Rakshasa, Variant (5e Race)

Rakshasa

"Slay me once, shame on you. Slay me twice, shame on me." —Rakshasa maxim

Physical Description

Artist: Peter Mohrbache

Rakshas are fiends from the Nine Hells, which are about the same height and weight as humans, which have the appearance of human tigers. Their palms are where the backs of their hands would be on a human, causing their hands to be backwards. Aside from this deformity, their appearance can be of any tiger, provided it would be humanoid.

History

Rakshasas originated long ago in the Nine Hells, when powerful devils created a dark ritual to free their essence from their fiendish bodies in order to escape the Lower Planes. A rakshasa enters the Material Plane to feed its appetite for humanoid flesh and evil schemes. It selects its prey with care, taking pains to keep its presence in the world a secret.

Society

Rakshasas tend to live in the society of common humanoids, with humans being the most common for them to live inside, as they masquerade as people that are powerful or influential, such as a noble, a cardinal, or an immensely wealthy merchant. In the Nine Hells, they are seen as outsiders, due to them attempting to reject their nature as devils to become new beings.

Rakshasa Names

Rakshasa names, due to them being mostly devils transformed into tiger-like beings, take their names from the Infernal language. However, many choose to masquerade among other races, and their custom is to take their name from a more human sounding, yet exotic, language.

Male: Agni, Amani, Baqi, Basir, Ezhil, Hasan, Iskandar, Raja, Murad, Preem-Pramoda

Female: Aaliya, Akanksha, Chandra, Deva, Ishta, Jaya, Kali, Pree-Lavanya, Rajani, Zahida

Rakshasa Traits

The cat-shaped demons known as rakshasa are manipulative, tiger-like fiends.
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.
Age. Rakshasas do not typically age, due to them being converted from devils, however, natural-born rakshasas are considered mature by age 17, and can live to be 200.
Alignment. Almost all converted devil Rakshasa are of the Evil alignment, though a few exceptions may occur, while natural-born rakshasas lean closer to Evil alignments than most humanoids, but are not always it.
Size. Rakshasas of all varieties are around the same height and weight as humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. Your infernal blood allows you to see in the darkness easily. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Cat's Tongue. You are proficient in the Deception skill.
Deformed Claws. Your backwards claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength or Dexterity modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
Infernal. Your creature type is both humanoid and fiend. When you die on the Material Plane you return to the Nine Hells, where your essence remains trapped until your body reforms — a process that can take months, years, or even centuries. When you are reborn, your body reforms in the Nine Hells and you have all the memories and knowledge of your former life. Like devils, rakshasa killed in the Nine Hells are forever destroyed.
Magic Resistance. When you fail a saving throw against a spell or other magical effect, you can re-roll the die and must use the new roll. You regain use of this feature when you complete a long rest.
Innate Spellcasting. You know the friends cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the detect thoughts spell once and need to finish a long rest before you can cast it again. When you reach 5th level, you can also cast the suggestion spell once and need to finish a long rest before you can cast it again. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Savage Attacks. When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.
Languages. {{{languages}}}
|languages You can speak, read, and write Common and Infernal.}}

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
5′ 0''	+2d12	110 lb.	× (1d6) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

Rakshasa Quirks

You can select, roll, or adapt a Rakshasa-specific quirk from the Rakshasa Quirks table. Use the quirk to inform how you portray your character.

d6	Rakshasa Quirk
1	Your hands look like regular humanoid hands but are double-jointed.
2	You constantly say short adages, maxims and proverbs about situations & how they relate to being a Rakshasa. They are not always true.
3	You never eat any food that isn't meat, and openly (or secretly!) nurse a desire for human flesh.
4	You can't help yourself when wealth, money, power, secrets or treasure is involved. You'll risk anything to gain wealth, power and status.
5	You carry symbols of all the gods you know, hoping that you might be spared their wrath while you are on the Material Plane.
6	You enjoy betraying people for no reason. It just brings you great pleasure.

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