The description of the LV8 Ninja is the same as the LV8 Priest.
To beneficiate from his natural class armor reduction a ninja must not wear armor (up to this point normal), weapon (?) and misc. (magic) item (???).

(Can't answer the first one because the offline installer is still out of date.)

Yes, the ninja can't benefit from natural AC with any equipment at all, not even a weapon. Combined with the ninja's relatively weak unarmed attack (2d4 I believe) and the fact that natural AC (which starts at 8) only improves by 1 every 3 levels, ninjas just aren't as good as the manual makes them out to be.

The problems with the ninja:
* Unarmed attack: 2d4 is a bit stronger than starting weapons, but this comes without a to-hit bonus (while the 1d8 longsword gives something like +4 to hit)
* The extra attack is nice in what I call phase 1 of character growth (up to level 13 or so). However, it does not stack with extra attacks from weapons, and in what I call phase 2 (which for many characters doesn't end until *after* the remake's XP cap), ninja actually falls behind. (In phase 3, the ninja would eventually catch up, but not pull ahead, but you can't reach that in this version.) To get an extra attack with the Blade Cuisinart (or the Vorpal Blade, which it's been renamed to), you need to be at least level 15 as a ninja (or 20 for anyone else0.
* Natural AC is rather lousy. At level 13 (end of phase 1, and around the level that one would usually beat the game), it's only 6 AC, which is terrible for a front-line character, (I think you can do better with store-bought equipment.) At level 30 (around the XP cap for this version), you would have -2 AC, which is still not enough for me to be comfortable going unarmored on the deepest floors. At level 49 (which may be possible if you use the Thieves' Dagger and avoid level drains afterwords), it's -8 AC, but is that *rally* worth the effort? For this to really make a difference, you basically need to be in what I call phase 3 of growth, which isn't possible with the XP cap in place.
* A ninja can disarm traps as well as an equal level thief (but note that levels aren't going to be equal in practice because the ninja needs far more XP to level up), but is terrible at inspecting them (62% chance at 18 agility).

Another error with multiple monsters, though I noticed it on some Bishops in particular:
A couple monsters who can cast Badial (A level 4 Divine spell) are listed as having Level 3 Divine magic. Pretty sure that should be level 4, or maybe monster magic levels don't work the way I think they do (But my guess is it's the former).

Monster spell levels actually don't work the same as player spell levels. When an enemy casts a spell, there are 1 or 2 spells it can choose from based on its spell level, and not all of them are the same level for monsters as they are for party members. (I don't have the decompilation handy at the moment, so I don't know whether DIAL is 3rd level for monsters.) Some monster spells are on multiple spell levels.

Incidentally, monsters will sometimes lose spell levels when casting spells I think this is done to simulate a similar mechanic that affects party members, where party members have a limited number of casts of each spell level. (It's too bad that Wizardry 8 doesn't have any similar mechanic to limit enemy spellcasting.)

By the way, a couple interesting notes about other Wizardry games:
* In Wizardry 4, certain spells will only be cast in certain situations. For example, a monster will only cast DIOS if Werdna starts the round at below full HP.
* In Wizardry 5 and some of the Japanese Wizardry Gaiden games, there's a 4th level mage spell that can petrify a group. Now, unlike party members, enemies can recover from petrification, so it's not *quite* as powerful as it sounds, provided that it's not used against the party. For that reason, in the Wizardry Gaiden games where enemies can use this spell, it's level *9* for them. (In Wizardry 5, I don't think enemies can cast this spell, which is probably a good thing.)

They could take inspiration from change to the pascal code made by Snafaru (https:(slash)(slash)www.zimlab.com(slash)wizardry(slash)proving-grounds-v3(slash)index.html).

For ninja , he did this:
-1 AC per level
2d8 unarmed damage
nonus to initiative that grows with level.

There's only so much that initiative can improve.

If you could somehow get 20 Agility, and if the game were programmed to handle this in the expected way, then 20 Agility would be enough to *always* go first. (In fact, it is enough in some of the Japanese Wizardries, including the Gaiden series and probably Wizardry 5, maybe NES KoD (but not SFC due to a bug).)

Can confirm that Ninja is rly not about damage. The class's main draw is that instakill crit ability that makes damage irrelevant.

They definitely are not quite as good at thieves for chests, but being able to do what they do in combat alongside having chest capability is still nice to have... its just not good enough to make the theif irrelevant in that aspect.

As for the AC, can also confirm it doesnt make the Ninja a badass, or even decently protected for a front-liner, until *really* high levels. Like, you probably arent going to grind that out unless you already have Wizardry II: Knight of Diamonds ready to go for character import. I hope and pray that actually becomes a thing. I had a level 99 Ninja in KOD (NES version) that was a solo deathmachine. naked with no gear, AC was "LO", and 99% of the time he instakilled whatever he hit - plud I'd gone through the effort of having him max out Mage and Priest spells (this was done BEFORE I converted to Ninja), so he had slots for each spell on both lists. Was very fun to play him.

Except that it has a low chance of working, and enemies still get a chance of resisting it, so good luck getting it to work on any enemy that's strong enough to survive MAKANITO. Ninja + 2 characters with CALFO (or just one high level Priest/Bishop/Lord with that spell) are able to replace a thief.

(Side note: In Wizardry Gaiden 3, you can *almost* use a Bard or Ranger to replace a Thief, as they're about as good at chests as a Ninja. The problem, however, is that they're not good with locks in that game, and the game has some mandatory locked doors; I see this as a significant design flaw in that game.)

You aren't going to be *able* to "grind" out those levels in this version, as your XP is capped just below 10 million, which is about level 30 for a ninja.

As for KoD:
* The inability to use the KoD equipment is a problem here. That equipment is *very* powerful, allowing infinite casts of certain spells (including TILTOWAIT), and also granting the character the same instant kill ability that ninjas get naturally.
* In the NES version, you can do better. Level up to level 21+ as a mage to get 9's in all spell levels, then invoke the Metamorph Ring, which will change you into a lord; on NES you keep all those bonus spell points when you use an item to change class.

By the way, here's something you can do on the NES version, and on versions based on it (SFC, GBC, but not PSX/Saturn):
* Beat the game.
* Go back and get the KoD equipment. (They will be where you first found them, though you will have to fight them again.)
* Give the KoD equipment to one character, then have the character go into the labyrinth alone.
* Near the beginning of level 6, there's that spot which sends you back if you have multiple party members. Go there.
* You are now in a secret part of level 6. If you can reach the end, you will fight a Demon Lord, who I believe drops a Demon Stone (casts Malor I believe, but "breaks" into a Damien Stone).
* In the GBC version, this works slightly differently. You end up on dungeon level 7 (exclusive to this version), which looks like level 6 and has the same enemies. I believe there's still a Demon Lord (I am certain there's a boss at some point), but this time it drops an item that, when invoked, will warp your party to a certain spot on level 8.

Im going to assume you mean LAKANITO, since Makanito has a level cap on what it will affect.

My KOD ninja was *very* reliable with the instakills, even on the Arch Demon. As I mentioned the class requires super-high levels to shine. I agreed with you at lower levels the combat capabilities are "meh". Also unless it was different for your version, the crit abiliity of the ninja was not subject to the same resistance that Lakanito was. Lakanito rarely worked on tough enemies like demon lords, whereas a high level ninja would obliterate them (one at a time obviously) with crits *reliably*. Oh, so you were talking about spellcasting then, not the ninja's innate class ability... wait... yes you were. Goalpost moved, gotcha.

Point being, we agree on Ninja at low to mid levels, and the early high levels, even. For what it takes to get into the class and build it up, it really needs a buff to be worth that extra effort... but, if you haven't played a level 50+ ninja in KOD, I recommend you put it on your bucket list.

I actually do mean MAKANITO. Enemy resistance to criticals is based on their level, so it's harder to crit enemies that are too high in level to be affected by it.

Also, LAKANITO works less than half the time if the enemy is level 9 or higher (though, at least in some versions, it ignores resistance just like MAKANITO; then again, in the Soliton versions (PSX and Sega Saturn), MAKANITO doesn't ignore resistnace, making it useless against poison/frost giants),

For example, in Wizardry 2 you are not going to crit a fuzzball, not matter what. (Then again, for that particular enemy, that doesn't really matter, since it has only 1 HP and doesn't attack, but it is level 100 and immune to magic.)

I am aware, which is why I didnt mention a level 99 ninja in PGMO, I specially referenced the higher level cap in the NES version of Knight of Diamonds. Let's not conflate what people said, shall we?

I had to mention KOD because it was the only environment I could speak to where I've played a high-enough level ninja to see the class truly shine, as I was clearly conceding your points about lower levels in the class's progression. Yes, Wrathnir is nice. Kind of off topic, to be honest, but a super high level ninja doesn't need them, as I already explained. Also aware of this, but I did it to become a lord, and when I changed alignment and then class to Ninja, I lost the extra Priest spell slots. Arch demon, but yes. That was how I grinded my ninja to level 99, by repeatedly farming him solo.

Actually, if you are somehow able to get one early, Ninja is actually quite good at low levels. Thing is, a ninja has 1 more attack than a fighter of the same level, and won't be more than 1 level behind; this gives ninja an early damage advantage.

(By the way, I should check to see if the ninja crit chance applies per hit when you attack multiple times; that might explain your observation of it working so often.)

Incidentally, it's easy to get a level 50+ ninja in Apple 2 Wizardry 1/2; just use the identify glitch to get the XP you need. Just note that a ninja can't possibly beat KoD solo unless the game doesn't actually check to see if the items are equipped. and that Figher/Samurai/Lord are probably better if given the KoD equipment.

I invite you to go look up Makanito, then:

"MAKANITO:
Deadly Air
Combat
All Monsters
Kills any monsters of less than 8th level (about 35-40 hit points)"

If you tried using it on high level monsters that's why it wasn't working for you. Ninja crits are not resisted in the same way, so the comparison you made is apples to oranges. Feel free to argue, but then you wont be agruing *with me*, since I didn't write the book on how the spell works. I agree Lakanito is no reliable on higher level enemies *either, but at least it *CAN* work on them. Makanito will not. Yes, but not sure how this moot point is relevant, either. We get it, you know a lot about the various game versions - you are however, misinformed on the first point. A bit of both, being high level makes it more reliable per hit, AND hitting more times per attack means what you attack gets critted more reliably. Yes and no, relying on the guantlets for Tiltowait falls off in reliability when facing top-level enemies. You have to fight them to kill them reliably, and iirc the full KOD set only gets you to -10 AC. Ninja will be harder to hit and crit more often. Plus, ninja can solo effectively with handling chests and traps.

In the NES version, you can avoid this loss of bonus SP by using a Coin of Power to change to ninja. (1 in 3 chance of success)

Just note that using it a second time will kill you and change you to a weak class.

Speaking of which, here is a method of using Coins of Power to increase your XP exponentially. (Prerequisites; should already be a high level, and having HAMAN or MAHAMAN is highly recommended.) Assuming you're starting from a basic class:
1. Use an unused Coin of Power to become a Samurai, Lord, or Ninja, (Ninja is ideal for this, if you're using save states or something.) (You can substitute a Thieves' Dagger or Metamorph Ring in this step.)
2. Get level drained on purpose. This will set your experience to the minimum needed for your new level. (This is where HAMAN or MAHAMAN are good, as they will cause a level drain. Just remember that you need to win the battle or run away for the XP change to occur; losing or teleporting away will not.)
3. Use a used Coin of Power to become a basic class. (Thief is ideal here; if you're playing in an environment where reloading is possible, but more of a pain, reload if you get Bishop, because that class levels much more slowly than the other possibilities.) The character will die.
4. Revive the character. The safest way is to use MAHAMAN, since that spell will never make the character's condition worse. But you might try DI or the Temple of Cant once first.
5. Your XP hasn't changed, and since you're in a fast leveling class, you qualify for a bunch of level ups.
6. Go back to step 1. Repeat until out of Coins of Power, or your level is as high as you want.

(If you're already in an advanced class, you'll need to start at step 3.)
They're still resisted based on level, with a mechanic similar to LAKANITO.

Again, just try to crit a fuzzball; it's not going to happen.