The thing about ninjas is that they're all about stealth and trickery. Like, I don't mean they're conniving, I mean like they'll make noises to trick people into moving out of the way so they avoid confrontation to begin with. If they have to kill someone, they're more likely to sneak up on them and knock them out in the quietest way possible.
If a ninja and a knight got up close and personal in face-to-face combat (which the ninja would typically avoid at all costs to begin with?), I feel like the knight would have an advantage. (Well, maybe not the knight you've drawn here, they're a little low in the armor department lol)
But the best method of defeating a knight would actually be to use a bludgeoning weapon, cuz their armor usually would be good enough to block most piercing weapons. It will not, however, protect them from getting slammed in the gut so many times that they start bleeding internally.
I don't know of many bludgeoning weapons in the ninja's typical arsenal, but I think they'd put up a good fight if they used the chain weapons or smoke bomb kinds of things, like
There's these kinds of bombs made of peppers and things that they can use to blind enemies with, and I think a kusarigama would make a decent bludgeoning weapon, or at least they'd be able to disarm the knight. It's like this chain scythe with a weight on one end lol
You make very good assessments on this topic. I thank you deeply. I agree completely with your points. In the case of a hand-to-hand combat of close range situations, if the ninja is not equipped with heftier weapon, he would be at a disadvantage against a properly kitted out knight with full plate armour.
Probably he would be able to get away relatively easily, since the ninja is not often encumbered by heavy gear. He would have better chances to revisit the enemy later, in the dead of the night, when the knight is not wearing his full armour.
The two classes have very distinct and iconic approaches with their philosophies. They interest me greatly.