Rakshasa, Lesser

The lesser rakshasa is a playable monster race for the Pathfinder RPG game. If properly developed a lesser rakshasa can possess all the abilities of a regular rakshasa by 14th level, though they are not forced to do so.

Rakshasa, Lesser

The villianous rakshasa are not all born the same. On occasion one may be born who is not fully developed or possesses a fate different from the typical tyrannical hedonist of their kind. These lesser rakshasa's possess a great capacity for good or evil and can develop the abilities of their kind or take another path of their choosing.

Physical Description Lesser rakshasa look like standard humans, but with somewhat animalist features that are subdued. These features often are a reflection of their personalities. For example, a lesser rakshasa who is unquestionably loyal may possess dog like features while one who is boisterous and loud may have hippo like features. Other than this there are typically no indications that a lesser rakshasa is anything but a standard human.

Society Lesser Rakshasa's are a product of their enviorment. If no regular rakshasa is present to influence the lesser one's choices then they could grow to become anything they chose. In these situations a lesser rakshasa emulates whatever society they are brought up in. Feelings of alienation are not uncommon though. All rakshasa's feel a sense of purpose which may put them against the simple folk that have taken care of them since birth.

Relations In this regard a lesser rakshasa develops whatever relations their birth race has. It is their relationship with other rakshasa's that are of interest. If a lesser takes up the adventurers mantle they may find themselves with the urge to hunt down members of their own kind in an attempt to prove themselves. A lesser that becomes a paladin may seek to destroy their kind while one that becomes a bard may wish to regale them with their skill. A lesser rakshasa that does not choose to emulate its races abilities may find itself alienated by the one group that can understand their plights.

Alignment and Religion Much like their forebearers a lesser rakshasa tends toward lawful or evil alignment. They also tend to find no use for religion, but those that do give themselves to worship often recieve the full enemity of their race. Oddly enough, chaotic good is a common alignment for adventuring lesser rakshasa's. In this case the lesser becomes a foe of their kind in the worst of ways choosing to actively hunt down true rakshasa's.

Adventurers Lesser rakshasa's make excellent combat casters with a strong, early leaning towards socerer. Those that do not attempt to expand upon their full racial abilities can still become powerful eldritch knights, but the real threat lies in those rare few who become paladins. A lesser rakshasa who does develop their full racial abilities can still become an eldritch knight and this is not an uncommon choice for many of this race.

Rakshasa, Lesser Racial Traits

+2 Constitution, +2 Charisma, -2 Wisdom: Lesser rakshasa are hardy and have a powerful presence, but lack self awareness early on in life.

Medium: Lesser rakshasa are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.

Naturally Deceptive: Lesser rakshasa recieve a +2 racial bonus to both bluff and disguise.

Supernatural Skin: Lesser Rakshasa have DR 1/piercing and a +1 natural armor bonus.

Languages: Lesser Rakshasa begin play knowing common. Lesser rakshasa's with a high enough intelligence can begin play knowing infernal or undercommon as well.

In order for a lesser rakshasa to unlock its full potential he or she must take the following prestige classes. Doing so will allow the character to fully emulate a true rakshasa by 14th level.

Rakshasa Deceiver

This is the first stage of a developing rakshasa's full self awareness. By becoming a deceiver the lesser rakshasa gains access to their racial abilities to shapechange and read minds. With time and effort the lesser rakshasa becomes a force to be reckoned with.

Alignment This path is not to be taken lightly and shows a lesser rakshasa's commitment to the heritage of their kind. A rakshasa deciever may not be of chaotic or good of alignment when gaining levels in this class.

Hit Dice d6

Requirements

To qualify to become a rakshasa deciever, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Base Attack: +3

Skills: 4 ranks in bluff, 4 ranks in disguise, 2 ranks in perform, 2 ranks in stealth

Spells: Able to cast 1st-level arcane spells.

Race: Must be a lesser rakshasa

Class Skills

The class skills for a rakshasa deceiver (and their key ability score's) are, Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis), and Stealth (Dex).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Table: Rakshasa Deciever

All of the following are features of the rakshasa deceiver class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency Rakshasa deceivers gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Spells per Day At the indicated levels, a rakshasa deceiver gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained, except for additional spells per day, spells known (if he is a spontaneous spellcaster), and an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one arcane spellcasting class before becoming a rakshasa deceiver, he must decide to which class he adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.

Skill Bonus' At levels 1, 3 and 5 a rakshasa deceiver gains a cumulative +2 to disguise. At levels 2 and 4 a rakshasa deceiver gains a cumulative +1 to bluff.

Alterself At 1st level a rakshasa deceiver can cast alterself once per day using his rakshasa deceiver level as his caster level. He gains the ability to cast alterself one additional time each day for each level he attains in this prestige class. At 5th level he gains the shapechanger subtype and this ability counts as shapechange.

Detect Thoughts At 1st level a rakshasa deceiver can use detect thoughts once per day using his total character level as his caster level as a supernatural ability. He gains the ability to use detect thoughts one additional time each day for each level he attains in this prestige class. The save DC is equal to 10 + half his rakshasa deciever levels + his Charisma modifier. At 5th level whenever a rakshasa deceiver uses this ability it always functions as if he had spent three rounds consentrating and so gives the maximum amount of information possible.

Vast Intellect Rakshasa deceivers gain +2 to Intelligence at 5th level.

Rakshasa Singh
This is the second stage of a developing rakshasa's full self awareness. By becoming a singh the lesser rakshasa gains access to more of their racial abilities, such as their immense physical prowess, hardened skin and native outsider type. By this point the lesser rakshasa is ready to fully embrace their heritage.

Alignment This path is not to be taken lightly and shows a lesser rakshasa's commitment to the heritage of their kind. A rakshasa singh may not be of chaotic or good of alignment when gaining levels in this class.

Hit Dice d10

Requirements

To qualify to become a rakshasa deciever, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Feats: Face of the Beast, Skin of my Kind

Subtype: must possess the shapechanger subtype

Base Attack: +5.

Race: Must be a lesser rakshasa

Class Skills

The class skills for a rakshasa singh (and their key ability score's) are, Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis), and Stealth (Dex).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Table: Rakshasa Singh

All of the following are features of the rakshasa singh class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency Rakshasa deceivers gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Alterself At 1st level a rakshasa singh can cast alterself once per day using his rakshasa singh level as his caster level. He gains the ability to cast alterself one additional time each day for each level he attains in this prestige class. Levels in this class stack with levels in rakshasa deceiver for the purposes of this ability. At 5th level if he can use alterself ten times per day then he can use it at will instead.

Detect Thoughts At 1st level a rakshasa singh can use detect thoughts once per day using his total character level as his caster level as a supernatural ability. He gains the ability to use detect thoughts one additional time each day for each level he attains in this prestige class. The save DC is equal to 10 + half his rakshasa singh levels + his Charisma modifier. Levels in this class stack with levels of rakshasa deceiver for the purposes of number of times per day and save DC. At 5th level whenever a rakshasa singh uses this ability it always functions as if he had spent three rounds consentrating and so gives the maximum amount of information possible. If the rakshasa singh can use this ability ten times per day then he can use it at will instead and increases his caster level when using this ability by four levels to a maximum of 18th level.

Powerful Physique At 1st level the rakshasa singh gains +2 to Strength. At 2nd level he gets +2 to Dexterity. At 3rd level he gains +2 to Constitution. At 4th and 5th level he gets +2 to both Dexterity and Constitution.

Form of the Rakshasa At 2nd, 3rd and 4th levels add a cumulative +2 to the rakshasa singhs Natural Armor bonus.

Body of My Kind At third level the rakshasa singhs body becomes even moe resiliant. His DR becomes 5/ piercing and he gains spell resistance equal to 6 plus his total character level to a maximum of SR 20.

Rugged Determination At 4th level the rakshasa singhs DR becomes 10/ piercing.

Final Form At 5th level the rakshasa singhs DR becomes 15/ piercing and good. He gains a +5 bonus to his SR to a maximum of 25 and his type becomes outside (native).

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Lesser Rakshasa Feats ===

Face of the Beast

You head assumes the animal form accosiated with your personality granting you a bite attack and making it obvious to all observers what you really are.

Prerequisites: lesser rakshasa, ability to use alterself as a spell-like ability or the shapechanger subtype.

Benefit: Your normal face transforms into an animals head. Regardless of the type chosen you gain a bite attack that deals 1d6+ 1/2 your Strength modifier as a natural attack.

Skin of My Kind

Your body twist into something that possesses perverse and unnatural qualities granting you claws and a more resiliant hide.

Prerequisistes: lesser rakshasa, Face of the Beast, +4 base attack

Benefit: You gain claws that you can use as a natural attack. These claws deal 1d4 + your Strength modifier in damage except when you use one of them as an off hand attack. Your damage reduction becomes 3/ piercing and you gain +2 to your natural armor bonus.

Notes

With the exception of slightly higher hit points and skill ranks this should mathmatically allow you to play the equivilant of a full rakshasa by 14th level. If you are using 25 point buy for stats (which you should be with something like this, since it is epic fantasy) then with a character that has 14's in all but Intelligence at 1st level you will also have attained the same equivilant statistics by 14th level. Amusingly enough, the options for attaining full rakshasaness by 14th is not limited to only one path. 2 levels in any caster along with 2 levels in any combat class will open up rakshasa deceiver. You could also take 1 level in any caster and 3 levels in a combat type or 4 levels in either ranger or paladin. Finally you could take 4 levels in bard and cap out as an 8th level caster in bardic magic. Overall I'm pretty proud of this and will probably encourage one of my players to try this out when we start up our nobles game. Should be a lot of fun!

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