Ninja

Table

Ninja are the some of the most mysterious rogues to wander the world. Unlike their western brethren, most ninja do not engage in petty theft or even grand larceny. Rather, they operate under the order of a family elder (who in turn may be allied with a samurai house or temple), acting as spies, assassinating opponents, and the like.

Adventures: Ninja most often engage on adventures under the auspices of their clan elder. Otherwise, many ninja also adventure to learn new skills and gain new companions and contacts that may be useful later on.

Characteristics: Ninja are secretive. Indeed, the companions of a ninja may never know she is of that class, instead mistaking her for any one of another classes in which she has demonstrated skills. Aside from this, they are extremely loyal to their clan elders, often killing themselves rather than risking capture.

Alignment: Ninja may be of any alignment. The politics of the world almost demand as many "good" spies as there are "bad" ones.

Background: Ninja can come from any background, but upon joining the class, forsake their birth family and join a ninja clan, which thereafter is treated as the character's "birth" family. Other than that, ninja often have another class which has social expectations. Sohei-ninja are expected to guard their temples, samurai-ninja are expected to serve their daimyo, and so on.

Races: Ninja can be of any race, though they are usually human.

Other classes: A ninja gets along well with other classes if simply because others never suspect her of being a ninja. When found out, she often faces confrontation, ostracism, and even aggression from others. Thus, the path of a ninja is a secretive one. The one exception to this is if a ninja and another person have the same leader. For example, a sohei-ninja and a monk training at the same temple won't find much to disagree about, and a samurai-ninja and a samurai belonging to the same house won't be upset.

Additionally, the head of a ninja clan may order a character to accompany a member of another class of an allied samurai house or temple (typically samurai, sohei, or monks, and bushi or kensai serving a major lord). In the latter case, a ninja is often free to operate as a "ninja" without fear or reprisals, though non-allied PCs and NPCs will certainly take a negative view.

Game rule information

Abilities: Ninja must use their wits to survive, often avoiding and sneaking where others would brazenly attack. Thus, Intelligence is an important attribute for a ninja character. Ninja also operate only lightly armored if at all, and so Dexterity helps them avoid blows. Finally, a ninja's position is often at risk if she is recognized or revealed; thus, Charisma is a very important attribute for the successful ninja.

Alignment: Any

Hit die: d6

Class skills: Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Hide (Dex), Innuendo (Wis), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Profession (Wis), Read Lips (Int), Search (Int), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Rope (Dex), and Wilderness Lore (Wis).
        Skill points: (8 + Int modifier) x 4 at 1st, 8 + Int modifier per level

Class features

Weapon and armor proficiency: Ninja obtain proficiency with all light armors but not shields. They can also use all simple weapons and the following "ninja" weapons: ninja-to, fukimi-bari, hand crossbow, nekode, kawanaga, kusari-gama, and the kyoketsu-shogi. For any character to be recognized and seen merely possessing one of these weapons usually brings them under suspicion of being a ninja. Thus, their use is usually confined to missions specifically calling for a ninja's stealth.

The statistics for all weapons and armor in the 3e PHB, S&F, and 1e Oriental Adventures is available as an Excel spreadsheet here.

Multiclassing restriction: Ninja must often pose as something they are not. To aid this ruse, they must possess at least one level of another class for every four ninja levels. Thus, at the fourth level of ninja, the character must have at least one level of any other class (making her at least a fifth-level character overall). Failure to do so risks exposing her exposure as a ninja and prevents her from advancing in the class until she gains multiclasses into another class. For example, a sohei-ninja character who desired to concentrate on her ninja career would thus follow an advancement class like this, although she could take earn more sohei class levels than those listed here (and thus fewer ninja levels): overall fourth level (ninja 4, sohei 1), overall tenth level (ninja 8, sohei 2), overall fifteenth level (ninja 12, sohei 3), twentieth level (ninja 16, sohei 4). A character can mix several non-ninja classes to obtain the required number of levels (e.g., two levels of wu jen and one of samurai).

Obviously, it is impossible for a character to obtain twentieth level as a ninja. Some ninja clans however possess members devoted only to the class of ninja - they never venture outside the training compound unless it is on a covert mission. These characters need not meet the multiclassing requirements. Such a life is probably not amenable to many PCs, but NPCs can certainly be such characters.

Endurance: At first level the ninja has undergone a strict training regime that protects her against fatigue. All ninjas begin first level with the Endurance feat for free.

Sneak attack: When attacking a foe that is helpless, immobilized, or denied its Dexterity modifier bonus to AC (if any), the ninja can strike for extra damage. At first level she inflicts 1d6 more damage with a successful strike. This damage increases by one more d6 every two levels thereafter. Sneak attack damage is not doubled when a critical hit is scored; it is simply added to the final result. Additionally, sneak attacks must be made with melee weapons missile weapons when the target is within 30'.

Martial art: Since a ninja must often operate in disguise, the weapons she can carry and not arouse suspicion are limited. Thus at second level she gains the Martial Art feat for an unarmed fighting style. She thus also gains the Improved Unarmed Strike feat in order to learn the art. She can thereafter devote any feats she normally earns to any martial art feat (including those that have Improved Unarmed Strike as a prerequisite).

Bonus feats: At fourth level and every three levels thereafter, the ninja gains access to a bonus feat. This feat can be any martial art feat (or those requiring a certain rank or monk level in a martial art or those having Improved Unarmed Strike as a prerequisite) or any metamagic feat. She can also take the Weapon Focus, Weapon Finesse, or Weapon Expertise feat for any ninja weapon she chooses, or Skill Focus for any class skill.

Spells: As the ninja increases in level, she can draw upon the mystic teachings of her masters and cast arcane spells to aid her in accomplishing missions. To cast a specific spell, she must have an Intelligence equal to 10 plus the spell's level. Ninja also obtain bonus spells if they have a high Intelligence. At fourth level, the ninja can cast spells if she has an Intelligence high enough to grant her a bonus spell of first level (the "0" in the table). Arcane spells suffer a chance of failure if cast while the character is in armor. Their spell list is as follows:

Level I: Change self, daze, delay poison, detect secret doors, expeditious retreat, feather fall, jump, mage hand, obscuring mist, prestidigitation, spider climb, ventriloquism.
Level II: Alter self, blur, cure light wounds, darkness, darkvision, detect thoughts, face*, fog cloud, misdirection, invisibility, knock, levitate, neutralize poison, sleep, whispering wind.
Level III: Clairaudience/clairvoyance, displacement, feign death, gaseous form, hypnotic pattern, nondetection, phantom steed, pyrotechnics, sustain*, tongues, water breathing, water walk.
Level IV: Dimension door, false vision, illusionary wall, improved invisibility, keen edge, locate creature, passwall, scrying, solid fog, stinking cloud, suggestion.
* These are spells converted from Oriental Adventures and are available here.

Ninja cast these spells as would a sorcerer, except that her effective casting level is half her ninja level, and the saving throw associated with a spell is equal to 10 + the ninja's Intelligence modifier + the spell's level.

The Ninja

* These spells can be known only if the ninja has a high enough Intelligence to cast a bonus spell of that level.

The Wu Jen