1 hour ago, Tramp Graphics said:

Actually, one of the primary jobs of Shinobi, historically, was indeed espionage , not assassination. They were spies, scouts, and saboteurs first and foremost, and only occasionally assassins. Historical Shinobi didn't dress in all black like you see in the movies.

I am well aware of that, hence why I said that the ninja we think of isn't actually what a ninja was. You used the trope version of the ninja as an example of the type of "infiltrator" that you thought of, my point was that while the job spec for Infiltrator matches the trope, it doesn't match reality very well. A spec tree for a realistic infiltrator would be all about disguises and deception and misdirection. Very little of it would be about combat (which is the majority of the Infiltrator tree) Perhaps you and I are having an issue of definitions when it comes to words like Infiltrator.

I mean, you said this not 2 posts above my comment you quoted

On 5/25/2017 at 7:19 PM, Tramp Graphics said:

Now, when I think of infiltrators, I typically think of a commando or shinobi, who infiltrate enemy positions via stealth to take out particular enemy targets to to engage in sabotage, rather than a sleeper agent.

That's not a description of the real world shinobi, what I said that you were correcting, for some reason, is more along the realistic lines. I never once said that a RL ninja/shinobi would be about taking down targets as their primary objective. They were information gatherers and saboteurs, and yes, sometimes assassins. But they rarely ever did it by physical means like the talents would suggest. They usually used poisons and other indirect methods of killing. None of which are reflected in the tree. They were usually sleeper agents. Dressed like commoners so they could move about without much issue, and observe without being noticed.

The difference is not so much in methods. Assassination was a part of their duties, just not the primary one. and while they certainly didn't wear black "uniforms" (that came from Kabuki theater), they did wear certain mission specific outfits that would allow them to hide in shadows (usually dark reds, blues, or browns), for purposes of stealth, (as opposed to being in disguise) for sabotage and combat missions, rather than espionage missions. Shinobi used a wide variety of weapons and tools, not just poisons. and the weren't always "sleeper" agents. either. Another part of their job was guerrilla warfare. And the types of infiltration tactics they used are similar to modern commando tactics used today. and these are what the Infiltrator spec is based upon, as opposed to espionage.