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View Full Version : If Devas can Fall And Become Rakashas...Then Can Vice Versa Occur?



Leliel
2009-08-31, 02:19 PM
Well, I was thinking about the "utterly evil devas become rakashas in their next life" and I was thinking-wouldn't it be a cool "was evil, but not anymore" character to have a deva who was actually a redeemed rakasha in his past life?

I mean, I haven't found anything in the books I own, but in your opinion:

Would this be possible, and if so, how to prevent said ex-rakasha from falling into excessive angst about his actions (he is responsible for what he did, after all)?

Optimystik
2009-08-31, 02:32 PM
It's quite possible; just Sanctify one. Not sure how you'd avoid the wangst though, as it's actually in the spell description. :smallsigh:

Foryn Gilnith
2009-08-31, 02:54 PM
Just ignore it. And everything else in life that doesn't relate to being good. There's evil that needs to be purified, you know. Every second you waste wallowing in self-pity is another drop of innocent blood spilled that you could have prevented.

In short, negate extreme psychological status with other extremes.

Lost Demiurge
2009-08-31, 03:20 PM
Same way you deal with angst in real life. Realize that there's better ways to spend your time, and that self-pity is pretty damn pathetic.

Past is the past, concentrate on doing good NOW and setting things up to make the world a better place down the road.

Tiki Snakes
2009-08-31, 04:34 PM
Actually, I'm pretty sure it was intentionally implied to be an unknown matter, but with hints built in to some of the stuff to suggest that...just maybe?

For example, one of the background things was something along the lines of, the Deva just doesn't remember anything for the past century or two. Not one memory of having incarnated. It never says so, but I read it as hinting that maybe you were a little on the fuzzy side for a while there. Of course, it's written in such a way that any of a hundred other things could be the case.

[edit] I also recall reading that Deva's don't necessarily remember all the details of their past lives whilst actually living them. So, really, the character might simply have the occaisional nightmare and be capable of joining the dots?

Personally, I like the idea of building a Rakasha character by simply using an appropriately re-flavoured Deva, on account of he's on the verge of returning to existence as a proper Deva, but that won't actually kick in until he next dies.

erikun
2009-08-31, 04:48 PM
First, Rakshasa. It's hard enough for me to remember how it's spelled correctly...

Second, they talk about past lives. As it, a Rakshasa/i who redeemed him/herself in life would be reborn as a Deva. I'm not sure that a good-Rakshasa-reborn-Deva would be any different from any other "new" Deva.

And third, why would a Deva angst over their past lives any more than any other character angsting over the stuff they did in the war/for the holy church/etc.? Besides, your character doesn't need to angst if you don't want them to. They can be passively mourning but determine to set right where they'd previously set wrong. (This is the point of resurrection, after all - to set right previous wrongs, not to cry like a child all the time.)

Jergmo
2009-08-31, 04:59 PM
I don't bother with all that riff-raff of completely changing into another critter; I merely change its abilities in whatever way appropriate, and there were a few good Rakshasas in mythology anyhow. A fallen angel doesn't look so different when it becomes a demon. *Shrug* Something like a Glabrezu would just look like a friggin' huge four-armed Hound Archon.