Full plate ninja ?

[Grenouillebleue]

I've been toying with the idea for some time, and now a new PF game gives me the opportunity to try it out.

I'll start out at level 5 with a 20 point buy. I started to build the guy as a run-of-the-mill TWF but they're always starved for feats and I wasn't pleased with the result. So here's what I'd like to do instead:

Human Fighter 1/Ninja (scout) 4

STR 18
DEX 13
CON 14
INT 10
WIS 10
CHA 14

Feats:
1: Toughness
1h: Dodge
1f: Weapon focus (falchion)
3: Iron Will
5: Extra Ki

Ki tricks:
- Vanishing trick
- Befuddling strike

Stuff:
+1 Falchion
+1 Full plate
+1 ring of protection
+1 amulet of natural armor
+1 cloak of resistance

This gives him 24 AC, not too shabby and 6 ki, which is ok as well. Since he doesn't rely on dex, I could go for scout and lose Uncanny dodge.

His regular attack is +9 for 2d6+6
When he's flanking or charging, that's +11 for 4d6+6.

He can use his ki to get another attack, go invisible or basically mess with the opponents plan.

As for drawbacks, he only has 20ft move (that's ok I guess, since I don't want to be the first in melee) and -5 armor penalty (that hurts like hell, no acrobatics for me and that sucks).

Any thoughts ? Opinions ? Would it be fun to play ? Would it be powerful enough ? Any ideas on better feats to take ? Any feats out there that would help me with my armor penalty or my move ?

Thanks a lot for your time ;)

[TheSideKick]

im a BIG fan of 2 handed characters in plate mail sneaking around. i think its a bad ass, non generic character.

power is relative, you cant gage power on paper. if your gm tosses things with scent at you invisibility will be useless. but if he tosses mainly humans at you then invisibility will be all powerful.

the only issue im seeing with this character is that you wont have the mobility, or the dex, to move around the battlefield to take full advantage of your sneak attack damage so make sure you have a teammate to flank with.

a way to get around your lack of mobility, could be to drop dodge for run, then use a 4x movement speed, keeping your dex, to get to a location you need to be in. mind you attacking wont happen but the extra mobility can help you get into position for the next round for the full attack.

[minoritarian]

See if you can take the Dread Commando prestige class from Heroes of Battle. It's 3.5 but it would fit very well!

[Phneri]

I'm doing a similar character (fighter rogue). Some suggestions:

armor expert trait and sash of the war champion. With that you go to -1 ACP (an alchemical item can make that 0) and move full speed in mithril plate.

Power attack and furious focus will go a long way for you, as would an eventual headband of ninjitsu.

I'd suggest swapping the falchion for something with more direct damage. Crits aren't great for you as they'd be for the fighter, simply because you're going to be relying on stacking S.A. damage in.

The armiger's panoply or folding plate would be good options to let you armor up quickly and stay without when sneaking/acrobatics/roguey stuff needs to occur. Both let you equip full armor and a shield as a move action.

Unbreakable fighter archetype gives you end. and die hard early on, which is a small bank of extra hit points to go on if the fight goes bad.

In my build I went for a literal 1-hit wonder (usually only attacks once in combat, but that attack is gonna hurt).

By level 12 (fighter 1/rogue 10/sleepless detective 1) I use the scout archetype to S.A. with vital strike anytime I move for 2d8 + 15 + 8d6 (+2 vicious longsword and S.A.) + 6 bleed. Not a stunning DPR, but tie that in with all the skill points and an AC of 30 (+3 plate and +2 shield, 14 dex, and ring of prot +2) and the ability to still full round attack when position allows and it's fantastic.

[pocsaclypse]

You could also make your armor mithral. 2 more ac from dex and the acp would drop to 2.

[Loyal Battle Monkey]

Reminds of all the additional types of ninjas D&D had in 2nd edition. Still don't know why Paizo didn't add one as an archetype.

[Dekalinder]

Mithral fullplate is extra 9k worth of gold, not worth till you are filthy rich

[pocsaclypse]

True, but planning ahead is important.

[Joanna Swiftblade]

Firstly: Falchions deal 2d4, not 2d6. Since you are going to be dealing sneak attack damage, the 18-20 crit is not needed to supplement damage. I recommend going great sword for better average damage, while still retaining a decent crit range that you seem to like.

My recommendation build wise is going 3 levels Fighter, then the rest Ninja. You pick up armor training 1 for reduced ACP, and then you should drop 4k on a Sash of the Mighty War Champion to bump yourself up to Armor Training 2. You'll have 30ft move speed, and it's cheaper than buying mithral Full Plate for 9K. If you have the cash lying around, make it mithral anyway, as that will reduce the ACP down to 0. (-1 masterwork, -2 armor training, -3 mithral).

Your build seems to focus on being more of a tank, than a damage dealer. I don't think toughness is NEEDED, personally I would take power attack instead for more consistent damage. Iron Will is another good feat you should take, as neither Ninjas or Fighters have good will saves. You might want to think of picking up Vital Strike for bigger single attacks, as your full rounds aren't as likely to hit past the first attack anyway. Also, it will be a long time until you see a third attack so Vital Strike helps make up for that.

Now that I think about it, Spring Attack is your best friend with the Scout archetype. It guarantees sneak attack damage every round with little chance for taking attack of opps once you get enough Ninja levels. You could have it early at level 3 if you took all of the Fighter levels first.

[Devilkiller]

Why be a Fighter when you can be a holy Ninja/Paladin? Smite Evil plus sneak attack sounds pretty groovy. That's probably most effective if you're willing to dip 4 levels into Paladin and take an Oath of Vengeance to get more Smite Evil. If that's too much of an investment you might consider 2 levels of Barbarian with the Armored Hulk archetype, but really I think the holy ninja would be pretty sweet.

For your current build I'd definitely ditch Toughness and Dodge in favor of Power Attack and Furious Focus. With the extra attack you get from spending ki you could really make foes pay even when you can't get sneak attack. If you're really concerned about getting sneak attack more often then consider increasing Int and getting the Gang Up feat instead.