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The Ninja is a MAD class as it is written now. There is not much wrong
with the ninja as written for the play test. The problem is the game developers try to jam a MAD class in to a 20 point by system.
Whats wrong is not the concept of the Ninja which is fine but to make a good ninja requires 4 stats of 14 or above to make a playable character. You need strenth to deal damage even with sneak attack because you can not rely on sneak attack.
I would replace sneak attack with skrimish damage. Ninjas rely more on speeed and stealth to deal their damage.
They need dex for ranged attacks, Stealth slight of hand esvape artist and acrobatics.
Wisdom for perception
Charsima for their Ki Pool
Class skills that I would replace would be Uncanney dodge and advanced uncanney dodge with Scouts charge and skirmisher form the apg just give them diffrent names to fit with the ninja. I would let the Ninja choose uncanney dodge and davanced uncanny dodge as tricks.
More Ninja weapons need to be added. I don't belive that ninjas ran around with naginitas or other pole arms. They used kasuri kama ninja to's sherkin, tonki blow guns etc.
just a few thoughts of mine on the ninja.
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I agree with you on that, Lou. I believe it needs to be rebuilt, though I will remain hushed as I am incapable of doing such a build. As for ninja weapons, I agree that there need to be more than there are now. Naginata and polearms were used in short supply by historical ninjas, being reserved mostly for ... get this, the samurai of the era. Ninja did employ a variety of weapons, however, with even rarer weapons including items such as - drumroll, please - firearms! Not all of them, of course, but some did employ them.
More commonplace weapons include katana, bows, poison darts, shuriken, and the kusarigama (Ninja Assassin anyone?). Anyways, that's my history lesson for the night.
Moving on, Scout's Charge and Skirmisher being renamed and added to the list of class features would be a decent idea.
kusarigama
I like how the iconic has a kusari-gama yet it isn't even in the playtest.
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Hmm, Ninja is not too MAD. Once again, half-orc 20 point buy:
Str: 17
Dex: 15
Con: 12
Int: 10
Wis: 12
Cha:12
Going to get all the math on the DPR Olympics but by starting lvl 1 Inquisitor, then multi 3 Inquis/7 ninja with falcatta two-handed you're looking at un-buffed flank DPR 92.82(haste no ki) and 128.52(haste and ki), buffed flank DPR 119.7(haste no ki) and 164.94 (haste and ki). This DPR is quite capable of standing its own in combat. On top of this you have mithril full plate, ability to use a shield if DPR not desired, great skills, and other ninja tricks.
So if optimization is desired, the ninja as is can be optimized quite well. However, if you're looking for a God ninja capable of doing everything then of course it is going to be a MAD class and not feasable. When picking any class you must choose what you want to be good at and focus in that direction. The ninja's niche is infiltration and combat so choose what method of infiltration you want (stealth or charisma) and what combat you prefer (in terms of DPR two-handed always wins) then go from there.
I like how the iconic has a kusari-gama yet it isn't even in the playtest.
The iconic alchemist has a weapon that injects poison and that's not statted out anywhere. Take it for what it is: Wayne Reynolds being the badass he is.
I like how the iconic has a kusari-gama yet it isn't even in the playtest.The iconic alchemist has a weapon that injects poison and that's not statted out anywhere. Take it for what it is: Wayne Reynolds being the badass he is.
I really did want to use a kusari-gama though haha. The 3.5 stats would prolly be considered broken though. Any reach weapon capable of hitting adjacent targets seems to get a massive nerf stick.
I believe there was a similar chain/whip weapon in one of the books that switched from standard weapon to reach weapon and visa versa with a move action.
Its not that much weaker... How many characters can make a DC15 Heal check in combat?As much as I like how the Ninja and Rogue played out in my group's Playtest, the player with the Ninja noticed that they can get Assassinate at Level 10. I noticed this before once but only slightly perused it.
Assassinate is a nice ability with one small drawback. Isn't Assassinate simply the Rogue's Capstone Ability accessible at Level 10 by the Ninja? Minus the option to instill a status condition (sleep or paralysis)?
yep and Pressure Points is a more versatile, but weaker, version of Crippling Strike.
Crippling Strike is accessible at level 10, Pressure Points is accessible at level 2.
True. By weaker I meant that Crippling Strike deals 2 str damage and Pressure Points deals 1 str or dex damage. 1 is less than 2.
My point was that Pressure Points should be an advaced Ninja trick.Even If I want them nerfed I still think they should have Weapon Proficiency long bow.
On second thought, they shouldn't have Proficiency long bow.