Rakshasa
Rakshasa — The Encounter
Two-faced night-prowler, four blades and a stolen face · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Rakshasa
Among the rakshasas, the night-prowlers of the old hymns, this one is counted a lord. Born of an arrogant soul reborn into a body of appetite, it walks with two tiger faces so that no blade may come at it unseen and no lie may catch it from behind. Worshippers of the three great gods say such fiends crept into temples after dusk, fouling the offering-fires and feasting on the devout, then wearing the faces of those they devoured to enter homes as a beloved son or a trusted priest. Sword-edges turn from it; lesser sorceries pass through it as through smoke. To slay one is not enough, for the spirit flees beyond the world and gathers a new body across long years of penance and patience. The wise burn its remains upon a sacred pyre and scatter the ash in running water, lest it return to the same threshold wearing a kinder face.
Run Rakshasa in Sixty Seconds
- Magic immunity is the gimmick. Spells of 6th level or lower simply do not touch it unless it wants them to, so steer players toward weapons, grapples, and high-level slots instead of wasting fireballs.
- Open with control, not claws. Pre-buff with disguise self, scan with detect thoughts, then dominate person on the strongest melee PC so the party fights its own tank before a blade is drawn.
- Kill-priority for the DM: break its concentration. If the party drops the dominated ally back to their side, expect the rakshasa to re-cast or switch to Stolen Face to keep someone out of the fight.
- When bloodied, it stalls and slips. Veil to vanish, Slip the Blade to punish missers, and ready plane shift as a one-use escape so a clever rakshasa survives to return.
- Three ways to run it: as a lone trickster-boss (solo, all legendaries), as a court villain flanked by a sworn naga or asura guard, or as an infiltrator wearing an NPC's face until the reveal mid-scene.
Rakshasa
Medium fiend (shapechanger), lawful evil
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINELimited Magic Immunity. The rakshasa can't be affected or detected by spells of 6th level or lower unless it wishes to be. It has advantage on saving throws against all other spells and magical effects.
Innate Spellcasting. The rakshasa's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 17). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components: At will: detect thoughts, disguise self, mage hand, minor illusion. 3/day each: charm person, suggestion. 1/day each: dominate person, fly, plane shift.
Two Faces (signature). The rakshasa wears two snarling tiger faces and never truly sleeps; it can't be surprised, and the first time it would be blinded or charmed each turn it ignores the effect, one face turning to meet the threat the other cannot see.
Actions
Multiattack. The rakshasa makes four Claw or Talwar attacks. It can replace one of these with a use of Stolen Face.
Talwar. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+4) slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage as the curved blade drinks vitality.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) slashing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom save or be cursed for 1 minute, taking 7 (2d6) psychic damage at the start of each of its turns (repeat save ends).
Stolen Face (Recharge 5-6). The rakshasa fixes a creature it can see within 30 ft. with both gazes. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Charisma save or be frightened of the rakshasa for 1 minute and have disadvantage on attack rolls against it (repeat save ends at end of turn), as it sees its own face snarling back.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Slip the Blade. As a reaction when a melee attack misses it, the rakshasa makes one Talwar attack against the attacker.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Cut. The rakshasa makes one Talwar or Claw attack.
Veil (Costs 1 Action). The rakshasa casts disguise self or minor illusion, or moves up to its speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
Sundering Whirl (Costs 2 Actions). The rakshasa spins all four arms in a ring. Each creature within 5 ft. must make a DC 17 Dexterity save, taking 14 (4d6) slashing damage on a failure, or half as much on a success.
A four-armed prince of the night-wanderers, tiger faces snarling in two directions at once, curved talwars trailing as it stalks the ruin of a temple it once defiled.
Rakshasa, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINECoiled Guard (signature). While within 5 ft. of the rakshasa, the naga warrior imposes disadvantage on the first attack made against the rakshasa each round, sliding between blade and master.
Actions
Twin Khanda. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d10+4) slashing damage.
Reactions
Venom Spit. When a creature within 20 ft. damages the rakshasa, the naga warrior spits venom; the attacker must make a DC 15 Constitution save or take 9 (2d8) poison damage and be poisoned until the end of its next turn.
A serpent-scaled honor guard, sworn to die on the threshold before its lord's borrowed face is ever pierced.
Guideline numbers — formula-tuned and read from the miniature's design, not yet table-proven. Tell us how it ran in the comments.
How It Fights — by Tier
Same creature, scaled threat. The traits never change; only the numbers move.
Open with Stolen Face on the loudest PC, then carve with two blades. If the party clusters, Sundering Whirl scatters them; kill-priority is whoever can dispel its illusions. Pair it with a naga warrior or asura add so it can flit in and out behind cover.
Lead with disguise self and detect thoughts before the fight to pick a charm target, then open with Dominate Person on the strongest martial. Frighten the rest with Stolen Face and let Slip the Blade punish missed swings. Kill-priority is the caster; this tier wants one or two add-ons to screen it.
Run it as the boss. Open invisible-by-disguise, charm or dominate the heaviest hitter, then full four-blade Multiattack and use legendary Cut + Sundering Whirl to bleed the front line. Spend Veil to vanish and re-appear; when bloodied, lean on Limited Magic Immunity and Stolen Face to stall while plane shift readies as an escape. Kill-priority for the party is its concentration on dominate person.
Put Rakshasa on the table
Download the presupported STL and run the fight tonight — the model, and the encounter that comes with it.
Get the STL on MyMiniFactory →Clay Cyanide Companion Rules v1
How a bound creature acts
- A companion acts on its owner's initiative, immediately after the owner.
- It uses the Companion block above — roughly ×0.6 HP and damage, no recharge abilities, and at most one reaction trait.
- It moves freely; it takes its Action only while its owner is conscious.
- At 0 HP a companion is broken, not dead — restored on a long rest unless your table rules otherwise.
Original Clay Cyanide material © Clay Cyanide LLC — explicitly not the non-SRD official sidekick rules.
Questions, Asked at the Table
What CR is Rakshasa?
Native CR 11 (Tier 3, ~7,200 XP) as a solo trickster-boss with legendary actions. Drop the block to the Tier 2 line (CR ~6) or the Tier 1 line (CR ~2) to scale it down; traits stay identical, only AC, HP, to-hit, save DC, and damage move.
Can Rakshasa be a companion or ally?
Rarely and on its own terms. A rakshasa serves no one for long, but it makes a chilling patron or temporary ally bound by a bargain it intends to twist. If you want it on the party's side, run it as a deceiver whose help always carries a hidden price.
Why don't most spells work on it?
Limited Magic Immunity ignores spells of 6th level or lower unless the rakshasa allows it, and it has advantage against everything higher. Lean on weapons, grapples, environmental hazards, and 7th-level-or-higher magic; a player who realizes this early changes the whole fight.
Tell Us How It Ran
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 ("SRD 5.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
Clay Cyanide Miniatures is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC. This content is compatible with the fifth edition of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. Companion rules, lore, names, and original mechanics © Clay Cyanide LLC.
Technical Specifications
32mm, 75mm
STL, Pre-supported STL
Standard or ABS-like resin, 0.05mm layer height
Yes — ready to print, optimized supports included
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