Rakshasas

[Tvtyrant]

The Rakshasa has a tremendous lack of fluff in 3.5 compared to some of the equivalent overlord types (Aboleths, Ithiliads, Demons, Devils, etc.) Is there any good sources of Rakshasa fluff for the game?

As a side note, they are also clearly over-CRd. An Aboleth is a CR 7 and is at least as dangerous in my mind.

[inuyasha]

well, not that I know of but, for your campaign, writing your own could be a good idea :D

[Humble Master]

Being the lazy American I am I would probably just look at Indian myths for info.

Also I will apologize in advance if I misplace the nationality of the Rakshasa.

[dupersudi]

IIRC Eberron has a active Rakshasa contingent. Lots of backstory for them and their goals and motivations in the Eberron campaign setting. As for them being over-CRed it depends which version you look at, Eberron has a bunch of different types while d20srd only has one and it's one of the (IIRC) weaker ones.

[Tvtyrant]

The Lords of Dust are an interesting idea, but I hoped there was a more generic fluff for them (like in Lords of Madness for the aberrations.)

What other books have Rakshasa than the Monster Manual?

[Thurbane]

Ak'chazar Rakshasa (CR 15), MM3
Naityan Rakshasa (CR 7), ToB
Naztharune Rakshasa (CR 11), MM3
Zakya Rakshasa (CR 8), ECS

...there may have been other variants in an issue or two of Dragon? I think issue 326 had the ecology of the Rakshasa.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mmiii_gallery/83039.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mmiii_gallery/83040.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/tob_gallery/99718.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/eb_gallery/82161.jpg

[LOTRfan]

I borrow heavily from the 4e fluff; at the beginning of time, many minor gods decided to give up their divinity in order to participate in the war against the demons and the Far Realm, and these gods became Devas (which are completely unrelated to the creatures with the Angel subtype).

Devas are constantly being reincarnated upon death, and new incarnations have no memories of their previous lives. When a Deva falls to evil, however, they reincarnate as a Rakshasa instead. The first time a Deva reincarnates into a Rakshasa, they are the standard Rakshasa as described in the Monster Manual. The next time they die, the class levels they took during their first life as a Rakshasa determines which "specialized" version they reincarnate into next.

Both Devas and Rakshasas are attempting to break their constant cycle of reincarnation by regaining their divinity. Rakshasas will go to any extent to regain this divinity, and the most powerful of them are already on the verge of godhood (i.e. they have a Divine Rank of 0). Those who have Divine Rank 0 unlock all of the memories of their past lives, and will continue to keep these memories as they reincarnate again. And that gives you a recurring villain that can last until the end of the campaign.

[Tvtyrant]

I borrow heavily from the 4e fluff; at the beginning of time, many minor gods decided to give up their divinity in order to participate in the war against the demons and the Far Realm, and these gods became Devas (which are completely unrelated to the creatures with the Angel subtype).

Devas are constantly being reincarnated upon death, and new incarnations have no memories of their previous lives. When a Deva falls to evil, however, they reincarnate as a Rakshasa instead. The first time a Deva reincarnates into a Rakshasa, they are the standard Rakshasa as described in the Monster Manual. The next time they die, the class levels they took during their first life as a Rakshasa determines which "specialized" version they reincarnate into next.

Both Devas and Rakshasas are attempting to break their constant cycle of reincarnation by regaining their divinity. Rakshasas will go to any extent to regain this divinity, and the most powerful of them are already on the verge of godhood (i.e. they have a Divine Rank of 0). Those who have Divine Rank 0 unlock all of the memories of their past lives, and will continue to keep these memories as they reincarnate again. And that gives you a recurring villain that can last until the end of the campaign.
I cannot use the deity aspect unfortunately, as my current campaign does not have deities. However I might just have them be a shattered Demon Lord (maybe Miska the Spider?)

I really like the reincarnating bad guy approach and the branching specialization. Would it be fair to effectively strip out the sorc casting and add the Warmage, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer or Shadowcaster casting as forms of specialization?

[Flickerdart]

Played smartly, a Rakshasa earns its CR. Unlike an Aboleth they can infiltrate any environment where humans live, and can use a ridonkulous Bluff modifier, detect thoughts (although the DC on this could really be higher, but it'll probably be used on NPCs anyway), charm person, and invisibility to set things up and attack in a way that is advantageous. SR27 at that level is not easily beatable, and given that this thing can change shape and basically fights like a human sorcerer, there's no reason for PCs to assume otherwise, so they won't know how high it is before they've sent a couple of spells its way. If someone gets to it in melee combat, the DR is really handy and makes up for its pretty poor AC (although as described in the entry, rakshasas wear armour when disguised, so it would be higher).

[Pink]

Pathfinder has a fair bit about them. They have a page of fluff and several entries in bestiary 3, and several pages of fluff in the third book of the Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path (escape from old Korvosa).

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/rakshasa

[Doorhandle]

Pathfinder has a fair bit about them. They have a page of fluff and several entries in bestiary 3, and several pages of fluff in the third book of the Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path (escape from old Korvosa).

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/rakshasa

Swordsaged me.

And yeah, that idea of a reoccurring villain as a reincarnating Rakasha would be cool: working this way up the cosmic totem pole. Ideally, they wouldn't know about it at first.

[BWR]

Legend of the 5 Rings has some ideas about rakshasas (http://l5r.wikia.com/wiki/Rakshasa). Don't know how much of it is directly derived from original sources and how much is original material.