Are the Rakastas and Rakshasas the Same Race?

[X-Calator]

Everyone knows what rakshasas are, but in case you didn't already know, rakastas are the cat-people creatures from Rage of the Rakasta, an old D&D game published in '93.

They both look like tigerfolk and their names are too similar to ignore, so were they meant to be the same thing?

 

[BOZ]

to the best of my knowledge, as i never played original (pre 1E ad&d) dungeons and dragons...

the rakasta are indeed a separate race from the rakshasa. perhaps someone with more knowledge on the subject could prove more enlightening...

 

[BOZ]

some sites found through google...

rakasta as 3E PC's: http://www.3rdedition.org/resources/files/race_tlaney5.zip
some 2e AD&D stats: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/rakasta2.html
http://members.cox.net/rlprice/rakasta.htm
http://www.dnd.starflung.com/rakasta.html
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/mystara/gazetteers/brun/sc/bellayne1018.htm

and i'm sure you could find more if you try.

 

[Alzrius]

Rakshasas are evil spirits in a corporeal manifestation, that is, evil Outsiders. Older D&D stuff (previous editions) mentions that they can have true forms that are like tiger-people or ape-people, the tiger look is just more popular now that its overridden the other form. Rakshasas are evil manipulators who specialize in illusions.

Rakastas, on the other hand, are actually a race of cat-people native to the world of Mystara on the Prime Material Plane. They're not Outsiders, nor (IIRC) lawful evil, like rakshasas are. See Dragon issue 247 for more on the Rakasta (which I think mentions that the Egyptian goddess Bast was a rakasta who ascended to become a deity).

 

[Gez]

They both look like tigerfolk and their names are too similar to ignore, so were they meant to be the same thing?[/IMG]

The names are similar because they comes from the same Indian myth of evil tiger spirit. Since India is a big place, that myth knows several variants. In other word, it's not always evil, it's not always tiger, it's not always spirit. I remember in Dragon Knights (my first RPG!), there was a rakshasta (or another close-sounding name) too. It was just a tiger head, with two legs, two arms, and a scorpiontail on the top of its head. It liked to eat people by night...

Rakshasa and Rakasta in the context of D&D are unrelated.

 

[X-Calator]

Yeah, Gez, I know all about the Indian myths. That's pretty much why I asked the question in the first place, considering that was probably exactly where they got both ideas from, which led me to wonder if later down the road if both were meant to be the same creatures, but I'm glad they aren't. Gives me another furry anthro to use.

 

[Filby]

Not much I can add here, except to note that rakastas figure fairly prominently in 'Red Steel', a sort of 'sub' campaign setting set on the other side of the continent from the main 'Mystara' setting. Their culture there (made up of 'base' or 'domestic' rakasta) is what I can only describe as an odd cross between Central Asian barbarian and English dandy.

In addition to the domestic rakastas, as Alzrius points out, Dragon 272 has a several other rakasta subraces based on various normal cats, such as lions, tigers, bobcats, etc.