D&D 4E The 4E Rakshasa...a little plain?

[WizarDru]

So, I've been running the 4E adventure "The Art of Deception" from Dungeon #217. I think it's a cracking good adventure, quite honestly I consider it the best adventure I've run under 4E for my group, as it doesn't feel like a fixed carnival ride, but offers the players a lot of freedom to solve a mystery and conspiracy. For those unfamiliar with it, the basic plot is

Spoiler

that three Rakshasas have taken over key positions in a local town to secretly control it, but the players threaten to discover this and reveal it/confront them.

So based on that, Rakshasas are important to the plot.

So I was looking over the 4E Rakshasa and found him perfectly servicable in the versions presented in the module. One thing I was expecting but never saw was any sort of vulnerability. This harkened me back to AD&D, when I remember they had a vulnerability to crossbow bolts. I also remember the episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker where a rakshasa appeared. As I was typing this, I quick checked the SRD for 3.5 and realized that version didn't have it, either (heck the 3.5 version has DR 15 good and piercing, which seems the exact opposite of being vulnerable to good crossbow bolts). I then hit wikipedia for the mythological basis only to discover that really, muco of what I thought I knew about them was EGG streamlining most of their qualities from the Ramayana and Mahabarata. The vulnerability to crossbow bolts, though, I haven't seen other than a specific killing of one specific Rakshasa. I'm not even sure where the reverse-hands and felinoid aspects originate from for them.

Regardless, I was kind of hoping that 4E's Rakshasas have some form of vulnerability. My players are coming into conflict with them, but they are otherwise just combatants with a couple of illusory tricks under 4E. Does anyone have any suggestions for a vulnerability or way to unmask their illusory powers somehow that would be a fun thing to suggest to my players? I'd like to encourage more than just straight-up punching until he reverts to his natural form.

 

[Nagol]

The original 1e version would die if hit with a crossbow bolt blessed by a cleric.

DR 15/good and piercing means a blessed crossbow bolt will punch through since it matches the parameters for ignoring the reduction.

As for vulnerabilities, they are typically viewed a form of outsider banished to the material plane. Does that suggest anything in 4e?

 

[Dungeoneer]

The original 1e version would die if hit with a crossbow bolt blessed by a cleric.

DR 15/good and piercing means a blessed crossbow bolt will punch through since it matches the parameters for ignoring the reduction.

As for vulnerabilities, they are typically viewed a form of outsider banished to the material plane. Does that suggest anything in 4e?

4e doesn't focus much on vulnerabilities, at least not of this type. You will see vulnerabilities to certain damage types, but this usually simply takes the form off a +5 or +10 damage on a hit. You certainly won't see anything along the lines of insta-kill crossbow hits, except for minions.

There are a few creatures in 4e, though, that lose certain abilities if hit with a certain damage type. For instance, an insubstantial creature might become substantial if hit with divine energy. Or a solo monster might lose its aura. Maybe you could use something like that here - if the Rakshasa is hit with divine energy it could become weakened (half damage) or something.

 

[Manbearcat]

[MENTION=151]WizarDru[/MENTION], 4e has a pretty easy and elegant solution to this via the use of NPC Traits and Keywords. For instance, you can just add the following to your home Rakshasas:

Trait: Any Ranged attack that has Divine and Martial Keywords does 2d6 extra damage (or 3d6 at your discretion) to the Rakshasa and scores a critical hit on a 19 - 20.

 

[Kinak]

Traditionally, a rakshasa's biggest weakness is having its illusions seen through. Piercing or resisting those illusions could be a really good in-combat skill challenge, especially because you can justify a lot of interesting skill choices beyond (or instead of) Arcane.

You could also give them auras that can be brought down by psychic or radiant damage, as [MENTION=91777]Dungeoneer[/MENTION] mentioned. Especially if they're solos, a simple psychic damage aura can do wonders.

What sort of party do you have? Is there anyone you feel like could use more of a chance to shine?

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Monsters such as rakshashas and aboleths need work to really ... work.

A rakshasha should be found in a field of illusions, or half of its guards are illusions, along with some of the pillars it's using for cover, etc.

FourthCore probably makes this work even better. FourthCore often has "puzzle" monsters, overpowered but with strong weaknesses, much like a rakshasha. Such "puzzle" monsters aren't balanced and so don't work very well in standard 4e.

 

[WizarDru]

I like the trait idea. That allows me to craft something on a rakshasa by rakshasa basis. The party has already determined that their target is, in fact, a rakshasa in disguise. With the help of some npcs, they have lured him I to a trap and are about to engage him in combat.

The party consists of a warlock, wizard, knight, rogue and that class with spirit companions whose name I can't recall at this second. This rakshasa is a warrior, but the other two are controller and artillery types.

I'd like to give the party options to set up traps and fights that are smart and reward preparation and fun choices.

 

[Remathilis]

So I was looking over the 4E Rakshasa and found him perfectly servicable in the versions presented in the module. One thing I was expecting but never saw was any sort of vulnerability. This harkened me back to AD&D, when I remember they had a vulnerability to crossbow bolts. I also remember the episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker where a rakshasa appeared. As I was typing this, I quick checked the SRD for 3.5 and realized that version didn't have it, either (heck the 3.5 version has DR 15 good and piercing, which seems the exact opposite of being vulnerable to good crossbow bolts). I then hit wikipedia for the mythological basis only to discover that really, muco of what I thought I knew about them was EGG streamlining most of their qualities from the Ramayana and Mahabarata. The vulnerability to crossbow bolts, though, I haven't seen other than a specific killing of one specific Rakshasa. I'm not even sure where the reverse-hands and felinoid aspects originate from for them.

If I recall correctly, one of the "features" of 4e monsters were that there were no "one-trick" encounters. The rationale is that a creature like a raksasha has two-modes: unprepared for (the PCs lack the blessed bolt, which makes the monster incredebly hard) or prepared for (where the PCs know and prepare for it, and thus the fight is a non-challenge since the minute you hit, you win). The same was made true of other creatures with weaknesses (such as stakes with vampires or wolvesbane with werewolves).

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Monsters such as rakshashas and aboleths need work to really ... work.

A rakshasha should be found in a field of illusions, or half of its guards are illusions, along with some of the pillars it's using for cover, etc.

FourthCore probably makes this work even better. FourthCore often has "puzzle" monsters, overpowered but with strong weaknesses, much like a rakshasha. Such "puzzle" monsters aren't balanced and so don't work very well in standard 4e.

Yeah, I always interpreted the 4e way of designing monsters to be "here's the basic out-of-the-box thing" and then the DM would be free to build around that as a starting point and make something that fits their desired narrative. So a rakshasa might have a lot of illusions and deceptive tricks prepared. The PCs would likely face various skill challenges and such that would end up with the evil creature unmasked and cornered, followed by a fight. Failing some of the challenges or ignoring chances to prepare would simply make for a bad situation at the end for the PCs, with the monster having several tricks up its sleeve, some nasty illusionary allies, etc.

Once you embrace the idea that 4e's resources are there to provide you with the baseline to build from and not so much to be complete packaged adventure solutions then its a pretty nice game to work with. Otherwise it can be pretty bland.

 

[Quickleaf]

I've run rakshasas in 2e and 4e, and in neither case were they "a little plain", and in both cases it took work to make the monster...well...work. Here are some of the tricks I've pulled with rakshasa:

PCs cross threshold and are teleported to separate "rooms" surrounded by monsters (it's an illusion, they're all in the same room, an each PC is made to appear as a certain monster to the others. You have to know both the players and their PCs to pull this off, but it was a devious little puzzle that had the PCs desperately hacking at each other for a bit.

Illusion conceals a creature or trap with a visually-triggered component, thus providing "protection" from the basilisk, soul-trapping mirror, or whatever...Especially well suited to a rakshasa who makes no qualms about admitting its all an illusion and insinuating that staying in the illusion would be kinder than returning to reality. As an aside, in the 4e DMG it explicitly states players need a "good reason" to make an active Insight check to disbelieve an illusion, otherwise they use passive Insight; I would consider this bit of RBDMing apropos if a player just says out of the blue (cause they're rakshasa!) "I disbelieve the illusion!"

Rakshasa weaving selective illusion that only NPCs see, but letting the PCs see thru, of the rakshasa as the young son/daughter of a well-loved popular figure. This is good if the PCs try the "reveal to the public" approach to get popular support agains the rakshasa without hard evidence (as is usually the case). Have the NPC/best forces in town rally to rakshasa's defense. In this case, treat the rakshasa's illusion as something that can be dispelled with enough disruption of the rakshasa's concentration, so more than just stabbing but less than killing (the exact measure up to you as DM). Very fun if you can inspire doubt within the party that maybe the rakshasa has just glamored the NPC's child to *look* like a rakshasa.

So there are 3 imminently usable ideas for you about how to make a rakshasa encounter more interesting, independent of edition really.