Ninjas, monks, and samurais, oh my!

[Simkin]

A few questions.

My CURRENT party (will most likely make a new one, maybe, depending on how it goes):

Fighter
Monk
Bard
Ninja
Mage
Priest

Comments and suggestions welcome, but back to the specific questions.

Ninja: I've put my ninja back in support, maxing stealth, throwing, and criticals each level. Now, when I have darts and shurikens, the damage isn't too bad. Now, my question is, can you BUY this kind of ammo (I'm just leaving the monastery)? Because most of the time I run out very quickly, and am forced to use a sling, which is a seemingly pretty worthless way to use a ninja for most of the time. Also, what are the best stats to fill up on? When can I expect the ninja to get noticeably better? (I'm not too impressed right now).

Monk: In the frontline, next to my fighter. Damage seems rather paltry at level 5-6. Does it get better? If so, when? Will it ever outdamage/outkill the fighter?

Samurai: I don't have one in my party, but I was just curious to hear others' experience with this class, regarding damage output, etc., both in early and late game.

It's so frustrating making a party. But very fun. I just want to get one nailed down, not have to worry about it ever again, and just get into the game. I know people say "play what you like" and such things, and I do, but I just don't like playing characters who I become really disappointed with. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Any advice or responses are greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

[vesselle]

LOL. this game practically begs you to restart... it's fun and hard, and with all the choices, some of them will prolly end up being lame!

i don't have a fighter. i use a monk in place of the pure fighter class. so this is my monk story.

i have my monk in the front lines. she slowed down a bit around lvl 4 or 5 but after a couple of levels gained, she was tossing out 2 attacks: 1 for feet which allowed 2 swings each try and 1 for hands, with 1 swing. plus her crits started kicking in about then.

now she is doing 2 swings per appendage which totals 4 strikes per round. i give her shuriken for long range, and bare hands and feet and she is #2 in kills. her damage per strike averages at about 30 (makes a total of 120 dmg per round)

(small note: i think it took her awhile, because i was too afraid to trust that she could actually do damage with no weapons. i spent her first few levels trying to make her use slings with a bo, or small swords or whatever... finally i stopped thinking like a traditional fighter and let her do what she is MADE to do!)

i am SO glad i held onto her. she is utterly priceless in my group. she even insta-killed 2 super high HP baddies on her first try! one leg kick = poof!! 400 hp baddie was dust. swung around with her second kick = poof!! #2 425 hp baddie joined her dead sister!! (so far, that's my favorite fighting moments in the game!!)

it's up to you, in the end. but i have noticed with all my classes, that each has a point where they seem to stall. if you hold on for a bit and coddle them and push them, they will break thru!!

good luck!

V***V

[Seyal]

I think Samurai are a good class. I haven't tried ninja or monks
yet (class change possibilities perhaps) but Samurai are wonderful.

They get 4 attacks now and then and mine almost calls upon it when
its needed most. Seems like hard battles trigger the skill or something.

Instant kill is nice, but might not be as often as the monk (I wish
my samurai would kill 2 monsters in 2 hits like that...)

All and all I think samurai are very nice, and I haven't even started working on her magic yet.

As for shurikens and darts, I do believe you'll be able to buy some once you reach a town.

I have one of each and they all rock.
[img]graemlins/superdude.gif[/img]
My Monk's martial arts is at an awesome level (not 100 yet though) so I moved him to the side and gave my Ninja a front position to hone his skills which lagged after we stopped allowing ourselves to be surrounded.
The Monk is using a polearm so he has extended reach with it and I forget the name of it, but he does over 23-30 pts of damage regularly.
My Ninja has made Critical strikes with Shurikins LOL...I have the dude throwing like a major league pitcher.
The Samurai, weilding an enchanted Katana and an enchanted Wakizashi also does impressive damage and his lightning strikes have just started touching 6 hits per. They, with Vi in the party, can take out enemies with 200 HP's in one round, sometimes two.
I think they are at about level 17 and a half..with all the exploring I have been doing and all the encounters we have had we are into 34 days game time and are only on our way to the Sea Caves (after we explore the Mine Tunnels lol) so that I can stick to the storyline somewhat.
I also have a Lord who is getting better as we go along...I think I need to drop his shield for a while and give him back his second weapon for a while with all the encounters we are getting into here lately.
Backing them up I have a Bishop and a Mage (all human) and both are powerful in their own right but they do need work on their close range combat...I just got chicken after a few rounds early in the game with lethal enemies and stopped letting the party get surrounded...got comfortable with it and have slacked off on their combat skills...my Mage does use a Wristrocket and impaling stones and has made critical strikes himself.
(Everyone has ranged weapons, wristrockets and heavy or doubleshot crossbows and some Demon-slaying Bow I forget the name of, I got it so long ago it seems LOL)

Happy Adventuring!
I really need to go to bed LOL
[img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img]
See Ya!

[Morgalas Everhate]

This is my party

Front Line:

Fighter(Sword/Shield -- Crossbow)
Monk (Martial Arts -- Sling/Throw)
Ninja (Martial Arts -- Sling/Throw)

Center Line:

Ranger(Bow only)
Bishop(Spells -- Staff -- Sling/Throw)
Mage (Spells -- Sling/Throw)

The nice thing about my set up is all guys can do ranged attacks if need be. Second my fighter can do the Beserk thing for improved damage, Monk & Ninja usually throw darts or Faerie Dust, Sneeze Powders, Cherry Bombs and the such to soften the baddies up then explode with multiple attacks when closed with criticals!! The Ranger can shoot from any range (point blank to long)no matter where he is in party formation and gets ranged criticals too. Next comes the major spell casters Bishop and Mage to do their thing.

All and all I am quite happy with this group, 3 guys that can critical, 1 major tank, and 2 spell caster and all with ranged capabilities !!!

The RPC's just add to the fun, especially with Saxx the Bard and Vi the Valkyrie.

[img]graemlins/smilelazer.gif[/img]

[Virgil]

I played a game with a monk, ninja, and samurai. Of the three, the only one in my current party is the monk. I found the ninja and samurai did not live up to my expectations.

I gave the samurai Bloodlust, the berserking sword. She missed at least 80% of the time. She scored maybe two instant kills by level 9.

My ninja I used as a throwing ninja. Throwing ammo is hard to keep stocked up. Where stores sell 8 or so bundles of 24 arrows or stones, they sell on stack of 24 shurikens or darts, which you buy one at a time. It's easy to buy several hundred arrows, buying lots of throwing ammor is hard. I managed to pickpocket a double sling (throws twice per shot) and gave my ninja spiked stones. With that, she was doing around 10 damage per shot, four shots per round. However, I've read that ninjas don't get instant kills with slings, only thrown weapons, and I rarely saw an instant kill from the ninja.

Monks, on the other hand, are cool. They can't wear much armor, so you need to pump points into stealth. My 9th level monk was hitting four times per round, for about 10 points her hit. In my new party, my monk consistently hits for 5-6 points, twice a round, and occasionally gets hits of 10 or higher. Don't forget to pump points into strength for your monk. It's not listed as one of their primary skills when you right click, but adding points increases damage considerably.

I find the party creation part of this game to be one of the best. I've restarted four times now. Hopefully, this time I'll continue on, because I want to see more of this great game. Good luck.

[Vaylord]

I have a Felpurr ninja and she has been in the front line snce the beginning. She is awesome. She just acheved level 22 for me and is nsanely powerful. with punches she gets 2 attacks with 3 possible stikes each and the same with kicks. So she can do up to 12 attacks in a round but averages closer to 9 and against enemies who are not heavily armored her average damage is about 13 per stike, 22 if she knocks them unconcious. She also has the second highest armor class in my party with stealth, reflection, high speed, and a few magic items. She instakills regularly, sometimes multiple in a battle or round. As her alternate weapon selection I have her with the boomerang shurken (are there more than one of these?) and poison darts. The only member of my party who can regularly outdamage her is my pure fighter with the ivory blade while berserking.

[Ish]

Samurai are actually very good. my lvl 14 samurai has 360 kills atm (is lvl 14) compared to my lvl 16 fighter who has just 280 kills - I started the samurai a little way into the game after I was unsatisfied with another character, and opted not to restart.

I think you just need to build them right, points into dex,speed and strength + bloodlust makes for an awesome samurai, and close combat/critical/sword and then shield skills ofc.

[DraconisRex]

Och my boyo, so yur a wonderin' are ye?

Seriously, all three are good classes. Now into game 15... (It's one of those games I may play for 6 months and never finish due to all the different cool things you can try...)


Monks make good fighters. Don't try to "weapon" them. Let them fight in the front rank as the Cosmic Lords intended. After time, putting points into strength, speed, dexterity & senses, your monk will be incredibly tough. By putting all those points into your martial arts & fighting skills (& later psionics) you'll be dealing death with both hands and feet on a regular basis.

Samurais are incredible with dual swords and get quite a few criticals. Plus there is some good (free) armor early in the game and that really helps. Points into speed, dexterity, strength and senses and (s)he will be a cuisanart on legs. Putting points into your criticals, swords and dual weapons (& later magery) will help your samurai be incredibly effective. Nothing like a couple of critical hits to turn an overwhelming group of enemies into so many foe-shaped chunky bits.

Ninjas are also excellent front-line fighters. With them I go dual nunchakas. Also I carry shurkin (exclusively). I don't particularly use Ninja's as a rouge replacement. I like a couple of missile attacks, then using those nunchakas (15% KO) to let a different tank do the finish work as she usually goes first. Points go into speed, dexterity, senses & strength. Skills are dual weilding, stealth & spread around among other useful skills & alchemy.

[MaskedFrog]

I have a monk, samurai, and ninja in my party and I would not trade them for any other characters. The samurai and ninja take a while to come into their own but it is well worth the wait. My samurai use Fang and an Enchanted Wakizashi. With 100 strength and Speed he is my killing machine with significantly more kills than any other character in the party.

The ninja took a bit longer than the samurai to develop. She uses martial arts with throwning weapons as a backup. The critical hits are starting to roll in now.

The monk is just awesome. Great hand to hand attacks with an extended weapon as a backup. Damage output is good and the critical hits/KO are nice as well.

The party is all Level 20+. I know I made some mistakes in spending my level up points but overall I am happy with the following party.

Left Flank - Samurai
Middle - Ranger
Right Flank - Ninja, Monk
Rear - Gagdeteer, Bishop, Psionic