Ashari/Ashrai

Physical Description
Ashari and Ashrai are two distinct ethnicities of the same race, with Ashari being native to Coznakk and the Ashrai native to Westland (Asra); for ease of reference, the term Ashari is used here except for Ashrai-specific traits. Ashari fur and hair tends to be monochromatic shades of gray or brown, but some have either spotting or stripes. Ashrai resemble Ashari in every way except they tend to have longer and lighter fur and almost all have gold-colored eyes. Ashari resemble anthropomorphic felines, but notably lack a cleft lip and have exaggeratedly large, almost bat-like ears that sweep back from their head. Like other Beastfolk, Ashari walk digitigrade, and they possess tails roughly two-thirds as long as they are tall. Both males and females are heavily furred, and they typically have Human-like scalp hair as well. Ashari have vestigial claws on their digits, but are functionally as useful in combat as Human fingernails.

Ashari males and females have a degree and spectrum of sexual dimorphism comparable to Humans and are fully mammalian. Ashari, despite appearances, do not engage in feline behaviors and do not make feline vocalizations, and tend to get highly offended if suggested they do or should behave like a cat.

Game Rules

 * +2 Dexterity, -2 Strength, +2 Charisma: Ashari are nimble and quick but not very strong.  Their distant Rakshasa heritage also tends to shine through, especially among Ashari Sorcerers
 * Fast (Ex): Ashari have a base land speed of 40 feet per round. (Fast - 1 RP)
 * Low-Light Vision (Ex): Ashari see twice as well in low-light conditions than Humans do.  (Low-Light Vision - 1 RP)
 * Primal Link (Ex): Ashari have a +2 racial bonus on Acrobatics and Perception checks.  Ashari have keen senses and their explosive speed also lends itself to amazing leaps and tumbles. (Skill Bonus, 2 applications - 4 RP)
 * Sensitive Hearing (Ex): Ashari have incredibly acute hearing, far stronger than even Elves, and have blindsense out to 30 feet.  Blindsense allows a character to notice the presence of creatures and pinpoint the location of creatures within that range, but does not allow any further benefit unlike the blindsight special quality.  An Ashari’s blindsense is foiled by areas of silence, by deafening the Ashari, or by exposing the Ashari to sonic damage. (Blindsense - 4 RP)
 * Sonic Vulnerability (Ex): Ashari are vulnerable to sonic damage, and suffer an additional 50% damage from sonic attacks; in addition, an Ashari’s blindsense ceases to function for 1d4 rounds after suffering any amount of sonic damage.  Ashari also have a -4 penalty on all saves against sound-based effects or effects that rely on sound, such as language-dependent effects. (Variant on Elemental Vulnerability - +2 RP)
 * Rakshasa Sorcery: An Ashari Sorcerer with the Rakshasa bloodline treats their caster level as 1 higher when casting bonus spells and bloodline powers.  This trait does not give Ashari early access to level-based powers, it only affects powers they could already use without this trait. (Variant on Fiendish Sorcery - 1 RP)
 * Automatic Languages: Ashari or Ashrai, plus one Trade Language
 * Bonus Languages: Any (except secret or dead languages) (Linguist - 1 RP)