The last time I really played my empath was about 10-11 years ago. I'm willing to take a guess that things of changed since then in regards to training and hunting techniques. Don't mock me to harshly when you see her current training, I'm sure it was all the rage 10 years ago. I would really appreciate any and all help in bringing in up to date, as well has hunting suggestions. I'd like to stay a spellcaster, and a reasonably decent healer. Thank you in advance for the help!
Race: Half-Elf Profession: Empath (not shown)
Gender: Female Age: 58 Expr: 1910269 Level: 42
Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 92 (21) ... 92 (21)
Constitution (CON): 54 (2) ... 54 (2)
Dexterity (DEX): 88 (24) ... 88 (24)
Agility (AGI): 65 (17) ... 65 (17)
Discipline (DIS): 82 (11) ... 82 (11)
Aura (AUR): 85 (17) ... 85 (17)
Logic (LOG): 81 (15) ... 81 (15)
Intuition (INT): 68 (9) ... 68 (9)
Wisdom (WIS): 98 (24) ... 98 (24)
Influence (INF): 100 (30) ... 100 (30)
Mana: 177 Silver: 0
(at level 42), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 40 8
Physical Fitness...................| 102 24
Arcane Symbols.....................| 143 43
Magic Item Use.....................| 143 43
Spell Aiming.......................| 186 86
Harness Power......................| 186 86
Spirit Mana Control................| 143 43
Spiritual Lore - Summoning.........| 15 3
Mental Lore - Manipulation.........| 143 43
Mental Lore - Telepathy............| 25 5
Climbing...........................| 90 20
Swimming...........................| 70 15
First Aid..........................| 186 86
Spell Lists
Major Spiritual....................| 25
Spell Lists
Minor Spiritual....................| 30
Spell Lists
Empath.............................| 42
Training Points: 406 Phy 0 Mnt (602 Phy converted to Mnt)
POETRY1234
ETANNIDOMHNAILL
Re: Please Help a Returning Player.
08/29/2014 11:55 AM CDT
Welcome back!
I wrote a post a while back outlining my preferred caster empath build, along with advice for training, stats and spell tactics. It's a couple years old now, but most of the mechanics haven't changed significantly. The only major thing that might impact training choices is the MANA update, which may alter how you train in mana controls.
Training suggestions: http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Empath_training_suggestions_(saved_post)
MANA update: http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/MANA_(verb)
Above all, however, I encourage you to look at many different builds and find what works for you. Play with things, see how they suit you, and don't just take anyone's word as gospel.
Gretchen
Visit the GSGuide wiki, now home to merchant shop inventory lists! http://gsguide.wikia.com/wiki/GSGuide_Wiki
Meeting Nilandia: http://gsguide.wikia.com/wiki/Nilandia
AIM: Lady Nilandia
I wrote a post a while back outlining my preferred caster empath build, along with advice for training, stats and spell tactics. It's a couple years old now, but most of the mechanics haven't changed significantly. The only major thing that might impact training choices is the MANA update, which may alter how you train in mana controls.
Training suggestions: http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Empath_training_suggestions_(saved_post)
MANA update: http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/MANA_(verb)
Above all, however, I encourage you to look at many different builds and find what works for you. Play with things, see how they suit you, and don't just take anyone's word as gospel.
Gretchen
Visit the GSGuide wiki, now home to merchant shop inventory lists! http://gsguide.wikia.com/wiki/GSGuide_Wiki
Meeting Nilandia: http://gsguide.wikia.com/wiki/Nilandia
AIM: Lady Nilandia
ZHOUY1
Re: Please Help a Returning Player.
08/29/2014 01:31 PM CDT
I think Mental Mana Control was removed as a factor in Bone Shatter so there's not much incentive to train in it anymore.
A couple of hunting areas that suit empaths particularly well are Gyldemar (Ta'Illistim, lvl range 43-50) and Pinefar (Icemule Trace, lvl range 42-53). Both are full of creatures vulnerable to 1106 with valuable skins. The latter has a mix of undead so I'd recommend it if you are in Voln, plus IMT is more populated these days.
A couple of hunting areas that suit empaths particularly well are Gyldemar (Ta'Illistim, lvl range 43-50) and Pinefar (Icemule Trace, lvl range 42-53). Both are full of creatures vulnerable to 1106 with valuable skins. The latter has a mix of undead so I'd recommend it if you are in Voln, plus IMT is more populated these days.
RORN
Re: Please Help a Returning Player.
08/29/2014 02:46 PM CDT
I'd suggest you drop Manipulation Lore since it doesn't do much for spells and train 1x in Summoning Lore which is really nice to have when hunting. Up on Wentoph hunting Minotaurs it's literally proven a lifesaver since they can't do their special attacks when webbed and they were consistently putting my character in RT until dead starting with those attacks. Now, other than for the magus, I web them first attack and then Boneshatter them to death. Summoning also benefits a lot of spells, look it up on Krakiipedia.
When I went full pure about 20 levels back I was told to have level +21 Empath ranks to have decent CS for spells. Every extra rank adds one to the casting CS you have with that spell circle so it certainly helps when using Empath attack spells. If your casting minor or major spirit spells they will add some to your CS for those as well.
As I understand it, each spell rank of the circle your casting adds one CS, with each rank of the other two circles adding 1/3 CS up to 2/3 your level. I'm to the point of adding Spirit spell ranks which is why I mention this. Currently I'm leaning towards adding Minor Spirit ranks to add CS when I cast Imbalance and Web, leaving Major Spirit at 225. This tradeoff will leave Tanivar more potent with Minor Spirit (mainly web) spells at the cost of Major Spirit spells not working as well.
Below is what I currently have with my latest skill migration going on which is Telepathy headed for 5 ranks and the training points being shifted to bring Arcane Symbols up to 1x for the longer scroll spell duration.
The Elemental Mana Control ranks have drawn a lot of flak as a waste of points at a below cap level. I took it for two main reasons, people tend to send Tanivar mana when he is healing or casting Spirit spells on them and now both spiritual and elemental casters can do it successfully, it also lets me send mana to other casters when out with a group and Tanivar's mind is full and he has it to spare.
The Transformation Lore is to speed his healing. Having 51 ranks reduced the hard RT from healing spells down below the 3 second spell RT and took 17 seconds off the scar healing RT. The 52nd rank I added in to get another point of blood from the Troll's Blood cycles per the Krakiipedia Summation Chart. Having the Troll's Blood spell running now gives him effectively nearly a bite and a half of ancantha leaf three or four times a minute.
Survival, and Perception are for skinning and foraging and may well wind up 1x. Seems also to have decreased his tendency to slip on ice during the Icemule trail runs. Saw a big change in the 60-65 Survival range.
Armor Use..........................| 40 8
Physical Fitness...................| 252 152
Arcane Symbols.....................| 167 67
Magic Item Use.....................| 150 50
Spell Aiming.......................| 252 152
Harness Power......................| 240 140
Elemental Mana Control.............| 90 20
Spirit Mana Control................| 175 75
Spiritual Lore - Summoning.........| 176 76
Mental Lore - Telepathy............| 54 11
Mental Lore - Transformation.......| 152 52
Survival...........................| 170 70
Perception.........................| 150 50
Climbing...........................| 150 50
Swimming...........................| 90 20
First Aid..........................| 252 152
Spell Lists
Major Spiritual....................| 25
Spell Lists
Minor Spiritual....................| 33
Spell Lists
Empath.............................| 94
Tanivar Somakre
"Healing, you want it, you shall have it."
When I went full pure about 20 levels back I was told to have level +21 Empath ranks to have decent CS for spells. Every extra rank adds one to the casting CS you have with that spell circle so it certainly helps when using Empath attack spells. If your casting minor or major spirit spells they will add some to your CS for those as well.
As I understand it, each spell rank of the circle your casting adds one CS, with each rank of the other two circles adding 1/3 CS up to 2/3 your level. I'm to the point of adding Spirit spell ranks which is why I mention this. Currently I'm leaning towards adding Minor Spirit ranks to add CS when I cast Imbalance and Web, leaving Major Spirit at 225. This tradeoff will leave Tanivar more potent with Minor Spirit (mainly web) spells at the cost of Major Spirit spells not working as well.
Below is what I currently have with my latest skill migration going on which is Telepathy headed for 5 ranks and the training points being shifted to bring Arcane Symbols up to 1x for the longer scroll spell duration.
The Elemental Mana Control ranks have drawn a lot of flak as a waste of points at a below cap level. I took it for two main reasons, people tend to send Tanivar mana when he is healing or casting Spirit spells on them and now both spiritual and elemental casters can do it successfully, it also lets me send mana to other casters when out with a group and Tanivar's mind is full and he has it to spare.
The Transformation Lore is to speed his healing. Having 51 ranks reduced the hard RT from healing spells down below the 3 second spell RT and took 17 seconds off the scar healing RT. The 52nd rank I added in to get another point of blood from the Troll's Blood cycles per the Krakiipedia Summation Chart. Having the Troll's Blood spell running now gives him effectively nearly a bite and a half of ancantha leaf three or four times a minute.
Survival, and Perception are for skinning and foraging and may well wind up 1x. Seems also to have decreased his tendency to slip on ice during the Icemule trail runs. Saw a big change in the 60-65 Survival range.
Armor Use..........................| 40 8
Physical Fitness...................| 252 152
Arcane Symbols.....................| 167 67
Magic Item Use.....................| 150 50
Spell Aiming.......................| 252 152
Harness Power......................| 240 140
Elemental Mana Control.............| 90 20
Spirit Mana Control................| 175 75
Spiritual Lore - Summoning.........| 176 76
Mental Lore - Telepathy............| 54 11
Mental Lore - Transformation.......| 152 52
Survival...........................| 170 70
Perception.........................| 150 50
Climbing...........................| 150 50
Swimming...........................| 90 20
First Aid..........................| 252 152
Spell Lists
Major Spiritual....................| 25
Spell Lists
Minor Spiritual....................| 33
Spell Lists
Empath.............................| 94
Tanivar Somakre
"Healing, you want it, you shall have it."
THROGG
Re: Please Help a Returning Player.
08/29/2014 11:47 PM CDT
>>I'd suggest you drop Manipulation Lore since it doesn't do much for spells<<
As pure caster, you will be annoyed to discover that Boneshatter was nerfed sometime back. I can't really complain that much; it really was sort of overpowered. (A Caveat here; my memory sometimes plays tricks on me but this following bit about manipulation lore is my recollection of posts from some time back.) Manipulation lore does apparently still affect that spell's power, but a GM once let slip just how much you need for a decent effect. It was something on the same order of how mages need to train in earth lore to make stone fist maximally effective; namely, quite excessive. I used to have 60 ranks of this lore, specifically for the effect on boneshatter, but fixskilled them away entirely upon hearing this. So yeah, you may as well dump this skill.
Rorn is correct about the spell ranks needed to maximize empath circle CS, but that's a goal for later on, IMO. You have gotten both 130 and 225, a combination which is almost mandatory if you want to be a rescuer; keep those spell circles as is. (Heh, I remember when almost nobody could fog; you had to run to a corpse and drag it back to town. Try doing that today!) If you drop manipulation, you can pump those recovered TPs into more empath spell ranks.
Of course, real combat empaths know that focused MStrike with a 7x THW or Lance is where it's at, but that's another story :)
"For the female of the species
is more deadly than the male."
As pure caster, you will be annoyed to discover that Boneshatter was nerfed sometime back. I can't really complain that much; it really was sort of overpowered. (A Caveat here; my memory sometimes plays tricks on me but this following bit about manipulation lore is my recollection of posts from some time back.) Manipulation lore does apparently still affect that spell's power, but a GM once let slip just how much you need for a decent effect. It was something on the same order of how mages need to train in earth lore to make stone fist maximally effective; namely, quite excessive. I used to have 60 ranks of this lore, specifically for the effect on boneshatter, but fixskilled them away entirely upon hearing this. So yeah, you may as well dump this skill.
Rorn is correct about the spell ranks needed to maximize empath circle CS, but that's a goal for later on, IMO. You have gotten both 130 and 225, a combination which is almost mandatory if you want to be a rescuer; keep those spell circles as is. (Heh, I remember when almost nobody could fog; you had to run to a corpse and drag it back to town. Try doing that today!) If you drop manipulation, you can pump those recovered TPs into more empath spell ranks.
Of course, real combat empaths know that focused MStrike with a 7x THW or Lance is where it's at, but that's another story :)
"For the female of the species
is more deadly than the male."
JGALT22
Re: Please Help a Returning Player.
08/30/2014 08:08 AM CDT
<<As I understand it, each spell rank of the circle your casting adds one CS, with each rank of the other two circles adding 1/3 CS up to 2/3 your level.
You've got the secondary circle bonus correct, but the primary circle bonus isn't quite that generous.
http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Casting_strength
+1 CS for ranks up to level
+0.75 CS for ranks 1-20 above level
+0.5 CS for ranks 21-60 above level
The 21st rank above level rounds up to 1 which makes it a nice stopping point.
You've got the secondary circle bonus correct, but the primary circle bonus isn't quite that generous.
http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Casting_strength
+1 CS for ranks up to level
+0.75 CS for ranks 1-20 above level
+0.5 CS for ranks 21-60 above level
The 21st rank above level rounds up to 1 which makes it a nice stopping point.
POETRY1234
Re: Please Help a Returning Player.
08/30/2014 08:53 PM CDT
Thank you everyone for the suggestions, it's very much appreciated! I haven't used my fixskills yet, still doing a little tweaking here and there. This is what I would have for skills if I used it right now:
your base skill bonuses, ranks and goals are:
Skill Name | Actual Actual
| Bonus Ranks Goals In-Game Time to Goal
Armor Use..........................| 40 8 8
Physical Fitness...................| 143 43 43
Arcane Symbols.....................| 143 43 43
Magic Item Use.....................| 143 43 43
Spell Aiming.......................| 186 86 86
Harness Power......................| 186 86 86
Mental Mana Control................| 142 42.917 0 22 days, 22 hours, 27 minutes
Spirit Mana Control................| 143 43 43
Spiritual Lore - Summoning.........| 58 12 43 ASAP (will rise when points are available)
Mental Lore - Manipulation.........| 142 42.945 0 45 days, 8 hours, 37 minutes
Mental Lore - Telepathy............| 25 5 20 ASAP (will rise when points are available)
Climbing...........................| 90 20 20
Swimming...........................| 70 15 15
First Aid..........................| 186 86 86
Spell Lists
Major Spiritual....................| 25 25
Spell Lists
Minor Spiritual....................| 30 30
Spell Lists
Empath.............................| 42 46 ASAP (will rise when points are available)
All extra points would be going into Empath spells to get them to the +21. After that then probably work in some Transformation, Perception, and extra Climbing/Swimming. Is there anything major I'm missing?
Thanks again!
your base skill bonuses, ranks and goals are:
Skill Name | Actual Actual
| Bonus Ranks Goals In-Game Time to Goal
Armor Use..........................| 40 8 8
Physical Fitness...................| 143 43 43
Arcane Symbols.....................| 143 43 43
Magic Item Use.....................| 143 43 43
Spell Aiming.......................| 186 86 86
Harness Power......................| 186 86 86
Mental Mana Control................| 142 42.917 0 22 days, 22 hours, 27 minutes
Spirit Mana Control................| 143 43 43
Spiritual Lore - Summoning.........| 58 12 43 ASAP (will rise when points are available)
Mental Lore - Manipulation.........| 142 42.945 0 45 days, 8 hours, 37 minutes
Mental Lore - Telepathy............| 25 5 20 ASAP (will rise when points are available)
Climbing...........................| 90 20 20
Swimming...........................| 70 15 15
First Aid..........................| 186 86 86
Spell Lists
Major Spiritual....................| 25 25
Spell Lists
Minor Spiritual....................| 30 30
Spell Lists
Empath.............................| 42 46 ASAP (will rise when points are available)
All extra points would be going into Empath spells to get them to the +21. After that then probably work in some Transformation, Perception, and extra Climbing/Swimming. Is there anything major I'm missing?
Thanks again!
