The Ninja Hybrid class--what would you like to see in it in terms of class abilities?

[Courrain]

If the Ninja class was a hybrid class created from the Unchained Monk and Unchained Rogue classes, what Special Features from either class would you like to see in the hybrid class? And what unique Special Features that would be unique to this hybrid class, would you like to see? *curious*

From the Unchained Monk class, I would initially like to see Flurry of Blows and Unarmed Strike. Let's face it, the Ninja is very much the martial artist as the monk class. So it makes sense to see the hybrid class possess these two features as well. After these two special features, I can also imagine the hybrid class possessing Evasion, Fast Movement, Ki Pool, Ki Power and Style Strike.

As for the Unchained Rogue class, I can see the hybrid possessing the Rogue's Sneak Attack, Rogue Talents, Deliberate Injury, Uncanny Dodge, Improved Uncanny Dodge and Advanced Talents.

Now onto what could make this hybrid class unique, I see this class borrowing elements from the Naruto anime. What if the ninjas here could transform their ki into wind, earth, fire, lightning and water? Or perhaps shape their ki into different forms. Or what if they were able to manipulate the ki found in other people to control their minds or make them see illusions?

So maybe the hybrid class could borrow something from the Kineticist or Mesmerist classes in Occult Adventures. I am not sure if features from these two psychic classes would be part of the actual hybrid class or archetypes of said hybrid. Probably the latter.

What do you guys think? *curious*

[Knitifine]

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Let's face it, the Ninja is very much the martial artist as the monk class.

I wouldn't really consider a ninja to be a martial artist. They tended to be poor clans of assassins bound to specific samurai families, if I recall correctly.

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Now onto what could make this hybrid class unique, I see this class borrowing elements from the Naruto anime. What if the ninjas here could transform their ki into wind, earth, fire, lightning and water? Or perhaps shape their ki into different forms. Or what if they were able to manipulate the ki found in other people to control their minds or make them see illusions?

Play a wizard.

[Courrain]

Actually according to Wikipedia, Ninjas were considered to be mercenaries or covert spies during Japan's feudal era. This might be why one of the reasons those at Paizo saw the Ninja as an alternate version of the Rogue.

Anyway, what made me think of borrowing elements from the Kineticist class for the Ninja hybrid class was the former's Infusion special ability. Namely the Substance and Form infusions. The Substance Infusions of the Kineticist class make me think of the Nature Transformation jutsu some Ninja in the Naruto anime happen to possess. Form Infusion reminds me of the Shape Transformation jutsu,
The Burn cost of a Kineticist's Utility or Infusion Wild Talents could be seen as a Ki point cost. Ninjutsu, anyone?

As for the Mesmerist class, there are Ninja in the Naruto anime who appear to possess some of the former's abilities. Genjutsu.

Again, I could see the above being used by archetypes of this hybrid class.

[Kazaan]

"Real" ninja were predominantly peasants. Very often, they died at the job and suffered an ignoble death. Occasionally, one would be highly successful through a delicate combination of skill and dumb luck. And, people being what they are, start to spin fanciful rumors. He ran around a corner and vanished into thin air (found a handy hiding spot and was overlooked). This is where we get tales of "mystical ninjas". Now, the concept of the mystic/magical ninja has become a trope of its own. I'd say that a Ninja/Monk hybrid would, essentially, be this trope; the Mystical Ninja that uses Monk Qi powers liberally and is trained in martial arts. In short, your standard shounen anime ninja (see Naruto).

One of the key points would be what to base the Ki pool on. Monks use Wisdom, Ninja use Charisma. In a normal multi-class Monk/Ninja, you'd pick which to use. I think that fits here as well; you pick either Wis or Cha when you gain your Ki pool and probably have this affect your Armor bonus as well. So you can be a "wise" mystical ninja with higher perception, sense motive, and Will save, or you can be a "confident" one with stronger social skills and maybe some other benefits in-class tied to Cha.

Another aspect of the Mystical Ninja are hand signs. We see this, again, common in Anime where a ninja will make a quick sign by "folding" his fingers together in a specific manner to "cast a jutsu". Rogues already have a talent that lets them learn a Wizard/Sorc spell so it's not hard to wrap that up into Qinggong abilities. Essentially, fold the Ki abilities from Monk in with the Talents of the Ninja.

[ErisAcolyte-Chaos jester]

The idea of the mystic ninja is due mostly in part to the folktales and superstitions that portrayed them as masters of forces beyond mere mortal ken. And while most early ninja were generally common villagers and townsfolk who could work their hand around a tool to the point of weaponising it, some of the best were experts of their craft and formed a reputation and status that commanded fear and respect, drawing others to learn and master their skills to become the ninjas we know about. Namely the ones from the 14th-16th centuries, especially as the firearms and mastery of explosives filtered across from China and Europe made their jobs easier to perform.

The naruto series is a good source for interesting powers based on Ki (since nearly all the abilities are based of legends and folktales about ninjas with mystical powers), though it would be prevalent to focus on examples from the sources of such ideas, like the tale of the gallant jiraiya, a folktale about a ninja who mastered frog/toad magic(jiraiya), who fell in love with a fellow ninja that practiced slug magic(tsunade), and would eventually come to blows with a rival ninja who practiced snake magic(orochimura). Basing an archetype or options for the ninja around these sort of thing should be possible(with the powers coming from a set school or spirit animal, or naturally being developed overtime by mastery of Ki(like the qinjong monk)).

Japanese folklore are a gold mine for inspiration for ninja, monk and samurai archetypes and styles, from the legendary sword smiths murumasa and masamune, to the application of Japanese beliefs about souls, corruption and spirits to understandable and mechanical ways. Hope this helps you out a bit.

PS. In one story, jiraiya was able to summon a fairly large toad to help him combat his enemies. While this should certainly be considered a high cost thing, and certainly not perminant, it would be fairly awesome to have the ninja abandon all pretence of stealth to literally smash through the doors of a villain sitting atop a ogre/giant sized frog while drinking a cup of sake. That is the dream.

[ErisAcolyte-Chaos jester]

And what made ninja weapons so effective was they could be concealed or were common as muck. You try looking for an Assasin based on what tools they use and almost all of your peasents and townsfolk are suspects. The ninja might even dress as a made or a monk, or even one of your samurai guards. You literally could trust no one until the perpetraitor was found, and even then you might already have taken a musket ball to the face, or a Kunai to the back.

Samurai guard- my lord Tensei, we have found the assassins blade that was used to try and take your life.

Lord Tensei: good. Now we will be able to track down the one responsible for this. What type of blade is it?

Samurai guard: it appears to be a Kunai, like the ones our Peasents use to help build our magnificent castles.

Lord Tensei:... Samurai, how many peasents are there on the work force, or on any work projects in this region?

Samurai guard:Over 7000-8000, my lord. Why... Do you think the Assasin might be in the workforce.

Lord Tensei:What I think is that the Assasin will be harder to find than a needle in a haystack. If we took the time to interrogate ever member in our work force, I would likely be dead before we even came close to finding the one responsable. Am I under stood.

Samurai guard:perfectly my lord Tensei. I shall comb the area and redouble the number of castle guards and patrols.

Lord Tensei: Good now leave me to my tea.

Lord Tensei was then poisoned and died. The samurai still had no clue how the poison got in the tea, and eventually became a paranoid wreck. He took his own life a week later.

[Kazaan]

"The wise man does not hide a needle in a haystack. He hides a needle with other needles."