On sneak attack from ranged:
I'm building a ninja, and I'm still debating whether I want to focus myself on ranged or melee sneak attack. Our party generally lacks melee fighters, except for the tank, which both makes me nervous about the potential for sneak attacks but also compels me somewhat to go to melee for the sake of keeping enemies off the squishier members of the party (IE: the blind oracle).
What are the potential circumstances for getting sneak attack from ranged? I know of:
1. General winning of initiative and catching them flat-footed.
2. Attacking from hiding, which means any round after the first you're going to be: move action-hide (hopefully succeeding), getting one attack in.
3. ???
With the high Charisma I need for the ninjas ki pool, it seems like bluff/feint at melee to compensate for the possible lack of a flank partner is the better route, but I also just love the idea of lobbing my shirukens from the shadows like a true ninja. ;)
On poison:
Does anyone know how long poison stays once applied? Is it reasonable to expect I can "pre-poison" some shirukens before a battle starts? The DM is giving me a day right now, which is reasonable, but I want to make sure that is correct.
On shirukens:
Since shirukens are ammunition, what are the masterwork rules for them? Are they the 6 GP per still? That seems a bit unreasonable since they are fully recoverable (or are they not fully recoverable?).