Kitsune Ninja Help

[golentan]

So, for a game I'm about to play I'm putting the final touches on a Kitsune Ninja. Starting level is 4, and we've got plenty of raw damage dealers in the party, so I'm going for a sort of mystical scout/rogue/face. I've swapped out Poison Use for Trapfinding with GM permission, I'm considering whether to ask about the third party racial trait that lets me swap my bite attack for a free Magical Tail feat (I've already got it once, but charm person would help me face better), and my primary stats are Charisma (18) and Dex (16). The racial penalty to strength combined with some mediocre rolling means I had to sink a feat on weapon finesse. I'm not looking for raw damage output, since we've got 2.5 frontliners and 2 blasters already in a party of five, and we're not playing a high optimization game, so I'm not planning on going 2 weapon fighting or maximizing sneak attack or shuriken death storms.

Part of what I'm waffling on is the question of whether to start with forgotten trick instead of wallclimber (Which I like for the movement versatility). On the one hand I've got a lot of ki from my charisma, and it would give me a tonne of versatility (it's my first pick for 6th level), but it's still a ki-hungry monster unless I can pick up a ring of ki mastery, which costs twice our starting gold. Speaking of, I also had a question on the ring of ki mastery: it says you can store up to 2 points of ki as a swift action, but also says that if it has at least 2 points of ki in it... Is there no cap on what it can store as long as you can keep feeding it with swift actions from your own pool, (which seems broken with as little as a week of downtime), or is it (as it looks to be intended) that you can only have it store 2 at any given time.

[Psyren]

Ring of Ki Mastery has 2 points maximum as written, similar to the Ring of Arcane Mastery's 4. The "up to two" clause would need "at a time" to work the way you describe, which unfortunately it lacks, thus it is a hard cap. Your DM may let you get away with putting more in however.

I wouldn't bother with Wall Climber - you can just use a grappling hook and rope, used next to a wall will make the DC an easy 5. That will free up your ninja trick to be anything you want. However, I wouldn't take Forgotten Trick yet either as it is far too expensive for low levels. Instead, I would take Acrobatic Master, which is useful both in combat and outside of it - it helps you get around (+20 to jump, plus you treat every jump as if it is a running start as long as you have ki remaining) and it also gives you +20 to tumble around enemies, which will be auto-success at your level.

Also, see if your DM will let you apply the Kitsune Rogue Favored Class Bonus to Ninja. (i.e. 1/6 of a ninja trick.)

[golentan]

Ring of Ki Mastery has 2 points maximum as written, similar to the Ring of Arcane Mastery's 4. The "up to two" clause would need "at a time" to work the way you describe, which unfortunately it lacks, thus it is a hard cap. Your DM may let you get away with putting more in however.

I wouldn't bother with Wall Climber - you can just use a grappling hook and rope, used next to a wall will make the DC an easy 5. That will free up your ninja trick to be anything you want. However, I wouldn't take Forgotten Trick yet either as it is far too expensive for low levels. Instead, I would take Acrobatic Master, which is useful both in combat and outside of it - it helps you get around (+20 to jump, plus you treat every jump as if it is a running start as long as you have ki remaining) and it also gives you +20 to tumble around enemies, which will be auto-success at your level.

Also, see if your DM will let you apply the Kitsune Rogue Favored Class Bonus to Ninja. (i.e. 1/6 of a ninja trick.)

I need the extra skill points for the favored class bonus (again, I didn't roll that well for most of my stats, so my int is fairly low), and the benefits of a climb speed aren't limited to straight up and down (I've made used of it to come at enemies from unexpected angles, and it is usable in places where you can't get a grappling hook in: in dungeons, to crawl alongside cliff faces, bypass pressure plates).

I do like Acrobatic Master and it's on my wishlist, but I'm not expecting to tumble much when I could go invisible and bypass most melee opponents entirely instead, and a ki point for a single round of enhanced movement seems pretty expensive.

[Psyren]

You have trapfinding, why are you bypassing pressure plates (especially without the rest of the party?) Shouldn't you be disarming it instead?

I still don't think a climb speed is worth a talent - winged boots are around the corner after all - but you can always retrain it once you get that capability. (Though you can use a grappling hook or pitons in dungeons and cliff faces just fine.) But if it fits your concept, go for it.

Vanishing Trick is indeed another good choice, though it doesn't supplant AM completely.