Shifter / Rakasha question

izzle2 · Post by **izzle2** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 10:30 pm

Can anyone help me out with my rakasha dilemma? I was doing some pvp experimenting with my wiz vs a friend's shifter. Seems that my build was everything I'd hoped it would be and more. At 40th level I was nearly untouchable and could wipe out the shifter at my leisure. Of course this was all with the super power of the original versions of my spells, not the toned down versions in NS4 (igms really packs of punch in the outside world ... *sigh*). I was feeling very proud of myself, right up until he shifted into rakasha form -- then *poof* I couldn't touch him. Now being an outsider I figured I could just cast banishment and destroy this form, so I wasn't worried yet. But to my great chagrin, nothing. Though I thought he should be weak to banishment, he was still immune to the spell. Is there any way to even fight a rakasha with a wiz or sorc? I tried true strike, but that is slow and relatively ineffective especially considering the duration. I would probably run out of 1st and 2nd level spells before I finished him. Not sure but think the form is vulnerable to 9th level spells but with the crazy high saves they are still pointless. Does anyone have any suggestions here? Any help would be appreciated.

Post by **TheBestDeception** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:44 pm

Level 9 are your only bet for attack spells, as he is immune to anything else. I wouldn't be too worried, because about all he can do to you is spam Ice Storm.

Surely a strong Epic summon would lay waste to him VIA his poor AC.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 12:11 am

1) Cast Bless on a bolt.

2) Cast True Strike on yourself.

3) Fire the bolt at him/her/it.

4) Do the dance of joy.

Actually, I'm being a bit glib here - Blessed bolts were working vs shifter rakashas a while ago (months) when I tried it out last, but I haven't tried it out lately. But since you've already got a willing lab rat, should be fun to test...

deathdearler1 · Post by **deathdearler1** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 2:57 pm

shifters in ns4 are horribly outmatched in some melee situations. as a rakshasha goes just get him into a hand to hand fight and mop the floor with him. even casters have a fighting chance with them. poor ac worse ab. sad

Chela Kirg · Post by **Chela Kirg** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 5:09 am

Ok after the second didnt write Rakshasa right. Here it is:

Not Rakasha and not Rakshasha

. It's Rakshasa.

Hm cast a shield on you. Although they are very weak too and go HtH with the tiger man.

Post by **Lokey** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 12:17 pm

I took that out a long time ago Bob, too many cheats possible (if you want real power with standard scripts, look at polymorph self--Meph isn't so scary when he's a Dire Spider or a Pixie lol). We need to think of something else--what does the SRD say about casting bless on items?

Post by **Yonwe** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 2:02 pm

In 3.5 SRD, you don't cast Bless on any items anymore; instead, you have the spell Bless Weapon, which makes a weapon "holy" for the purposes of 3.5 damage reduction (based on type, not enhancement). So, PnP fails us again

In terms of the 3.5 Rakshasa itself, it no longer has the blanket "anything but 9th" spell immunity, with it replaced by SR 27 for a CR 10 creature (the math: 17th level caster can cast 9th level spells, and has a 50/50 chance of piercing SR for any level; 10th casters need feats to have much hope in normal combat).

I'm not sure if that's exactly what you were looking for, Lokey, but I guess it can't hurt!

DrakhanValane · Post by **DrakhanValane** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 2:10 pm

Of course, a 3.5 Rakshasa has the damage reduction 15/good and piercing. So a blessed spear works just as well. :) Your Holy Avenger won't be so great.

Post by **Lokey** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 3:53 pm

Ok Rak gets 3 things when shifted:

d6 claw, not so bad (pierce/slash).

Staff, has knockdown, dodge, fire dam, enhancement 4, ~10 in 4 skills.

Skin...whoa! the spell immunity, true sight, 5/15 soak, a couple of other things.

It isn't the dragon (which can rip through the ancient drags in the toolset from a shifter that starts naked) but that's a pile of stuff to get...plus unlimited use spells.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 11:24 pm

I think it's still possible to metamagic Ice Storm via bard levels on top of that. At least the shifter spells run up against the SR wall... hey, does the claw attack ever fire with the staff always being equipped?

On the upside, with so much of the shifter predefined by skins and items, at least a lot of the problematic stuff isn't hard-coded.

DaMouse404 · Post by **DaMouse404** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 2:52 pm

You can metamagic druids ice storms.. you don't need bard..

-DaMouse

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 9:11 am

Yeah, you're right... was thinking of a build on another server when I wrote that (don't think NS4 has the pre-requsite level 7 & 8 bard spell slot items).