Special Conversion Thread: Moldvay's Undead

[Shade]

I think so!

I'm not sure this next one warrants conversion, as it seems a precursor to the ghul. What do you think?

GHULA
FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 2-20
ARMOR CLASS: 5
MOVE: 12.
HIT DICE: 5
% IN LAIR: 25%
TREASURE TYPE: E
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-12
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Spells
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Very
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil
SIZE: M
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

Ghulah are Oriental ghouls (especially of Arabic-Persian tradition). They usually appear as either beautiful women or hideous half-woman, half-monster creatures. Ghulah are evil kinfolk to djinn. They cannot be affected by sleep, charm, or hold spells. They have the power to cast the magical spells of invisibility and polymorph self. Clerics have the same chances to turn ghulah as they would ghasts.

Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #138 (1988).

 

[freyar]

I'm inclined to agree that these are just ghuls. The only difference I see is HD.

 

[Cleon]

I'm pretty happy with that. Done?

The hybrid form should have a +6 Will save 'cause of its Iron Will.

Apart from that they look grrreat to me!

 

[Cleon]

I'm inclined to agree that these are just ghuls. The only difference I see is HD.

Well there are a fair few difference from the Enworld conversion of the Lesser Ghul.

A lower AC and Intelligence, more Hit Dice, a single attack instead of a claw/claw/bite, no DR and full polymorph self instead of diminished change shape into humanoids.

I'd like to riff on the "evil kinfolk to djinn" flavour and convert them as a Tomb-Tainted Native Outsider.

Any takers?

 

[freyar]

These are basically the greater ghuls, though. You are right about the differences, but they're mostly cosmetic, and the flavor is basically the same. Let's see if you can convince Shade, though.

 

[Shade]

I just don't think there's enough there, but you might be able to sell me on it with some more ideas.

 

[Cleon]

I just don't think there's enough there, but you might be able to sell me on it with some more ideas.

Well if we're going the Native Outsider route we could try to make them closer to the original version.

I'm having trouble finding sources, but I've found one claim that there's no Arabic tale in which ghuls dug up graves and devoured the corpses and that this habit is a Western invention due to their habit of lurking around graveyards.

Contrary to this, I've got tales like The Story of Sidi-Nouman from The Arabian Nights which describe a ghul eating a body stolen from a grave. While The Fourth Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor has a tribe of cannibals led by a ghul king who liked to drug their victims out of their wits, fatten them up, cover them in coconut oil and then devour them - the king ate his humans roasted, his subjects devoured them raw. However the ghul(s?) in the latter story seems quite different from the "desert ghul" that we seem to be talking about.

So, how to reconcile this? Putting together what I've found so far...

1. Arabian Ghuls are maneaters, but from what I can tell they like fresh meat. They might steal a recently dead corpse, but would have no more liking for an old decaying cadaver than a lion would.
2. Ghuls like treasure, so I'm supposing they'd break into tombs for the grave goods, not the corpse.
3. They like to lead men astray in the desert and would injure or even kill them
4. A ghul possesses free will like any other genie, so could be converted to Islam and proper behavior as in the story The History of Gherib and his Brother Agib. (Although in that story the ghouls appear to be cannibalistic giants rather than shapechanging desert spirits, it presumably applies to all forms of ghul.)
5. They can change their form to human or animal shape, and seem to favour the shape of hyenas.
6. According to some sources, the only way to kill a ghul is to strike it dead with a single blow - maybe a lot of Fast Healing?
7. Finally, I'm wondering whether our Ghula should create illusion. Most genies have that power. A ghul is the basest kind of genie, so presumably its illusions would be weak - phantom fires and whispers to lure travellers astray, basically.

 

[freyar]

Genies that like to eat sentients? Maybe we're getting there.

 

[Shade]

Alright, that's probably enough. Have at it.

 

[Cleon]

Alright, that's probably enough. Have at it.

Okay then.

Let's take a Janni as our base creature, since that's a genie of the size and type we want.

I'm tempted to add the Evil subtype, but I guess the Efreet doesn't have it so the Ghula probably shouldn't either. Furthermore, they can be converted to benevolent faiths so presumably aren't intrinsically evil as an Evil subtype would indicate. I'm thinking "Usually Chaotic Evil". We should probably give them the Shapechanger subtype though.

Attacks should be slams, like a downsized Efreet.

Intelligence 12 like an Efreet seems right, since they're Very (11-12) intelligent.

So how about this for a start:

Ghula
Medium Outsider (Native, Shapechanger)
Hit Dice: 6d8+6 (33 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 15 (+2 Dex, +3 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+9
Attack: Slam +4 melee (1d6+3)
Full Attack: 2 slams +4 melee (1d6+3)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., immunity to enchantments, invisibility, polymorph, scent
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +7
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 13
Feats: 3
Skills: 9 skills at 9
Environment: Warm deserts
Organization: Solitary, company (2-4), or band (5-20)
Challenge Rating: ?
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually chaotic evil
Advancement: 6-9 HD (Medium); 10-15 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: —

Immunity to Enchantments (Ex): A ghula is immune to all spells and spell-like abilities with the Enchantment descriptor.

Invisibility (Su): A ghula can become invisible as a quick action, as per the spell invisibility (caster level 15th) with an unlimited duration. The invisibility ends if the ghula attacks. A ghula can become visible as a free action.

Polymorph (Su): A ghula can change its shape as per the spell polymorph (caster level equal to its Hit Dice), except the transformation has an unlimited duration and it does not regain lost hit points as if it had rested for a night.