Who would win between a Shaolin Abbot versus a Ninja in a real fight?

Hand to hand combat I’d go with the Shaolin monk, but that’s not how a ninja operates. You don’t see him until it’s too late.

Not sure.
But I will take the winner.

Here’s the main reason I love to play a rogue in D&D.

You don’t have to be the toughest. You don’t have to be the fastest. You don’t have to be the best fighter.

You just have to be quiet, wait for your moment, and strike.

And that is why the Ninja will defeat the Shaolin – while he’s meditating on the floor of his cell, or something.

Real life ninja were not very good hand to hand fighters. They were assassins and excelled in unseen murder. They were trained in stealth, poisons and other under handed techniques. Unlike movies, this included a lot of things like disguises used to merge with everyone else out there, (they had to look like everyone else out on the street) and trickery, they were not about all out honor bound fighting. They were mostly rogues and hands for hire when some big cheese needed to be killed, and most of Japan back then actually looked down on the ninja a lot because of this.

Any ninja that was trained professionally was trained in camouflage techniques and sneaking around, but as far as hand to hand combat goes, they were only handed basic techniques that included things like Karate so they could run off after efficiently defending themselves. They could defend and parry if confronted when, and if found, but not much more. smoke bombs were real though yo

This is If they were trained for such things; mostly as I say, they were hired hands by greedy politicians who just wanted someone disposed of, and didn’t care how it was done. Most ninja were homeless dudes or people fallen out of favor from their government or families and wanted to eat.
A user here told me some of this. (I’d like to name him, but we got rules, so…)

So if this is all true, a Shaolin monk could easily best a ninja in hand to hand combat. If that monk was trained in weaponry, forget that ninja even more. I’ve read stuff about Shaolin monks and their training, even today. It’s pretty hardcore, you do NOT want to fight one of those dudes. They dedicate their life to Kung Fu, and can do things with their bodies which will make you wonder if they’re even human. Some branches of Kung Fu demand that you purposely deform some body parts, because doing so will make combat more efficient. Like if you study Tiger Claw, your hands will eventually solidify in claw like formations and you can pretty much do nothing with them except break people’s bones.

Not sure if that’s actually true, can’t trust everything I see in documentaries, but the truth of the ninja is not found in movies or video games. In the shadows of night (or day) they WILL mess you up, but in the reality of things, anybody could probably punch them out with one hit, if they’re slightly skilled in fighting, or just a little lucky. Ninjas were assassins, not fighters, so even if stuff about Kung Fu dudes are exaggerated, they would probably still win, if the fight is fair.

Ninjas cheat. Shaolin don’t. So the ninja would win but the Shaolin would declare it a dishonourable victory.

As a huge fan of old subtitled fighting flicks, my money is on the Shaolin. I think ninja’s are cool though.

Nijas were martial artists who had the additional skill set of projectiles, swordsmanship, stealth and deception. The Shaolin monks were at best trained in empty hand combat with the bo staff their self defense weapon of choice. Empty hand to hand combat, it very well could be a draw, but the Ninja would have expertly removed the monks hands with his sword way before that ever happened.

The Shaolins also had training with the Broad Sword and the staff could fend off sword attacks…but could they fend off the poison darts and the surikens?

Poisons were not meant to be used in fair combat, so an unaware monk would easily be hit by a poisoned projectile. However Shaolin training wasn’t just about kicking arse, it was about being healthy. They know a thing or two about about poisons and medical practices.

As for shurkien, contrary to popular belief, those were used as distractions during combat, and were usually not life threatening, although getting one in your eyeball stopped a fight pretty quickly. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but those were designed to try and breach armored warriors. They could also be used as last resort melee weapons, kind of like a knife. I’m pretty sure there is no technique known to men that allows him to deflect a projectile professionally thrown his way, unless he can see the person is about to do it, before they do so. That said martial arts teach a thing or two about anticipation, but that’s not how you’re going to win a fight in most cases.

If a ninja wanted to take the life of a Shaolin monk unaware, he would probably succeed pretty easily. Let’s also remember that China was no stranger whatsoever to throwing weapons, although I don’t know if Shaolin monks were trained with those. :/