3.5 Ninja Build

[Chester]

Hey!

Looking into a Ninja (Complete Adventurer) build. Anyone ever play a Ninja? What works best as far as dips, prestige, etc?

[Dusk Eclipse]

Ninja is generally considered as a really weak class, rogues do a far better work than them (broader skill list, Sneak attack is much more reliable than Sudden Strike and being a core class they have a lot of class support in feats, ACF, magic items etc).

However if you have access to Tome of Battle, swordsages can make really effective ninjas with the proper maneuver selection (mainly Shadow Hand and Diamond Mind), though you will likely want to dip rogue fro the skill point and class skills boost (UMD is perfect for ninjas, who are generally considered to be really crafty using unorthodox tools to get the job done).

[DeltaEmil]

Here is the link to a 3.5 Ninja handbook (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=2823.0).

[pilvento]

You can go ninja 5 and then go for Ghost Faced Killer from Complete Adventurer.

You can go ninja 5 and Shadowblade from Tome of Magic.

You can go ninja 5 and master thrower from Complete Warrior.

Tell us what do you want to do with your ninja. And the best way to make a ninja is to avoid the ninja class.

[Story]

Someone in my current group is playing a Ninja 2/Rogue 2/Fighter 1 and they seem to know what they're doing optimization wise, so it's probably not too bad.

Though obviously Swordsages can do it better if ToB is allowed.

[Deca4531]

I love playing ninja, being able to go invisible and phase out of grapples is awesome. my favorite move was to flying tackle someone and push them into the ethereal plane and leave them there.

[Fouredged Sword]

I could see a lot of fun to be had with a ninja 5 / chameleon 10 build. You get the ninja sneakiness and stealth paired with the chameleon ability to do anything. Wis to AC complements the chameleon arcane focus ASF problems, and the stealth and martial focus can help with sneaking and damage.

Be a changling, and you can swift action to become invisible, alter your appearance, re-glamour your outfit, and reappear as a different person.

[Fax Celestis]

My recommendation for people who want to ninja is not, surprisingly, "play a swordsage".

It is, instead, "play a psychic rogue (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723b)".