Tricks of the Trade
Excellent. You've now figured out what you are and what sort of ninja you will be. Now you need to learn a few tricks to keep you alive and to let you do what you want to do! Hmm ... ah, I know! Let's start with feats! You can avoid taking other classes, but it's hard to not take feats. Since this is a rather important aspect of character creation, I'll break it down into three sections. First, feats that are helpful for any ninja, then feats for the Ninja
CA, and then feats for the Rokugan Ninja. That ought to make things easy, yes?
General Purpose Ninja Feats:- Craven - Oh Craven, how we love thee, let us count the ways ... Er, I mean adding your character level to sudden strike/sneak attack is great.
- Darkstalker - Hide from things that have blindsight, blind sense, scent, or tremorsense? Yes please!
- Deadly Precision - It's not as good as Craven, but if you have a spare feat, no harm in taking both.
- Improved Initiative - Your big source of damage occurs when your enemy loses his dex bonus. Being flat footed makes them lose their dex bonus. Going first makes them flat footed. See where I'm going with this?
- Able Learner - I would rate this higher for the dedicated skill monkey NinjaCA, but for anyone else it rates here. Easier use of cross-class skills is always nice, though, especially since neither ninja has UMD.
- Two-Weapon Fighting - Like with other precision damage based classes, the two-weapon fighting feat tree will quite literally double your damage output. There are few cases where a ninja would not take this, but I will discuss them later in this section.
- Two-Weapon Defense - I have had about enough of your silliness. This is little better than Dodge and Mobility. Avoid it. Avoid them all.
- Combat Expertise - A handy feat for either ninja, since both prefer to have a good intelligence. Doubly handy for a ninja due to the lack of armor.
- Weapon Finesse - Strength will likely be a dump stat for most ninjas, so weapon finesse is your answer.
- Martial Study - Your mileage may vary once again. It depends on what you learn, though most things in the Setting Sun and Shadow Hand schools are befitting a ninja. I like Shadow Jaunt and Concealing Strike, personally.
- Martial Stance - As with Martial Study, it all depends on what you learn with it. Assassin's Stance is the typical choice.
- Shadow Blade - If you have Weapon Finesse, this is the natural follow up. It allows you to completely dump strength, since you'll now be adding your dex mod to damage.
- Gloom Razor - Oh look at that! It's a follow up feat for Shadow Blade! It's a tactical feat, so you get three bonuses for the price of one feat.
- Desert Wind Dodge - It's a passable alternative to Dodge, if you have to take it.
- Combat Reflexes - You have a high dexterity already (or at least you should) so this feat will work quite well for you. Moves up in ranking if you have a reach weapon.
- Spring Attack - Unfortunately this rather ninja-flavored feat requires those poor, poor entry feats that seem to be a requirement for everything but breathing in this game: Dodge and Mobility. I move this up to black if you are a Rokugan Ninja, that way you only waste one feat getting it, rather than two.
- Up the Walls - Yet another source of wall running! Requires at least 1 power point, but ninjas loves psionics, so if you can't wall run through some other means, this is your answer.
- Point Blank Shot - It's like weapon focus for short ranged attacks. However, you need it if you are going to be throwing a fistful of shuriken with any regularity.
- Precise Shot - This one is for making sure said fistful of shuriken hits the bad guy, not your party members.
- Rapid Shot - The benefits of throwing more shuriken are quite obvious, really.
- Far Shot - Shuriken have terrible range. So terrible, in fact, that you may be smacked by an ogre just for thinking of using them. This helps with that problem.
- Woodland Archery - If you are a NinjaCA, your attack bonus isn't the greatest. This will help shore up your accuracy when you miss. If you are a Rokugan Ninja, your BAB may be high enough so as to obviate the need for this, but it is still a good feat regardless.
- Dreadful Wrath - You are a ninja and you let yourself be seen? Well, if you must be seen you may as well scare the bejeezus out of your enemies. Combine this with Imperious Command and watch the hilarity ensue.
- Apprentice/Mentor - This is like Versatile, but with a mid game Leadership cohort attached. I advise talking to your DM about this one, but if he lets you take it gobble it up and never look back.
- Improved Feint - Only take this if it is a required feat, or you are really desperate for some way to make the enemy flat-footed.
- Improved Toughness - If you find yourself short on hp and you have an extra feat on hand, take this.
- Deft Strike - Most things have a much lower AC without armor or natural armor. This feat allows you to bypass those. Great! The catch? It takes a standard action to use, so you can't stab it in bloody glory until next round. This moves up to Grade-A material if you have a way of getting more than one standard action per round.
So we've taken a look at some feats to consider regardless of what variety of ninja you are. However, both of the styles of ninja have some tricks up their sleeves that aren't normally available to their counterparts. With that in mind, if your DM is allowing both sorts of ninjas to be used in his game, be sure to ask if the ninjas can intermingle their special feats.
Feats for The NinjaCA:- Ascetic Stalker - Monk and NinjaCA already feel like they should go hand in hand. This feat allows you to stack your monk and ninja levels for your ki pool and your unarmed damage. If you take this, I recommend Snap Kick, so you can fight with two weapons and deliver a punishing unarmed strike on top of it. A good combination would be Monk 2/Ninja 18, that way you have a few points in your bad saves and evasion at a reasonable level.
- Martial Stalker - When I first saw this feat, I thought "Wow, I could have all the bonus feats of a fighter and only need one level of the class? Sign me up!" Then, I read the long description, and was sorely disappointed. This feat stacks your Fighter and Ninja levels for your ki pool and your AC bonus, but it only stacks the two classes for the purpose of qualifying for feats that require a minimum Fighter level. I would skip this feat if I were you.
- Expanded Ki Pool - Three more ninja powers per day? Yes please!
- Enduring Ki - This feat makes your fancy ninja tricks last for two rounds instead of one, plus gives an extra ki point. Why is that good? Ghost Step does not grant invisibility as per the spell, it just makes you invisible for one round. Now you are attacking from invisibility for two consecutive rounds. That's two rounds of effortless sudden strike damage. I highly recommend this feat.
Feats for the Rokugan Ninja:- Crippling Blow - By spending two void points, you are able to inflict 1 dex damage for every die of sneak attack you have. Dex damage hurts, especially big things (Dragon slaying, anyone?)
- Dark Guardian - Pick a battle buddy. As long as you are not flanked or flat-footed, neither is your battle buddy. Unless you are trying to build a tank ninja (not recommended) or your DM is running some kind of ninja clan war where you expect to be flanked a lot, don't bother with this feat.
- Delayed Sneak Attack - There are too few situations where you want to kill someone later rather than now. Pass.
- Killing Blow - If you land a sneak attack and drop them to 5 hp or less, they immediately die with no saving throw. However, unless they are a cleric, druid, or maybe a crusader, they are likely to die shortly after being brought to 5 hp anyway.
- Lightning Stealth - This allows you to move at your normal movement speed while hiding and/or moving silently. Not a critical feat, but definitely nice, especially with Darkstalker.
- Poison Immunity - I would rate this higher, but it only makes you immune to one specific type of poison. The +2 bonus against all other poisons is nice, though not nice enough to spend a feat on it.
- Needle Strike - When full attacking and making sneak attacks (something you should do as often as possible), this doubles your critical threat range. Why is this great? It explicitly states that it stacks with other critical threat range modifiers. Dual wield keen kukris with this feat and giggle with perverse joy when you land six critical hits in a round.
- Shuriken Mastery - This allows you to split up the individual shuriken you throw at multiple targets. It also grants a +1 damage bonus to each shuriken if you throw them all at one target.
- Strike of the Wolf - Instead of doing sneak attack damage, you can try to trip someone. How? The enemy you just stabbed has to make a Reflex Save equal to (10+your Dex mod+the damage your sneak attack would have done). That can result in a ridiculously high DC. The best part? It's not even a standard action to use. That's right, you can try to trip someone as part of your full attack, and keep stabbing them once they have been tripped.
- Stab at the Eyes - Largely garbage. If you score a critical hit with a weapon that you wasted Weapon Focus on, the opponent can only take move and free actions for a number of rounds equal to the critical multiplier of the weapon. In most cases, that's two rounds. I suppose it could work in a critical hit build that wields a scythe, but even in a highly focused build this feat becomes of moderate use at best.
- Stealthy Casting - If you've taken levels in a spell casting class, this feat will let you make a Spellcraft check opposed by the enemy's Spot/Listen check. If you succeed, they don't notice you casting the spell. Your mileage may vary with this feat.
- Stunning Blade - By sacrificing your sneak attack damage, you can try to stun someone. The Fortitude DC is equal to the damage you would have dealt. In my opinion, I would take Strike of the Wolf over this.
- Twist the Knife - When you make a sneak attack with a dagger, your threat range is increased by 1 and your weapon damage die is increased one step. The price? Weapon Focus.
- Vanish - The poor ninja's Hide in Plain Sight. This allows you to make a Bluff check, which if successful allows you to make a Hide check as a move action. Not bad, but there are better feats out there.
- Vigilant Rest - No penalty to your Listen checks when you're sleeping, and you automatically wake up if anything approaches within 5 feet. The usefulness of this feat quickly drops to a poor rating if your DM never ambushes your group.
- Untouchable - As long as you are not helpless, you gain total concealment (and the 50% miss chance that comes with it) against all ranged attacks, including spells of course. This feat works wonderfully in tandem with Gloom Razor.
Some of you aspiring ninjas may wonder why the Rokugan Ninja's section is longer than the Ninja
CA's section. The reason is that all of the feats listed for the Rokugan Ninja are specific to the Rokugan campaign setting. However, if you are a Rokugan Ninja you likely have access to those books, and therefore these feats. The Ninja
CA received an unfortunately small amount of supplement support. Fear not, those of you who walk the path of the Ninja
CA! Though you may have fewer supplements dedicated to your cause, you are more widely received by DMs since you are not specific to any one campaign.
As always, if you have a suggestion for worthy feats that I may have forgotten or been unaware of, feel free to post your ideas. The assistance is appreciated, and credited as well!
The Elite Shadow Warriors
What's that? You say you want to be more ninja than ninja? How can you possibly suggest that there are more ways to be a ninja than being a ninja?! Well, since old Sleepy Shadow is here to help you be a better ninja, I'm happy to help you out with that. I've scoured the rule books for the best class combinations I could find, Shiroko has interrogated other ninjas on their character builds for further reference, and a big thanks to
sirpercival for suggesting the write-up on the unofficial support (read: homebrew) that other aspiring ninjas have to offer.
Base Classes- Barbarian - Aside from the conflicting flavor of the classes, a few levels of Barbarian pair nicely with either ninja, though the NinjaCA gains more from it. None of the NinjaCA's abilities are interfered with by rage, and with fast movement, full BAB, and superior HD, the barbarian makes a decent choice for dipping. I would not recommend any more than four levels, however. The Spirit Lion Totem option is even stronger, if your DM allows it, granting you the Pounce ability instead of Fast Movement.
- Bard - Ninjas are stealthy assassins. Bards are magical musicians. You also don't gain anything significant that couldn't be done better by dipping Rogue or Wizard.
- Cleric - This is another case where the NinjaCA gains more from multiclassing into this than the Rokugan Ninja. As a NinjaCA, you should already have a high Wisdom for the ki pool and the AC, so this is playing off of your strengths. In addition to spells, domains, and turning/rebuking, it also opens up the domain devotion feats, some of which are incredibly good. Like Travel Devotion. Plus, it increases your bad saving throws. Rokugan Ninjas could benefit from a cleric dip as well, though this tends to make them more MAD, as wisdom is usually a dump stat.
- Druid - Though druids hate multiclassing, ninjas love dips in it. In addition to boosting saving throws, granting an animal companion, and giving you spells to play with, a few levels of druid give you access to the Daggerspell Shaper prestige class. Also, if you are a NinjaCA, there is an ACF in Unearthed Arcana that allows druids to add their wisdom modifiers to their AC in exchange for losing armor proficiency. Ask your DM really nicely if they stack.
- Fighter - A base class two levels long. Take it for the bonus feats, and if you are a NinjaCA, you may consider snagging Martial Stalker so you can add stack those two levels with your real class.
- Monk - Another two level long class. This time around, it's good for both sorts of ninjas, though for different reasons. Both ninjas enjoy the bonus feats, saving throw boost, evasion, and flurry of blows. For the NinjaCA, you gain a potent unarmed strike by taking Ascetic Stalker. For the Rokugan Ninja, you gain your wisdom mod to AC. Regardless of what variety of ninja you are, taking a couple levels of monk helps gain entrance into Shadow Sun Ninja, one of the best ninja prestige classes out there.
- Paladin - No. Just ... no.
- Ranger - Unless you need Track as a feat to qualify for something, pass this one for something better. Its rating moves to average if you use the Wildshape Ranger to qualify for Daggerspell Shaper, but you would still be better off qualifying with druid.
- Rogue - Taking levels in rogue may seem redundant, but with 8 skill points per level it helps the NinjaCA be a better skill monkey, and allows the Rokugan Ninja to be a secondary skill monkey. If you choose to take levels in this, take 3 or 4, that way you can take Penetrating Strike instead of trap sense, allowing you to deal partial sneak attack/sudden strike damage to creatures otherwise immune.
- Sorcerer - The sorcerer does not mesh well with either ninja, since both ninjas typically dump charisma.
- Wizard - However, the wizard is golden with either ninja, since NinjaCAs often have good intelligence scores to facilitate their role as skill-monkey, and Rokugan Ninjas usually have good intelligence to take advantage of their speed of darkness ability. This also opens up many beneficial prestige classes.
Most of the
non-core base classes all typically offer little for the ninjas, either because it makes the ninjas MAD or because the class features require too many levels invested in that class to be useful for dipping. Unless you are going for a particularly creative build, I advise against most of the non-core classes. Of special note, however, are the
(Unarmed) Swordsage and the
Warblade. In the case of the swordsage, the Ninja
CA fares better with the unarmed version, while the Rokugan Ninja will appreciate the armor proficiency. In either case, it makes qualifying for the
Shadow Sun Ninja much easier. As for the
Warblade, it pairs nicely with the ninjas because its class features utilize intelligence, a stat that most ninjas of both types will typically have moderately high.
As a final note, the two varieties of ninjas actually integrate quite well. Rokugan Ninjas get all of their class abilities by level 8, so if you are feeling like being more of a ninja than the other ninjas, you could go Ninja
CA 12/Rokugan Ninja 8 and have the best class abilities both classes have to offer. While this isn't particularly optimized, the right feats could make something like this shine.
Prestige ClassesWhen it comes right down to it, this is what we all want. Prestige. Power. The ability to tear planets in half with our nostrils. These things and more can be yours if you take the right prestige classes. Yes, even the nostril bit.
- Arcane Trickster - If you a a magical ninja, this is what you take when your good prestige class runs out of levels. Avoid if possible.
- Assassin - In the hands of a ninja, this prestige class is decent. There are certainly better classes out there, but there are far more that are worse.
- Horizon Walker - Does it advance sneak attack? No. Does it give you ultimate cosmic power and an itty-bitty living space? Nope. However, being able to dimension door every 1d4 rounds is still pretty cool.
- Shadow Dancer - I can't stress enough that you should avoid this class. It takes two crappy feats, and at best you'll take two levels of it for Hide in Plain Sight and Evasion.
- Daggerspell Mage - Excellent class for the magically inclined ninja. Requires one bad feat, but you at least get a return on your investment.
- Daggerspell Shaper - Another good class, though this time one for the ninja with a wild(shaping) side.
- Dread Pirate - I know, I know, ninjas and pirates are like fire and sawdust: two things that don't go together. However, if you want to make a scary ninja, Scourge of the Seas will help out a lot. Just resist the urge to say anything even close to "Yar har! You've been ninja'd! Yar!"
- Ghost-Faced Killer - Remember that whole 'scary ninja' idea? Yeah? Good. If you take this class, you're doing it wrong.
- Highland Stalker - This prestige class is essentially for you goobers that thought a ninja/ranger was a good idea. This class almost makes it passable. Almost.
- Nightsong Enforcer - Full BAB and sneak attack? Sign me up! Only problem? You need evasion. Two levels of monk or rogue will get you that, or if you are a very very patient NinjaCA, I suppose you could go in at level 13.
- Nightsong Infiltrator - It's the Enforcer's gimpy little brother. Don't bother.
- Shadowbane Inquisitor - This prestige class is for those of you who ignored my earlier advice and took levels in paladin anyway. It sucks. But if you took levels in paladin despite my advice, you will likely ignore this warning and take all ten levels of this garbage PrC anyway.
- Shadowbane Stalker - For those of you who listened to my advice and took a few levels in cleric, this will further your cause, oh Righteous Ninja of Holy Shadows!
- Shadowmind - For the psychic ninja, this class isn't bad, depending on what psychic class got you here. I recommend either Psychic Warrior or Psychic Rogue.
- Spymaster - This is either really good, or really bad. If you are playing in a subterfuge campaign with lots of social interaction, espionage, and the occasional assassination, this class does wonders for you. If, on the other hand your campaign is heavily combat focused and subterfuge is a minimal or nonexistent aspect, find something better. As a side note, this class is wonderful for a ninja NPC trying to infiltrate, spy on, and/or assassinate a PC.
- Streetfighter - 5 levels for 1d6 sneak attack? Pass.
- Thief-Acrobat - No sneak attack, but the other class features aren't bad.
- Exotic Weapon Master - If you use an exotic weapon, this class is fairly good. A few nice tricks, though nothing to write home about.
- Invisible Blade - An excellent prestige class for ninjas! The required feats are a bit annoying, but the benefits are well worth it. It's an easy way to make someone flat-footed, unfettered defense will come in handy, and it gives you a couple d6s of sneak attack to boot!
- Master Thrower - A must-have for the shuriken user. If that is the path you've chosen take as soon as possible.
- Ronin - If you are something of a charger ninja, or you just want to be a bit beefier, this is a fair way to do it.
- Ninja Spy - Hey! Do you want to feel so ninja? Try NINJA SPY! It's a prestige class for people who need GRATUITOUS AMOUNTS OF NINJA! If you take this prestige class, you're going to feel UNCOMFORTABLY AWESOME! You want to wall run? Why not just jump over the buildings with your LEAP OF THE CLOUDS! Sneak attacks? You'll be good at them! It's a prestige class for ninjas. NINJA PRESTIGE! Sneak attack ninja sneak attack ninja sneak attack MORE NINJA THAN YOUR CHARACTER SHEET HAS ROOM FOR! Thanks to your +20 bonus to acrobatic skills, you'll be tumbling so fast that your DM will be like SLOOOOOW DOOOOWN. Ninja weapons ninja breathing ninja poisons ninja falling ninja dodging ninja hiding ninja water walking ninja FACES! You'll have so many FACES! 1000 FACES! Give this prestige class to your ninjas and they'll move as fast as ROKUGANISE! Your party will watch you run and think you're ROKUGANISE! You'll move so fast you'll Abundant Step and Dimension Door back to ROKUGAN! Don't gamble on your ninja's life. Take NINJA SPY! Ninjaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
- Avenging Executioner - *ahem* Couldn't help myself on the last one. Anyway, this prestige class is good for a scary ninja, but not so much for anyone not focused on Intimidate.
- Cloaked Dancer - I honestly feel that this prestige class works better without a magic ninja entry. It's 2/5 spell advancement and the abilities don't utilize spells anyway. Overall, I like the abilities it gives, and it's relatively easy for a ninja to qualify. Pairs nicely with the Spymaster.
- Magical Trickster - The benefits are nice, but with only three levels the class leaves the magical ninja yearning for more.
- Montebank - For the quick-witted ninja, or for the slow-witted who need a way out, the montebank offers little in the way of offense, but a few swift action dimension doors are always handy.
- Psibond Agent - Like the Spymaster, this class varies depending on the style of your play and the style of your campaign. Excellent for espionage games, less so for combat oriented games. However, it does rate slightly higher than Spymaster for combat, though only barely.
- Spellwarp Sniper - An excellent choice for the magical ninja! Since you will likely be fighting from a distance, this class offers only benefits.
- Uncanny Trickster - Its usefulness depends on what skill tricks you choose. Your mileage may vary.
- Abjurant Champion - This is for the melee inclined magical ninja. An excellent choice, though you may find yourself missing the lost sudden strike/sneak attack from time to time.
- Unseen Seer - Another great choice for the magical ninja. Full casting and it advances your sneak attack. The only drawback is the d4 hd.
- Suel Archanamach - An interesting choice for the ninja that suddenly realizes that they need to defend themselves against magic. The feats are of little help to you, but both ninjas are already proficient with four or more exotic weapons.
- Telflammar Shadowlord - This is an excellent prestige class, but the rating falls to average due to the stiff entry requirements. If you can get into it, it's usually worth the effort.
- Black Flame Zealot - For those ninjas who have taken a few levels in cleric and think that this is a good idea, think twice. You'll lose too much and gain too little.
- Bloodstorm Blade - Another excellent choice for those of you focusing on throwing hundreds of shuriken per round, this class offers little to the melee, magical, or skill ninjas.
- Shadow Sun Ninja - The other big daddy of ninja prestige classes. The abilities of this class are both powerful and flavorful. I cannot recommend this class enough. If you are a NinjaCA/Monk going into this prestige class, you'll be happy to know this will also advance your monk capabilities.
- Jaunter - Thanks to Waazraath for pointing this one out. I definitely like the class, and the teleporting and shifting abilities, but I rank it average due to the undesirable feat requirements.
Helpful Home BrewSo we've taken a look at some of the best and the worst base and prestige classes a ninja would likely consider taking. But, as
sirpercival pointed out, there yet exists a mass amount of home brew out there written by your fellow ninjas. Such ninjas who have walked the official paths of the ninja are trying to assist their fellow ninjas, the inexperienced ones who would walk in their footsteps. There is far too much of this material for me to review here, but I encourage you and your DM to search together to find the perfect balance of power and flavor to suit your individual campaign needs.
As a final note, for those ninjas who have also decided to walk the path of the divine, I would like to direct your attention to the Divine Trickster. While strictly speaking it is home brew, it was created by Rich Burlew, who worked on several official WotC books. The class is sleek, well balanced, and perhaps the best way to combine stealth and divine magic.
Here is where you will find it.
AdviceSo, you figured out what species you belong to, transcended the bonds of said species to become a ninja, learned your ninja feats, decided whether or not to pick up another class, and maybe even took a prestige class. Congratulations, your well on your way to becoming a Master Ninja! However, it certainly helps to have a few tricks of the trade up your sleeve, and naturally I'm here to help.
First and foremost, whether you use sudden strike or sneak attack, attacking your opponent when they have lost their dex mod to AC certainly makes that much easier.
If you are playing in Rokugan, be sure to pick a dojo. Being part of a dojo gives you a few small free benefits, and free benefits are always appreciated.
Always remember that your party members are your allies. Yes, even the fighter in full plate constantly trying to follow you around and ruin your move silently checks. Because while the wizard is turning the area into a web-filled, grease covered, glitter dusted hell hole complete with groping tentacles, the cleric is arguing with his deity that yes his nightsticks should stack, and the barbarian is frothing at the bit in eager anticipation to become a frenzied berserker, you are disabling traps that would otherwise kill your companions, running along the walls and ceiling in order to put yourself in a favorable (or at least impressive) position, and if all else fails rolling on the ground giggling in perverse glee when you kill the BBEG in the middle of his monologue.
Lastly, remember this helpful tip: If all else fails, you can outrun everyone in the party. So if you have to, throw caltrops behind you as you run to ensure that the fighter will hold off the Troll Warhulk long enough to let the more valuable members of your team escape.