Spitballing ideas, but when i do, i'll list them as the heading such as above for the appropriate class. With the coming class/talent overhaul, I thought some ideas about classes would come in handy.
Let's start first with the Ninja, one of my favorites.
Right now, this is what they have currently on the help file:
[i]Fighting style: dual wield, usually with a sword and a dagger
Skills: bomb, dual wield, evasion, sword and dagger style, throw
Spells:cloak of guile, deathbarbs
Special abilities:
* If also a rogue, sneaking doesn't wear off when combat is initiated
* If also an assassin, 1.5x better chance of slit throat
* If wielding a sword and dagger, 1.5x better chance of parry.
* Enhanced two-step backstab if wielding a sword and dagger.[/i]
With those and the classes changes in mind, here's where i'm going with it.
1. Sneak not dropping off, if a rogue, should be left intact.
2. Improvement to slit...the target doesn't have to be asleep, but the chance of slitting the throat of a player that is awake is lower, and should have a cooldown for the player using it (10 seconds maybe?), and should have a rather long awareness timer for *player* target that it failed to hit (10 minutes or so...you'd be pretty wary too if someone tried to slit your throat!). Cuts down on flee/sneak/slit spam.
3. Replace the sword/dagger parry increase for a general increase in parry, say an additional 10% or more base parry chance, but not something which gives excessive parry chances.
4. Leave the enhanced backstab in place for such a wielding structure, but where *both* weapons are considered to land the backstab for damage purpose. any other weapon config should land the backstab/second hit as is done now.
Also, moving forward are these ideas, in no particular order.
1.Minor class restrictions on ninja abilities, such as Paladin not being able to access their talents, etc. Common sense restrictions, as it were.
2. Ninjas could receive a 10% damage boost to using exotic weapons, since a fair number of their weapons are considered a bit more exotic than the usual fighter's fare. Consider the scythe with ball and chain among others.
3. A (small) percentage to disappear while in combat for a moment, strike, and resume. This would be something best left to an automatic skill or check, and wouldn't count against the characters max number of attacks per round. Things to enhance the percentage would be whether they're still in stealth or not, whether they initiated combat through a backstab or slit, the awareness of the target, or even some specific like if the character has available smoke bombs in their inventory or bags to facilitate the attack.
4. Through enhanced training, a ninja could do the following:
4a: avoid the need for water or food for much longer periods of time before having to eat or drink.
4b: use less stamina for movement, effect being stronger in cities or indoor areas (such as 50% chance moving from one city street to another uses no stam), and a lesser benefit for the wilds (stronger benefits being for druids, etc)
4c: martial strikes such as kick, trip, or other such attacks get a small boost to damage as well as a slightly better chance to interrupt casting and so forth.
4d: gain more defenses from armor made of cloth, leather or light materials (in the form of a set bonus of sorts, wearing 4 pieces+ would give more dodge, etc)
4e: players attempting to track a ninja would have a harder time finding them (depending on the respective skill of the tracker versus the ninja to remain hidden, etc)
4f: ninja using throwing stars or other small throwing objects can, if they have enough of them, choose to hit multiple targets in the room (such as "throw star all" to hit everything).
May have more later, would add as another entry. Figured that's a good start. :)