I haven't seen any tactics or strategy guides within the forums so I shall be working on them, these are things that will at times make your dm shake his head and laugh, or cry when you shatter his well planned encounter...I will use examples from our campaign as a level 3 elf ninja If there is a tactics guide please link it...otherwise here we go.
Charcter is Elf, female alighn cn,
scores str 10, dex 18, con 12 ,int 17,wis 9 cha 16 lvl 3
weapon finesse, two weapon fighting...with more levels combat reflex, agilemanuevers....Ninja tricks, forgotten trick
At level 2 our Dm had given us a kill this guy quest....the guy in question had a grudge with our cleric npc who found a certain female elven singer very attractive...and well they got into a fist fight him (the cleric) non lethal the guy had lethal claws...they fought and the cleric was removed from the game too heal....too make it short; we got a wizard too cast disquise on me, +my disquise skill of 9 for a total 19dc, I seduced him back too my room where my companions were hidden I removed his arms and armor, and appeared too remove mine...and well hes dead......with no damage too party, I then proceeded too seduce his guard outside bluff, He's finished, and well I am not...again full surprise round =dead...little damage too party.
The ninja is all about the set up...your not built too go toe too toe with a foe, you set things up so they fall like dominoes, always think outside the box...or the 5ft square...
so here we go, study the area ,with the right feats, and skills (you get 8+int) and tricks you can pull things off that no other class can without focusing on it or using valuable spell slots for it.
Infiltration, study a guard,wife, king, queen, hell befriend him if you want, you can now become him or her disquise self is = too any humanoid within your category+ so 10+skill you can appear in what they wear, interact with npc's this is your get out of jail free card, free sneak attack...
vanish+sudden disguise..... vanish full move around a corner or visual obstacle...and comeback as said guard npc, even in combat, you can sneak attack for one round and I would say dex bonus dosent apply, after all your trusted and they will let there guard down.
if your campaign is more well dungeon you can still be very tricky...especially if your scouting ahead of the party depending on your dm....surprise round you come around the corner, and find x number of y ....again disquise self, or vanish, disquise as x, especially if you speak there lanquage, bluff "Iam dervish, a doppleganger,"
never go toe too toe, a swift action is your best friend, gain a advantage and take whatever advantage you can get, a vanish +drow poisoned shuriken = tough opponent down for at least 1 round.
However u can go toe too toe with right weapons, feats, etx.
a high dex low strength ninja needs too change things up, agile man, is a god send esp with a trip weapon, combine with combat reflex, and well it gets sick very fast ,unless I am reading wrong.
ala kusari gama.....low damage but 10ft reach, trip, if they stand up as action = sneak within 10 feet, after all there standing up from prone no dex bonus... no straight answer..on how the kgama works...but i would say at least half the weapon should be considered light...if not full a kama+ a 10' chain and the weighted end.....
