Rakshasa Reconstruction.

[Caliban]

A few things.

I houseruled that Arrows and Crossbow bolts will do it. I just don't see the point why a crossbow bolt will, but an arrow won't. Frex, a Rakshasa would be unstoppable against wood elves, who normally never use crossbows.

Another: The blessed bolts have plusses. Magic Weapon, GMW, they are considered 'Blessed' if cast by a cleric. Thus, the spells Prot from *Normal* arrows.

I don't believe Contingency will work. Atleast, maybe a last gotcha 'Fireball centered on me if I am ever hit by a blessed arrow', but I don't think it works to Teleport away if he is; he's hit, he's dead, back to the outer planes where he belongs.

Stoneskin gives you 10/+5 damage resistance. A blessed arrow/bolt created with magic weapon won't be able to penetrate it unless fired from a Mighty Bow, or someone specialized with the Bow, and even then they will have to roll high or critical.

If the damage reduction negates all the damage, it also negates any secondary effects. I think that the "insta-kill" from a blessed bolt would fall into the "secondary effects" category.


You can also cast blind on anyone you see holding a bow.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I houseruled that Arrows and Crossbow bolts will do it. I just don't see the point why a crossbow bolt will, but an arrow won't.

For goodness sakes, why are you applying logic to it at ALL?

The reason is simply that the blessed crossbow bolt is part of the rakshasa's myth.

That's like saying, "Well, in my game, vampires recoil from garlic, as well as parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. I just don't see why garlic would work but nothing else would."

I mean really, if you're going to rationalize it, just take it out entirely.

Of course, if you wanted to be a real rat bastard, you'd change it (in your world) entirely away from crossbows at all, and go with something that the players don't already know.

Now that would be good DMing.


Wulf

 

[Little_Buddha]

Also I think it is very reasonable to rule that Ghostform + Improved Invisibility = immunity to Blindsight. I mean, what is there to sense? You can't see the caster, touch him, smell him, echo-locate him, or feel his vibrations.

You can't smell them? Why does a character in Ghostform have no scent? Even apart from this, a creature with blindsight could detect changes in the air currents caused by a gaseous creature moving. IMO, anyway - personally, I'd rule that blindsight still gave all the benefits it lays out in its description.

If as a DM you want blindsight to be blinded by this particular combo, then by all means go for it. Just remember that the players can recreate the combo to defeat your nice blindsighted opponents

 

[gfunk]

You can't smell them? Why does a character in Ghostform have no scent?

To quote from the SRD:

"Incorporeal creatures do not leave footprints, have no scent, and make no noise unless they manifest, and even then they only make noise intentionally."

PCs in Ghostform are not gaseous, they are ethereal. Therefore, they do not interact normally with the Prime.

 

[Grendel]

I hate to throw realworld myth and folklore into the mix, but all tales show animal recoiling from otherworldly spririts, making them at least detectible in some fasion. perhaps not scent, sound, or sight, but a palpable evil presense. Blindsight generally states what defeats it, bats and scilence, grimlocks and sound and smell, dragons nothing.

 

[gfunk]

I hate to throw realworld myth and folklore into the mix, but all tales show animal recoiling from otherworldly spririts, making them at least detectible in some fasion. perhaps not scent, sound, or sight, but a palpable evil presense. Blindsight generally states what defeats it, bats and scilence, grimlocks and sound and smell, dragons nothing.

Though I do see your point, I wish Wizards made Blindsight more uniform. It seems that the Blindsight of Dragons is probably the most powerful in the game. In Magic of Faerun, under the Blindsight spell, it says that Listen and Spot checks are irrelevant. But some people, including Monte Cook, suggested that a Dragon's Blindsight even goes through walls and above ground (e.g. better than Tremorsense). So who knows? I'm all for making Dragons more bad ass though.

 

[Tzarevitch]

My group is coming up against a Rakshasa (A more powerful one), and I was wondering if any had spell suggestions?

I'm going to advance it's HD to 10, thus advancing it's spell capability to a tenth level Sor, giving a CR 10, I believe.

Now, any suggested spells?

I'd figured that he'd go for things to help with being hit with blessed arrows: Shield, Mirror Image, Blacklight (MagoF), and Wind Wall.

But, what good offensive spells are there, or defensive, for that matter?

Get rid of the bit about every Rakshasa being vulnerable to blessed crossbow bolts. I changed it so that each rakshasa is vulnerable to some mundane thing. Take the blessed crossbow thing as an example but not the rule.

Tzarevitch

 

[Tanager]

The reason is simply that the blessed crossbow bolt is part of the rakshasa's myth.

Actually, in the Ramayana Rama uses arrows quite a bit to kill Rakshasa .

[/hijack]

 

[Xarlen]

Re: Re: Rakshasa Reconstruction.

Get rid of the bit about every Rakshasa being vulnerable to blessed crossbow bolts. I changed it so that each rakshasa is vulnerable to some mundane thing. Take the blessed crossbow thing as an example but not the rule.

Tzarevitch

Trust me. If the blessed arrow doesn't work, then my party is pretty screwed. By the time they reach the Rakshasa, they're going to be weak. And not a single weapon do they have that they can bypas the DR. If I just up and change the rule, without them knowing... They're dead, Jim.

 

[Tzarevitch]

Re: Re: Re: Rakshasa Reconstruction.

Trust me. If the blessed arrow doesn't work, then my party is pretty screwed. By the time they reach the Rakshasa, they're going to be weak. And not a single weapon do they have that they can bypas the DR. If I just up and change the rule, without them knowing... They're dead, Jim.

Have any of them even run into a rakshasa to "know" that that is correct in the first place? In my campaign, the rakshasas have maintained a campaign of misinformation to cause adventurers to believe that they are all vulnerable to blessed crossbow bolts. That way they die firing blessed bolts instead of trying to find out what rakshasa actually are vulnerable to.

(I made it clear when I started to DM that players who rely on MM information when their character has no reason to know it might run into problems because I do change MM entries.)

Tzarevitch