EmptyStar

Hi all! I've recently had some inspiration in regards to the Empathy powerset and how I would improve it. After putting some thought and imagination into it, I finally have a vision to share. I did my best to preserve the original feel and playstyle of the powerset while adding to it some more interesting mechanics and thematic flair. The result is a powerset that will look very familiar but will hopefully surprise you with the changes I've introduced. In particular... Familiar A very "clicky" powerset that requires frequent target switching and attention to buffs and health bars Powers mostly accept the same enhancements and enhancement sets as their existing counterparts Benefits greatly from recharge enhancement New Power design focuses on smaller, cumulative effects rather than big single-target effects Heals serve a more dynamic purpose beyond simple healing Player positioning in relation to their allies is more important Grants more direct benefits to the caster and not just allies The powerset is presented below power by power with a description of each power in addition to my commentary. You best strap in because it's a long post with a lot of text! Thanks in advance for reading. Empathy Empathy grants you the ability to support yourself and your allies with a powerful array of heals and buffs. It also allows you to amplify your presence by bonding with an ally. T1: Healing Aura PBAoE, Ally +Heal, +Absorb Special 15' radius, 16s recharge Heals you and nearby allies for a small amount. Overhealing with this power is converted to an absorb shield up to 25% of an ally's maximum HP. Bonded ally echoes this power at their location. The standard PBAoE heal with a little extra dazzle. While it remains good for its original purpose of being auto cast with the tank on follow, it now gives players a reason to use it before the going gets tough. Granting your allies absorption at key moments can allow them to absorb hits before their HP plummets, and enhancing the heal into the stratosphere has benefits in regards to overhealing. Also mentioned is the mechanic of being "echoed by a bonded ally" which is explained more in this set's T3 power, Emotional Bond. In this case, this power will also cast at the bonded ally's location. Given this mechanic, the heal may need to be reduced slightly from its current output for balance reasons. I've also lengthened its recharge and made its radius slightly smaller. T2: Heal Other Ranged, Ally +Heal, +Absorb Special 80' range, 10s recharge Heals a targeted ally for a moderate amount. Overhealing with this power is converted to an absorb shield up to 25% of an ally's maximum HP. Bonded ally echoes this power on themselves. The standard targeted heal, again with a little extra in the same vein as Healing Aura. This power would probably also need to come down a hair in potency and will also recharge more slowly. Its echoed effect can allow for a bigger surge in healing if an ally really needs it, or it can allow its heal/absorb effect to be more efficiently distributed to multiple allies. T3: Emotional Bond Toggle: Ranged, Ally Special 80' range, 4s recharge Forms an emotional bond with a targeted ally. Bonded ally will echo your other Empathy powers at no additional endurance cost; see other Empathy powers for their effects when echoed. Additionally, a portion of the damage that the bonded ally receives will be redirected to you based on their current HP; the lower their HP, the greater the portion of damage you will receive. This power replaces Absorb Pain as the powerset's new cornerstone. It's a targeted toggle not unlike Darkest Night or other debuff toggles, but it targets an ally instead of an enemy. The targeted ally is bonded to you such that your other Empathy powers will be duplicated on them. It also causes you to share their suffering in terms of damage though I'm not sure what scaling is appropriate here. This power allows for a variety of strategic choices. Do you keep it on an aggressive ally as they tackle the front lines? Do you move it around as allies need additional support? Do you stay near to or far from your bonded ally? The other powers of this set have been adjusted with the expectation of interacting with this power. Rather than focusing on big single-target heals and buffs, this shifts the set's focus slightly to repeated, widespread power applications. T4: Revitalize Close, Ally Resurrect, +Heal, +Endurance 15' range, 240s recharge Resurrects an ally if they are defeated and heals them in the amount of your current HP and infuses them with endurance in the amount of your current endurance. Can be used on allies who are not defeated. Bonded ally echoes this power on themselves at 50% of the health and endurance restored to the target. This power can revive a faceplanted ally similar to Resurrect, but the HP and endurance it restores are dependent on your own. Not only can it rez, but it also functions as an extraordinary emergency heal/endurance panic button. This makes the power useful beyond just putting your allies back on their feet. Its echoed effect is icing on the cake. Note that it does not carry the same overhealing benefits as Healing Aura and Heal Other; this power is straight up HP/end. T5: Clear Mind Self +Special, Ally +Mez Protection, +Perception 120s recharge Your next few heals each grant a stack of Clear Mind to affected allies which grants them a small amount of mez protection and perception. You and your bonded ally immediately receive one stack of this buff when it is cast. Your echoed heals also grant this buff to affected allies. This is where this set's buffs really go off the rails. Unlike its existing incarnation, this version of Clear Mind is more like a "Build Up" for your heals where the bonus effect is mez protection and perception. This adds another dimension of value to the set's heals as they can be used to free allies from mez. This power now comes with a lengthy recharge as it's intended more as a carefully chosen boost when needed. The player's heals would only be enhanced for a short time, probably 10s or so, and the Clear Mind buff that the heals apply would last around 30s. The power's potency would be reduced in favor of spreading it around and building stacks of it. T6: Fortitude Self +Special, Ally +DEF(All), +DMG, +ToHit 120s recharge Your next few heals each grant a stack of Fortitude to affected allies which grants them a small boost to their defense, damage, and chance to hit. You and your bonded ally immediately receive one stack of this buff when it is cast. Your echoed heals also grant this buff to affected allies. Similar to Clear Mind, this power is also a short burst of buffed up goodness for your heals. The values of the buffs would need to be drastically reduced considering multiple stacks from both the caster and their bonded ally, but it will now spread and stack nicely. Single-target heals could build quite a few stacks of this buff to turn a couple select allies into juggernauts while still giving other allies a little love. The granted buff would probably be fair at either 30s or 60s; I'm not 100% sure what might be best given its potency and recharge. T7: Regeneration Aura Toggle: PBAoE, Ally +Heal Over Time, +Res(-Regen) 25' radius, 4s recharge You and nearby allies receive a minor heal every few seconds and resist regeneration debuffs. Bonded ally echoes this power. Heals from this power can grant stacks of Clear Mind and Fortitude. Pretty straightforward change from a click to a toggle with a nice radius and bonus regen debuff resistance. Its heal would be very minor and would tick every 4s or 5s, but it is echoed and grants buff stacks, so it will still pack plenty of utility. T8: Recovery Aura Toggle: PBAoE, Ally +Endurance Over Time, +Res(End Drain) 25' radius, 4s recharge You and nearby allies receive a small infusion of endurance every few seconds and resist endurance drains. Bonded ally echoes this power. Another simple change. I'm not sure how its end cost (and the end cost of this powerset's other powers) should stack up against its effect, but its benefits are obvious. T9: Adrenaline Surge PBAoE, Ally +Recovery, +Regeneration, +Recharge, +DMG, +Res(Slow) 15' radius, 360s recharge You and nearby allies receive a large buff to your recovery, regeneration, recharge, damage, and resistance to slow effects. Bonded ally echoes this power. Meet Empathy's Chrono Shift, albeit with a few caveats. This power grants the same effects as its existing counterpart in addition to damage, but the buff values can't be quite as awesome now that it's an AoE. The radius is also fairly small, so positioning of you and your bonded ally are very important considerations when activating this power. It also doesn't stack and has a long recharge for what I would give a 60s duration. It's still fairly in line with its original design as a short-lived rush.