Does the Rakshasa have a too-high CR?

[MerricB]

Due to a comment in another thread, I just had a look at the Rakshasa. Hmm. Mike Mearls might want to take a look at this creature.

Consider:

Rakshasa - CR 10
AC 21, HP 52, Atk +8/+8 (1d4+1) and +3 (1d6); DR 15/good and piercing; SR 27
sorcerer 7 spells:
3rd (5): haste, suggestion (DC 17)
2nd (7): bear's endurance, invisibility, Melf's acid arrow
1st (7): charm person, mage armour, magic missile, shield, silent image

Negligible melee skills, poor magic. The only thing it really has going for it is defensively.

It pretty much says to me: "Needs minions", and "needs better spells".

Any thoughts?

Cheers!

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

I've always figured it rated CR7 by itself. Aside from the detect thoughts ability and change shape it's basically a 7th level sorcerer with some extra hitpoints. In encounters I'va always used them with minions of some kind and emphasized the use of highly co-ordinated teamwork between the Rakshasa and it's minions. In my homebrew rakshasas are not native to the material plane but from Acheron and I've used that to guide their actions.

Otherwise I sort of base them off a combination of very arrogant colonial british nobles and mid-18th to late 19th century military officers. Personally they are extremely decadent and revel in any possible luxury they can acquire while considering the lives of others to be worthless. Yet publicly stiff, with great concern for appearances and perceptions of station or propriety. Intensely harsh even cruel disciplinarians that I admit are based off a particular drill sergeant from the past who was on anti-psychotics and ended up being shuffled away from training duties. They always keep some sort of martial bodyguard force that is capable well trained and disciplined but utterly without moral and prone to atrocities.

 

[ThirdWizard]

They're exceedingly weak. Thank goodness they got rid of that blessed crossbow bolt nonsense and gave them DR 15/ good and piercing instead, but it still doesn't help the fact that they have almost no offensive power whatsoever. They're nowhere near a CR 10.

I don't know what to do to save them. I've been thinking along the lines of making them Beguiler-like from PHB II since that came out, but I haven't done anything with the idea. They make interesting roleplaying encounters, but that's about it, as they currently stand.

 

[Odhanan]

They're weak for their CR, indeed. This gets killed in one, maybe two rounds by a party level 10.

 

[Gold Roger]

Against lower level groups they can be exeedingly deadly though, because of their nigh invulnerability to those. I've TPK'ed a APL 7 group with one that used invisibility, fireburst and some different feats and they didn't even put much of a scratch at it.

With a different spell selection I can see them even threatening tenth level chars.

All in all it's fine in my book. Just a bit specialised.

 

[blargney the second]

Have you tried subbing the Sorcerer 7 spells with Psion or Wilder 7? Raks make great bases for psionics.

 

[Shemeska]

The best Rakshasa is the one that the PCs are never aware of being a Rakshasa, and the one that doesn't get into straight up fights. They're arrogant beings of callous Law with affectations of nobility, and they're best used in that capacity in my experience: petty tyrants of Acheron.

I've used the Rakshasa heirarchy of Acheron rather heavily in my current campaign, ranging from low ranking Rakshasas who have set themselves up as mortal rulers of minor prime material kingdoms to the clergy and direct proxies of Ravanna on the cubes of Acheron itself. They're nothing to joke about, especially if you don't know that you're fighting one in the first place.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

It pretty much says to me: "Needs minions", and "needs better spells".

Definitely. Without minions, they're not that scary (especially in 3.5). Put the right minions in the mix, however, and they're much more deadly. We fought one once, and only a nicely placed Wall of Force made success in combat possible. Shemeska is right, too--not knowing it was a rakshasa during the role-play scene before the combat made it even more memorable. With the battlefield control of our wizard's force wall, the combat took a while but we prevailed. And then, the depleted wizard slept in the rakshasa's richly furnished bedroom while the rest of the party (arcane-less!) searched the grounds for 8 hours....

 

[Sound of Azure]

Have you tried subbing the Sorcerer 7 spells with Psion or Wilder 7? Raks make great bases for psionics.

Indeed, all Rakshasa in one of my older games were Psions. This made them very flexible and adaptive. I made them a blend of the old legends and a caste system based on the Discipline they had. there was also a subrace that were psychic warriors or soulknives.

It worked out pretty well for me.

 

[pawsplay]

They should be an 9. They are tougher than a level 7 sorcerer, obviously, but their DR is not such a huge deal at their level, and they are vulnerable to other effects. I would say 8, but their DR with a decent SR is kind of hard to overcome.