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| Feral Ghouls - Fallout 3 |
Feral Ghoul CR ½
XP 200
N Medium humanoid (ghoul)
Init +0; Senses darkvision
60 ft.; Perception +0
Defense
AC 14, touch 10, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 12 (2d8+3)
Fort +0, Ref +4, Will +0
DR 5/slashing; Immune mind-affecting effects, radiation;
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +4 (1d4+4)
Statistics
Str 17, Dex 14, Con 10, Int –, Wis 10, Cha
10
Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 14
Feats Toughness
SQ radiation
healing
Ecology
Environment any
Organization any
Treasure none
Special
Abilities
Radiation Healing (Ex) When exposed to radiation,
feral ghouls heal at an increased rate. When exposed to at least a Low level of
radiation, their natural healing rate doubles. When exposed to at least a High
level of radiation, they gain Fast Healing 1.
When a ghoul’s Wisdom score reaches 0 from exposure to high levels of radiation, they become feral, losing all ability to think or reason. Feral ghouls are extremely aggressive, leaping to attack any non-ghoul they see. However, feral ghouls will not attack their non-feral counterparts unless attacked first.
When a ghoul’s Wisdom score reaches 0 from exposure to high levels of radiation, they become feral, losing all ability to think or reason. Feral ghouls are extremely aggressive, leaping to attack any non-ghoul they see. However, feral ghouls will not attack their non-feral counterparts unless attacked first.
Feral ghouls are drawn to sources of radiation, be it from a melted-down nuclear reactor, a leaky barrel of radioactive waste, or some other source. When in the presence of such a source, they benefit from increased physical regeneration. Potent sources of radiation can often draw dozens or even hundreds of feral ghouls, causing dangerous infestations, and making scavenging such locations all but impossible.
Look! Actual content! This first Creature Feature is originally brought to us by the Fallout video game series. In Fallout, as in ODWA, feral ghouls are mindless, zombie-like creatures whose brains have rotted away due to prolonged exposure to radiation, causing madness.
Ghouls, a player race in ODWA, are humans that were exposed to a cocktail of nuclear fallout and biological weapons, which caused their hair to fall out and their skin to slough off, leaving them looking like nothing so much as a rotting corpse. However, they become immune to all but the most potent radiation, and they cease to age, meaning that a significant number of ghouls in the wasteland were alive before the Last War.
However, when a ghoul is exposed to high enough levels of radiation, they start to lose their minds. Eventually, this results in the unfortunate ghoul is driven insane, becoming feral. Feral ghouls lash out at any non-ghoul they spot, and the fear of ghouls suddenly going feral in a populated area fuels prejudice and distrust in many wastelanders.
Statting feral ghouls for Pathfinder was pretty straightforward. I started with a standard Bestiary zombie, dropping their DR 5/slashing and the staggered condition, and switching their Type from undead to humanoid, as feral ghouls aren't technically dead, just insane. The type switch had a handful of effects on the stat block, but outside of losing their undead immunities, there was nothing ground-shaking. Then I bumped up their Dexterity a bit since, as anyone who's played Fallout 4 will tell you, feral ghouls are pretty damn difficult to hit when they're moving. Finally, I added their Radiation Healing ability and swapped their slam attack with a couple of claws.
The whole write-up took less than half an hour, which was a pleasant surprise, and overall I think I did the feral ghoul justice. If you think there's anything I missed, let me know in the comments.
