Rakshasa (Rak-sha-sa)

Rakshasas are a dignified race of duplicitous outsiders that mostly dwell on the Material Plane. They are reviled as devious sorcerers, political puppeteers, and are thought to be an embodiment of evil. One of a rakshasa's strongest abilities is resilience, being resistant to most non-magical weapons and being completely immune to low-level spells.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The "true" form of a rakshasa is rarely seen due to its ability to assume nearly any humanoid figure. Still, their lavish taste ensured they were almost always wearing the finest garments and most precious jewelry. Their true forms are most commonly humanoids with the heads of tigers and luxurious fur to match their attire, although it is not unusual for them to possess the heads and features of carnivorous apes, crocodiles, or mantises, with high-ranking rakshasas being rumored to have multiple heads. The eyes of a rakshasa range from gold and black slits for felines to protruding, multifaceted spheres for insects but always contained a fiendish glimmer of disturbing, infernal intellect. However, their most unnerving and unique feature was their reversed hands. The palms of a rakshasa face out from the body when the arms are at rest and the finger joints bend backward to grasp and manipulate objects. 
Even when in their "true" form, rakshasas are not as they first appear. Rakshasas are, in truth, fiendish spirits that bind themselves to the Material Plane within the guise of flesh. Despite their immortality, death is excruciatingly painful for a rakshasa as it means wandering the Lower planes as an incorporeal being, waiting in unending agony for their bodies to reform.

Growth Rate & Stages

When a rakshasa dies, like all fiends, its soul returns to the lower planes. Unlike other fiends, rakshasas are incorporeal while in the lower planes, forced to endlessly wander until their body reforms on the material plane. It is said that the only way to truly kill a rakshasa (as they are difficult to kill inside the lower planes due to their incorporeal nature) is for a truly good-heated creature to shoot it with a blessed crossbow bolt while it is in its physical form on the material plane, which will instantly permanently kill it.

Ecology and Habitats

Despite their manipulative nature, rakshasas thrive in the company of others. Rakshasas enjoy living in human cities disguised as a powerful noble or crime boss, creating political intrigue in any way possible. You will never see a rakshasa come out and rule in the open despite their immense power, for they are aware of their crippling weakness and do not want it to be exploited (instantly dying from a blessed crossbow bolt).

Dietary Needs and Habits

Outside of a strange, paradoxical method of gaining honor and enjoyment, rakshasas torment, beguile, and kill humans in order to consume their flesh. They consider it a delicacy and prefer their meat as raw as possible, especially while it still lives. Their meals are flavored with exotic spices, accompanied by odd side dishes and other expensive, choice foods considered revolting to most mortals.

Behaviour

Unsettling others with their eerily structured hands demonstrates a mere fraction of a rakshasa's true maliciousness, as their wickedness rivals that of devils, and their avarice surpassed them. Their animalistic appearance disguises a sophisticated personality with an unstoppable lust for influence and material wealth. They combine the habits of a predatory aristocrat with those of an indolent cat, savoring the finest art, music, literature, clothing, weapons, and armor while spending large amounts of time lazily resting in their comforts and prowling unseen. Powerful magic, lost spells, arcane tomes, and secret lore, particularly those of the evil variety, are of special interest to the born sorcerers. Slaves are collected the same as any other form of art and are expected to indulge every whim of their cruel master. This serves to bolster the already overinflated ego of the rakshasa, a haughtiness they displayed to all who know their true identity.
Rakshasas use their transformative abilities to appear as nobles, cardinals, merchant princes, crime lords, and other beings rich in power. They use their natural charisma to form vast arrays of minions, lackeys, servitors, and henchmen, and despite their pride are masters of deceit. Rakshasas disguise not only their forms, but their very involvement in events, pulling political strings, creating vast intrigues, and instigating government corruption to secure their safety. Their innate cleverness is enhanced by their supernatural abilities and yet countered by their strange sense of honor, as like devils they would hold to the letter of an agreement while ignoring the spirit to double-cross their supposed allies.
Rather than steal from other powerful beings, rakshasas favor robbing the poor and needy, using their assumed authority to obtain riches and items from those that need them most. Their ability to gain dominion and rise to power while causing others to fall is a source of pride and joy for them. A rakshasa would plot the death of a mortal's family, take everything they had, and ruin their reputation through vicious slander, but nothing brought them more pleasure in this activity than turning a model citizen's society against them by exposing hidden truths.
Upon reaching the material plane, rakshasa usually attempt to establish their own territories as far away from any other rakshasas as possible, utilizing their mastery of disguise to carefully investigate a region for years while staying insignificant. They instinctually seek out hideaways, safe houses, and secret lairs from which to conduct their schemes and display their opulence, their lives often shifting between periods of hedonistic pleasure and unyielding discipline. Thieves guilds, mercenary companies, business fronts, or temples to neutral deities are suitable covers and if no such thing could be found, the rakshasa is forced to create one itself.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

As fiendish creatures, rakshasas can see up to 60 feet into the dark. A rakshasa has multiple magical abilities, including the ability to peer into another creature's mind and detect the presence of living creatures nearby.

Average Height

6-7 ft

Average Weight

250-350 lbs

Average Physique

Rakshasas are usually physically fit, more than that of the average mortal.