Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Koga15 04-28-08, 03:25 PM	I'm about to start a new campaign and I have no idea what to give my ninja? I need good armor, assesories, and tools, this is my first time doing a stealth like character. My DM is absolutly no help he makes spell casters.
Mock26 04-28-08, 03:41 PM	I would suggest that you get a copy of the old second-edition Ninja's Handbook. It has a decent list of ninja type equipment. You can get an electronic copy for about $5 at www.rpgnow.com (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=16904&it=1&filters=0_0_0)
DrMorganes 04-28-08, 04:32 PM	What is your starting level? In general, you want things that boost your DEX, which will help with AC and many skills. Magic armor is always nice, as are items which increase it. Remember, too, that two +1 AC items are less expensive than a single +2 item.
Demetri_Knighthawk 04-28-08, 09:43 PM	The arms & equipment guide is about to become a good friend. there are lots of items in there to give a +1-+2 equipment bonus to most of your stealth skills, otherwise buy a masterwork thives tool set and masterwork seathy clothing.
Shadowshimmer 04-29-08, 07:25 AM	Tools for picking locks, throwing stars, Ninja outfit (Especially the mask) a good sword, bow and arrows or some type of missile attack as Ninja did not always do close quarter fighting. A good knife or shortsword, heal potions and some type of bracers, rings, gloves, etc to increase your dex to help with your AC.
narack 04-29-08, 08:15 AM	Get you main magic weapon, something like kuri would be great. and then for the rest have a nice craft and make you own masterwork shurikens/trowing dagger. Don't forget the hand crossbow.
Koga15 04-29-08, 03:29 PM	In this new campaign I'm getting a free template and I'm leaning on monster of legend. I'll have a halfling of legend and with those stat ups I'll have a Dex score of around 26. :D I'v also picked my main weapon it's a Chained Kama.
Etarnon 04-30-08, 11:30 PM	Like Mock26 Says, Ninja's Handbook for the win. Short sword Long Sword Sandals White cotton suit Black cotton suit Charcoal Grey cotton Suit Throwing Stars Caltrops Smoke Grenade Collapsible bow Blowgun Darts Poison Training since birth No armor, you can't swim in it. You don't engage in line combat. Ninja combat works like this: Roll initiative. Some other guy sees the first guy the ninja killed on the ground. He bends over, and falls. We see an arrow in his back, shot into his heart. He was dead, but just didn't know it yet. Crickets chirping in the distance. This is the sound of the Lord's throat being cut. With the dawn, the sound of flies attracted to the blood caked dirt everywhere lets others know: Do not mess with "Foot Clan."
Mock26 05-01-08, 12:47 AM	Don't forget hollow egg shells filled with pepper or other powdery substances. Also get a scabbard that is open on both ends so you can use it for a breathing tube.
Revil 05-01-08, 11:49 AM	Best equipment for a ninja: play a rogue of equivalent level instead. :P Seriously, though: I would focus on the weapon of choice (monk BAB means you won't hit as easily unless you have friends...and if you have friends, you aren't a real ninja). So, pump it up as best you can. Shurikens are good for those targets you can't quite get to (which should be no one if you're a real ninja). And, never go without the following: 50ft SILK rope (why silk? cause you're a fricken ninja!) Grappling hook (combined with your silk rope makes you uber, watch Curse of the Golden Flower for examples) 10ft Pole. Everyone needs a 10ft Pole.
Mock26 05-01-08, 02:50 PM	10ft Pole. Everyone needs a 10ft Pole. Wrong! Everyone needs an 11-foot pole. A 10-foot pole can't span a 10-foot wide pit. But, an 11-foot pole can! :D
Koga15 05-01-08, 03:29 PM	Those are all good ideas but, wouldn't carrying all that equipment be coumbersome, or give me some sort of penalty to my sneak skill. one more thing, how would I carry a 11ft pole around with me with out being noticed.
CrimsonDeath 05-01-08, 03:59 PM	You never said what level you are. You also never said what your Strength score was. Those will determine whether you have access to extradimensional containers (like a Bag of Holding) and what your encumberance is. 26 Dex means you have a +8 Dexterity modifier. There are only three types of armor that will let you use all of that-- Celestial Armor from the DMG, padded armor from the PHB, or Gnome twistcloth from Races of Stone. If you're using the Ninja from Complete Adventurer, you'd probably be better off not wearing armor so that you can add your Wisdom bonus to your AC, and get some Bracers of Armor or something similar (or, at higher levels, a Pearl of Power I to convince the party Wizard to cast Mage Armor on you). Find a way to catch your enemies flat-footed. A Blurstrike weapon may be good once you can afford it.
pigknight 05-01-08, 06:45 PM	Boots of Striding and Springing, and Boots/Cloak of Elvenkind.
aotrscommander 05-01-08, 06:51 PM	Bright orange jumpsuit and a boat-load of ramen?
Entropy_Judge 05-01-08, 08:13 PM	If you weren't so dangerous, aotrscommander, I'd be tempted to take a Mace of Disruption to you. That is an awful, hideous, completely inappropriate suggestion. Besides, wasn't he already statted out somewhere?
Revil 05-02-08, 02:31 AM	Wrong! Everyone needs an 11-foot pole. A 10-foot pole can't span a 10-foot wide pit. But, an 11-foot pole can! :D Bah, everyone knows that all DM's always make pits wider than whatever pole you carry by the following formula: P=(DE X ML)+ (TPKH+PL). P is Pit Size DE is DM Evilness ML is (normally bad) Mood Level TPKH is Total Party Kill Hope level PL = Pole Length Pit crossing is not the purpose of the 10ft pole. Instead, it is designed to act as a really obnoxious walking stick.
Mock26 05-02-08, 04:36 AM	Boots of Striding and Springing, and Boots/Cloak of Elvenkind. Actually, there's an old second edition item, slippers of something-or-the-other that allowed the wearing to walk up walls and on ceilings and it would orient their body accordingly. So, if you were walking along a wall your body would be horizontal to the ground. Also, get some immovable rods (preferrably ones that are activated with a command word and not a stupid button). Four of them can make a great movable ladder.
Kelb_Havoc 05-02-08, 04:48 AM	Definitely skip the armor and shields, your wis bonus should be able to cover a considerable portion of your ac. The traditional primary melee, and primary ranged weapons are always a good way to go. Beyond that, rope and a grappling hook are absolute must-haves, even with a ninja's speed climb. Like others have said, lock-picks and stealth boosters are always good. Disguise kits are also fun. The best ninjas don't look like ninjas at all :)
narack 05-02-08, 12:48 PM	Those are all good ideas but, wouldn't carrying all that equipment be coumbersome, or give me some sort of penalty to my sneak skill. one more thing, how would I carry a 11ft pole around with me with out being noticed. don't buy that, it's waste of money, buy a 11 foot ladder and remove both side and bang you get 2 11ft pole for half the price of 1
YamiShinobi 05-02-08, 04:38 PM	nobody is going to notice the young adolescent ninja. they'll be thinking it's a mere child. it can't kill me. i'll swing nonlethal. so an 11 year old rogue dressed in street clothes who calls herself a ninja. large T-shirt and shorts. or heck. silk pajamas. (shirt-pant set). crarry a rapier. at higher levels. give your pj's a wisdom and dextertiy enhancement for a discount (cost equals most expensive single power + cost of all cheaper powers) take weapon finesse. that's if you want to go ninja. everybody will avoid the 11 year old girl in her pajamas. buy a cold iron rapier and get it glamoured to look like plastic. throw in cat ears of charisma or a ribbon of cuteness (charisma, same slot) if anybody attacks you, they must make a will save against your cuteness. or fail to attack and end up flat footed. name her sleepy-chan.
Gentlemanic 05-02-08, 05:03 PM	Actually, there's an old second edition item, slippers of something-or-the-other that allowed the wearing to walk up walls and on ceilings and it would orient their body accordingly. So, if you were walking along a wall your body would be horizontal to the ground. Also, get some immovable rods (preferrably ones that are activated with a command word and not a stupid button). Four of them can make a great movable ladder. Slippers of spider climbing :D they are in DMG! I suggest wisdom/dex boost items and potions of mage armor.
BattlemageLv57 05-05-08, 11:28 AM	For those of you who are helping him I'm going to be the DM and everyone is going to start off at level ten hope that helps.
ashmanonar 05-05-08, 01:16 PM	Don't forget hollow egg shells filled with pepper or other powdery substances. Also get a scabbard that is open on both ends so you can use it for a breathing tube. This is a really good idea. Dual-purpose items like that are awesome for a ninja. (Or a spy, like in the Spycraft game I'm playing).
kelvinaw273 05-05-08, 01:55 PM	Those are all good ideas but, wouldn't carrying all that equipment be coumbersome, or give me some sort of penalty to my sneak skill. one more thing, how would I carry a 11ft pole around with me with out being noticed. You use equipment that doubles. For example, the shinobigatana (ninja shortsword) has a wooden scabbard open at both ends, this doubles as a breathing tube. In the end is packed some blinding powder, or it can be lined into the scabbard, on a draw you spread or blow the powder at the nearest assailant. The sword is curved, and so is the scabbard: draw the sword, rotate one-hundred-and-eighty degrees and re-insert, take hold of the cord that is attached to the scabard in your sword hand, you now have a six-foot probe to detect traps. The hilt can be broken apart to reveal two small knives, one one the sword end, the other free (handy if you get into very close quarters with a foe). That's just the sword. Clothing would be reversible, with different designs on inside and outside. If a ninja carried a pole it would be broken down into three-foot lengths or less, so it could be used as hanbo (half-staff), a bo-staff, have one length hollow as a blowpipe/breathing tube, have another one jointed and chain linked to act as nun chucks, etc. Other 'ninja' weapons were kama, sai or jitte, kusari-gama (scythe with a weaighted chain attached to trip enemies), kusari-fundo (weighted chain), shortbow (collapsible), shuriken, caltrops (both to deter pursuit) and blown eggs filled with ground spice and ash (blinding powders). Many of these would be home-made weapons, chosen for concealability. To add to this, if I was going to make a 'ninja' I would ignore the ninja class, and go 1st level rogue, then monk and at some point the Ascetic Rogue feat. If I wanted the 'mystic' ninja I would then at some point take Wild Talent (or use a psionic race) and go for either Fist of Zuoken or Zerth Cenobite. The monk/rogue combo is a better 'ninja' IMHO than the Ninja class, although you could use ninja/monk if you were really keen, but I think there is too much 'overlap' in it.
aotrscommander 05-05-08, 05:49 PM	If you weren't so dangerous, aotrscommander, I'd be tempted to take a Mace of Disruption to you. That is an awful, hideous, completely inappropriate suggestion. Why thank you! I was going for that. (And flattery gets you if not everywhere, at least somewhere!) Besides, wasn't he already statted out somewhere? Several places I'm sure... I'd totally do it! ('Course, arguably I have done it, so...)
Burning_Hammer 05-07-08, 03:07 AM	You use equipment that doubles. For example, the shinobigatana (ninja shortsword) has a wooden scabbard open at both ends, this doubles as a breathing tube. In the end is packed some blinding powder, or it can be lined into the scabbard, on a draw you spread or blow the powder at the nearest assailant. The sword is curved, and so is the scabbard: draw the sword, rotate one-hundred-and-eighty degrees and re-insert, take hold of the cord that is attached to the scabard in your sword hand, you now have a six-foot probe to detect traps. The hilt can be broken apart to reveal two small knives, one one the sword end, the other free (handy if you get into very close quarters with a foe). That's just the sword. Clothing would be reversible, with different designs on inside and outside. If a ninja carried a pole it would be broken down into three-foot lengths or less, so it could be used as hanbo (half-staff), a bo-staff, have one length hollow as a blowpipe/breathing tube, have another one jointed and chain linked to act as nun chucks, etc. Other 'ninja' weapons were kama, sai or jitte, kusari-gama (scythe with a weaighted chain attached to trip enemies), kusari-fundo (weighted chain), shortbow (collapsible), shuriken, caltrops (both to deter pursuit) and blown eggs filled with ground spice and ash (blinding powders). Many of these would be home-made weapons, chosen for concealability. To add to this, if I was going to make a 'ninja' I would ignore the ninja class, and go 1st level rogue, then monk and at some point the Ascetic Rogue feat. If I wanted the 'mystic' ninja I would then at some point take Wild Talent (or use a psionic race) and go for either Fist of Zuoken or Zerth Cenobite. The monk/rogue combo is a better 'ninja' IMHO than the Ninja class, although you could use ninja/monk if you were really keen, but I think there is too much 'overlap' in it. What book is the Shinobigtana in?
kelvinaw273 05-07-08, 04:59 AM	What book is the Shinobigtana in? Sadly it isn't. It's a real world thing; basically a slightly shorter katana without the masterwork. I would rate it as a two handed weapon (slightly smaller than the katana but used the same way) and a ninja/exotic weapon used one or two-handed, damage 1d8, crit on a 19-20. Proficiency in the shinobigatana confers proficiency in the katana, although the reverse is not true. D&D rules imply that if the game designers knew about it, they classed it as a short sword with the wakizashi (it's bigger than the wakizashi, though not as big as the katana). Edit: If you want more info on Ninjitsu, I recomend the series of books by Dr Masaaki Hatsume, 34th Grandmaster Togakure Ryu Ninjutsu.
CrimsonDeath 05-07-08, 11:56 AM	Sadly it isn't. It's a real world thing; basically a slightly shorter katana without the masterwork. I would rate it as a two handed weapon (slightly smaller than the katana but used the same way) and a ninja/exotic weapon used one or two-handed, damage 1d8, crit on a 19-20. Proficiency in the shinobigatana confers proficiency in the katana, although the reverse is not true. You pretty much just described a Longsword. It'll need more than that to justify making it Exotic.
kelvinaw273 05-07-08, 12:35 PM	You pretty much just described a Longsword. It'll need more than that to justify making it Exotic. A longsword is used very differently from a katana because the latter has one side blunt and one side sharp and is curved. A shinobigatana is used differently from both, but you can use a katana the same way as a shinobigatana; it should be exotic for reason of allowing use of katana if for no other reason.
Burning_Hammer 05-07-08, 12:54 PM	Sadly it isn't. It's a real world thing; basically a slightly shorter katana without the masterwork. I would rate it as a two handed weapon (slightly smaller than the katana but used the same way) and a ninja/exotic weapon used one or two-handed, damage 1d8, crit on a 19-20. Proficiency in the shinobigatana confers proficiency in the katana, although the reverse is not true. D&D rules imply that if the game designers knew about it, they classed it as a short sword with the wakizashi (it's bigger than the wakizashi, though not as big as the katana). Edit: If you want more info on Ninjitsu, I recomend the series of books by Dr Masaaki Hatsume, 34th Grandmaster Togakure Ryu Ninjutsu. Is that the same as the ninjato to described in the 3rd Edition book way of the ninja?
kelvinaw273 05-07-08, 01:31 PM	Is that the same as the ninjato to described in the 3rd Edition book way of the ninja? That's another name for the same weapon. Couldn't say if they represented it correctly though.
CrimsonDeath 05-07-08, 01:35 PM	A longsword is used very differently from a katana because the latter has one side blunt and one side sharp and is curved. A shinobigatana is used differently from both, but you can use a katana the same way as a shinobigatana; it should be exotic for reason of allowing use of katana if for no other reason. Let me clarify. What you described mechanically (a one-handed weapon that deals 1d8 slashing damage with a 19-20/x2 critical) is a Longsword. If the character wants proficiency with the Katana, he can spend a feat on that. I just don't understand the need for a Longsword that's normally a two-handed weapon unless you spend a feat on Exotic Weapon Proficiency to use it and the Bastard Sword one-handed.
kelvinaw273 05-08-08, 03:23 AM	Let me clarify. What you described mechanically (a one-handed weapon that deals 1d8 slashing damage with a 19-20/x2 critical) is a Longsword. If the character wants proficiency with the Katana, he can spend a feat on that. I just don't understand the need for a Longsword that's normally a two-handed weapon unless you spend a feat on Exotic Weapon Proficiency to use it and the Bastard Sword one-handed. With respect, I was describing a 'real world' weapon, not a bunch of statistics and mechanics. I agree it's mechanically not so hot, which is probably why it all got ignored by the designers.
CrimsonDeath 05-08-08, 12:04 PM	With respect, I was describing a 'real world' weapon, not a bunch of statistics and mechanics. I agree it's mechanically not so hot, which is probably why it all got ignored by the designers. Or, maybe the designers didn't bother making it a separate weapon because they already had a weapon that worked like it (or close enough). Just like the Katana and Bastard Sword use the same statistics, despite being vastly different IRL weapons.
wizarddog 05-08-08, 11:42 PM	Slippers of spider climbing :D they are in DMG! AND first introduced in the 1e S4: Hidden Caverns of Tjocanth :D I'm so old...:nonono:
wizarddog 05-08-08, 11:49 PM	But seriously-- a high Ws and Dx are your main abilities. Anything magical to boost those gets into your favor. Don't bother with armor-it just slows you down. Invest in potions of Mage armor. Kruki is a good weapon. Keep your EQ light so you can use your tumbling. Flash pellets.
AntiDjinn 05-09-08, 12:02 AM	Ninja tend to favor items with a harmless or deceptive appearance: The walking stick that becomes either a climbing pole or spear when certain concealed switches are pressed. A wooden toy that becomes a pair of nunchucks. Strips of ordinary origami paper that can be folded into wedges and used to shim a nightingale floor. There are lots of ways that items you would never be stopped for carrying on the street can conceal tools or weapons or can be put to nefarious use. They really like items that serve double duty: The sword scabbard that is also a blowgun and a breathing tube. The hair spikes that double as lockpicks and weapons. Versatile items let the character travel light, yet still be prepared for anything.
Mock26 05-09-08, 04:05 AM	Chop sticks. In a pinch a pair of chop sticks can make a nice weapon. And, for a ninja touch, have the tips be break-away tips and underneath are iron spikes to make them even more effective.
Entropy_Judge 05-10-08, 11:38 PM	Chop sticks. In a pinch a pair of chop sticks can make a nice weapon. And, for a ninja touch, have the tips be break-away tips and underneath are iron spikes to make them even more effective. Heck, just make them very sharp steel or silver chopsticks. Rather expensive, yes, but you don't have to mess around with anything if you're attacked while eating, and you will learn to be very careful while eating, which can help you if you're ever invited to a fancy dinner.
pigknight 05-11-08, 02:35 AM	MSteel chopsticks with poison inside, gives food poisoning a whole new meaning.
Mock26 05-11-08, 01:14 PM	Heck, just make them very sharp steel or silver chopsticks. Rather expensive, yes, but you don't have to mess around with anything if you're attacked while eating, and you will learn to be very careful while eating, which can help you if you're ever invited to a fancy dinner. The problem with metal chopsticks (and I own a pair) is that they just don't hold certain foods as well as wooden chopsticks. I was thinking that if they were a metal core with a wooden or lacquer sheath and a break away tip that they could be doubly useful. :D