I define the core of a true ninja templates as follows:
120 weapon skill
120 ninjitsu
100 hiding
100 stealth
That's 440 points. If you like, you can tweak this by up to 40 points if you just want 80 stealth and/or 100 weapon skill. (I got revealed by monsters A LOT more at 80 stealth than I do at 100. I think 120 weapon skill is a must for a warrior char.)
This base "core" skill set has 2 main problems
1.) It has no healing
2.) It has no mana/stamina regen
I think true ninja templates are defined by how they attempt to address these two problems with the remaining 280 skill points. (Assuming vet account with 720 skill point cap) In addition, many Ninjas would also like to fit in poisoning, resist, tracking, tactics, etc with these 280 points. You can omit mana/stamina regen to fit these in, but there is no getting around the need for healing. So... lets look at the 5 skills that can give you healing.
I. HEALING (Can heal, cure, res, and get 40% melee damage bonus)
100 healing
80 anatomy
60 med/focus*
40 open*
* Sub in poisoning, resist, tracking, tactics, etc
II. MAGERY** (Can heal, cure, res, mind blast, 8th lvl summons, etc)
100 magery
100 eval Int*
80 med/focus*
* If you are willing to give up damage from mage spells you can sub in poisoning, resist, tracking, tactics, etc
** You will want spell channel weapons
** You can gain 100 points by dropping your weapon skill from the "core" template and using a "mage weapon" with spell channel
III. Spirit Speak (Can heal thru poison; pick up necro! = many good spells plus curse weapon & vampire form also heal)
100 spirit speak
100 necro
80 focus/open***
*** Vampire form gives better mana/stam regen than 80 focus, so you can use vampire form and call these points open!!! Sub in poisoning, resist, tracking, tactics, etc
IV. Chivalry (Can heal, cure, res, get melee combat bonuses, etc)
80 chivalry
80 focus*
120 open*
* Sub in poisoning (see NOTE below), resist, tracking, tactics, etc
NOTE: I have to admit that this template gives a lot of flexablitiy, but IMO it is just WRONG to be a ninja paladin!!! /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif
NOTE: Poisoning a weapon will hurt karma and work against chiv, but you can use infectious strike with no karma loss if another char poisoned the weapon.
V Bushido? (Use confidence to gain stamina and health; throw in parry to make full use of Saurai abilites)
100 bushido
100 parry
80 focus*
* Sub in poisoning, resist, tracking, tactics, etc
Note: You will need to rely on poitions & orange petals to cure poison
Note: I havent tried it, but IF you can use confidence while stealthed this might be okay. (Mirror images combined with parry would make you very hard to hit...)
