This is gonna sound wierd coming from me but I am wondering if we can build a Ninja trick to allow 'Martial Arts' that would be similar to the Monk ability. Maybe make a pre-req that the Ninja already have Improved Unarmed combat as a feat but I just cant help feeling that a lack of martial arts and improved damage for unarmed combat is missing. Ninjitsu included a very solid foundation in martial arts - something that isnt really evident in the current class.
I just don't know how we can shoehorn it in otherwise and I don't want the monk to be overshadowed or outdone but its something that should be good to be add for flavour.
Maybe keep it at D6 damage...
Im pretty sure the ninja trick pressure points was how they handled the ninjitsu. It is a fighting style that capitalizes on that very thing
Already you can make a ninja martial artist a couple ways. One is to multiclass with monk. There is some nice synergy between the two, with ki pool being able to work off of charisma OR wisdom when they overlap. The other way to make a martial artist ninja is to just pick up Improved Unarmed Attack. Sneak attack covers the extra damage that the non-monk ninja is able to put out. A ninja in hand-to-hand would likely want to be catching the opponent off guard, and hit them in the vitals, feinting to make them lose the dex to AC.
There could also be some feats that might require both IUS and ki pool that could be made, specifically with ninja flavor.
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Or you could just take Improved Unarmed Strike. Ninjas being great martial artists is a very specific niche of fiction. Historical ninja (if they existed at all) were just spies--they didn't have a grand tradition of martial arts. Fictional ninja have been everything from martial artists to magicians to lorekeepers to any number of other things. I could say more, but that would just be ranting at that point.
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Or you could just take Improved Unarmed Strike. Ninjas being great martial artists is a very specific niche of fiction. Historical ninja (if they existed at all) were just spies--they didn't have a grand tradition of martial arts. Fictional ninja have been everything from martial artists to magicians to lorekeepers to any number of other things. I could say more, but that would just be ranting at that point.
Totally agree with this post. Just take Improved Unarmed Strike. The breadth and diversity of characters that have been described as ninja in fiction means that NO single class will be able to cover everything that has been written about ninjas.
Now there's something I'd like to see more of in an RPG, the unarmed prize fighter who's pretty good at it & isn't a Monk. There are so many martial arts in the history of the world, but so little in game to properly represent them well(the Boxer class a friend of mine made, which can be slightly tweaked to cover different styles hardly counts since it's limited to homebrew material).
Wait, whats wrong with using a monk for all your martial arts needs? just refluff stuff
This is gonna sound wierd coming from me but I am wondering if we can build a Ninja trick to allow 'Martial Arts' that would be similar to the Monk ability. Maybe make a pre-req that the Ninja already have Improved Unarmed combat as a feat but I just cant help feeling that a lack of martial arts and improved damage for unarmed combat is missing. Ninjitsu included a very solid foundation in martial arts - something that isnt really evident in the current class.
I just don't know how we can shoehorn it in otherwise and I don't want the monk to be overshadowed or outdone but its something that should be good to be add for flavour.
Maybe keep it at D6 damage...
You would think the game designers would take into account the fact there is a hand-to-hand martial style named Ninjutsu specifically associated with the ninja. At least I'm hoping they do before the final ninja is done.
You would think the game designers would take into account the fact there is a hand-to-hand martial style named Ninjutsu specifically associated with the ninja. At least I'm hoping they do before the final ninja is done.
they did, its the ninja trick pressure points, which is what ninjitsu is based on
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You would think the game designers would take into account the fact there is a hand-to-hand martial style named Ninjutsu specifically associated with the ninja. At least I'm hoping they do before the final ninja is done.
Except that ninjutsu is mostly concerned with survival techniques and weapon combat. Unarmed combat (a skill called taijutsu) is extremely secondary for ninjutsu practitioners, and mostly involves jujutsu-style grappling. To replicate a ninja skilled in taijutsu techniques, just take Improved Unarmed Strike and Improved Grapple--or splash a level of monk. Voila! Done! You don't need a new class feature to do something that an existing class feature or set of feats can already do
Except that ninjutsu is mostly concerned with survival techniques and weapon combat. Unarmed combat (a skill called taijutsu) is extremely secondary for ninjutsu practitioners, and mostly involves jujutsu-style grappling. To replicate a ninja skilled in taijutsu techniques, just take Improved Unarmed Strike and Improved Grapple--or splash a level of monk. Voila! Done! You don't need a new class feature to do something that an existing class feature or set of feats can already do
Just for reference, there is a martial arts style specifically called ninjitsu that is not tied to a whole bunch of other skills
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Just for reference, there is a martial arts style specifically called ninjitsu that is not tied to a whole bunch of other skills
If you're referring to "modern ninjitsu," maybe. But it's not got a lot of historical authenticity attached to it; most schools of "ninjitsu" only date back to about 1970 or so. The martial art historically called ninjutsu has a series of eighteen sub-disciplines attached to it, of which unarmed combat is just one.
If you're referring to "modern ninjitsu," maybe. But it's not got a lot of historical authenticity attached to it; most schools of "ninjitsu" only date back to about 1970 or so. The martial art historically called ninjutsu has a series of eighteen sub-disciplines attached to it, of which unarmed combat is just one.
I know, I just thought I would throw in that modern ninjitsu is what they are thinking of
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I, personally, always saw the Monk as a martial artist using his body as a weapon, while the Ninja used what martial arts he did know to avoid attacks while using weapons to achieve damage (if any). As Hida said, Ninjas were historically spies. Yes some were assassins, but even they only killed when they had an almost flawless advantage and usually didn't use their bare hands.
If you want a martial arts based Ninja, mess around with the class a bit. You could always remove sneak attack and replace it with the monk unarmed combat and scaling. I don't see how that would hurt.
On the mentioned topic of a boxer class, I would absolutely love to see and unarmed fighter archetype. Not the free-hand fighter, but a straight Boxer/Wrestler. That would be fantastic.