ranks and can wear chain mail. |
| CM: Train as much as possible without sacrificing the previous skills, eventually you'll want to be fully trained in it both for the added AS as well as access to the CMAN skills feint and disarm. Get three ranks of one so it'll be useful in like level combat then get three ranks of the other, after that you'll know if you want to get more ranks in one, both, or learn another cman skill. |
| MOC: Get 5 ranks so that you can hit a pair of foes for now but I'm sure you'll want to bump that up to 30 for a focused strike later. |
| Okay, that's the basic build and it'll leave you with training points left over to flesh out your character. the following skills |
| Mana control: Get up to 24 ranks in a single mana type when you have spare MTPs. |
| MIU and Srcoll Reading: Get 20 ranks or so of each when you have spare MTPs. |
| Spell aiming: 2x it or forget it. If you have a high dexterity bonus (which you should) then 1x can be useful for tossing an occasional aimed spell. |
| First aid: I personally think that all empaths should 2x this skill but training less or not at all isn't going to kill you. 3x is definately overkill for a heavy weapon user in my book, but I think it's overkill for a casting empath too. Combat wise all it does is increase the tiny chance that you'll get an instant kill with bone shatter (1106) |
| Lores: Speaking of 1106, if you want to use it with any success prior to level 40ish you'll need to .5x manipulation lore at a minumum. |
| Don't train in transformation lore to reduce healing roundtimes. It's an utter waste of good training points because your roundtimes will decrease as you gain levels. |
| Perception: This isn't way down here because I think it's unimportant, it's actually a good skill to have in moderation. I recomend training in it every other level. |
| Done with skills, now time to wrap it up with stats |
| Without getting to in depth there are a few basics to keep in mind. You'll need a combined reflex and dexterity bonus of 38 in order to swing a claidhmore in 5 seconds. Strength is a slow grower so place it high, over 90. Wisdom and charisma are important because they determine your starting mana and they give double points but they grow so fast that I'd put them somewhere around 70, maybe lower. |
| So that you can see some numbers here are the starting stats for my elf. |
| Level 0 Stats for Tsalim, Elf Empath |
| Strength (STR): 93 |
| Constitution (CON): 88 |
| Dexterity (DEX): 86 |
| Agility (AGI): 70 |
| Discipline (DIS): 73 |
| Aura (AUR): 62 |
| Logic (LOG): 20 |
| Intuition (INT): 39 |
| Wisdom (WIS): 65 |
| Influence (INF): 64 |
| Good luck and feel free to ask more questions. |
>>And what are the best 2 handed weapons? Can you give some 2 hander hunting tips?
As for weapons I currently carry a claidhmore, a mattock, a greataxe, a greatsword, and a bastard sword. I wouldn't mind dumping the mattock for a maul honestly. I use the claid on almost all living critters and the occasional player characters that I come up against.
For tactics the best advice that I can give is to not use outside spells, not even mass spells, until level 20 or better yet level 40. That will force you to learn proper two-handed hunting tactics if you want to survive.
A couple other things I'd reccomend is to use calm anytime you face more than one foe. Calm them all then fight them one on one. Use unbalance instead of bind, it only takes a 101 endroll to put something on the ground and it takes less mana. Silence is a great spell to use on casters, they are usually physically weak so if you take away their spells they are easy claidh fodder, tree spirits are cake if you can silence them between preping and casting a spell as they won't attack at all until the silence wears off.
>>yeh im also interested in seeing what a two handed empath plan would look like, tempting to turn my empath into one. Would be interesting to see you hunting but my only charchter old enough to go the bog is dark elf so i think the only time he'd see you in action would be if he was the target :)
I do occasionally offer to take the victory court healers out hunting regardless of race or level. Oddly enough they rarely accept.
Here is one of m favorites:
| * Tsalim just bit the dust! |
| DEAD> |
| The long thorny vine thrashes wildly. |
| The long thorny vine lashes out at a giant fog beetle, but is unable to grasp it. |
| DEAD> |
| A jungle troll mutters, "Sr'r'wr'ralars 'ght lorlur'ra larlor'rikr." |
| DEAD> |
| A jungle troll chieftain runs northwest. |
| DEAD> |
| Suddenly you have the strangest feeling that you are being watched. |
| The feeling fades as quickly as it came. |
| DEAD> |
| A giant fog beetle hisses sharply. |
| DEAD> |
| A jungle troll places a foot on your shoulder. With that leverage, it reaches down and grabs ahold of your head. Taking a breath and then with a hoarse grunt, the troll back muscles arch as it rips your head off. |
| The jungle troll lifts your severed head up high and flings it groundward where it smashes into a misshapen mess with a sickening THUD! |
| DEAD> |
| A elf skull rolls along the ground in a wobbling course before finally coming to rest. |
| DEAD> |
| Suddenly you have the strangest feeling that you are being watched. |
| The feeling fades as quickly as it came. |
| DEAD> |
| A jungle troll runs southwest. |
| DEAD> |
| The long thorny vine suddenly stops moving, drops to the ground, and dissolves away. |
| DEAD>look at skull |
| You see a elf skull, similar to what yours might look like if it was ripped off and stomped on by a large angry beast. |
I'm not logged in at the moment to get some hunting clips but my AS is 320ish and my self spelled DS is around 275 without airwall.
Salim
>>Us GS'ers hide in the dark spots of our homes with only the glow of the monitor to guide us. Society never has to know the depths to which our geekiness sinks.-Coonass
