Ninja (Rogue/Monk) help

[HamsterKun]

I need help making a Rogue/Monk character so as to make a sort of ninja character.

[BarneyBent]

Play a Shadow Monk?

[CTurbo]

Shadow Monk at least 6 levels with some Assassin Rogue. 3 levels of Gloom Stalker Ranger wouldn't hurt either

[Foxhound438]

honestly a pure shadow monk does really well for this, but there are a ton of good ways to go. I went 19/1 when I played a monk in a game that took way too long to finish. Luckily monks don't have too many hard decisions, you're spending most of your ASI's on stats and there aren't too many feats to consider- mobile can do no wrong, observant is good, rit caster can be fun.

[Jcp1195]

You could also do something along the lines of Kensai Monk + Trickery Cleric. Go human for Prodigy (Stealth) at level 1. Trickery Cleric would give you the ability to make sure your less Stealth-savvy party members get a leg up. You wouldn’t get a sneak attack but you’d still make for an ample stealth fighter and could help you play around with some other ways of stealthily ending a target (such as ingested poisons, sabotage, etc). Not to mention Pass Without Trace is perfect for a Ninja.

[Arkhios]

I was about to suggest Kensei as well. Pick up Scimitar as one of your Kensei Weapons. It's a slashing finesse 1d6 weapon, good enough to resemble either wakizashi or even katana (not much difference between the two except their length -- But not everything needs to be 100% accurate, now does it? :smallamused:), then take Assassin as your rogue archetype.

[Man_Over_Game]

Shadow Monk: Focus on mobility, fighting in the dark, dealing high burst damage and crippling priority targets.
Gloomstalker Ranger: Focus on stealth, utility, and fighting in the dark.
Kensei Monk: Focus on mobility and versatility. Get anywhere and do anything.
Assassin Rogue: Heavy focus on stealth and dealing insane damage before combat starts.


You can mix and match those in almost any combination, but keep in mind that the Rogue and the Monk don't usually mesh well, due to the fact that the Monk having only a few means of landing a Sneak Attack, not to mention the fact that most Sneak Attacks require the Rogue to be adjacent to an ally, and Monks are often loners (to take advantage of their mobility). For a monk/rogue combination to work, you need:


A Ranged/Finesse weapon. Kensei helps to expand the Monk's options here. AND

An ally adjacent to the enemy, OR
Advantage on your attack



Consider how you plan to make that happen. If you plan on having an ally adjacent to your target, how exactly do you expect to use the Monk's mobility? You don't want to have to choose between being a Monk OR a Rogue at different times - you want to be both at all times - so consider how you'd like to make that happen with your team.

[CheddarChampion]

I'd go with a split of shadow monk 17/assassin 3 or 14/6 for a good amount of class features.