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I've recently been very intrigued by the "Forgotten Trick" ninja trick. It's very expensive as far as Ki is concerned, but the ability to use any ninja trick on the fly might be worth the Ki expenditure. Other than a Ring of Ki Mastery (obviously) and taking feats to increase Ki, are there any other ways to make Forgotten Trick a bit more useful?
Multiclass into Monk (Drunken Master), refill Ki as needed.
Don't take Combat Trick, use Forgotten trick to access all the combat feats.
I wonder if multiclassing as a Monk (sensei) will allow you to give other people the "forgotten trick" benefit?
prototype00
Having made use of Forgotten Trick on a character who is now 18th, I can say that a ring of ki mastery is pretty much all you need.
Two rings, that works well too.
-Matt
Amulet of Hidden Strength. 1/day as a full round action you can recover 2 Ki, or as a Swift action you can make an extra attack at your highest BAB. Also a Ki Mat is good, allowing you to mediate for 1 Ki point per hour.
Or, a necklace of Ki serenity, which gives you +4 to your ninja level in terms of calculating your ki abilities and pool.
Also if you're a ninja that uses something made of wood or has a wooden haft you might be able to find wyroot, which on a critical, lets you recover 1-3 Ki or arcane points as a swift action.
I used this mixed with a Hungry Ghost Monk's ability to regain Ki. It worked pretty well.
I'll bet. I've been trying to figure out a way to recover Ki and arcane points for my character, a ninja /Magus. I'm torn between the two amulets, but the ring is a definite. Maybe even a ring of arcane mastery, but I have a ring of deflection, so you know.
Yeah, talk to your DM about maybe him awarding you with Ki leech as a reward instead of items or treasure.
It's a shame there aren't any weapon enhancements that are more directly suited for ninja. There are upgrades that work, but none directly suited for them, despite other classes getting some (eg. inspired, which is specifically designed to work with investigators).
It just seems in general that the devs don't like rogue or monk types, and anytime a class gets any kind of boost people freak out and start claiming "OP! This class is OP!" when it's plainly obvious that they've never played a wizard, the most broken class if ever there was one, but about which absolutely no one complains.
As far as the non-lethal damage goes, in my experience, that only really works if the rest of, or some of the rest of the party also does non-lethal. Unfortunately, wyroot only works with crits, not kills, so mopping up won't restore your ki.
I was thinking about this: imagine having two rings of ki mastery, amulet of hidden strength, and a wyroot bow or crossbow. You snipe at range, using forgotten trick to give you the archery feats you need as well as improved criticals, crit with the bow a couple times, regain two Ki as a full action, then enter melee, giving yourself the melee feats you need to do whatever you want. You just have to take the major prerequisites along the way (like combat expertise or precise shot) and fill in the blanks as needed, and may even be able to out-fight a fighter, because of course you're either flanking or feinting to get sneak attack as often as possible.
It just seems as though between forgotten trick and their skills, ninja have the potential for insane versatility and some truly devastating combat capability.
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actually, IIRC nonlethal damage stacks with lethal in a sense,
Isn't worded so that, when nonlethal damage gets above THE CURRENT HP, they go unconscious?
found it-
Dealing Nonlethal Damage
Certain attacks deal nonlethal damage. Other effects, such as heat or being exhausted, also deal nonlethal damage. When you take nonlethal damage, keep a running total of how much you've accumulated. Do not deduct the nonlethal damage number from your current hit points. It is not "real" damage. Instead, when your nonlethal damage equals your current hit points, you're staggered (see below), and when it exceeds your current hit points, you fall unconscious.
Nonlethal Damage with a Weapon that Deals Lethal Damage
You can use a melee weapon that deals lethal damage to deal nonlethal damage instead, but you take a –4 penalty on your attack roll.
Lethal Damage with a Weapon that Deals Nonlethal Damage
You can use a weapon that deals nonlethal damage, including an unarmed strike, to deal lethal damage instead, but you take a –4 penalty on your attack roll.
Hmm, check this feat out and see if it would be useful, Ki Channel.
Hmm, check this feat out and see if it would be useful, Ki Channel.
That's a beauty of a feat. I can't believe I missed it, but then, I haven't played a cleric yet. Too bad it won't work with my dhampir ninja/magus. :(
I've recently been very intrigued by the "Forgotten Trick" ninja trick. It's very expensive as far as Ki is concerned, but the ability to use any ninja trick on the fly might be worth the Ki expenditure. Other than a Ring of Ki Mastery (obviously) and taking feats to increase Ki, are there any other ways to make Forgotten Trick a bit more useful?
Something else I just remembered: check out the Ki Mystic monk archetype. With a 3 level dip, you can more than double your ki pool. Don't go to level 4 though, because according to the rules of Ki pool, you can only add Ki based off one attribute, but I don't think the 3rd level ki pool for the Ki Mystic counts on that score, as he essentially gets two ki pools that act as one.
Or, if you multiclassed into Magus and took the Ki Arcana Magus Arcana (level 6, so it's an investment, not a dip), you can get an arcane pool and use the ki and arcane pools interchangeably.