The Ninja!

Single Class

This is one of Vastonia's deadliest character classes and all who wish to use this class should be somewhat masters of game play long before attempting the deadly art of the Ninja. I made this class because I've studied the art of Ninjutsu for many years and frankly I'm disgusted with TSR's rendition of the Ninja class......I'm sure "true" Ninjutsu fans would much rather play a Ninja character that can mop the floor with the average AD&D character.

Ninja in Vastonia are a sub-class of the assassin, well in a way they are also a subclass of the fighter. They have the functions of the latter as well as their own. Ninja train in the art of Ninjutsu, sometimes referred to as the art of invisibility. This deadly form allows the Ninja to overcome all odds and almost any situation presented before them. The masters of this art a second to no other class in hand to hand combat, assassination tactics, sabotage, deception, disguise and intelligence gathering (spying), not to mention a host of other deceptive talents.

The Ninja need not be a member of a ninja band or organization although most of them are. A few elite exceptions becoming underlings of local Daimyo, while others journey through life as lonewolves.

General Info: Ninja use ten-sided dice (d10) for determining number of hit points (q.v.) they can sustain. Ninja can be of any alignment but tend to favor towards chaotic and evil alignments. As mentioned above Ninja have a combination of thieving and fighter capabilities, while still retaining their own ability functions. This allows them to employ almost any weapon and basically any armor (see below), they are generally considered masters of hand to hand combat.

Ninja attack on the same combat tables as fighters do, and also have the option to use back stabbing as the assassin class. However, if they surprise (q.v.) a victim, they may attack using the Assassination Table. Thus giving them a chance to instantly kill the victim; and if this fails, normal damage according to the weapons type and strength ability modifiers still apply to the victim. The Ninja may also opt to use poison forcing victims to also make a saving throw vs poison and perhaps die. Ninja are masters of deception and will most likely use an attack mode which will be the least expected.

Ninja use the same saving throw table of thieves (rogue) and the exact thief ability function table with a few personal exceptions (see below). They start with 6 weapon proficiency slots and 3 non-weapon proficiency slots, gaining 1 additional slot in each category every 3 levels.

The secondary function of a Ninja is spying. This mission can be coupled with the stealing of an item, to simply information gathering. Information gathering and performing an assassination will gain XP points for the character - awarded for both the difficulty of the mission and the level of the victim. These awards are determined by the DM (The DM can refer to the Oriental Adventure's Guide)

The headquarters of a ninja band are usually kept secret and are almost always hidden deep within forests or high within wilderness mountains. It must not be a noticeable fortress or an ostentatious place. It is typically a cavern or another natural structure, with safeguards and boobytraps, but a few large clans in Vastonia have constructed vast temples which make no attempts to conceal their hideaway.

Primary Abilities:

Speak alignment languages, hand to hand ninjutsu "including special maneuvers" and disguise (see below for alignment tongues)

Disguise can be donned in order to gain the opportunity to poison or surprise a victim- or for other reasons. The Ninja can disguise himself of herself so as to appear to be human, semi-human or humanoid creature of either sex. Disguise can lower height by 2-3 inches, or raise height by 4-5 inches. It can make the Ninja look slimmer of heavier. Disguise can make the Ninja appear virtually any class of character, a soldier, a rice patty farmer etc... There is a chance, however , that the victim, or his or her guards or henchmen, will notice the disguise. There is a base chance of 2% per day of a disguised Ninja being spotted. This chance goes up 2% if the Ninja is posing as another class, another race, and/or the opposite sex (maximum of 8% chance). Each concerned party (victim, henchmen, bodyguards) in proximity to the Ninja will be checked for, immediately upon meeting the disguised Ninja and each 24 hour period thereafter. The chance for spotting a disguised Ninja goes downward by 1% for each point below 24 of combined intelligence and wisdom of the observer concerned, the reverse is also true; increase the chance of detection by 1% per point. Note: True seeing or a wand of enemy detection will discover a a Ninja's presence. As will detect evil, or know alignment in some cases.

Class Restrictions: The principle attribute of a Ninja is dexterity. To become a Ninja a character must have a minimum of 14 dexterity and charisma, an intelligence score of 13 or more and a wisdom score of not less than 12.

The Ninja must be of the human race, but a few very, and I mean "very rare exceptions" can be made.

The Ninja is not restricted in the armor they wear, but for the most part, Ninja would never consider wearing any armor at all. The traditional Ninja garb is generally preferred over bulky armor types, with the exception of armguards, face guards and other various accessories. Note: wearing any armor of greater bulkiness than leather cancels the Ninja's special DEX bonus. Thereafter a ninja wearing any armor of greater bulk than leather should only receive normal DEX bonuses. E.g.. Natami, a Ninja of the white dove clan is going on a very difficult mission, which involves the use of chainmail armor. He has a 17 DEX which would normally give him an effective AC of 3, but since he has chosen to wear chainmail armor, his special DEX bonus has been canceled and therefore only normal DEX adjustments apply. Although this does improve Natami's AC to 2, but the bulk of the armor greatly reduces his ninja capabilities (see below).

Combat Bonuses: Ninja can use the Assassination Table. Due to the Ninja's intense physical training their starting armor class (AC) equals 9 and there after is determined much the same as the barbarian class. Meaning for every point above 14 dexterity their AC improves by 2 steps. E.g.. A Ninja with 17 Dexterity would have an effective AC of 3, a Ninja with 15 would have an AC of 7 etc.. Note: this means that some armor on certain characters would be nothing more than scratch and bruise preventive material. E.g.. a Ninja with a 17 dexterity has an effective AC of 3, so wearing chainmail armor (which gives a character an AC equal to 5) would virtually serve no purpose. Although the chainmail may be part of the Ninja's disguise.

Ninja Capabilities: The single class Ninja has the following capabilities to devote points to; disguise, pick pockets, open locks, tightrope walk, fall, escape, climb walls, find/remove traps, move silently, hide in shadows, sixth sence. Note: sixth sence is used in replacement of hear noise.

Devoting Points: The Ninja initially starts out with 180 points to devote to the above skills, with an additional 20 points being gained for every level beyond the first. Note: no more than 40 pts can be devoted to a single skill at one time.

Ability modifiers for dexterity:

DEX 16, recieves +5% to OL

DEX 17, receives +5% to PP, +10% to OL, +5% to MS and +5% to HIS

DEX 18, receives +10% to PP, +15% to OL, +5% to FRT, +10% to MS and +10% to HIS

DEX 19, receives +15% to PP, +20% to OL, +10% to FRT, +15% to MS and 15% to HIS

Common armor modifiers for abilities:

No armor, +5% to PP, +10% to MS, +5% to HIS and +10% to CW

Leather, no modifiers

Studded leather, -30% to PP, -10% to OL, -10% to FRT, -20% to MS, -20% to HIS, -10% to SS and -30% to CW

Ring/chainmail, -40% to PP, -15% to OL, -15% to FRT, -40% to MS, -30% to HIS, -20% to SS and -40% to CW

Brigandine/splint, -40% to PP, -15% to OL, -25% to FRT, -40% to MS, -30% to HIS, -25% to SS and -50% to CW

Scale/Banded, -50% to PP, -20% to OL, -20% to FRT, -60% to MS, -50% to HIS, -30% to SS and -90% to CW

Shield, -60% to PP, -20% to OL, -20% to FRT, -10% to MS, -10% to SS and -30% to CW

Other penalties can be applied accordingly

Other Ninja capabilities include:

backstab (starts at x2 modifier and increases by x1 every 4 levels)

Nightsight (starts with a 10' range and increases 10' every 3 levels. Eg a 7th level Ninja can see clearly 30' into darkness, while a 10th level Ninja could see 40' into darkness) Note: this is not the same as infravision, thus this type of vision cannot reveal heat sources and at best will only work in natural darkness, never in magical darkness.

Polevault (a Ninja can polevault a height of 6' at first level, gaining an additional 1' / addtional level. Eg. a 7th level Ninja can polevault a height of 12'.

Special Disadvantages: nil.

Experience Table

* 150,000 XP / addition level beyond 15th level

Note: no additional hitpoints are gained beyond this point, with the exception of the character's Con bonus

Ninjutsu: For the purpose of AD&D, this art has the following qualities;

Form: Hard/soft

# of Atks: +1 (unarmed combat only)

AC: -2 in normal AD&D campaigns, but in Vastonia ninjutsu practitioners vary greatly (see above)

Principle Method: Movement

Dmg Mod: 1 (total the Dmg Mod from the form and the principle method. Round this number up to the nearest die size used in the game. Thus, a total Dmg Mod of 5 equals 1d6; a total of 4 equals 1d4. This die roll constitutes the basic amount of damage done when fighting unarmed in the style.

Principle Attack: legs (most commonly used)

Specialization in Ninjutsu: Characters can specialize in the art gaining the following benefits:

+1 bonus to all attack rolls with martial arts;

+1 bonus to all damage with martial arts;

+1 chart bonus with all martial art attacks;

One additional martial arts attack per combat round. The character may not hold anything in either hand to gain this benefit. It is possible for the Ninja to improve their martial arts abilities beyond the values given previously. A character who continues to devote weapon proficiency slots to the martial art after gaining initial specialization gets the following benefits.

For each slot devoted to Ninjutsu the character gains:

+1bonus to all martial arts attack rolls;

+1 bonus to all martial arts damage;

+1 chart bonus with all martial arts attacks

Special Maneuvers: Of course Ninja's and ninjutsu practitioners can gain the benefits of special maneuvers. Each maneuver cost 1 weapon proficiency slot to learn. The following maneuvers can be learned (AD&D official rules, found in the complete Ninja handbook)

Kick 1 (circle kick), 3 (backward kick)

Lock 1 (choke hold), 3 (Incapacitator)

Movement 1 (Feint), 2 (Prone fighting), 4 (Leap)

Strike 1 (Iron fist)

Throw 1 (Fall), 2 (Instant stand)

Block 1 (basic parry), 3 (grappling block), 4 (arrow parry)

Mental 2 (all-around sight), 4 (chi attacks)

Note: Besides needing a master to teach these skills, the master himself must have learned the maneuver prior to teaching the student the maneuver. Each maneuver must be learned by difficulty but not by category. E.g. a Ninja can learn backward kick, but first he or she must have mastered the circle kick, but the Ninja may choose to learn any of the principle methods in any order. E.g.. A practitioner can learn mental maneuvers before lock maneuvers. (see the complete Ninja's handbook for further details.)