RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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I am going to take some time later and look at the ninja and rogue side by side, as I have only taken about two hours to pour over the ninja and judge it's abilities.
My first impression was biased. I need to admit that because I have had very little faith that a ninja would be balanced if it was a base class. So it should be no surprise that after only a glance at the class I was not satisfied. Something about it made me worry, a sense of too much, or a feeling that it was all wrong.
I then looked into it deeper. Most of my feelings from my first impression disappeared. I had a moment of clarity and I could understand the mechanics of the class better. This only made me aware of a few ways to abuse this class though. I now know that the class is thematically correct, but not mechanically.
The problem I see right away, without any testing, is that it is better then a rogue in many ways. The very fact that the only thing really lost is the ability to sense traps, as even the rogue talents are available to the ninja, gives me great pause.
The fact that Ninja Tricks are not available to a rogue but Rogue Talents are available to a ninja needs to be looked at extensively, and I plan on doing that in my own games for play testing. I am aware that some of the Ninja Tricks are going to be new Rogue Talents though, and I hope all of the tricks not relying on ki will be.
I also think that one of the problems is the idea that West is dramatically different from East. I know that thematically they are, but historically not so much. Ninjas were rogues, they were outlaws, they were the anti-culture of their time. Rogues are sneaky, deadly, and always seemed to have a trick up their sleeve. However, the rift in our thoughts on them does come from the myths and legends of both being so different. That is what I feel the ninja class is trying to address, but I don't feel that it is doing it well now or that it will be doing it well enough in the future.
The alternate class is warranted though. If it wasn't for the ki pool class feature I would be adamant that this should be an archetype. However, the mechanic on the ki pool is so different that it needs it's own alternate class. There is an issue that coupled with ninja trick it makes the class more powerful then the rogue. I know that it has been stated that any alternate classes and archetypes should generally be weaker or sub-par choices from the core classes. I believe the closest we are going to come is the ninja being the same power as the rogue or just above it.
I will be doing what I can to playtest all three classes, but I feel this one is going to see more changes then the two.
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RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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The Ninja has a great number of people working on it. Because of that I am going to focus on the other classes. When I do play test, I will be sure to include the ninja. My findings will be posted here.
I just don't think this forum needs another person's thoughts and comparisons of the ninja right now and I certainly don't have anything to say that has not been said.
I will echo one idea though. The idea that the ninja should be an alternate class for the monk class should be looked into. From what I have seen, and based on the several comparison posts I have read, the ninja looks like a mesh of both rogue and monk with a slight lean towards monk. If someone does not rewrite the ninja to better fit this idea I might take a crack at it.
