#D&D 5E MAKING MONSTERS MANUAL#
#D&D 5E MAKING MONSTERS PC#

Invisibility, however, has obvious tactical benefit-especially since the rakshasaвЂ™s Limited Magic Immunity means see invisibility and even true seeing wonвЂ™t work on it.ДЄs for the spells it can cast once per day, dominate person has the same drawback as charm person (though itвЂ™s a lot more useful and effective than charm person if the rakshasa can cast it on someone before combat begins, and itвЂ™s also good for casting on innocent bystanders), true seeing is primarily defensive, and fly has a nasty drawback that IвЂ™ll look at in a second. Major image may serve as a distraction, fooling opponents into thinking the rakshasa has conjured some other creature to fight alongside it, but as soon as they вЂњland a hitвЂќ and discover nothing there, the illusion is dispelled. Of the spells it can cast three times per day, detect magic has no combat application, charm person has the salient disadvantage of working poorly against combat opponents, and suggestion may get opponents to abandon a fight but isnвЂ™t likely to win it. The four spells that the rakshasa can cast at will ( detect thoughts, disguise self, mage hand, minor illusion) have no direct combat application, although disguise self is useful in the circumstance of an urban chase, since a rakshasa can use it to vanish in a crowd. Magical spears, bows and arrows, daggers, short swords and rapiers are going to seize a rakshasaвЂ™s attention in a way that other weapons donвЂ™t, even if theyвЂ™re also magical.) (Tangentially, this is one of the bare handful of instances IвЂ™m aware of in D&D 5E in which it matters what type of physical damage a weapon does. A characterвЂ™s sudden discovery that he or she unexpectedly does double damage-or unexpectedly doesnвЂ™t-may make for an interesting character development inflection point. I see no clear path forward on this issue, but my own call would be to use alignment as written for monsters and non-player characters, and alignment as acted (not necessarily as declared) for PCs.

#D&D 5E MAKING MONSTERS PC#

So a celestial with a spear can do double damage to a rakshasa, but an aberration or fiend with a spear canвЂ™t? What about a good PC? What about a nominally good PC whose player plays his or her alignment poorly? Or a nominally neutral PC whose actions are consistently good, even if his or her motivations arenвЂ™t? What about a high-concept chaotic good tiefling or lawful evil aasimar PC? 1 cosmic feud as neutrals and an opportunistic third faction, respectively. Instead, it offers us spells like protection from evil and good, which defends against celestials and fey as well as fiends and undead-not to mention elementals and aberrations, which have always stood outside the No. The rakshasa is immune to physical damage from nonmagical weapons, but itвЂ™s vulnerable to piercing from magic weapons вЂњwielded by good creatures.вЂќ This is an oddity for 5E, which shuns the assumption of former editions that certain creatures are inherently good or evil.

And it has very powerful Innate Spellcasting, specializing in illusion and enchantment-although, as weвЂ™ll see, its spell repertoire is optimized for social interaction, not combat. With its Limited Magic Immunity, it can nope out of spells cast against it unless those spells are 7th-, 8th- or 9th-level. The rakshasa is expert in Deception and Insight-a born con artist. But that doesnвЂ™t mean it gets its way.Д«efore delving into its spell list, letвЂ™s go over its other features. What we have here is a creature that, while built to survive a battle of attrition, would rather fight using magic than using its claws. The rakshasaвЂ™s highest physical ability scores are Dexterity and Constitution, but these are exceeded by its Charisma. Rakshasas arenвЂ™t on the level of fully grown dragons, but theyвЂ™re as tough as a beholder or master vampire, and tougher than genies, which should give you a sense of the kind of status they should have in a campaign.

The fifth-edition rakshasa is likely to be another rarity, because its challenge rating is a high 13-too difficult a boss for low- or mid-level player characters. Rakshasas were rarely encountered, but when they were, you knew the encounter would be memorable, because it had to live up to that illustration.

#D&D 5E MAKING MONSTERS MANUAL#

Hands down, the rakshasa had the coolest illustration in the original Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual I canвЂ™t help but think that the current illustration is in part a tribute to that original David A.

D&d 5e making monsters