Daily Art Preview

[mhacdebhandia]

Yeah, its left hand looks awkward. It's easy enough to get your hands into those positions, but I really don't like the look.

You know they're supposed to be on backwards, right?

 

[Kobold Avenger]

But they're not cat-folk, aren't they? They're some kind of weird demon from indian mythology, right?

That's where they came from, and Rakshasa in Indian mythology were described as having bestial features not just cats, but just about any other animal or being malformed which is where the backwards hands probably came from.

 

[Hussar]

I'd give my left nut to have UDON hired as a regular for 4E.

QFT. Ben Wooten's stuff for STAP is jammy.

I want to chime in and express my love for the githzerai picks. More please!

Now that's pretty high praise.

Now to protect those of you on dialup.

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There, now you don't have to go look at the pic in other places.

Not so happy about this one. Doesn't scream Rakshasa to me to be honest. To me Rak's are tiger people. But, then, I never ever used one in a game either, so, I'm fairly ambivalent. It's a kinda cool cat person.

 

[small pumpkin man]

That's where they came from, and Rakshasa in Indian mythology were described as having bestial features not just cats, but just about any other animal or being malformed which is where the backwards hands probably came from.

I believe most of the details of the D&D Rakshasa come from an epdisode of Kolchak the Night Stalker though. Not that I've gotten around to watching the episode myself, the series is very... 70s.

 

[WhatGravitas]

I know I'm a minority though

You're not (completely) alone! (though well-executed WAR pieces and stuff by rk post have a clear place, at least IMHO)

Cheers, LT.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Wizards of the Coast introduced different rakshasas in Monster Manual III. The rakshasa assassin seen here is just an update of the nazrathune rakshasa from that book. They're still described as having the heads of "black-furred tigers".

The expansion of the rakshasa began with the Eberron Campaign Setting, as it happens, where the warrior zakya rakshasas made their debut. They have normal orange-and-black tiger fur, but "can twist [their] backwards hands, enabling [them] to wield weapons normally".

Monster Manual III also includes the white tiger-headed ak'chazar rakshasa, which are necromancers.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I'd prefer this style of art ...
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...over this style of art, for all things D&D.
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I know I'm a minority though

I really can't decide. I like both!

In a way, "Style 1" looks more... real, and somewhat grittier, I think.
But "Style 2" looks more fantastic.

I am very much in favor of every 4E rulebook coming in a WAR and a Cromack (was that his name?) version.That would mean WotC could make twice the money with me! And I didn't even know that I cared so much about "pretty pictures" until 4E arrived. But in the end, I want to see stuff from other artists, too. So maybe this isn't such a great idea...

You know, maybe WotC should really make an "D&D artbook", covering all artwork of 3 and 4E (at least all that's generally considered good ).

PS:
Maybe Style 1 should be used for Heroic Tier, and Style 2 for Epic? At least the SFX in the second pic makes more sense for higher level characters.

 

[Gargazon]

Yeah, its left hand looks awkward. It's easy enough to get your hands into those positions, but I really don't like the look.

If you can get your hands into those positions, you should probably see a doctor...

Also, I love that they're using the other Rakshasha types. I wonder if we'll actually see the Al'chazar as a epic tier Rakshasha baddy (and maybe a tiger-faced Rajah?).

 

[Samuel Leming]

That rakshasa has a mighty large head. As for the backward hands, the left one (our right) is okay, but the other one should be shown more clearly to illustrate the backwardness. And the armor looks a bit too... pedestrian, maybe?

As far as cat-folk go, not the best.

I just can't accept rakshasas as cat-folk. Can't do it. Other than an accident of art, there's nothing cat-like about them. Why should shape-shifting evil even have a default form?

Does anyone remember the elephant-headed rakshasa mini from 1st edition?

Sam

 

[Mouseferatu]

I just can't accept rakshasas as cat-folk. Can't do it. Other than an accident of art, there's nothing cat-like about them. Why should shape-shifting evil even have a default form?

Does anyone remember the elephant-headed rakshasa mini from 1st edition?

Agreed. I love the notion of the rakshasa, and I don't even mind tiger-headed rakshasa. But that should never have become the default, and they certainly shouldn't have become "cat-people" overall. (They were, IIRC, entirely human in appearance, but for the backward hands and animal head.)

Then again, I have an unrelenting (and, I'll admit, unreasonable) hatred of the notion of cat-people in general. Never been entirely sure why, especially since I really like some other "beast people" (gnolls and minotaurs, f'rinstance).