I got a printed copy from a friend but can't seem to add a review. Can I post my review here in the comments?
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I got a printed copy from a friend but can't seem to add a review. Can I post my review here in the comments?
Go right ahead. I've done that myself when I had the same issue.
Ninja, ninja rap!
Introduction
Ninja have been a part of D&D since the Oriental Adventures book. It is also one of the coolest concept for characters, but as such it has been done to dead in manga/anime, B movies, western comics, videogames, and what have you. In Pathfinder, there has been a variant class for the Rogue for a long time, so a Legendary Ninja class took me by surprise. Since I have reviewed most books in the Far East line by Legendary Games, I felt it was my duty to review this one.
What’s inside?
33 pages of content for 10 bucks, which include:
-Introduction: Here we have a general premise of what a ninja is HERE. The problem with ninjas is that they are so many different things for very different people, that it is almost impossible to get it “right”. However, this one hits a sweet spot in a fantasy roleplaying context. One thing I have to rant about is that, since both samurai and ninja are kind of a status, there is a weird situation where someone not of the ninja or samurai classes is a ninja or samurai by birth. Anyway, unlike the cavalier or paladin, you MIGHT have some rules to follow, so check with your game master if you want to use a Legendary Ninja (LN from now on). One missing piece of information is the “rank” of ninjas (chunin, genin etc.), which has been popularized by, well, pop culture.
-The Legendary Ninja base class: The class has one of the strongest chassis I have seen. While they had medium BAB/d8 HD, they get 2 good saves (Ref and Will), 8 skill ranks with an impressive list of class skills, of note being Linguistics and Use Magical Device. For proficiencies, they get simple weapons plus many ones associated with ninjas, light armors that don’t impede the class’ spellcasting, and bucklers.
For class abilities, it is a really front-loaded class. At 1st level, it has cantrips and two 1st level spells per day (they use Cha-based spell casting, but learn them like wizards and use tattoos instead of spellbooks), an improved Dirty Fighting feat that uses the LN’s class level instead of BAB, a Grit-like Jutsu pool that empowers 6 abilities, 3 which don’t have a cost and need you to have 1 point in your pool (great jumps, improved range with shurikens, daggers and kunais and treating them as ammunition for drawing, dex to atk/dmg with some weapons, including thrown and ranged), and 3 that have a cost (a kind of pounce that can get an extra attack, the possibility of casting spells without spending slots, and quicken ninja spells); AND Sneak Attack that grows up to +7d6. Too stronk for my taste. IMHO, class balance is an art that has to be maintained through all levels of play. But as it stands, why play a rogue, vanilla ninja, slayer, or even bard or wizard in a low-level game? AND it is a one level dip heaven for many classes.
Throughout the levels, their spellcasting goes up to 4th level only, but they get uncanny dodge and its improved version, MANY class abilities that are empowered by the Jutsu pool, and a “talent” at every even level. Apart from these, LN are difficult to track, and at high levels, 15th and 19th, get two very powerful invisibility improvement (worth mentioning that LN can become invisible with spells and jutsus) that is way more powerful than their actual capstone, which by the way gives them infinite 1st level spells. The strongest ability IMHO is Combat Jutsu, which gives you temporary points to be used only in combat. This ability is cool from a player perspective, but Pathfinder is designed for classes to juggle their resources. If you add the ability to cast ninja spells with jutsu points, it kinds of defeat the purpose, especially since these points are used first. They don’t get evasion though.
-8 favored class bonus: With literally hundreds of races out there, it is difficult to give favored class bonuses for all of them. Here we have 8 bonuses available to any LN, but some of these are a little too powerful (increase the minimum number rolled in SA, up to 6 at 20th lvl… so you don’t need to roll anymore; increase the COMBAT jutsu, so less resource management; increased SA dice, up to 4), and one a bit underpowered (1/4 to CMB for trips… too little for a ¾ BAB class). You can also get the trapfinding rogue ability with FCB.
-39 Ninja Tricks: The LN get 10 of these throughout advancement. Some of them are secret techniques that make use of the LN’s jutsu pool. Some of these are… a bit powerful in comparison with normal rogue talents. Of note, they get very powerful talents that make them really good when using ninja equipment (chain weapons, kunai, shuriken, light armor), some that increase their spellcasting, both spells per day and spell DC, and some that are overpowered: 1 of these, for example, can give the LN 4 social talents! Another mini chain makes ninja super poisoners that can ignore save bonuses to poisons and even immunity, without ever investing one rank in the Craft (poisons) skill, and one that makes the LN into a getto healer at low level… but an infinite healer at 20th level since they will be able to cast Cure Light Wounds at will because of the class cap.
-9 archetypes: Not content with the different builds that skill, spell and trick selection you get from the base class? Try one of the following archetypes! Blackheart Beguilers avoid fighting dirty and becoming invisible to everyone for being plain nasty fearmongers. Elemental Assassin have lower spellcasting and invisibility abilities in exchange for some kineticist abilities (although I still prefer the kinetic shinobi hybrid class by the same author and publisher). Gunpowder Shadow get some gunslinging instead of more traditional ninja combat, with an option for using crossbows instead of guns (nice). Ironheart Brawlers are unarmed combatants that can attack at range and flurry, but no sneak attack. Shikigami Caller are the pokemon trainers… well not really, but they are ninjas that have a pet, similar to a normal druid’s animal companion but are treated as magical beasts; they don’t get sneak attack or invisibility abilities, instead gaining different abilities depending on their pet, which are bear, fox, frog, hawk, slug, snake, or wolf. Shinobi no Mono lose all traditional spell casting and sneak attack to become a champion of the spheres. Split Souls can clone themselves, and gain some improvements to some ninja tricks with their clones, but lose Sneak Attack. Yokai Scions are monstrous ninja that get some natural weapons and physical improvements, at the cost of dirty fighting and ranged combat. Yonin would be the social ninja, having less stealthy abilities for being better at disguising.
-Feats: This section include 9 feats. There are some that let you dabble in witchery and swashbucklery, some that make you even better at dirty fighting, some jutsu feats that give you greater DC and even some jutsus as free actions. There is also the Extra ninja trick, but since these ones are so powerful, you can only pick them 3 times at select levels. Finally, there is a feat called Magical Thrower, that will make any ranged combatant dip in the LN, just to be able to take this feat, since it lets you copy thrown weapons or ammunition. You have to “attune” as a full round action with said weapon, but the feat doesn’t say if the attunement has to be done each time you draw copies (it seems the intent is that no), and it doesn’t say if you can attune to more than one weapon. If it works like it seems is the intent, it is one of the most overpowered feats ever. The only requisite is the jutsu pool, but it doesn’t even need points to use!
-4 Spells, plus the LN’s spell list. The spells themselves are ok if a bit niche, but the last one, Vanishing Strike, is kind of too much.
-5 mini-archetypes, which let Rogues (vanilla and unchained), Rangers, Slayers, Yakuza and Kinetic Shinobi use LN spellcasting, but all except the Yakuza use a standard spell book instead of tattoos.
-9 items. The first 4 are magical, a Bunshin Puppet empowered by jutsu or ki, a Cloak of Blending, a Jutsu Scroll with no info on how to craft them or its price, and a Gem that casts dispel magic on an item, great for sabotaging. The next 4 are non-magical, and include a burning arrow, a big hat that can conceal things, an explosive arrow and a ninja’s kit. Finally, there is an equipment modification: concealed (with no price attached).
-1 sample character: Akira Kemuri, a 7th level female human ninja. This one has a very detailed backstory, and can serve many purposes in an adventure. If the PCs play their cards right, they will get a boon!
Of Note: The class is oozes cool, and some of the archetypes rock! The Blackheart Beguiler and the Yokai Scion are really cool for antagonists or dark heroes, and some of the others fill the niches of pop culture ninja. The Shinobi no Mono changes the class so much and opens the class’ options so much that you could make a ninja-only campaign easily. The Shikigami Caller and Yonin are also great.
Anything wrong?: Speaking of archetypes… As much as I love martial artists, the Ironheart Brawler, along the Elemental Assassin and Gunpowder Shadow, are too weak of a class hack, especially compared to the other archetypes, to be noteworthy. I would at least change the Sneak Attack of the Gunpowder Shadow for Alchemist’s bombs, with the reduced progression, to be really different. Weird, their charisma based spellcasting lets ninjas copy spells from wizards, even if they have low intelligence. Also, the class is “too cool”. Let me explain: it tries to cover all possible ninja abilities that it finishes doing too much, and in the meantime displaces the rogue (both vanilla and unchained), the vanilla ninja, the slayer… And gives a godsend 1-level dip for many, many classes. AAAAND the Magical Thrower feat will have a maximum of +1-equivalent power per point of jutsu in the pool.
What I want: I wish Pathfinder used the intermediate save progression of Arcana Unearthed, this way, the ninja and other powerful classes could get improved saves without being overpowered, and by reducing the skill points to 6, and reducing the Dex to damage to a maximum of your class level, would also reduce the level dip. Also the combat jutsu, while interesting, gives the LN a big head start in comparison to classes that use a similar resource (gunslinger, swashbuckler, and sleuth investigator). I would cap that to 1 at 10th, and maybe 2 at 20th. That way it would be balanced FOR MY GAMES. If you are fine with non-full casters to be powerful, then be my guest.
What cool things did this inspire?: As I said, the class is really cool, and the Blackheart Beguiler is perfect for my Sakhil cult adventure.
Do I recommend it?: Yes, but be aware that the class is really powerful, especially at low levels. If you run high-powered games, and are accustomed to having versatile PCs, then get this. I pondered a lot for the grade of this one, with the cool factor being a 5, but the balance a 3… so I will go for a 4 ninja stars of death, which could improve to 5 with some balancing.
Trivia: There has never been a better representation of the ninja, at least in my opinion, than the original from D&D Oriental Adventures. The ninja class there was like a gestalt multiclass that let you be a ninja warrior, a ninja intruder, a ninja mage, or even a ninja priest IIRC. These possibilities let you run the typical adventuring party, but as ninjas. The 2nd best interpretation, the one closest to what a historical ninja would have been, was presented in 2nd edition D&D via The Complete Ninja’s Handbook. This one, however, was as powerful as a thief… which meant it was really underpowered. It had kits for other classes, however, reviving the gestalt-y nature of the original class.