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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hong" data-source="post: 222427" data-attributes="member: 537">There's nothing in the book that says the blessed crossbow bolt has to be common knowledge.Repeating what I said before, it's a good bet that the more bizarre and outlandish something is, the more likely it is to be based on real-life myth, legend or folklore. Rakshasas in folktales don't have to worry about pragmatic-minded adventurers loading up on blessed bolts, killing them in one shot, and making a hash of the story. Gaming is slightly different.Think of the crossbow bolt in broad terms, as a weakness that allows even the humblest warrior to kill a mighty demon in the right circumstances. A lot of bogey monsters from folktales are like this, with the classic example being the vampire that can be staked in the heart, or is kept at bay by garlic or a crucifix. You can remain faithful to this concept even as you change the weakness itself, to foil metagaming players. Eg you could say that the rakshasa is vulnerable to a silver dagger, or adamantine, or maybe it melts when soaked in water a la the Wicked Witch of the West. This retains the challenge and also gives you a ready-made plot hook, as the PCs try to find out the weakness of this icky demon that's tormenting them. For best results, you could even have the weakness vary for each individual rakshasa, although you may want to make sure this is communicated to your players.</blockquote>