[Please Critique] Enemy Ninja Clan, Standard NPC

[iconoplast]

A PC went and took a sublot: Nemesis (Enemy Ninja Clan).  Here's what I whipped up (going from a 1st printing book, the 2nd printing is with the players).

Now, as I understand it, if I activate the sublot, I get 1 action die to activate a Surprise Combat - that gives me I tier III npc + 1d4 Tier II npcs.   Is a Tier III version of the following fair?

-----------
Enemy Ninja Clan (82 xp) (86 w/o Big Budget) (Standard NPC) (Note: No XP reward for anyone - this is a subplot)

Qualities: Minion (1d6 action die size), Horde (2 * PC squad size), Commander (1 Ninja @ TL + 2), (Removeable) Low Light Vision (Goggles)

Init VI, Atk VII, Def VIII, Res IV, DamSv V, Comp VIII, Sneak VI, Tactics VI

Superior Attribute (Dex 14)

Feats:
Combat Instincts
Steel Rain
Surge of Speed
Tactical Advantage
Containment Basics

Gear (+1 Caliber thanks to Big Budget):
W I: Throwing Knife (4)  + Wicked (upgrade – Bleed quality)
+ 4 Ammo (Total: 5 @ 4 each)

W I: Razor Sword + Wicked (as above)

G III: Invisibility Gadget, housed in
A III: Dragon Skin Vest (Partial, DR 3/6, ACP -1, DP -2)

[OverNinja]

I'll probably nick these and tweak them a bit  .

Dragon Skin Vest is Caliber IV see BFoG: This is my Gun.
Ninjas should use Ninja-to it's a ninja weapon after all. Yes it isn't as nasty as a razor sword.
A silenced SMG would also be nice (light SMG with TBR and suppressor).

[iconoplast]

Quick question - Burst of Speed - usable a # of times per day = to starting action dice.  What's that mean for NPCs?

[Morgenstern]

Same as it does for players -

Threat Levels 1-5 = 3
Threat Levels 6-10 = 4
Threat Levels 11-15 = 5
Threat Levels 16-20 = 6

[mouthymerc]

Quick question - Burst of Speed - usable a # of times per day = to starting action dice.  What's that mean for NPCs?

Standard is to usually base the action dice from the threat level.  Take the threat level and look at the Level Dependant Benefits table.  Use the threat level/level to give you the action dice which will give you the number of times this ability can be used.

[iconoplast]

Sweet.

[glimmerrat]

Give them a gadget pick and add a survival kit as a miniaturized gadget to the Ninja-to. Have you seen the amount of things they can be used for?!

[iconoplast]

One of my players asked that I not use the Ninjas, as a quick glance at their stats told him that this would cause an instant TPK.  And, looking over them again, I feel I may, yes, have gotten a bit carried away.

I'm thinking about how to tone them down.

[iconoplast]

Ugh.

That went disastrously.

In combat round 2 I started fudging: I ended their invisibility early.  By round 3, I was "forgetting" second half actions, and totally disregarding their surge of speed ability.

I think to be at all fair, I'll have to yank the invisibility gadgets & tactical advantage / containment basics feats if I want to use these guys again.

That said, steel rain + ambush + horde = Ugh.  60 knives thrown in the first round alone.

[gaghiel42]

Now that the party knows what to expect, you just gotta make some weakness for the invisibility gadgets ala Predator.  Like setting off sprinklers or using smoke/flashbang grenades to short their invis fields or whatever.

If you want to make it a bit more fair, just make the ninja have a limited number of thrown weapons, and then ninja vanish when they start losing badly.  Hit and run are what ninja excel at.

Since its an ongoing sideplot, they shouldn't get murdered down to the last man unless they have nowhere else to go.