How good/bad would a Rakshasa arcane gish be?

[danielxcutter]

Hi.

I'm trying to make a comic done in OotS style, like Murphy's Law or antiheroes, and I'm playing with the idea of having a Rakshasa tag along(spoiler reasons, but the PCs know he's one and let him come along), and have the PCs give him some basic martial training so he won't be dead weight(the PCs will probably be at least tier 3 with a CL 12 or higher since they start at CL 10, and he has one class level in Sorcerer and that's it). The problem is that while Rakshasa's get ridiculous DR 15/good and piercing as well as absurd SR(which probably won't be a problem when self-buffing; why would it work on your own spells?), natural armor +9, change shape, detect thoughts, as well as seven levels in Sorcerer by default, they also have 7 Outsider HD, and everyone says HD suck. I'm thinking of Fighter/Sorcerer/Abjurant Champion, but if that's not a good idea, I'm willing to change it. Don't worry about giving ideas, since I'm still making the plot and it has at least a year until I start doing this proper.

Btw, the PCs are probably going to be:
Elan psywar,

Warforged monk/sorcerer/enlightened fist,

Tiefling cleric,

Deathtouched rogue/wizard/arcane trickster,

Half-orc bard/dervish,

Human fighter/ranger(champion of the wild and distracting attack variants)/cragtop archer(only 4 levels)

and Human fighter/favored soul(most divine casters can't use Divine Favor, Divine Power, or Rightous Might. This guy does.)/kensai(all 10 levels, and I have a way of getting around the vow-per-level thing).

[Tiri]

While RHD generally aren't that good, a Rakhasa's are better because they get Sorcerer casting with them. In fact, why even bother with the Sorcerer and Fighter levels? He can enter Abjurant Champion straight away. He might even be a bit more efficient spell-wise than another gish of the same level because he can use Change Shape for things like flight or becoming Large (for example). Of course he is a few levels behind the rest of them, but that seems to be your intention (assuming you're not doing it simply because of LA).

Since this is for a comic, though, I don't think you need to worry so precisely about how the mechanics function. Especially for things like LA, because that +7 will really cripple the Rakhasa.

[danielxcutter]

While RHD generally aren't that good, a Rakhasa's are better because they get Sorcerer casting with them. In fact, why even bother with the Sorcerer and Fighter levels? He can enter Abjurant Champion straight away. He might even be a bit more efficient spell-wise than another gish of the same level because he can use Change Shape for things like flight or becoming Large (for example). Of course he is a few levels behind the rest of them, but that seems to be your intention (assuming you're not doing it simply because of LA).

Since this is for a comic, though, I don't think you need to worry so precisely about how the mechanics function. Especially for things like LA, because that +7 will really cripple the Rakhasa.

The Fighter and Sorcerer levels are there because this comic is probably going to go into the low-epics(read: early to mid 20s, maybe even late), and since Sorcerers don't have any class features except familiars, which is also covered by the racial caster levels, the LA won't matter at all... right? He'll have less bonus fighter feats compared to a normal Abjurant Champion, but he has absurd DR and SR, a large natural armor bonus, and Change Shape, which are better than most feats anyways. And the RHD gives him full BAB, so he might have higher BAB than other gishs. It's not as good as Human fighter/wizard/abjurant champion, I think, but it's still surprisingly good... right?

[tsj]

Maybe give the cleric 1 or more prc
since the cleric has mostly dead levels except for spellcasting anyway

For fun..
Dump his interest and dex (he will be kind of stupid and kind of clumsy)
Max the remaining stats

I suggest divine oracle as the prc

[danielxcutter]

Maybe give the cleric 1 or more prc
since the cleric has mostly dead levels except for spellcasting anyway

Uhhh... cleric? I said arcane gish.

[tsj]

Uhhh... cleric? I said arcane gish.

Yes, but I am talking about the tiefling cleric you mentioned (in the very first post in this thread) that was going to be in the same party as the rakasha arcane gish

The elan psionic warrior from the same group could probably use a prc as well
..

For the rakasha I would second the suggestion that he enters abjurant champion right away

[danielxcutter]

Yes, but I am talking about the tiefling cleric you mentioned (in the very first post in this thread) that was going to be in the same party as the rakasha arcane gish

The elan psionic warrior from the same group could probably use a prc as well
..

For the rakasha I would second the suggestion that he enters abjurant champion right away

Well I get it about the Rakshasa, but I'm not going to add anything to the PCs. I've already got their personalities down, and the tiefling cleric's going to have 12 INT after racial adjustments(tieflings get a +2 to dex and int). Dumping DEX, however, is a valid idea, since rogue/cleric... no, just no.

Also the tiefling is a she. :smallbiggrin:

[tsj]

Well I get it about the Rakshasa, but I'm not going to add anything to the PCs. I've already got their personalities down, and the tiefling cleric's going to have 12 INT after racial adjustments(tieflings get a +2 to dex and int). Dumping DEX, however, is a valid idea, since rogue/cleric... no, just no.

Also the tiefling is a she. :smallbiggrin:

Okay. Well looking forward to reading your comic when it is ready :smallbiggrin:

[Eldariel]

NPC Rakshasa Gish is fine if you're willing to fudge the CR a bit; CR10 with their attack options is just a bit too much, but CR8-9 is mostly fine. It's an Outsider with innate casting; unlike most HD, Outsider HD is actually quite good (full saves, full BAB, good skills, martial proficiencies, Darkvision) and Rakshasa gets decent casting and insane SR on top of it. Thus it's a Gish in a Can - add any Gish-classes and you'll be golden. Their native stats actually kinda suck but add Elite Array alongside some spells and it gets a lot better. Sadly they're Sorcerers without the option of the Greater Draconic Rite of Passage; that condemns them behind on spell levels forever and ever. Just with one level though, they get Polymorph and they have access to Outsider shapes so that's not too shabby. Goes a long ways towards making up for their cruddy base stats too (particularly since they have their best stats in Con and Cha; you keep HP and all your mentals after shifting).

Yeah, Rakshasa Abjurant Champion 1 is quite decent: you can hit around 35 AC if you wish, and Polymorph into e.g. Warden Archon [BoED] for some decent stats - 27 Str, 11 Dex, 17 Con and +12 Natural Armor (and Claw/Claw/Bite). Then just add Greater Mage Armor (+6 AC), Shield (+5 AC with Abjurant Champion) and an enchanted weapon (GMW for +2/+2) and he's good to go. 28 Spell Resistance (even with Assay Resistance, it's still non-trivial for CL8-10 casters), he's looking at 8 BAB + 8 Str + 2 Weapon - 1 Size for +17/+12 attacks (without buffs) plus probably Bite, and 10 + 12 + 6 + 5 - 1 = 32 AC, decent saves and probably 8 + 4.5 * 6 + 5.5 + 5 * 8 = 80 HP.

EDIT: Oh yeah, SR is Ex. Well, he loses that while Polymorphing then. Unfortunate but wurf.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Most casting-advancing PrCs can only advance class-based casting; by RAW, you need one level sorcerer in there, resulting in rakshasa 7/sorcerer 1/abjurant champion 5. That gives you 13th-level sorcerer casting and 12 base attack, at 13 HD, which is either rather good, or rather bad, depending on the LA you assign.

Going from there, I'd suggest levels in typical gish classes: JPM (with an initiator dip), Eldritch Knight (boring, but effective), Swiftblade (powerful, combine with Spelldancer), Sacred Exorcist (loses bab, but full casting + turn undead - get your Divine Defiance on with the Inquisition domain!).

[KillianHawkeye]

absurd SR(which probably won't be a problem when self-buffing; why would it work on your own spells?)

Actually, SR never interferes with spells that you cast on yourself. It will mess with any spells/powers that his teammates use on him unless he takes the action to lower it.