I'll confess: I'm kind of a Planescape person at heart. Don't get me wrong, grounded fantasy with a kind of speculative fiction approach to the question of what life would be like in a world with magic and such totally has a place. But you tell me there are all these surreal landscapes of concept and philosophy, more Alice in Wonderland or Phantom Tollbooth than Lord of the Rings, and you have my attention.
While I know it makes perfect sense given their limited space, I'm always a little bummed that we get tons of Devils and Demons, and a few Yugoloths, but not a full spread of fiends from Pandemonium, Carceri, Hades, or Acheron (at least we got the Demodands in Morte's Planar Parade).
Rakshasas are derived from the real-world folklore of India and Hindu mythology (to be clear, I'm using mythology when describing a modern religion and would just as readily describe The Bible as a book of mythology - it's not a term implying any judgment, just the set of stories upon which a religious tradition is based). Interestingly, though, while Devas, also from the same mythological source, are counted in the Monster Manual as a class of angel, Rakshasas are not counted among the ranks of devils - despite coming from the same home plane.
That, frankly, is a really interesting deep lore question to be explored: why are these fiends of Baator (the name it was given in 2nd Edition out of fear over the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and early 1990s, but which I just think of as the Infernal name for the Nine Hells) not part of the infernal hierarchy under Asmodeus?
They are lawful evil, as you'd expect fiends from the Nine Hells to be, but they're kind of outside of that whole system. And they are mechanically not devils, and don't have the same immunities that devils do - they are not immune to fire damage, or even poison (very unusual for any fiend) nor resistant to cold damage, and of course they don't have the subtype tag of devil.
So, what's the deal with these guys?
In my mind, I think, particularly on a lawful plane, whatever powers exist now must respect older, grandfathered-in rules and restrictions. And therefore, in my mind, Rakshasas were living in the Nine Hells before the advent of the modern "baatezu" devils. There's some lore I read on some wiki at some point that suggests that Asmodeus is actually a kind of avatar of a being called Ahriman. (Ahriman is a figure from Zoroastrianism, while Asmodeus is a figure from Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions as a powerful demonic force). While (D&D's) Asmodeus generally appears in a human-like form (albeit with horns,) Ahriman is a giant, evil winged serpent that may have even crash-landed in what was originally the Seven Hells, breaking through the deepest to create two more layers to the plane.
There's, of course, some contradictory lore, like stories that suggest Asmodeus was originally an angel who fell after being corrupted by the Obyrith Demon Pazuzu (note here as well that the Obyrith Demons pre-date the modern Tanar'ri Demons, the latter of which include all the modern demon lords like Demogorgon and Orcus, while the Obyrith are kind of halfway between being fiends and Great Old Ones).
Still, I like the notion that Asmodeus is actually Ahriman (and like the Obyriths, truly straddles that line between fiend and Great Old One,) and thus when Asmodeus took over the Nine Hells and spawned the modern devils, that the Rakshasas were already there, and that they had the full right and privilege to remain honored residents of this realm of endless torment - rights that could not be rescinded.
Thus, I think of Rakshasas as enjoying a kind of legal immunity in the Nine Hells, able to come and go as they please, within reason, and not bound to serve in the Blood War nor to obey the whims of powerful devils.
In other words, I actually think they would make for fantastic Fiendish Warlock patrons, as they likely have independent agendas.
Now, there's only one kind of Rakshasa in the Monster Manual, but it's pretty powerful. Let's look at how it has changed:
Rakshasas' most powerful trait has always been their limited magic immunity. This has changed, though: the old version allowed them to simply ignore the effects of any spell of 6th level or lower. That's pretty big - an Artillerist or Alchemist Artificer basically couldn't do anything to them, and chances are that even full spellcasters would only be able to do a couple things to fight them.
The new feature is different: Greater Spell Resistance. Now, a Rakshasa simply succeeds on all saving throws against spells and all spell attacks miss it. It also can't be sensed remotely via spells, nor can spells determine its thoughts, creature type, or alignment.
This is kind of interesting, because while now, even an Imprisonment spell won't work on the Rakshasa, it will still take half damage from a Fireball or even a Burning Hands. A Warlock still might have trouble with them if they're not Pact of the Blade, and other than an Evoker, spellcasters will need to cast leveled spells that still deal damage on a successful save in order to affect it. So it's a weird buff/nerf. I think, in all honesty, this is probably going to make the Rakshasa just more consistent.
A long holdover from earlier editions, the Rakshasa does have a weakness - while in 2014 it was Piercing damage from a good-aligned creature using a magic weapon, this has now just been changed to Piercing damage from a creature under the effects of the Bless spell - alignment is getting pushed further and further out of mechanical relevance.
Now, how about its offense?
The Rakshasa is not messing around: its primary attack (which it can do three of) deals an average of 31 damage and also curses the target (no save,) and this curse prevents the cursed creature from benefiting from a short or long rest. Thus, a Rakshasa who really wants to screw the party can opt for hit-and-run tactics. Unless the party has ample Remove Curse or Greater Restoration spells (and the slots to cast them,) the Rakshasa could whittle down a group's power over the course of days (also potentially inflicting exhaustion). They can cast Fly, Invisibility, and Plane Shift to evade the party while they do so.
They also have a 5-6 Recharge ability that causes deals Psychic damage as well as inflicting the party with the frightened and incapacitated conditions. And, like Devils, they have Fiendish Restoration, causing them to respawn in the Nine Hells if they die on any other plane. That with their daily Plane Shift means that you won't be rid of one of these things if they decide to really go after you.
And as such, I think as a DM you need to kind of decide what you're going for here: a relentless threat that drains the party and forces them to quickly deal with them (basically only accomplished by killing them in the Nine Hells or making sure they can't be tracked down - notably they don't have Scrying or other ways to magically locate the party). One of these could honestly remain pretty dangerous even into high levels just because of how unkillable they are.
However, I think that, fun as it would be to have them fight the party, they seem perfect as that morally-questionable ally - a creature whose help the party will need, but whose help will also cost them significantly.
If the party needs to get into the Nine Hells but is unlikely to have any friendly devils with which to deal, a Rakshasa would make for an ideal contact in, say, the City of Dis.
As a note, traditionally D&D Rakshasas are portrayed as humanoid tigers with backwards-facing claws. The new version presents this as one possibility, but there are all manner of other animal-headed creatures with other giveaways. Get creative!
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