An idea has been bouncing around in my head and I'm not sure what to do with it if anything.
I'd like to make character who throws Shurikens, either a focused build or a switch hitter.
Ninja 2 - Swift action flurry of Stars as a Ninja trick. Gives two extra attacks. Use Katana in melee.
Though I am not sure where to go from here. I'm pretty sure I don't want TWF. While throwing five shuriken with flurry of stars + rapid shot + TWF sounds appealing taking a -6 penalty also sounds like it will be a flurry of misses. Do we go hybrid dex/str pumping both for good damage and initiative? Do we basically ignore Sneak Attack and go into fighter for more feats and weapon training? Keep with Ninja and suck up the difficulties of ranged SA until invisible blade?
Couple of things Distance Thrower lets you throw 20' without penalty. If you add Far Shot you get up to 30' and up to 50' with only a -2. Possible other feats to get - point blank shot, precise shot, rapid shot, deadly aim, improved initiative, weapon focus.
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You will need to add a belt of might hurling to that. I really think Monks or Fighter/Monks are better for Shuriken thowers, but Shuriken is a very weak weapons to begin with, so you need to add as much static to hit and damage as possible, and you need to get as many stars thrown per round as possible and you don't want to rely on ki to make it happen. Flurry of Blows + Rapid Shot + Belt of Mighty Hurling + Weapon Training + Gloves of Dueling + Deadly Aim + Weapon Specialization.
Flurry of Stars beats Flurry of Blows, though granted, it's limited to Ki Pool.
Belt of Hurling is good but expensive, nice if you start with it, crappy if you have to go through the 6 or so levels while you wait on it.
Is there any enchantment that can be put on ammo that prevents it from being destroyed?
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Warpriest of Graffiacane, or Yaezhing, focusing on Shuriken sounds interesting.
The whole scaling damage thing seems to work.
Here is an interesting tip for a throwing build: take the minor magic rogue talent and use that in order to qualify for Arcane Strike.
This idea works off a FAQ about Spell-Like Abilities, Casting, and Prerequisites. So even a martial class can gets hands on arcane strike through this method.
The real problem most face though is that they can't get the caster level of the SLA (which is the determining factor in how much damage arcane strike does) to scale properly. So most people usually have to rely upon a racial SLA (which always has character level as caster level). The minor magic rogue talent though uses the rogue (or ninja) level for caster level, which works fine too. Monks are also good choices in they are qinggong archetypes, since those also provide SLAs.
So, you must be asking: why bother? Well, besides the decent scaling boost to damage (which would be a fine reason to take this in and of itself), arcane strike provides another valuable tool for a throwing build: it makes all your attacks count as magic for overcoming DR. So, by grabbing some special material shuriken, you will be fine against most DR without having to waste money on expensive magical items that get lost or destroyed. Admittedly, the action economy here might be against this idea since arcane strike uses the same swift action as flurry of stars.
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Warpriest of Graffiacane, or Yaezhing, focusing on Shuriken sounds interesting.
The whole scaling damage thing seems to work.
any warpreist would be able to use shuriken as sacred weapons, they just need proficiency and weapon focus in them. Granted that is two feats behind, but you don't have to worship an evil god.
Flurry of Stars is good but as lemeres pointed out it uses up your swift action, and as you pointed out it is limited to Ki. I'd do both. Also, Flurry of Blows can be used with melee and ranged at the same time. Your first attack could be with your katana and all the rest could be ranged attacks with shuriken.
I would suggest a small race to get the + to hit and one that has a natural caster level for racial spell like abalities. Gnome seems like a good choice. You could also go with a small sized Aasimar or Teifling. Aside from that as Imicatus put, "Flurry of Blows + Rapid Shot + Belt of Mighty Hurling + Weapon Training + Gloves of Dueling + Deadly Aim + Weapon Specialization." with 4 levels of Weapon Master Fighter would be good. In fact, I would go with Weapon Adept Monk as well.
If you &/or your DM is open to 3rd party stuff, check out the shadow assassin class from super genius games(now rogue genius games). look it up on d20pfsrd.com. thay can select this as one of their abilities.
Shuriken Style (Su): A favored weapon of many shadow assassins, shuriken are not particularly effective as ranged weapons unless they are used to deliver poison. This shadow style instead imbues each shuriken thrown with a bit of solid shadow, increasing the amount of damage done by any shuriken the shadow assassin throws by +1d6. This increases to +2d6 at 6th level, and to +3d6 at 10th level. The additional damage is treated as being normal piercing weapon damage. Thus a 2nd level human shadow assassin deals 1d2+1d6 damage with a shuriken attack.
If selected a second time, the shadow assassin increases the enhancement bonus to attack and damage of any shuriken he throws by +1 for every six full class levels. If selected a third time, the shadow assassin may forgo granting part or all of the additional enhancement bonus to instead give his thrown shurikens the following magic abilities for the listed cost: distance (+1 enhancement), frost (+1 bonus), seeking (+1 bonus), speed (+3 bonus).
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There's only way to do shurikens viably, IMO, and that's as a Moonlight Stalker ninja piling up insane amounts of sneak-attack dice versus adversaries who are flat-footed because they cannot see him. (Easily qualify for Moonlight by dipping a cleric level in a Darkness deity.)
Not only are you then awesome at it, you're NOT a one-trick pony.
Avoid the Belt of Mighty Hurling, as it only encourages you to MAD your character instead of emphasizing dexterity (which only lends nicely to TWF'ing Agile wakizashies w/Piranha Strike). Two levels of urban barbarian complete the package.
Is there a particularly good rage power for throwing shuriken!
If this isn´t for PFS,
-play an ifrit, take the firesight feat, smokebombs ninja trick and in the beginning some smokestick and you are good.
-sylph has a similar feat which let´s you see through fog, but a nianja has no fog, you would need to multiclass.
-flame/water oracle have similar revelations.
If you want to go moonlight stalker consider two levels of fighter lore warden, since you get combat expertise as a bonus feat. But you still need INT 13.
Anyway, if you want to play a ninja or rogue, just do it, don´t bother too much about optimizing. You´ll do enough damage. Combat doesn´t need to be over in 1 round and if you have a good GM he will adapt to that.
Most AP´s and scenarios are no problem with a rogue.
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There's only way to do shurikens viably, IMO, and that's as a Moonlight Stalker ninja piling up insane amounts of sneak-attack dice versus adversaries who are flat-footed because they cannot see him. (Easily qualify for Moonlight by dipping a cleric level in a Darkness deity.)
Not only are you then awesome at it, you're NOT a one-trick pony.
Avoid the Belt of Mighty Hurling, as it only encourages you to MAD your character instead of emphasizing dexterity (which lends nicely to TWF'ing Agile wakizashies w/Piranha Strike). Two levels of urban barbarian complete the package.
Is there a particularly good rage power for throwing shuriken!
Reckless Abandon (which is especially good for urban barbarians using Controlled Rage to pump dexterity for ranged combat). Aside from that, Good for What Ails You = free save rerolls; Celestial Totem, Lesser = bolstered healing, Scent, and Savage Intuition (another good one for urban barbs, because it will increase their AC at the beginning of combat before it's even their turn).
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Well, a Warpriest of Graffiacane, or Yaezhing could nab the Guided Hand feat.
True, but I don't see the point of going wis based on a thrower, because you will need dex for ranged feats. Also, you can't channel smite with ranged weapons, so the pre-req for guided hand is wasted.
I apologize for resurrecting an ancient thread, but this avoids clutter.
I'm in the process of making an inquisitor with shuriken as their deity's favourite weapon. Now, I can of course use bows anyway, but that seems a bit un-pious. Disrespectful, even. So, how to make this work? I would prefer to make it a single-class human, but there's some wriggle room, within reason.
1. Arcane Strike. Takes little effort, although the swift action economy will not combine well with Bane Weapon from level 5 onwards.
2. TWF. I'll meet the dex requirements easily, but the feat expenditure will bite. GTWF is going to take a fair bit of levels, another feat, and more to-hit penalties. Probably not worth it.
3. PBS. The range limit isn't much of an issue most of the time, since the increment penalties get pretty bad beyind 30', anyway. Probably a gimme, even if it doesn't scale.
4. Greater Belt of Mighty Hurling. Is this even working? The returning quality on "ammunition" seems wasted - I think. I may need a better rules lawyer than I am, here. I currently think it works in theory, but returns broken shuriken only.
5. Adamantite shuriken. Does this prevent them from breaking? They are definitely thrown weapons, but I can't figure out the interaction here. If it works, that's totally worth spending 3k for a lifelong stack of 50.
6. Yay, I can cast my own Greater Magic Weapon spell in due time, and with a Magus in the party, I may need to plan on a Pearl of Power III so he can cast Flame Arrow for me. That should help with the damage component quite a bit. Is there a non-fire equivalent to Flame Arrow, for when stuff starts to become immune (and even DR 5/fire pretty much counts)?
7. Not planning on Guided Weapon, since I'm going to favour dex over wis. It also saves on more feat expenditures, which is already going to be an issue.
8. I'm still making up my mind on Judgment Surge. The 1/day limitation is pretty terrible, even if I don't plan to fight all the time if I can help it.
9. I'm sure I will need to include Precise Shot, since I can't afford to miss a whole lot - and a -4 is pretty terrible. At least this path leads into Enfilading Fire, which looks interesting.
10. How bad is damage resistance going to cripple me in the long run? Clustered Shots exists, but it's yet another feat in a somewhat starved build. Hrmpf.
Well, I am sure I overlooked a few things, and suggestions are very welcome. I'd like to spend not absolutely 100% of my feats on killing stuff with tiny bits of metal, though. If nothing else, Divine Interference looks yummy, especially since I don't want to be a Preacher archetype.
Just a quick note reading, arcane strike requires arcane magic - to my knowledge inquisitors are divine spell casters
*Edit: looking at inquisitor archetypes now
*Edit#2: Sanctified Slayer from the advanced class guide (acg) might help you out on static damage bonuses, you get studied target + sneak attack in exchange for the judgment ability
*Edit#3: I'm working on a quick build for level 1, and maybe levels 5 & 9 to see how this matches up
Judgment is superior to sneak attack, I expect, since the latter requires surprise or a flank, and neither is very reliable. I've played a Slayer, and I came to the conclusion that they are gimped Rangers, since the sneak attack wasn't worth as much as even 4th tier spellcasting. That was with a melee Slayer - it'd be worse at range).
Admittedly, the archetype has some other features I like (studied target fits the personality, and more feats is always good, even if they arrive late), but Judgment is wonderfully flexible, in case you need to suddenly fill in as frontliner, defend against spells, etc. Playing a "divine murderhobo" is also a bit awkward. I may need to mull this one over a bit.
Good catch on the Arcane Strike, though, and that hurts. It also solves the swift action economy dilemma, mind!
Beverly Hills Ninja: Level 1
Human race with +2 to dex & a 20pt buy gives you: 15, 18, 10, 7, 15, 10
Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +4
Feats: Precise Shot & Two-Weapon Fighting - you can't have a ranged combat style as your main offence and take a -4 penalty when shooting into combat, & with shuriken you're going to need more than one attack a round right off the bat.
With studied target you have a nice synergy with a move & standard action to get the +1 to hit and damage while still getting two shots off with two-weapon fighting. This puts you at {+4 dex, +1 studied target, -2 TWF) for +3 to hit if you're within 10ft (or melee range)
Each attack does 1d2 +2 (from str) + 1 (from studied target) for 4-5 damage
If we assume the average mook at level one has AC 14 and 12 HP you hit on an 11 which is a 50% chance of hitting with either attack for 4.5 average damage per hit. You have a 25% chance of 0 damage, 25% chance of about 9 damage, and a 50% chance of 4.5 damage a round - which works out to 4.5 damage per round on average.
At this rate it will take you about three rounds to kill your average mook.
*Edit: just saw your post, yeah I'm not a fan of sneak attack myself - I haven't looked too closely at judgments though so I'll check those out
*Edit#2: looking at the judgements they are all quite nice - however - the ones that help you at combat aren't as good as studied target. Studied target has the same bonus as the destruction and justice judgements, and scales at the same rate. If you're using shurikin as a main combat tactic, you'll need all the help you can get to get it off the floor
If you take 2 level of ninja and the rest warprist you can throw alot of them and do a ton of damage with hast,rapid shot flurry of stars ,two weapon fighting and quick draw along with some of the above comments.
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Shuriken is treated as ammunition, so no retrieval of magic shuriken if they hit (which sucks a lot).
Consider Abundant Ammunition(wiz,rang,bard,cleric 1): Cast this and non-magical ammunition is replaced as you use it. If, after you cast this, a spell that affects ammunition is cast, then that magic continues to persist (such as magic weapon, greater magic weapon, flaming arrow, etc...). Lasts minutes/level.
Consider that in conjunction with Named Bullet and one creature type you choose is gonna feel some pain, although named bullet comes quite a bit later.
Thrown weapons in general are hard to use effectively, shuriken certainly being no exception.
P.S. You don't need quick draw, an advantage of shuriken being ammunition (for other thrown weapons, you do need quick draw).
Personally, I would just make a Cult Leader Warpriest of Yaezhing. Yaezhing is a Tian Xia deity whose favored weapon is the shuriken. The Cult Leader archetype gives skills and abilities that let you act as more of a skirmisher.
To clarify: I am locked into single-class inquisitor. No multiclassing whatsoever, no oriental classes, no archetypes (the latter only having been discovered today). I'm currently thinking I may need to petition the use of a chakram instead of a shuriken, just to make it work, or to stick to a more mundane weapon and use the occasional +1 spellstoring shuriken or so as a thematic nudge, since I cannot see myself having enough feats otherwise to do more than pitiful damage.
To clarify: I am locked into single-class inquisitor. No multiclassing whatsoever, no oriental classes, no archetypes (the latter only having been discovered today). I'm currently thinking I may need to petition the use of a chakram instead of a shuriken, just to make it work, or to stick to a more mundane weapon and use the occasional +1 spellstoring shuriken or so as a thematic nudge, since I cannot see myself having enough feats otherwise to do more than pitiful damage.
If you are still looking for advice, are you interested in Inquisitions? They are Domain options for Inquisitors introduced in Ultimate Magic.
To clarify: I am locked into single-class inquisitor. No multiclassing whatsoever, no oriental classes, no archetypes (the latter only having been discovered today). I'm currently thinking I may need to petition the use of a chakram instead of a shuriken, just to make it work, or to stick to a more mundane weapon and use the occasional +1 spellstoring shuriken or so as a thematic nudge, since I cannot see myself having enough feats otherwise to do more than pitiful damage.If you are still looking for advice, are you interested in Inquisitions? They are Domain options for Inquisitors introduced in Ultimate Magic.
Inquisitions should be fine, yes. They need to be a good thematic fit, of course.
Redemption is tempting for that reason, and it boosts some important skills, as well as melee somewhat.
I could see Reformation work as well, but I'm afraid that would push Diplomacy into the realms of "too cheesy", especially with the reroll.
Heresy is similar, with the added bonus that it impacts Stealth, so it broadens the scope a bit beyond the social.
Conversion is similar, except that I expect the level 8 ability to be pretty iffy - Dominate Person is generally evil, after all. Occasionally a necessary evil, but still...
Apart from those, I have not found any Inquisitions I am thrilled about. There's several that are good but not suitable (say, Chivalry), and none at all that strike me as useful to ranged combat of any kind.