Eh, for ninja I prefer good dexterity. You have ways to all but guarantee a sneak attack, and later on you can have agile weapons for the extra dex to damage. IMO both dex and strength builds are viable on ninja, but unless there is no tank to flank with I think a dex-heavy build will serve you well. TWF and weapon finesse can set you up for the starting offensive build.
I am not that keen on getting an intelligence penalty. Skills are nice to have, though that will depend on the team comp - i.e. if there is a bard around you don´t need to. Still, it might be worth it starting with a 15 in charisma for 2 points you can put there. 16 is still ok though.
What is the rest of the team? This can be quite important.
Yeah, but who is the character? Why are they a ninja? Can you even sneak around a Daimyo's house with big giant wings and a glowing halo?
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The first attribute makeup looks good, though I would likely bring down charisma and distribute the points elsewhere. Unless, of course, you want your character to be extra charismatic. Strength isn't too necessary either. 12,20,14,8,12,12 is an option, as is 10, 18, 16, 9, 12, 14 or 10, 19, 16, 5, 12, 12.
When there´s a will, there´s a way - just glue the darn things on and you´re good.
I think it´s matter of style. If you want to go a la Ryo Hayabusa or Joe Musashi and chop people with a katana, you can make it work. Vanishing trick does seem better for a single heavy attack at first, though eventually greater invisibility offers you good support for full attacks.
TWF inches it for me due to the flexibility - you can use it with shuriken for a round of ranged SA attacks if you get the drop on someone. At level 10 or so, 4 poisoned shuriken can make for a good opening volley.
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I'd go with a progression like
Stats:
Str10
Dex18[15+2+1]
Con14
Int13
Wis10
Cha14
with feats/tricks
1Two-Weapon Fighting
1hCombat Expertise
2Finesse Trick
3Butterfly's Sting
4Vanishing Trick
getting to where you can help allies get crits eventually [getting Keen after Agile] and you can get Sneak Attack pretty reliably [invisible walk into flank]. You could give up Butterfly's Sting and Combat Expertise, to get yourself Pirahna Strike to add some damage v. low-AC mooks and perhaps Extra Ki or something to help.
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I was thinking
feats-
Combat reflexes (to use the double chained kama
2-Finesse trick
3-extra ki
4-Vanishing Trick
5-Extra ninja trick- Shadow clones
6-Combat trick- TWF
7-shadowstrike
8-Flurry of Stars
9-Smoke Bomb
10-Invisible Blade.
ok, now here is where I have another hard decision.
do I continue down the ninja class? or do I go into a PRC class. (either assassin, or more likely shadowdancer?)
do I continue down the ninja class? or do I go into a PRC class. (either assassin, or more likely shadowdancer?)
MORE NINJA!
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If I kept going into ninja the progression would look like
11-Iron WIll (at this points, saves are reaallllyyyy needed)
12- Rogue Talent- Crippling Strike (wooo melee debuffs!)
13- Weapon focus (what ever weapons I have at the time, be it the double chained kama, wakizashis or isahfas)(or a advanced ninja talent, not sure)
14-Ghost Steps (woo)
15- advanced ninja trick(I remember seeing this somewhere..) Evasion just cuz
16-Sudden Disguise
17??
18- Master Disguise (should I take these sooner?)
19-???
20-???
I doubt we will get to level 16+ but we may.
I think the pressure points trick is sometimes better than crippling strike but as some internet guy or girl said - if you hit with enough sneak attacks to make it count, shouldn´t the darn bugger be DEAD by then? BTW, speaking of debuffs and rogue tricks, I think bleeding strike can be quite overrated. If they run, they don´t run far... and any caster has to cope with the concentration checks due to the ongoing bleed damage.
Weapon focus seems nice earlier on to help you hit more, especially if you use TWF for more sneak attacks. This can significantly increase your damage, but you have to hit - and if you plan on using only 1 weapon, WF may be worth it.
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I remembered a player of mine that tried to play a Ninja and it was an utter dissapointment. Less to-hit, hp and damage than both the paladin and the cleric. Scouting and Stealth in general is nice to one-hit a mook, but it only goes that far. He fell unconcious, trying to flank, in every single BBEG fight, while the paladin and cleric dealt with it just fine.
Being invisible does not guarantee sneak attacks either after a certain lvl. It is only reliable at low lvls, when you have only a couple of ki to burn on vanishing trick or an extra attack.
I would actually suggest a 4 lvl dip in drinken master monk for access to drunken ki, moms will also give early acccess to style feats or you can just take flurry and save on TWF feats, Sensei can make you WIS-based if you are interested. Also, with unarmed strike you can access the sap adept - master feats (make sure you take the scout arcehtype) and the Knockout Artist feat. This way you can stack up the damage of your sneak attacks and also have "infinite" ki for becoming invisible and deal extra attacks. It will also let you dump charisma and raise wisdom instead, helping your willsave and your perseption checks so much.
A one-two lvl dip in inquisitor with the conversion inquisition will let you intimidate with your wisdom, making enforcer and shatter defences viable for a sensei-ninja build.
A one-lvl dip in shadowdancer for hide in plain sight could be useful, if only it didn't had these aweful prereqs.
1. never try to sneak around the BBEG without being invis. even if he has blindsense IIRC he doesn't know exactly where you are.
I have considered these things, I have also considered a rogue, where he is much less MAD due to being able to dump cha :3.
if anyone has any suggestions for a scout/spy/assassin type feel. let me know. Honestly, I love ninja Gaiden and anyway to form a feeling of that character concept (weapon use wise) and I will listen whole heartedly.