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Ghoul

Ghoul
Medium Undead, Typically Chaotic Evil
Armor Class12
Hit Points22(5d8)
Speed30 ft
STR
13(+1)
DEX
15(+2)
CON
10(+0)
INT
7(-2)
WIS
10(+0)
CHA
6(-2)
Damage Immunitiespoison
Condition Immunitiescharmed, exhaustion, poisoned
SensesDarkvision 60 ft, passive Perception 10
LanguagesCommon
Challenge1( 200 XP) Proficiency Bonus+2
Actions

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) piercing damage.

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. Hit: 7 (2d4 + 2) slashing damage. If the target is a creature other than an elf or undead, it must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

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Ghouls were undead humanoids who devoured the flesh of corpses.

Description

A ghoul appeared as an emaciated, roughly humanoid creature with an almost-hairless mottled, decaying hide stretched tight over its bones. It had the sharp teeth of a carnivore and sunken eyes that burned as if they were hot coals.

Abilities

Ghouls could paralyze their victims with a claw or bite wound, though elves were immune. Paralysis lasted at least a dozen seconds and up to half a minute. Like most types of undead, ghouls were immune to mind affecting spells, such as sleep.

The bite of a ghoul also inflicted a terrible disease, ghoul fever, deteriorating health and agility within a day. Any who died from the illness rose as a ghoul at midnight.

Combat

Ghouls sought to ambush and surprise unwary victims wherever they could, usually hiding behind gravestones or in shallow graves they could swiftly burst out of. Once up close, they would slash at victims with their filthy claws and fangs.

Variants

Aside from the standard ghoul, a number of other varieties existed:

Abyssal ghoul

An extraplanar ghoul with fiendish characteristics that made them far more formidable.

Flesh seeker

A type of ghoul that emerged following the Spellplague, these only arose from the bodies of Orcus worshipers.

Lacedon

An aquatic breed of ghoul, powerful swimmers that lurked near reefs, waiting to prey on stranded vessels.

Ghast

A more powerful breed of ghoul, distinguished by its foul stench.

Gravetouched ghoul

These ghouls were said to have been blessed by the King of Ghouls upon their return from the dead, and were thus more powerful than common ghouls. While standard ghouls lost all of their abilities from their previous life, gravetouched ghouls retained most of their former selves, albeit enhanced by the transformation into an undead creature.

Society

Ghouls hunted alone, in gangs of up to four, or packs of seven to twelve members.

Creation

It was believed that a living man or woman who'd tasted the flesh of people would rise again as ghouls after they died. This was not proven, but it fitted their cannibalistic behavior. However, others believed that anyone who indulged in extreme debauchery and evil could become a ghoul after death.

Whatever the truth, it was clear that any humanoid who was bitten by a ghoul, contracted ghoul fever, and died of it would inevitably rise as a ghoul themselves the following night, at midnight. Unless they were blessed or blessed and resurrected by a cleric before they could turn.

The new-risen ghoul lost all the skills and powers it had in life. Their minds became warped, turning them feral yet cunning and hungry for living flesh, becoming in all ways like another ghoul. They were not bound to serve other ghouls, however.

A more experienced or powerful victim would instead became a ghast.

Diet

Ghouls had a terrible hunger for carrion. They not only ate the dead, but also preyed on the living. They lurked in graveyards and on battlefields, wherever their foul food was plentiful and the air was thick with the smell of death.

Homelands

Along with many other kinds of undead, ghouls were known to hunt within the Battle of Bones in the Western Heartlands by the mid–14th century DR. Ghouls also dwelled inside the House of Stone on the edge of the Ardeep Forest.

Beyond the Prime Material plane, ghouls could be found in the Domains of Dread.

Languages

Ghouls spoke whatever languages they'd known in life, typically Common.

Relationships

Some ghouls acted as servants of the deity Kiaransalee.

This article uses material from the “Ghoul” article on the Forgotten Realms wiki at Fandom and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.