GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 12: Ninja

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by Kromm

My perspective as the line editor differs. The long and rather detailed list of ninja abilities is intended for both beginner ninja and master ninja. This supplement includes a basic template of the DF 1: Adventurers kind, lenses of the DF 3: The Next Level type, and abilities similar to those in DF 11: Power-Ups.

Yes and no. The ninja abilities are nice, and similar in depth of many delver's powers (such as the Martial Artist's Chi Mastery, or the Holy Knight's Holy Might). What it lacks is a specific power-up section, giving them access to things like Ninja Talent 6, raising their maximum DX to 25, and Extra Attack* at least. At least in my games, I follow DF3's recommendation that Power Ups are only available to those that have a full template, not just those that gain access to it's abilities via a mixing professions lens. Also, there's at least one instance of something that requires Ninja Talent 5+: the Jonin No Ninja-To doesn't get it's maximum benefits without Ninja Talent 5+. All talents are limited to 4 levels, and only some Power-Ups raise the cap to 6 levels.

* All nearly martial based templates include one extra level of Extra Attack in their powerup, that is to say: Barbarian, Holy Knight, Knight, Swashbuckler and Scout. The Martial Artist gains Altered Time Rate instead, and already gets Extra Attack 2 available via Chi Mastery. The only one that is missing the option for an extra attack is the Unholy Warrior, and now the Ninja. The only glaring omission is the Unholy Knight though. It might even be errata-worthy in fact, but it also might be intentional - though with DF3, since they get no specific Power Up, I would think that they get the Holy Warrior, but with the adjustments from p. 27, thus giving them access to it.