I've been playing this game for some time but still can't get my ninja to do critical hits and she's up to about level 8 by now. The critical hit skill has been increased with every level increase and still the character won't do critical hits either with range or close up weapons. Is there something I'm missing here?

1 what are her stats? but yes as a rule of thumb if she is gettings hits i.e, actually hitting the target with the weapon then some crits should be happening

2 is she overloaded? this tends to be the one people overlook

3 what weapons have you tried?

Another thing to consider is relative levels. For critical hits and other instant death attacks to be reliable, you need to be a higher level than the enemy. This means that you aren't likely to critical single strong enemies that are higher in level then you, and critical hits aren't useful against enemies like flies that have low HP. On the other hand, if you run into some lower level high HP enemies (yes, they exist), your critical hit skill (and other instant death attacks) will come in handy.

Also, I believe that critical hit chance from weapons stacks additively with the critical hit chance from the skill.

(One other thing: While slings are useful to get throwing practice without using valuable ammo, your Ninja's thrown critical and thrown auto-penetrate abilities don't work with them.)

I'm not sure about the stats every time she levels up I make sure the points (3) go to critical hits.

I have tried using darts and slings as throwing weapons as I read the ninja can get critical ranged hits if you have her in the back of the party, however this has not happened once ... I've also tried to use a crossbow with quivers and this also does not yield critical hits.

her inventory is totally full by th eway. Am I using the right ranged weapons to get criical hits? I've also tried using hands and feet - unarmbed combat - and she hits for very few points using these makes me wonder why I chose a ninja in the first place as she is not doing much good. Thanks! yep I've been using slings didn't think a rock could do a critical hit to be honest. she was doing the most damage with crossbows yet no critical hits with these only slgihtly higher damage points. also not sure what levels my opponents are but this being said a critical hit has not happened once in the hours I have been playing the game. I kind of regret getting a ninja now but I'm hoping for it to work out as I'm having a frustrating time trying to defeat enemies without her actually doing what she is supposed to do.

The chance to trigger a critical hit, along with chance of the target to avoid the "kill" effect,
is explained in this thread, check message from user Silicoid on 2004 Feb 06 :

https://kamrad.ru/showthread.php?s=7869686432fa6e25c7ab8d566a22bc7d&postid=969388

In short the chance to trigger a critical hit depends on Critical Strike skill,
the critical hit does not automatically kill, it only starts a complex check whether it is successful.

The overall chance to kill is calculated for each successful hit, i.e. the attackers chance to hit and number of attacks add up,
The targets lvl in relation to attackers lvl and its divine resistance affects its chance to avoid the kill.

Crit chance assigned to weapons most likely works as flat modifier on top of attackers result for "chance to crit".
Perhaps even modifies targets chance to survive, but thats only a guess based on in game observation.

Additionally all weapons which have their own crit chance assigned
appear to allow the critical strike skill to come into play regardless of class abilities, but dont count me on that.


I.e. you need to max dex, spd, sen, Exp Lvl, ranged or close combat and specific weapon skill,
and use the weapon which has the highest crit chance assigned,
for ranged attacks with launcher and projectile, crit chance of both most likely add up
So the ninjas chance to instakill a target with peacemaker arrows fired by an op bow with 10% crit on its own
it higher than with Death Stars thrown from both hands (assuming all involved skill&attribute values are equal)

Are you sure that Superman boosts level? (As in, have you actually observed or tested this, or read somewhere that it does?) As far as I can tell, Superman just boosts the 7 main stats and indirectly boosts derived stats (like HP, but be aware that you can die when the effect wears off, or like SP, where negative values are handled sensibly (but not displayed)).

Granted, casting Superman can still be helpful, particularly if stats do affect critical rate or even just to boost your chance of hitting (or number of attacks) in the first place, but I don't think it actually increases level.

(By the way, there's one situation where negative SP aren't handled sensibly; if you attempt to cast Remove Curse from the inventory screen and the backfire results in the character's SP going negative, the game will crash.)

boosting stats is boosting levels... I don't see a distinction there

yes I'm sure and yes that tactic of casting superman on fighters is based on several dozen playthroughs but I will also note that pound for pound the Monk is the better class for most parties;

as I said before the main point of the Ninja is that she gets a different spell book... its a one trick pony imo so most people take it because they read a post about how OP the Faerie Ninja is [which is true] but its a special build that takes time to get right

also its very uncommon for me to miscast Superman but if you worry about it then a potion is the safe option

This being said what is the correct equipment to use both ranged and melee to achieve a critical hit using the ninja?

There are certain situations where the game explicitly checks a character's level; for example, in order to cast a spell at power level n without risk of failure, your caster level must be at least k + n (k depends on spell level, 0 for level 1 and 17 for level 7); no amount of stats or skills will allow you to get around this. Spell resistance and status ailment chance (for both physical attacks and spells) also check level, I believe.

Also, there are things that improve with stats but not levels; carrying capacity is an example here. (Yes, you can choose to spend level up points on the stats that affect carrying capacity, and it is sometimes a good idea to do so, but if you do not, your carrying capacity will not increase at level up.)

There's also (at least) one situation where the base value of a stat (excluding changes from equipment and temporary effects like Superman) is important; Expert Skills (like Power Strike) will only function if your base stat is 100. If a base stat is not at 100, the expert skill will do no good, even if you somehow have points in the skill.

In other words, levels and stats do not behave the same mechanically, and boosting one is not equivalent to boosting the other. Random fact:
* Potions do not work in anti-magic zones; trying to drink a potion in one will not work and will display the same message that happens if you try to cast a spell.
* Drinks, however, *do* work in anti-magic zones, oddly enough. If you find a drink that casts Superman, for example, you can drink it in an anti-magic zone without any problems.
* It's also worth noting that instruments don't work in anti-magic zones, but gadgets do.

Its like the question which tire is best for a car on race track X under weather conditions Y,
the answer depends on more than the factors given by the ninja.

For ranged attacks its either death stars or throwing stilettos,
the latter give you a higher crit chance,
with the disadvantages of less avg damage, no chance to poison for 15 hp/turn
and 2.5 times the weight of a death star, which is pretty important if you throw up to 18 times/turn
(the max number of swings and attacks each turn is somewhat random,
and influenced by characters stamina lvl and last not least the weapons weight)

For high lvl & HP targets where we have no big chance to instakill
I prefer the shuriken to work on both options,
i.e. hoping for the crit and maximizing dmg in case it wont happen.
The disadvantage of less range can be mitigated, see below.

For close combat attacks its probably martial arts,
more flexibility, max swings/turn without dual wielding penalties,
but disadvantage of higher stamina consumption than e.g. the stiletto, and only close range.
In early to mid game the dread spear from 2nd row is also a good option for its extended range
and the +20 skill bonus contributes to chance to hit and therefore also to crit.

The additional advantage of martial arts for ninjas is the option to switch between 3 weapons:
By default you must spend a turn to swap weapons etc from pc or party inventory
but thats not true for ammo or thrown weapons in personal inventory,
you can swap them at any time without spending a turn.

This allows to e.g. have a spear equipped and use the other slots for either mA or shuriken
respectively go with sling for long range attacks (if the others in party are rangers)
and change between MA and shuriken in the other slots.

In my experience, I found that Martial Arts just aren't that great without the Monk's primary skill bonus, which Ninja's can't get.

(Also, martial arts using Ninjas aren't that great in the earlier games in the series, except maybe 6 or 7 (which I am not familiar with enough to judge), and excluding 4 for obvious reasons.)