“We walk unseen, but the forest knows our names.”
Appearance
Ayari are small and built for vertical movement — slender through the torso, long in the limbs, with tactile fingers and feet designed for gripping. Their fur is soft and short, running from silver to violet-brown with a faint iridescent shimmer. Their eyes dominate their faces — oversized, luminous, gold or silver or pearl-blue, with pupils that adjust in real time to emotional states. Their tails are slender, prehensile, and conversational. When still, they appear carved from moonlight.
Origin & Lore
The Ayari turned to darkness before darkness was forced on everyone else — climbing into the high canopy while others built walls. Their eyes adjusted over generations. When the Long Night came, they went higher still, into bioluminescent fungi-lit canopies. They emerged changed: darkvision deepened, empathic reading sharpened, and somewhere in three generations of silence, they developed a relationship to stillness that other species have spent centuries trying to understand.
Baseline Traits
All Ayari receive these traits at character creation at no cost.
Superior Darkvision
See in dim light within 90 feet as if bright light, and in darkness as if dim light. Perceive faint heat signatures and air displacement as motion-ripples beyond visual range.
Canopy Instinct
Add your proficiency bonus to Initiative rolls.
Prehensile Tail
Use your tail to interact with small objects, open containers, or draw a weapon as a free interaction.
Nocturnal Awareness
Proficiency in Perception. In dim light or darkness, advantage on Perception checks relying on sight or hearing.
Canopy Step
When moving at least 10 feet in a straight line, make a standing long jump up to 15 feet or high jump up to 10 feet at no additional movement cost.
Empathic Read
Advantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks to read a creature's emotional state, current intentions, or whether it is being coerced or afraid.
Tiny Terror
When you hit a creature larger than your size, deal additional damage equal to your proficiency bonus. Uses equal to proficiency bonus per Long Rest.
Species Advancement Tree
You earn Species Points at levels 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10. Tier 2 requires at least 1 Tier 1 purchase. Tier 3 requires at least 1 Tier 2 purchase.
Tier 1 Available at levels 1 and 3
Moonfall Step 1 SP
Once per Short Rest, when you jump or fall, land in complete silence. No fall damage from 40 feet or less. Remaining hidden is not broken by landing.
Ghost Drift 1 SP
When a creature misses you with a melee attack, use your Reaction to move up to 10 feet in any direction without provoking opportunity attacks.
Tiny Terror: Perfect Angle 1 SP
When a Tiny Terror attack exceeds the target's AC by 5 or more, treat as a critical hit regardless of the die result.
Color Veil 1 SP
Advantage on Charisma (Deception) checks to conceal emotional state. Once per Short Rest, suppress bioluminescence entirely for up to 1 minute.
Tier 2 Available at levels 5 and 7
Stillness of the Canopy 1 SP
Remain motionless for up to 10 minutes while retaining full sensory awareness. Advantage on Stealth, undetectable heartbeat, aware of all movement within 60 feet.
Deep Empathy 1 SP
On a successful Insight check, learn whether the target is under magical compulsion, its emotional orientation toward a specific person, or if it has acted against its own values.
Shadow Presence 1 SP
While in dim light or darkness, attempt to Hide as a Bonus Action even if directly observed, as long as any shadow is within 5 feet.
Tier 3 Available at level 10
Moon Sight 1 SP
Your empathic and sensory range unifies — you perceive the emotional and physical state of all creatures within 60 feet as a continuous, passive read.
Canopy Ghost 1 SP
You leave no tracks, no scent, and no Essa trace. Movement in natural environments does not trigger passive Perception checks.
human linesmallstealthdexteritywisdomempathy