Ninja Handbook: Pathfinder Class Guide – RPGBOT (2024)

Introduction

The Ninja is an alternate class to the Rogue, combining some of the Monk’s mystic abilities with the Rogue’s talent for stealth, cunning, and stabbing things.

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RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks. Also note that many colored items are also links to the Paizo SRD.

• Red: Bad, useless options, or options whichare extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
• Orange: OK options, or useful optionsthat only apply in rare circ*mstances. Useful sometimes.
• Green: Good options. Useful often.
• Blue: Fantastic options, often essentialto the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

Ninja Class Features

Hit Points: d8 hit points is low, but it’snormal for stealth classes.

Base Attack Bonus: At 2/3 BAB the Ninjawon’t keeup up with Fighters in a stand-up fight, but Ninjas aren’t intendedfor a stand-up fight.

Saves: Ninjas have one good save (Reflex),and depend on Dexterity, but don’t get Evasion until at least 10th level.Because they don’t need Wisdom like a Monk, their Will saves are likely pooras well.

Proficiencies: With light armor, the Ninjaneeds to rely on Dexterity to improve their AC. Because they need Dexterity,it is typically best to rely on Dexterity for attacks as well. The bestweapons available to the Ninja are the Wakizashi, Shuriken, and shortbow. Theother weapon proficiencies are flavorful, but are mostly only good for combatmaneuvers.

Skills: 8+ skill ranks, and an almostidentical skill list to Rogues. Unfortunately, the Ninja doesn’t getTrapfinding, which reduces the Ninja’s effectiveness as a Scout, but becausethey need Charisma to fueld their Ki Pool, the Ninja is better equipped toserve as a Face than the Rogue.

Poison Use: Poison is expensive, difficultto use, and unreliable. If you plan to use it, do so sparingly and with plentyof forethought.

Sneak Attack: The Ninja’s main resource incombat.

Ki Pool (Su): The Ki Pool fuels the Ninja’sabilities. At start, the biggest draw is spending one point for an extraattack. When you are in an advantageous position, this is an excellent way toget an extra pile of Sneak Attack damage.

Ninja Tricks: The primary means ofcustomizing your Ninja.

• Acrobatic Master (Su): Very situational.Your Acrobatics modifier should be good enough without this that you cansafely tumble in combat.
• Bleeding Attack* (Ex): Bleed effects arealways tempting, but rarely worthwile. This could be useful for hit-and-runattacks, but you would be better served outright killing someone instead ofwaiting for them to bleed to death. At higher levels the bleed damage canbecome very scary, but fast healing and regeneration become more common.
• Choking Bomb (Ex): Excellent CrowdControl, and the DC is respectable.
• Combat Trick: Many Ninja Tricks arebetter than many feats you may want, but this is great for gettingTwo-Weapon Fighting early.
• Darkvision (Su): Darkvision is crucialfor Scouts trying to move around unnoticed, but Ki points are precious.
• Deadly Range (Ex): Buy Sniper’sGoggles.
• Deflect Arrows: Very situational.
• Fast Stealth (Ex): Situational, but verycool and thematic.
• Feather Fall (Su): Very situational.
• Flurry of Stars (Ex): Did you roll thehighest Initiative? Are your enemies flat-footed? Time for Flurry of Stars.Combined with Two-Weapon Fighting, you can throw a dizzying number ofshurikens to deal a huge amount of damage.
• Forgotten Trick (Ex): Hugely improves theNinja’s versatility, especially in combat, but costs a ton of Ki.
• Hidden Weapons (Ex): Very situational.
• High Jumper (Ex): Or you can find a way tofly
• Ki Block* (Su): Hugely situational.
• Ki Charge (Su): Very cool, but the damageis terrible.
• Poison Bomb (Ex): A great way to get somemore mileage out of your expensive poisons.
• Pressure Points* (Su): Combine this withmultiple sneak attacks in a given round, and you can really cripple yourenemies.
• Rogue Talent: While many Rogue Talents andNinja Tricks overlap, there are a few good Rogue Talents which Ninjas don’tget access to. Read myRogue Talents Breakdownfor help selecting a Rogue Talent. If you plan to make use of poisons, theRogue has several excellent options to supplement the Ninja’s PoisonUse.
• Shadow Clone (Su): Fantastic when fightingenemies who can easily overcome your AC.
• Slow Metabolism (Ex): Situational.
• Slow Reactions* (Ex): Fantastic forescaping and for Scout archetype Ninjas who need to keep moving to SneakAttack.
• Smoke Bomb (Ex): Or you could just buy asmokestick. This is only good if you want Poison/Chocking Bomb.
• Snatch Arrows: Awful.
• Style Master: Many Monk styles are verygood, and will benefit a Ninja greatly. Panther Style is especiallyinteresting for Scout archetype Ninjas, and Snake Style can help solve yourAC issues. See theStyle Featsection of my Monk Handbook for help selecting a style feat.
• Sudden Disguise (Su): Situational, butpotentially hillarious.
• Unarmed Combat Training: Weapons willalmost always be a better option for the Ninja, but some feats and abilitiesrely on using unarmed strikes.
• Undetected Sabotage (Ex): Situational, andyou can usually do this with a normal Disable Device check.
• Vanishing Trick (Su): Absolutelyfantastic. This is a guranteed way to get Sneak Attack for at least oneround.
• Ventriloquism (Su): Hugely situational.
• Wall Climber (Su): Hugely situational, andeasily replicated or replace by Spider Climb or anything that lets youfly.
• Weapon Training: Ocasionally useful toboost your relatively low attack bonus, but you can get many moreinteresting options from other tricks.

No Trace (Ex): Situational, and thebonuses are small.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Situational, but itallows you to do silly things like using Full Defense outside of combat.

Light Steps (Ex): Situational, but verycool.

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Hugelysituational.

Master Tricks: A considerably improvement onNinja Tricks.

• Advanced Talents: The rogue has severalexcellent Advanced Talents. You can only take one, so choose carefully.ReadmyRogue Talents Breakdownfor help selecting an Advanced Talent.
• Assassinate (Ex): Save or die.Considerably better than the Assassin’s version.
• Blinding Bomb (Ex): Blinding enemies isvery effective crowd control, and allows you to Sneak Attack thetargets.
• Deadly Shuriken (Ex): Absolutely awful. Youonly get to apply Sneak Attack once. Why would you ever do this instead ofmaking multiple attacks?
• Evasion (Ex): Excellent, but very late inthe game.
• Feat: Many Master Talents are better thanfeats, so only take this when you run out Master Talents that you want.
• Ghost Step (Su): Excellent for escapingand infiltration, but this will burn through your Ki very quickly.
• Invisible Blade (Su): Absolutelyessential. Ninjas will likely use this in every combat.
• Master Disguise (Su): Very situational.
• See the Unseen (Su): This isn’t nearly goodenough to justify a Master Trick. By now your party should have plenty ofoptions for detecting invisible creatures.
• Shadow Split (Su): Situational.
• Unarmed Combat Mastery: Only useful ifyou devote resources to fighting unarmed, which is rarely a good choice fora Ninja.
• Unbound Steps (Su): Too expensive for oneround of Air Walk, which your Cleric can cast on you by now.

Hidden Master (Su): Invisible Blade is muchless costly, but imposing a -10 penalty to constitution is going to be muchmore effective than an average of 35 damage from one attack.

Compatible Archetypes

Alternate classes can take archetypes for the base class so long as they have the same class features altered or replaced by the Archetype.

• Bandit: Good for ambushes, but notcompatible with Scout.
• Burglar: You still don’t getTrapfinding
• Sanctified Rogue: The sacred bonuses tobad saves are nice, and Augury can be very useful, but this doesn’t help theNinja do any Ninja things, and it’s not compatible with Scout.
• Scout: Uncanny dodge is terrible, andScout provides some great ways to get guranteed Sneak Attack without helpfrom your allies. O would take this on every Ninja.
• Trapsmith: You still don’t getTrapfinding

Abilities

Ninjas primarily rely on Dexterity, but need Charisma for their Ki Pool and a splash of every other ability to keep themelves functional. They are somewhat MAD, but really only need a splash of their less important abilities..

Str: Helpful for melee and thrown weapondamage, but otherwise useless.

Dex: Your primary ability both offensivelyand defensively.

Con: Important for overcoming your low hitdie and for your poor Fortitude saves.

Int: Only important for skill ranks.

Wis: Only useful for Will saves, and you canovercome a penalty with a cloak.

Cha: Fuels your conversational skills andyour Ki Pool.

Races

Darkvision is crucial for scouts, but can be provided by items or spells. Look for ability bonuses to help compensate for the Ninja’s MAD.

Dwarf: Bonuses to two unimportant abilitiesand a penalty to an important ability. The only real draw is Darkvision..

Elf: The bonus dexterity helps, and theintelligence bonus grants some extra skill ranks, but the other racialabilities aren’t helpful.

Gnome: Bonuses to Constitution and Charismaare both helpful, but the Gnome can’t keep up with the Halfling.

Half-Elf: Flexible ability bonus, andhelpful if you plan to multiclass. Alternate racial traits offer a lot ofgreat options, and Half-Elves can take the Human favored class bonus foradditional talents.

Half-Orc: Flexible ability bonus andDarkvision are both nice. Half-Orcs can take the Human favored class bonus foradditional talents.

Halfling: Bonuses to the Ninja’s two mostimportant abilities, and a bunch of bonuses to stealth. The reduced damage andspeed are annoying, but can be easily overcome.

Human: Because Ninjas are typicallytwo-weapon fighters they tend to be feat-starved, so the Human bonus feat iscrucial. The favored class bonus grants a few bonus Talents (remember that theNinja is an alternate class for Rogues, so logically you should be able totake the same favored class bonus) which can get you Combat Trick or WeaponTraining to help with the feat requirements.

Traits

• Anatomist (Combat): Critical hits are notfor Sneak Attack classes.
• Armor Expert (Combat): Don’t be tempted bythis. The tiny armor check penalty to AC will go away as soon as you canafford to spend 1100 gp on a Mithral Shirt.
• Axe to Grind (Combat): Unfortunately, youwill depend on flanking until you can get Invisible Blade at level 11, soengaging an enemy by yourself is rarely a good choice.
• Deft Dodger (Combat): Your Reflex savesare already good, but more doesn’t hurt.
• Fencer (Combat): You are not aDefender.
• Hidden Hand (Combat): You only get oneattack during a surprise round, and +1 bonus to one attack in some combatsisn’t much.
• Nature’s Mimic (Combat): You have 8+skill ranks, so you have enough ranks to invest in Knowledge skills if youfeel the need.
• Reactionary (Combat): Initiative bonusesare fantastic for getting early sneak attacks while your enemies are stillflat-footed.
• Resilient (Combat): Bonus to one of yourbad saves.
• Child of the Temple (Faith): You have 8+skill ranks, so you have enough ranks to invest in Knowledge skills if youfeel the need.
• Devotee of the Green (Faith): You have 8+skill ranks, so you have enough ranks to invest in Knowledge skills if youfeel the need.
• History of Heresy (Faith): Divine spellsare half of all spells, but you would be better served to get a bonus thatapplies to non-spells too.
• Indomitable Faith (Faith): Bonus to oneof your bad saves.
• Inspired (Faith): You have a lot ofskills, and this makes you a bit more reliable with them.
• Planar Savant (Faith): You have 8+ skillranks, so you have enough ranks to invest in Knowledge skills if you feelthe need.
• Scholar of the Great Beyond (Faith): Youhave 8+ skill ranks, so you have enough ranks to invest in Knowledge skillsif you feel the need.
• Mathematical Prodigy (Magic): You have 8+skill ranks, so you have enough ranks to invest in Knowledge skills if youfeel the need.
• Life of Toil (Social): Bonus to one ofyour bad saves.
• Savage (Social): You have 8+ skill ranks,so you have enough ranks to invest in Knowledge skills if you feel theneed.
• Worldly (Social): You have a lot ofskills, and this makes you a bit more reliable with them.
• Warrior of Old (Elf Racial): Initiativebonuses are fantastic for getting early sneak attacks while your enemies arestill flat-footed.
• Elven Reflexes (Half-Elf Racial):Initiative bonuses are fantastic for getting early sneak attacks while yourenemies are still flat-footed.
• Scholar of Ruins (Human Racial): You have8+ skill ranks, so you have enough ranks to invest in Knowledge skills ifyou feel the need.

Skills

• Acrobatics (Dex): Essential for movingthrough combat without drawing attacks of opportunity. You can stopinvesting once your skill bonus reaches +14.
• Appraise (Int): Awful.
• Bluff (Cha): Essential if you are theparty’s Face, and you can use it to Bluff.
• Climb (Str): Very situational.
• Diplomacy (Cha): Essential if you are theparty’s Face.
• Disable Device (Dex): Great for locks,but don’t forget that you don’t get Trapfinding.
• Disguise (Cha): Very situational.
• Escape Artist (Dex): Situational, butnice for escaping grapples.
• Intimidate (Cha): Essential if you are theparty’s Face.
• Knowledge (local) (Int): Good foridentifying humanoids.
• Knowledge (nobility) (Int): One of theleast useful Knowledge skills. Only useful if your campaign specificallycalls for it.
• Linguistics (Int): Situational. You maywant to learn additional languages if you are the party’s Face.
• Perception (Wis): The most rolled skill inthe game.
• Perform (Cha): You’re not a Bard.
• Sense Motive (Wis): Helpful if you arethe party’s Face.
• Sleight of Hand (Dex): Situational.
• Stealth (Dex): You’re a Ninja.
• Swim (Str): Very situational.
• Use Magic Device (Cha):

Feats

• Close-Quarters Thrower (Combat): Theprerequisites are annoying, but this allows you to focus entirely onShurikens without needing to invest in wakizashis.
• Deadly Aim: You will already havetrouble hitting, and your damage is primarily from Sneak Attack
• Distance Thrower: Helpful with shurikens,and combines well with Long Shot.
• Dodge: +1 to AC helps with the Ninja’slow AC, and Dodge is a prerequisite for a surprising number of otherfeats.
• Extra Ki: Ki pool is one of the onlylimitations on the Ninja’s daily abilities, so more Ki means you don’t needto be quite so careful with managing your resources.
• Extra Rogue Talent: You should be able totake additional Ninja Tricks in place of a Rogue talent.
• Great Fortitude: This will help withyour low saves, but its hard to spend a feat when you can just buy a bettercloak.
• Improved Critical: Critical hits are notfor you.
• Improved Initiative: Going first is greaton almost any character, and it’s especially important for characters whodepend on Sneak Attack.
• Improved Unarmed Strike: Helpful for somebuilds, but only if you really plan to invest in fighting unarmed. Ofcourse, if you plan to fight unarmed you should just take a level of Monk toget all of the feats you need.
  • Combat Style Master: It’s hard to findenough Monk styles to justify this feat. If you really want to use stylefeats, dip a level of Master of Many Styles Monk.
  • Stunning Fist: Stunning an enemy is agreat way to make them vulnerable to Sneak Attack, but your DC won’t bevery good.
• Iron Will: This will help with your lowsaves, but its hard to spend a feat when you can just buy a bettercloak.
• Master Alchemist: Essential if you planto make use of poisons.
• Point-Blank Shot: Essential if you plan toprimarily use ranged weapons.
  • Far Shot: Really helps with theShuriken’s lousy range.
  • Precise Shot: Essential if you haveallies in melee.
    • Improved Precise Shot: With somecoordination you can keep your allies from granting your enemiescover, but sometimes you don’t get that luxury. This also helpsovercome concealment, which allows you to Sneak Attack concealedenemies.
  • Rapid Shot: Works in combination withTwo-Weapon Fighting when throwing Shurikens.
    • Multishot: useless for a SneakAttack character.
• Quick Draw: Allows you to draw both ofyour Wakizashi quickly.
• Sap Adept: Sure it’s subdual, but that isa huge pile of damage.
  • Sap Master: A truly insane amount ofSneak Attack damage. It’s still subdual, but this is almost enoughdamage to not care.
• Toughness: Hopefully you will never needhelp with your hit points.
• Two-Weapon Fighting: Essential on almostevery Sneak Attack build. Note that if you multiclass into Monk this won’tstack with Flurry of Blows.
  • Improved Two-Weapon Fighting: Theextra attack may be at too much of a penalty to justify.
    • Greater Two-Weapon Fighting: Atthis point you are very unlikely to hit with an attack at -10 belowyour highest BAB.
• Weapon Finesse: Essential for meleebuilds.
• Weapon Focus: Helpful if you’re devotedto one weapon, but not essential.

Weapons

• crossbow, light: Good for archer ninjas(which are a weird build) with strength penalties.
• dagger: Carry a few for utility purposes.Slightly more damage than a Shuriken, but you can draw a shuriken as a freeaction without Quick Draw.
• kama: Only good for combat maneuvers,and Ninjas don’t do combat maneuvers.
• katana: If you don’t plan to use WeaponFinesse for some reason, this is your best weapon.
• kusarigama: Good for a Monk, but you can’tuse it with Weapon Finesse, and if you have enough Dexterity for two-weaponfighting you need Weapon Finesse.
• nunchaku: Only good for combatmaneuvers, and Ninjas don’t do combat maneuvers.
• sai: Only good for combat maneuvers, and Ninjas don’tdo combat maneuvers.
• shortbow: Good for archer ninjas (whichare a weird build), and good for long-range shots.
• short sword: Wakizashi is strictlybetter.
• shuriken: Essential for ranged sneakattacks.
• siangham: Awful.
• wakizashi: The best choice for two-weaponfighting.

Armor

• Studded Leather: Your starting point.This should last through early levels. Don’t bother enhancing because you’regoing to get a Mithral Shirt pretty quickly.
• Masterwork Buckler: Unless you’re usingTwo-Weapon fighting, the masterwork buckler is a cheap and easy ACboost.
• Mithral Shirt: Mithral Shirt will be yourbest bet for AC until your Dexterity bonus hits +10, which will be extremelyhigh level.
• Haramaki: Strictly better than paddedarmor. With no maximum dexterity bonus, you can afford to make yourDexterity absurdly high without restriction, and can still keep enhancingyour armor.

Magic Items

Armor/Shields

• Celestial Armor (22,400 gp): Unless youhave heavy armor proficiency and a Dexterity modifier of at most+5, Celestial Armor is the best armor in the game if all you need from yourarmor is AC. For more, check out myPractical Guide to Celestial Armor.

Multiclassing and Prestige Classes

• Monk: If you want to fight unarmed, thiscan save you a feat, and it gets you a bonus feat and +2 to all of yoursaves. Second level gets you Evasion, another bonus feat and Evasion. If yougo for 4 levels you can use Wisdom for your Ki Pool instead of Charisma.Consider the Sohei archetype if you plan to multiclass into Monk, and youcan use Flurry of Blows with a Monk weapon to Sneak Attack. You can alsotake Monk Vows for additional Ki.

Build Ideas

At some point I will write example builds based on these concepts.

• Generic TWF Ninja: Nice and simple. Get in close, flank, and full attack.
• Shuriken Master: Combine Two-Weapon Fighting, Rapid Shot, and Storm of Stars for a truly dizzying number of shuriken attacks. You may want to keep a Bard handy to compensate for the total -6 penalty to attacks.
• Striking Panther: Combine the Scout Ninja with the Master of Many Styles Monk and the Panter style for a highly mobile Ninja who sneak attacks primarily by drawing attacks of opportunity. Add Snake Style and Snake Fang for additional attacks of opportunity.