These are my empath's current spell ranks at level 50 (approx 25k from 51):

>spell
Your spell lists:
Minor Spiritual...29
Major Spiritual...25
Empath Base.......50

Once I get 130 (in a few minutes, actually), I'll have all the major and minor spiritual spells I can see myself making use of until sometime post cap. Keeping in mind that my empath is primarily a bolter that makes semi-regular use of 110, is there any major drawback to dumping all my spell ranks into the Empath circle up to 100 before putting any more in the other two circles?

I should prolly note that she does carry an OHE and will swing it when hunting living critters to save mana (she is of the opinion that runestaves are for "wimpy men").

Starchitin

A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.

Yea, I'm not doing bandits.... I'll leave it at that and spare the rant.

I doubt I'll have the mana to cast 240 before getting the empath circle to 100, which should be at level 75-76. The mana cost of the four spells I don't have and the fact they're all attack/offensive was the main reason I figured I wouldn't be casting any of them until after cap. Looking at 240 a bit closer, though, I could see making use of it in my 80's if I'm tackling something that isn't squishy.

Good catch on getting one more MnS spell. It's not much, but there's no sense in putting it off when 1 CS can make a big difference.

Starchitin

A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.