Making an ninja type character

[Spacehamster]

Hey playground.

So for making a rooftop climbing, ledge balancing ninja I thought
going 6 battlemaster for extra attack, combat style and superiority die for controlling
your enemies, 12 levels assassin for sneak attack, 4 expertise(stealth, atlethics, acrobatics and deception)
and all the other assassin and rogue goodies.

This leaves two levels and Im debating what to put them in
monk would fit the theme as would warlock for devils sight. Also would you say devils sight make the
skulker feat not needed since you see even complete darkness as bright light?

[Rowan Wolf]

Would the way of shadow monk help with the concept you are going for?

[calebrus]

Way of the Shadow Monk = Ninja
If you want some rogue stuff on there as well, then feel free to multi those two together. The arguably optimal split in this case would be 13 rogue / 6 monk / 1 whatever. Another rogue or a single level of fighter (for style, seems the best bet for a single level if you don't want to finish on rogue 14).
But 12 rogue / 6 fighter / 2 whatever.... for a ninja? I don't see it. It works, but monk works so much better.

And all of that is if you don't just want to play a monk, because a Shadow Monk is literally the Ninja for 5e. That's exactly what the subclass was designed for. It's a ninja. That's why short swords are now Ki weapons.... because ninja-to.

[Spacehamster]

Way of the Shadow Monk = Ninja
If you want some rogue stuff on there as well, then feel free to multi those two together. The arguably optimal split in this case would be 13 rogue / 6 monk / 1 whatever. Another rogue or a single level of fighter (for style, seems the best bet for a single level if you don't want to finish on rogue 14).
But 12 rogue / 6 fighter / 2 whatever.... for a ninja? I don't see it. It works, but monk works so much better.

And all of that is if you don't just want to play a monk, because a Shadow Monk is literally the Ninja for 5e. That's exactly what the subclass was designed for. It's a ninja. That's why short swords are no Ki weapons.... because ninja-to.

Well want the char to be good at climbing, balancing, stealth and so on, not really interested in teleporting so 6 monk would not give as much as 6 fighter and 2 monk(10 ft speed, unarmored ac is pretty much what I want from monk).

[calebrus]

Well want the char to be good at climbing, balancing, stealth and so on, not really interested in teleporting so 6 monk would not give as much as 6 fighter and 2 monk(10 ft speed, unarmored ac is pretty much what I want from monk).

You'll be good at those things because of the rogue expertise.
I'm actually going to play an Arcane Trickster 13 / Shadow Monk 6 / Wizard 1 next, as a Shinobi Illusionist type ninja (which was one of my favorite kits from 2e).

[Chronos]

I'm actually going to play an Arcane Trickster 13 / Shadow Monk 6 / Wizard 1 next
Do note that that one wizard level won't actually gain you any spell slots, since an AT 13/wiz 1 has the same slots as an AT 13, due to rounding effects in the multiclass rules.

[Easy_Lee]

I think you have the right idea with fighter / rogue. Shadow monk is an option, but if it's not exactly what you're looking for then a fighter / rogue multiclass will get you there.

Taking six levels of fighter and an eventual fourteen of rogue will get you one more feat than the typical character. Better yet, your feats will be front-loaded if you take the fighter levels all at once. You should be able to easily afford the athlete and mobile feats, leading to even faster climbing, better jumping, and more ass-kicking.

Dual wield and TWF will be the style of choice. You want to make sure you get your sneak attacks in, and having three attacks virtually guarantees that. BM manuevers like precision strike are just icing on the cake, and having additional manuevers like riposte can help you get SA outside of your own turn.

I recommend investing a bit in strength. If you can start with 16 strength and dexterity, then just pump your dexterity to maximum, your character can take expertise in athletics. That will give you excellent grapple and shove checks, in addition to all of the many benefits of having a first-class athletic skill. I noticed you put athletics in the OP and totally agree with that, though I'm not sure that you would need acrobatics in addition.

I also recommend taking 2-4 levels of rogue first, and taking the thief archetype. Thief is all about using bonus actions to do absolutely anything you want to, and has the same bonus to climbing as athlete. For that reason, I wouldn't recommend taking the athlete feat if you go thief, but mobile is still fantastic.

[calebrus]

Do note that that one wizard level won't actually gain you any spell slots, since an AT 13/wiz 1 has the same slots as an AT 13, due to rounding effects in the multiclass rules.

No more slots, no, so it becomes a choice between:
Blindsense and one 3rd level spell known, which I get at 20th level
or:
1st level Rituals, approximately 4 more prepared spells (for versatility), and Arcane Recovery (for one more 1st level slot), which I can get as early as 2nd or 3rd level if I want.
I'll take the latter.

[Spacehamster]

Would this work mechanically for the build 6fig(dual wield style), 3paladin(vengence, duelist), 11 rogue and start combat with both weapons drawn, make offhand attack with bonus action, use free action to put away offhand, make two main hand attacks with the +2dmg from duelist style? Bit silly but could roleplay it like him putting away the weapon so quickly and gracefully that it confuses the opponent. :)

[Giant2005]

Do note that that one wizard level won't actually gain you any spell slots, since an AT 13/wiz 1 has the same slots as an AT 13, due to rounding effects in the multiclass rules.

What are you trying to say? The only way I can make sense of it is if you made some kind of math error when making that statement. What you said would be true if one more level of AT (Instead of the Wiz level) would make it divisable by 3 but that isn't the case with 13 levels of Arcane Trickster.
13 levels of AT gives 4 levels of spellcasting slots for multicalssing (A 14th level still only gives 4 levels of spellcasting), +1 for the Wizard level for a total of 5 levels.
The difference between a level 4 and 5 spellcaster is one 3rd level slot, which he would miss out on without that Wizard level.

[Strill]

What are you trying to say? The only way I can make sense of it is if you made some kind of math error when making that statement. What you said would be true if one more level of AT (Instead of the Wiz level) would make it divisable by 3 but that isn't the case with 13 levels of Arcane Trickster.
13 levels of AT gives 4 levels of spellcasting slots for multicalssing (A 14th level still only gives 4 levels of spellcasting), +1 for the Wizard level for a total of 5 levels.
The difference between a level 4 and 5 spellcaster is one 3rd level slot, which he would miss out on without that Wizard level.

A level 13 Arcane Trickster gets 4/3/2 spell slots. The multiclass table, however, rates a level 13 Arcane Trickster as a 4th-level caster, and gives them only 4/3. When you take a Wizard level, you increase to a 5th-level caster, and get 4/3/2 spell slots, so no change.

[Giant2005]

A level 13 Arcane Trickster gets 4/3/2 spell slots. The multiclass table, however, rates a level 13 Arcane Trickster as a 4th-level caster, and gives them only 4/3. When you take a Wizard level, you increase to a 5th-level caster, and get 4/3/2 spell slots, so no change.

Ooooh that makes sense! 1/3 casters get screwed.

[calebrus]

Ooooh that makes sense! 1/3 casters get screwed.

The one-third casters' fractional caster level gets rounded down for multiclass purposes, but they get rounded up for their own table if they're single classed.

[Suteinu]

It really depends on whether you have a high- or low-magic setting and what your concept of a ninja is. For a high-magic setting or a rare, mystical type of ninja, then Giant2005's Arcane Trickster is a good way to go. If you want gritty realism, then the Assassin is for you. And if you want a simple, old-fashioned "everybody knows what a ninja is" ninja, take the Way of the Shadow Monk. Flavor to taste with proficiencies and feats, and have fun pretending to be something besides a ninja (Charlatan background) because if your ninja's identity as a ninja is found out, he has to kill himself and everyone who knows (which can really put a damper on a party of PC's).

[Mandragola]

Personally I think it depends more on what your concept of a ninja actually is. There are the ninjas of myths, which are reflected by the shadow monk, and there are the guys who actually existed.

For the guys who actually existed, some kind of mixture of rogue, battlemaster and/or way of the open hand monk could be appropriate. A MC guy actually seems most appropriate, since ninjas were kind of multidisciplinary. But at the same time you could make a lot of classes fit the bill as single classes too. A single-class assassin would be entirely ok, for example.

Ultimately you should make a decision based on what will be fun for you as a player and how that fits with how you imagine a ninja.