[PF] ?up close and personal? NEENJYA (ninja) race

[SaltyEmperorX]

I have to learn pathfinder by this weekend, though I am quite familiar with 3.5e. My DM is generally new to RPGs, and this will be his first time DMing. He is very lenient and open to homebrew, adjustments, etc. He is still deciding how he wants to do abilities and all that.

I have plenty of time on my hands, and I will be running through the core rules in the next few days. I have settled on ninja, and am mostly using this guide (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dEZyEP-yooZdGprglxcEorpL_EnPfUqr6M89uHmF8Bo/edit?pli=1) as my go to source. I have also perused the site for rogue/ninja guides, so I feel pretty confident in other aspects.

Now, I have a hard enough time as it is making decisions for these things, so I mostly need help choosing a race. I have "narrowed" it down to goblin, half-ork, half-elf, halfling, human, kitsune, vishkanya, catfolk, ~drow, and fethling (this one I like). I would very much prefer to keep it as simple as possible. Multiclassing is a possibility, but I would like to avoid it unless you think a certain something is super awesome with it.

I would like to focus more on up close combat and not so much ranged, but I am open to any suggestions. I really like the out of combat stuff he should being with being sneaky and all.

<3 Any and all help is greatly appreciated. <3

[Ryulin18]

Ninja's are an amazing class. All the fight of fighters, all the skills of rogues and all the jumping-crazy-ki-point-awesomeness of monks.

They're very good in most melee with a good friend to keep people occupied. I've DM'd for and played a ninja. Go as the elf, take silent hunter and dark vision. Buy a pair of smoked goggles (http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2mk0l?Overcoming-Light-Sensitivity) to counteract the light sensitivity. You are now Riddick. From here on, it's what you do with it that counts.

A guy in my old party had all the languages, a lot of skills and points in everything, good health and was practically batman. He did good damage as well. With his acidic burst katana, he dealt 1d10+6+3d6+1d6+1d10 and was critting on an 18-20.

[Deathkeeper]

My first, and so far only ninja was Tengu, but that was more for flavor than optimization.

You can't go wrong with Human, the above would also work fine. I think most of the +Dex races you listed would all work fine, although if I were you, I would go for Catfolk or Fetchling if you don't want to go Human or Half-something, because taking a hit to Constitution or Strength hurts. Of those two, I'd prefer Fetchling, perhaps just for flavor and Shadow Warrior theming. And because I don't like playing as cats.

[SaltyEmperorX]

Thanks for the input. It WOULD have been helpful if not for a discussion I had with my DM today. He will be speaking with the other players tomorrow, but it does not seem like he will be having much, if any, stealth. He also appears to be more focused on combat than out of combat stuff. I am going to have to decide on something else.

HOWEVER, if anyone knows if a DPS ninja is a viable option, that might could help.

[Deathkeeper]

Thanks for the input. It WOULD have been helpful if not for a discussion I had with my DM today. He will be speaking with the other players tomorrow, but it does not seem like he will be having much, if any, stealth. He also appears to be more focused on combat than out of combat stuff. I am going to have to decide on something else.

HOWEVER, if anyone knows if a DPS ninja is a viable option, that might could help.

Well, ninjas can turn invisible as a Ninja Trick, so they can do solo stealth alright. Although admittedly if there's not going to be any traps/stealth/locks than there's no point of a rogue-ish character.

Still, I'd say that they're viable without Out-Of-Combat stealth.

[SaltyEmperorX]

I have been looking more into wizard now and looking from the races am liking tiefling, watang, ratyfolk, elves, and sylphs in that order from a quick glance.

Now, that guide (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dEZyEP-yooZdGprglxcEorpL_EnPfUqr6M89uHmF8Bo/edit?pli=1) that I posted earlier lists hobgoblin (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-hobgoblin) as a poor choice. However, from that link there, he seems to be wrong in his guide. I do not know if it just updated and he did not get it or what. But hobgoblins seem like great ninjas/rogues with no consequences (at least none listed on that page).

[Deathkeeper]

The main consequence is that a hobgoblin will stick out in almost any group of people and most settings have them as a hated race due to their mostly Evil categorization. Plus, regular gobs get a better bonus to hit. But I would have made it green instead of yellow.

[grarrrg]

I do not know if it just updated and he did not get it or what. But hobgoblins seem like great ninjas/rogues with no consequences (at least none listed on that page).

While there are no real downsides to being a Hobgoblin Ninja/Rogue, there are no real upsides either.
Hobgoblins are a poor/average choice because there isn't much that can be done with them in the way of Rogue optimization.

[Worguron]

I've been contemplating the idea of making an Ifrit Ninja with Smoke Bombs (or an Eversmoking Bottle), the Firesight feat, and a couple Scorpion Whips. Put down some smoke, stay 10 feet from the enemy (and thus have total concealment), and let loose with your whipping sneak attacks since you can see perfectly despite the smoke.