[jakamau]

Not quite the same, but for a book that shows the power of weaponized empathy, Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon" (the book version specifically) has the envoys as empathic super-soldiers.

When you can easily move a consciousness into different bodies, the most dangerous opponents are those that can empathize with their enemy to such a degree that they can pass as one of them seamlessly and unconsciously predict their motives and reactions.