Error(s) in 3.5 Rakshasa creature entry

[Duke of URL]

I'm looking at building a Rakshasa character for a gestalt game. However, I'm confused about the racial class skills. The section on "Rakshasas as Characters" says:

Its class skills are Bluff, Disguise, Listen, Move Silently, Perform, Sense Motive, and Spot.

However, the stat block for the Rakshasa shows skill modifiers of:

Bluff +17*, Concentration +13, Diplomacy +7, Disguise +17 (+19 acting)*, Intimidate +5, Listen +13, Move Silently +13, Perform (oratory) +13, Sense Motive +11, Spellcraft +11, Spot +11

This yields skill ranks (after discounting ability modifiers, racial bonuses, and feats) of Bluff 10, Concentration 10, Diplomacy 4, Disguise 10, Intimidate 3, Listen 10, Move Silently 11 (!), Perform (oratory) 10, Sense Motive 10, Spellcraft 10, Spot 8.

Clearly something doesn't add up, even ignoring the impossibly high Move Silently ranks.

Since the "Reading the Monster Entries" section states:

All listed skills are class skills, unless the creature has a character class (noted in the entry).

We have a case of text vs. text conflict, not text vs. table. It may also be a case of specific vs. general, but in any case, either the creature listing or the "as characters" listing is flat-out wrong.

It seems reasonable to add Concentration, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Spellcraft to its list of class skills. Concentration and Spellcraft at the very least, given the minimal ranks in the other two.

All four skills make some form of thematic sense, in that it has racial spellcasting and is a Charismatic race into leadership and rulership.

[Telonius]

Did you take synergy into account? 5 ranks in Bluff can account for an awful lot of variance.

EDIT: Okay, so 96 total ranks by that tally, assuming one rank per point, including the impossible extra point from Move silent.

Assuming 5 ranks in Bluff and Sense Motive:
-2 Diplomacy (Bluff)
-2 Disguise/Acting (Bluff)
-2 Intimidate (Bluff)
-2 Sleight of Hand (Bluff)
-2 Diplomacy (Sense Motive)

Bluff 10 = 10 skill points
Concentration 10 = ? Not a class skill
Disguise 10 = 10 skill points
Intimidate 1 = 2 skill points
Listen 10 = 10 skill points
Move Silently 11 (!) = 11 skill points (!)
Perform (oratory) 10 = 10 skill points
Sense Motive 10 = 10 skill points
Sleight of Hand -2 (not shown in original entry, so we can assume no ranks were in it anyway)
Spellcraft 10 = ? Not a class skill
Spot 8 = 8 skill points

71 of 90 skill points accounted for, 70 if we ignore the extra skill point in Move Silently. Concentration and Spellcraft are still weird. Do they count as class skills because of the Sorcerer issue?

[Zherog]

Yep, the +4 in Diplomacy is definitely synergy bonuses -- +2 from Bluff and +2 from Sense Motive.

[Duke of URL]

Ah, I forgot synergy... that explains the other social skills.

It's clear that the creature entry considers Concentration and Spellcraft to be class skills (as it gives them the maximum ranks), which jives with the 90 skill points (assuming 2 points for 1 CC rank in Intimidate) if you treat the Move Silently extra rank as a typo.

Since the Rakshasa doesn't have any Sorcerer (or any other class, for that matter) levels, it only has its racial skills, however. That means either the creature listing is wrong (therefore the modifiers for Concentration and Spellcraft need to be reduced by 5) or the "as characters" section is wrong and needs to add Concentration and Spellcraft as class skills.

Personally, I prefer the latter, as that will get me over a particular character building hurdle involving prerequisites. So, I admit to being biased on this one.

[Zherog]

I think if you're looking for exactly what the RAW means, you would have to rule that the "As Characters" section is correct and that the skill ranks in the entry are wrong. The specific text of the Rakshasa's "As Characters" overrides the general text of "all listed skills are class skills." It also would fit the "text overrides tables" mantra that WotC preached all throughout 3e's existence.

That said... I've seen plenty of errors in the "As Characters" sections. For another goofy example, take a peek at the troll. The stat block gives the troll darkvision out to 90 feet, but the As Characters entry only gives them darkvision to 60 feet.

So... if you're stuck with RAW, I think you're out of luck. If you can instead go with "reasonable interpretation" then I think there's a good case for adding Concentration and Spellcraft to the racial class skill list.

[Tytalus]

Yep, the +4 in Diplomacy is definitely synergy bonuses -- +2 from Bluff and +2 from Sense Motive.

But synergy bonuses don't stack.

[tenshiakodo]

Eh? Since when? It's an untyped bonus, it should stack just fine.

[Duke of URL]

Eh? Since when? It's an untyped bonus, it should stack just fine.

It's not untyped, it's specifically called a synergy bonus, which is not one of the types listed as allowing to stack with itself. Scratch that, it is untyped.

It comes down to, then, whether two different synergies are essentially the same source or not.

[thompur]

But synergy bonuses don't stack.

Yes they do, because they are untyped bonuses. "Synergy" is not a bonus type, like 'circumstance' or 'luck'.

Technically, they aren't 'Synergy Bonuses', they are bonuses gained from skill synergies.

Also, the MM stat blocks are notorious for inaccuracies.

[Zherog]

In 3.0 they were typed as "synergy" bonus and there was an explicit exception to the stacking rules that allowed them to stack, similar to dodge bonuses. When they did 3.5, they wanted to eliminate as many of those exceptions as possible. So to accomplish that for this specific piece, they changed it to an untyped bonus, so that they no longer needed to apply an exception.

[Telonius]

So... if you're stuck with RAW, I think you're out of luck. If you can instead go with "reasonable interpretation" then I think there's a good case for adding Concentration and Spellcraft to the racial class skill list.

I think I'll go with "reasonable interpretation" as well. The Rakshasa has 7 racial hit dice, casts as a 7th-level sorcerer... seems close enough to me. It's already clear from the extra point of Move Silently that somebody screwed up the skills on it.

[Peregrine]

Here's my analysis. (TL;DR: Swap Spot and Move Silently modifiers. Concentration and Spellcraft should be class skills.)

{table=head]Skill|Mod.|Ranks|Ability|Feat|Racial|Synergy
Bluff|17|10|3||4|
Conc.|13|10|3|||
Dipl.|7||3|||4
Disg.|17 (19)|10|3||4|(2)
Intim.|5||3|||2
Listen|13|10|1|2||
M. Sil.|13|10|1|||
Perf.|13|10|3|||
S. Mot.|11|10|1|||
Spellc.|11|10|1|||
Spot|11|10|1|2||[/table]

Notice that Spot is 2 points too low and Move Silently is 2 points too high. Methinks someone made a mistake on which skills the Alertness feat adds to.

It makes perfect sense for a rakshasa (who has Combat Casting and casts like a 7th-level sorcerer) to have Concentration and Spellcraft as class skills; in fact it's somewhat illogical for it to not have them. While officially, text trumps table and specific trumps general, the fact that you'd have to rewrite the table, and make an illogical choice, suggests that in this case, Concentration and Spellcraft should be added to the rakshasa's class skills.

Whether Diplomacy and Intimidate should be added (listed due to synergy, but untrained) is down to a DM's call. I wouldn't, but since they're listed, one could argue that they ought to be.