Ninja (Dungeons & Dragons)

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The ninja is a playable character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

A character class is a fundamental part of the identity and nature of characters in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. A character's capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses are largely defined by its class; choosing a class is one of the first steps a player takes to create a Dungeons & Dragons player character. A character's class affects a character's available skills and abilities. A well-rounded party of characters requires a variety of abilities offered by the classes found within the game.

<i>Dungeons & Dragons</i> Fantasy role-playing game

Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. It was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR). The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997. It was derived from miniature wargames, with a variation of the 1971 game Chainmail serving as the initial rule system. D&D's publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry.

Fantasy Genre of literature, film, television and other artforms

Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction set in a fictional universe, often inspired by real world myth and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became literature and drama. From the twentieth century it has expanded further into various media, including film, television, graphic novels and video games.

Contents

Publication history

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977-1988)

The ninja class appeared in the original 1st edition Oriental Adventures book. [1] In a review of the book, reviewer Ashley Shepherd commented: "The ninja is a class that everybody has had a go at designing. The 'official' version is the most satisfactory yet. It is not a whole character class, but a split class available only with one of the other new classes, and weaker than you might suppose, with fewer hit points, skill restrictions, and the possibility that the whole ninja clan might hunt you down if you fail in your appointed mission." [2] Jim Bambra also commented on the ninja: "To be a ninja, a character must qualify for one of the 'normal' classes as well as that of the ninja class. In keeping with their secret nature, ninja use their normal class as a cover identity. They may adventure with other characters, but they must be careful to keep their ninja identities secret, as loss of honor (and sudden death) may occur if the PC is unmasked." [3]

<i>Oriental Adventures</i> book by Gary Gygax

Oriental Adventures is the title shared by two hardback rulebooks published for different versions of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy roleplaying game. Each version of Oriental Adventures provides rules for adapting its respective version of D&D for use in campaign settings based on the Far East, rather than the medieval Europe-setting assumed by most D&D books. Both versions of Oriental Adventures include example campaign settings.

Jim Bambra is a British designer and reviewer of fantasy roleplaying games (RPG), and a former company director. He is particularly known for his contributions to Dungeons and Dragons, Fighting Fantasy, Warhammer, and Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game which was based on the Star Wars films. Later he became head of design at MicroProse, then managing director of Pivotal Games, a publisher of video games including Conflict: Desert Storm.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)

The Complete Ninja's Handbook, a sourcebook by Aaron Allston dedicated to the ninja class, was released in 1995. [4]

Aaron Allston American writer

Aaron Dale Allston was an American game designer and author of many science fiction books, notably Star Wars novels. His works as a game designer include game supplements for role-playing games, several of which served to establish the basis for products and subsequent development of TSR's Dungeons & Dragons game setting Mystara. His later works as a novelist include those of the X-Wing series: Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, Starfighters of Adumar, and Mercy Kill. He wrote two entries in the New Jedi Order series: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream and Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand. Allston wrote three of the nine Legacy of the Force novels: Betrayal, Exile, and Fury, and three of the nine Fate of the Jedi novels: Outcast, Backlash, and Conviction.

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition (2000-2007)

The concept of a ninja was presented in 3rd edition as a prestige class titled the Master Ninja and went on as further prestige classes like the Ninja Spy from the 3rd edition Oriental Adventures. The first ninja base class produced by Wizards of the Coast made its debut in the Complete Adventurer supplemental book.

Wizards of the Coast American publisher of games

Wizards of the Coast LLC is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. Originally a basement-run role-playing game publisher, the company popularized the collectible card game genre with Magic: The Gathering in the mid-1990s, acquired the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by purchasing the failing company TSR, and experienced tremendous success by publishing the licensed Pokémon Trading Card Game. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Renton, Washington in the United States.

<i>Complete Adventurer</i> book by Jesse Decker

Complete Adventurer is a supplemental hard-cover rulebook for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game system published by Wizards of the Coast.

The ninja class is a class that favors stealth over sheer combat prowess. It is intended to come into the fray unseen, attack furiously and then depart without a trace. Relatively weak in a straight up confrontation, the ninja excels when it takes its foes by surprise. In this way it shares a large similarity with the Rogue.

The rogue or thief is one of the standard playable character classes in most editions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. A rogue is a versatile character, capable of sneaky combat and nimble tricks. The rogue is stealthy and dexterous, and in early editions was the only official base class from the Player's Handbook capable of finding and disarming traps and picking locks. The rogue also has the ability to "sneak attack" enemies who are caught off-guard or taken by surprise, inflicting extra damage.

The most prominent ability scores are:

No published race currently uses the ninja as a favored class.

Class mechanics

As previously mentioned, the class is mechanically similar to both the rogue and the monk from the core classes. The ninja gets 6 + INT skill points per level, which is almost as many the rogue gets, and the ninja's sudden strike ability is comparable to the rogue's sneak attack. The sudden strike may seem weaker since flanking an opponent is not sufficient, but the ninja can become invisible and use sudden strike from a distance, which the rogue usually cannot do, making the ninja focus more on ranged combat than close combat.

The monk is a playable character class in most editions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. A D&D monk is a fantasy martial artist, specializing in unarmed combat.

The ninja class focuses on stealth and mobility. At higher levels, the ninja becomes extremely adept at climbing, jumping and tumbling, and is proficient with poison use. Unlike the rogue, most of the ninja's abilities cannot function while encumbered or wearing any type of armour; instead, the ninja relies on wisdom and insight to pre-emptively dodge any oncoming attacks, a feature shared with the monk.

The ninja class has kept with some common stereotypes of the ninja, most of which are reliant on the supernatural powers provided by the class to attain. For instance, ninja are adept at using an obscure energy known as ki to manifest special powers of stealth and movement. As ninja gain experience in the class, the power of ki is used to fuel abilities that allow them to turn invisible or even jaunt into the Ethereal Plane.

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition (2008-2014)

In Dragon #404 (October 2011), the ninja appears as a build for the assassin class. [5]

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References

  1. ↑ Gygax, Gary, with David Cook, and François Marcela-Froideval. Oriental Adventures (TSR, 1985)
  2. ↑ Shepherd, Ashley (February 1986). "Open Box: Dungeon Modules". White Dwarf . Games Workshop (74): 9–10. ISSN   0265-8712.
  3. ↑ Bambra, Jim (June 1988). "Role-playing Reviews". Dragon . Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR (#134): 76–77.
  4. ↑ Allston, Aaron. The Complete Ninja's Handbook (TSR, 1995)
  5. ↑ "Class Acts: The Assassin - Secrets of the Ninja", Dragon #404
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