The Ghoul as a PC - ideas?

[Tonguez]

Ghouls are Intelligent and IMC not 'actually' undead (they are soul-less) and mostlt insane and driven by unrelenting hunger.
However some Ghouls have strong enough will to control their hunger and these I've used as NPCs in the past (point buy is great when Con is a dump stat!)

Now I have a player wanting to be a Ghoul and I need some ideas on how to handle the 'depravity' of having no soul, the insanity of 'the hunger', and ideas on what kind of adventuring life a Ghoul is likely to have (my Ghoul NPCs have generally been agents of the Big Bad or independent serial killers and I don't want to run a game where the PCs are serial killers!)

 

[HellHound]

Hmmm...

I use a ghoul template for my ghouls, and we have a Dwarf Ghoul in our adventuring party in Arcanis (basically using the Ghoul racial class from Savage Species).

Hasn't been an issue for us. He occasionally slips away to eat the flesh of the fallen (typically at night when he's supposed to be on guard duty... he wanders back to the scene of the last fight, grabs some grub and heads back to his job).

 

[Goobermunch]

If you're looking for some good mechanics for "the hunger," may I recommend Dragon #314 (if you can find it). It's got rules for "half-undead" templates. One of the templates is the ghoul. It's got a nice system for the hunger.

--G

 

[MrFilthyIke]

I've always used Ghouls in the vein of HPL's "Pickman's Model", or as CoC presents them as depraved, immortal beings with the memories of those consumed...walking storehouses of lore with a taste for "the other white meat".

edit: duh, answer the question...

Anyway, I'd say it could work, but you'd need a good player who can present the sheer creepiness of such a creature in the midst of his companions. Otherwise, stats/balance wise, I don't see any problems in party consistancy w/ a Ghoul involved.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Now I have a player wanting to be a Ghoul and I need some ideas on how to handle the 'depravity' of having no soul, the insanity of 'the hunger', and ideas on what kind of adventuring life a Ghoul is likely to have (my Ghoul NPCs have generally been agents of the Big Bad or independent serial killers and I don't want to run a game where the PCs are serial killers!)

Have you asked your player yet? Does he have any ideas of his own?

You'll want to quantify how much he has to eat. That determines how strong it is and how frequent he has to feed. If it's once per week, he can probably get by on a meal of one dead body. This raises other RP issues in that his friends don't ever see him eating. If he has to sneak off for dinner now and again, that's fairly easy. In a way this is no different than any other "character secret" that someone has, it's just grosser to the typical PC.

I would also suggest giving him XP for roleplaying the ghoul well when he acts out the hunger but also avoids being a serial killer.

The real issue seems to be not murdering everyone on the street, and whether the party will look the other way or not? May I suggest no paladins? (Though I suddenly envision this paladin trying to show the wayward ghoul the "true path" to salvation while it's sniffing his hand and getting out the pepper.) Perhaps if you told us a little more about the group and the intended campaign we can make some more suggestions. Have fun!

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

I had a PC werewolf in my game for a while, and the Monster Manual has rules for play afflicted PCs that you might want to look at. Essentially, when the lycanthrope transforms (or, in the case of a ghoul, they're presented with yummy rotted flesh), they make a Will save to keep their control of themselves and keep their alignment in check. The DC starts at 15 and goes up by +1 each time they fail... so eventually, they're going to permanently become a monster.

However, there's a also a skill they can learn called "Control Shape" which helps them transform without going mad. So, for the ghoul, once he figures out what's happened, he can go on some sort of quest to learn to control the hunger, maybe track down some monks or something.

 

[Umbran]

Or, you might want ot go look at the d20 Sanity rules. I imagine a ghoul's resistance to depravity and hunger might be much like a person trying to cling to sanity. When the character is exposed to certain stimuli, or is left hungry for too long, etc, the sanity score can drop, and the character becomes more likely to "revert to type".

 

[Simplicity]

There's two ghoul stereotypes that I can think of:
the ravenous ghoul and the blue blooded ghoul.

The ravenous ghoul is what the Monster Manual presents.
Ravenous hunger drives these guys to tear into dead flesh and
get blood all over their face while doing it. Fun, but not
a whole lot of depth.

The blue blooded ghoul can be much more sinister. These
guys are essentially nobility that feast upon the homeless,
the unwanted, or criminals. Unlike the ravenous ghoul, these
guys are much more likely to use silverware on their meals
and/or prepare the meals intricately. It is not unusual for
paralyzed victims to sit at the table as dinner is served in
multiple courses. Sometimes this ghoulishness
comes in the form of a family curse, and sometimes new ghouls
are created by the blue bloods inviting guests over for dinner.
These creatures are generally well-fed, and do not succumb to
the irrational behavior of their ravenous cousins, but they do require
a steady supply of food to 'live'.

Though not officially a ghoul, Hannibal Lecter is a good example of this
stereotype. He even does the paralyzing trick at one point...

There was a Tales from the Crypt episode at one point
about this sort of ghoul as well. They formed an interesting (but not
very intelligently named) organization for taking street people in and
finding them new homes: the Grateful Homeless, Outcasts, and Unwanteds
Layaway Society.

 

[ConcreteBuddha]

Ghoul Paladin.

 

[Tonguez]

I like the ideas presented here so far - so the advice is decide what triggers the hunger and then a will save to resist or go all monster, and make sure he can do creepy freak!.

The setting is more 16/17th century Urban slums than medieval, and looking something like 17thC indutrialised Preston (Lancashire) with Faerie, goblin gangs and ghouls.

The PCs are in the slums and work for Old Sally (who is a midwife, scorcerer and the local Tooth Fairy).

Haven't actually decided on the adventure yet but I like the Blue Blood ghoul discussion - one of the NPC Ghouls somewhere in the campaign is the Bogeyman, he's now a Blueblood and head of a Humane Society taking in the Homeless! - ghoul orphans MWAHAHAHA!