Re-Imagining the Classic D&D Monster: The Ghoul

Monsters make the campaign. For that reason, I've never been afraid to ignore monster manual cookie cutter descriptions as presented. I've been known to do my own thing. Some players yell "CHEATER!" when my monsters don't jive with the printed MM and I've had players sit before me, thumping their fingers upon the "official" monster description telling me that I am wrong. I generally let them rant and rave, then remind them of rule #1: Dungeon Master Fiat.

Ghouls being an undead creature has never rhymed well for me. My take has always been more in tune with ghouls as presented in GURPS: Fantasy Creatures, that is as a living race which feasts upon the dead. My ghouls live in or near cemeteries for ravenous need. Their lairs are crypts or barrows hidden in or near cemeteries.

The following is presented under the Open Gaming License. All rules quoted are from The Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game copyrighted by Chris Gonnerman. It is easily adapted to your favorite fantasy role-playing game of choice.

"Ghoulism" is a disease, mystical in nature. Most often, ghoulism infects necromancers, or any other living creature that is obsessed with death. Those in the first stage of infection often find themselves panting and sweating in bed after having a bout of night terrors. These night terrors often involve dreams in which the infected is feasting upon corpses. Slowly, the infected finds that she gains no sustenance from typical foods and after a period of a few days, typical foods cause severe stomach cramps and there is yearning for dead flesh. The sight of a corpse, fresh or otherwise, will cause salivation. The smell is invigorating. There is hope for a cure at this stage. A Cure Disease, cast immediately before a Bless by a Cleric of at least 6th level will cure the infected. Being anointed with Holy Water will not cure, but it will help ease suffering (+1 on Save vs Paralysis or Petrify, see below). The casting of a Remove Curse by a cleric of 9th level or higher will also restore the infected to health.

Physically, in the first stage, the infected becomes gaunt and cadaverous in appearance. An odor of rotting flesh is an undercurrent of vile perfume radiating from her body. Within a few days, her gums blacken and soon her teeth begin to fall out. The next day the small pointed tips of jagged, razor like canines begin to peek through her blackened gums. Shortly, she notices that her nails are elongating, becoming hard and pointed.

After being cured at the first stage of the disease, the character slowly regains her lost constitution points, and with time, her appearance reverts to normal; although, she may retain a gaunt appearance as a reminder of what almost was.

If the infected is not cured within the first week of contraction, then a Save vs Paralysis or Petrify must be made daily. Failure results in a constitution drop of one point per day. If constitution drops below half, or to five (whichever is lower) the infected becomes a ghoul. If at any time during the first stage the infected gives into her yearnings, the change is automatic. At this point, the mystical disease can only be removed with the casting of a Remove Curse by a cleric of 9th level or higher, an unwilling ghoul may save versus Spell to resist. Any constitution points lost as a result of the first stage are now regained in the second stage.

Now her appearance is definitely ghoulish. Her former teeth are all gone, replaced by a jagged row of razor sharp canines meant for rending flesh. The hands she views at her wrists end in only what can be described as talons. Her eyes become a dull yellow, and her tongue is a black, elongated slug. It is possible for her to hide her appearance, but not without the proper spells. The smell of death and decay issues strongly from her pores. She tries to hide this with strong perfume, but now she smells of death and lilacs.

Curing her at this point in the disease, her constitution automatically drops to half (or five, whichever is higher); however, this is not a permanent reduction. She will gain them back normally, minus 1 point for every month spent in the second stage. If she was afflicted in the second stage for a year or more, then the loss is permanent, short of a Restoration being cast upon her. She will always maintain a gaunt and slightly cadaverous appearance, and her moldering smell will be disquieting.

As ghoulism is normally caught by those traveling the path of necromancer, it is not uncommon for ghouls to be magic-users, and also rarely clerics of a death god. In this case, the ghoul is treated as an NPC of appropriate class and level (typically 4th, but ghouls of higher or lower levels are possible). Even ghouls in the second stage of ghoulism that are not leveled NPC's with a character class have the ability to cast Speak with Dead as a cleric of 6th level. This is accomplished by the ghoul at least partially eating the corpse, after which the ghoul may enter into a sort of hypnotic state. After 1 to 3 rounds (depending upon how much of the corpse the ghoul ate, more equals less), the corpse will answer questions per the spell description of the same name. This ability makes ghouls sometimes sought after by adventurers and savants.

Ghoul characters often accept their fate at this point. Some form alliances with mages, death cults and even thieves guilds. It should be noted that while their claws and teeth are usable as weapons, for the most part ghouls attack with weapons and prefer missile weapons versus moving in close. They are not combatants and will avoid it if possible with the use of guile and spells, if available.

The third stage of ghoulism is more comparable to the standard ghoul description as described in most D&D type monster manuals. It is not known why the ghoul eventually devolves to this state, nor is there a set pattern on how soon it will happen, but eventually the madness takes the infected down the last road of depravity. At this stage, the ghoul is a raving monster. Ghouls in the second stage of the disease will hunt down those in the third stage and destroy them. This is done out of self-protection. Ghoul societies are by necessity small and secretive. A raving ghoul brings unwanted attention. Subsequently, Ghouls in the second stage of the disease will also seek out those in the first stage and most often destroy them for the same reason; however, there are rare cases of mercy being taken upon these souls and they might be inducted into the ghoul society after they ease them into the second stage by serving them their first feast. Ghouls who reach the third stage cannot be cured of the mystical disease. They are lost and their only salvation is in death.

The ghoul in the third stage appears much as the second, but her mind is gone. The mold and mud of the graveyard is no longer removed from her clothing. No attempt is made to hide what she is.

Ghoulism may also be contracted from the bite of a ghoul; fortunately, only those ghouls in the third stage would risk spreading ghoulism in this fashion (although a confused infected in the first stage might as well). In addition to saving versus paralyzation to avoid the standard ghoul attack, if a character is bitten, a second save must be made versus paralysis to avoid contracting the disease. This is only for bites. Elves are immune to the paralysis of the ghoul and are immune to the disease. There are rare cases of cannibals contracting ghoulism by eating "tainted" meat (a corpse infected with ghoulism).

As ghouls are not undead, they can not properly be turned; however, a successful turn attempt by a cleric of 1st to 11th level will cause the ghoul to pause for a round (treat the ghoul as "surprised" for combat). This result is automatic for clerics of 12th to 14th level. Clerics of 15th to 20th level do not "destroy" the ghoul (as per normal), but the ghoul will attempt to flee from the cleric's awesome display of faith. It is also possible for a cleric of 15th or higher level to be allowed to command a ghoul, if the cleric is of a sufficiently evil bent. Take note that leveled and classed ghouls are not so easily turned. A classed ghoul of 3rd level is treated as a Wight, a 4th as a Wraith, a 5th as a Mummy, a 6th as a Specter, 7th or higher as a Vampire. The above effects for turning are used as level appropriate (i.e. a 5th level Magic-user Ghoul: a 1st to 5th level Cleric has no effect, a 6th to 17th level cleric may "pause" the ghoul, while an 18th to 20th level may cause the ghoul to run away in fear. A ghoul of this level could not be commanded).

Other than those items noted above, the ghoul stats from your favorite monster listing is used, with the "standard" ghoul from said book standing as a ghoul in the third stage of ghoulism. Those in the first stage would have their normal attributes/statistics, and please take note; ghoulism is not regulated to just humans. There can be orc-ghouls, ghouls, hobgoblin-ghouls, or even kobold-ghouls (twisted, and a bit funny, but go for it), just not elf ghouls (unless you really don't like elves and wish to ignore said rule--see rule #1 DM Fiat); hence, a ghoul in the first or second stage could have all sorts of wacky attributes/statistics. If you allow monsters to have classes in your campaigns, things could get really interesting. Consider a 3rd level Cleric, Lizard Man Ghoul. Undead should not be ghouls. It's your call if Lycanthropes, but it is my view that one mystical disease is probably enough.

There is a reason that elves are immune to ghoulism, or at least the legend of a reason. It seems the first ghouls were the product of an experiment conducted by elves. Many elves, deny it. Some of them say it was the drow

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Random Encounter 3: The Secret of Kopao Cave

This is a location based encounter. It is inspired by the article "Last of the Cave People" by Mark Jenkins in the February 2012 issue of National Geographic. In the article, Jenkins and photographer Amy Toensing follow the Meakambut , the last of the nomadic cave dwellers still residing in Papua New Guinea. It is an interesting article and I encourage you to seek it out; however, as a disclaimer in this encounter I portray the nomadic cave dwellers as antagonists. This is fantasy and in no way am I proposing that the Meakambut are a savage people. In the article, Jenkins does make mention that the Meakambut do believe, and are terrified of, sorcery. At one point, he fears for his safety as a member of the Meakambut led him to a cave sacred to them called Kopao and told him the secret of the cave. That night John, the member of the Meakambut tribe that led Jenkins to Kopao and told him the secret of the cave, had terrible dreams. In his dreams, his ancestors were angry at him for telling the Meakambut's secrets to a white man. That morning, a member of the tribe fell terribly ill with pneumonia. Jenkins feared that if the ill member were to die, he would be blamed. That story is the kernel for this random encounter.

This encounter takes place in a jungle environment. It can be run as an outdoor adventure, perhaps a hex or two, or several must be explored as the exact location of Kopao Cave is not known. Random encounters with jungle beasts are possible. I myself am always fond of Robert E. Howard inspired giant snakes, not to mention savage apes. Of course the less mundane critters from your favorite monster manual could always be added. The tribes that live in the area do not welcome outsiders. The subsist from hunting and gathering. The intrusion of outsiders can disrupt their hunting and gathering by either killing game or scaring it away. In either case, they are very protective and will deal with all outsiders. They prefer not to attack openly; instead, they will rely upon their superior knowledge of the area and set traps for the party, or attempt to lead them into dangerous areas. If they must attack, they prefer to do so from high up in the jungle foliage. They are experts at camouflage, and their weapons of choice are poisoned tipped javelins and darts. If forced into a face to face melee, they wear little armor, but do make use of small wooden shields and long curved knives of bone (which also may be poisoned).

The characters have heard stories whispered that amongst the nomadic jungle tribes, there is a sacred cave with a secret. If time and resources are spent discovering what this secret is, they will find vague creation myths. Basically, the tribes of the area believe that they were "birthed" from Kopao cave and that it is a conduit which leads directly to their gods. They do not frequently visit the cave, but do take the skulls of honored members of their tribes there to be put to rest. This is an honor. Rumor is, that these honored members (chiefs and great warriors and hunters) are put to rest with valuable treasures. What these treasures might be is up to the DM, but rumors of gold and relics should be discovered to entice the players to find Kopao cave.

Kopao cave should not be easy to find. Much exploring must be done. Even when the location is discovered, the party must make a dangerous climb up a vertical face that even thieves will have a hard time with without the proper equipment. Of course the tribes of the area set traps for the unwary as safe guards.

Entering Kopao cave, the players hunch under a low overhang that only halflings will not find uncomfortable to enter. Within, they are greeted by a gantlet of skulls, most of which are green with age, but others appear more recent. Past the skulls are numerous hand prints stenciled in blood. The hand prints are the first indication of the true secret of Kopao cave. Once a year, the tribes select one of their best hunters as a sacrifice. He is brought to the cave. As an honor, he is cut, then dipping his hand into a saucer of his own blood, he makes his mark amongst those of the past sacrifices. This honor completed, the ritual begins and he is sacrificed to appease the dwellers of the cave. There are indeed treasures left beyond the hand prints, these too are left to appease the dweller of the cave. Here the players will find large feathers, the hollow avian bones of which are full of fine gold dust and capped with a gum made from the sap of trees. There are also garments spun from fine fabrics and favored weapons, some of which are magical. These are there for the taking, if the players can deal with the dweller first.

What is the dweller? Think Lovecraftian. Kopao cave is portal that leads to another dimension. Luckily, it is weak and the dweller can only enter from its dimension no farther then the cave. There is a large crack in the ceiling. It is about twenty feet long, and three hand spans wide. From this crack, an odor is noted. An odor reminiscent of rotten fish, but not overpowering. It is as if dead fish were stuffed into the crack, left for a few weeks, then removed a week ago. Magic-users and elves get an uneasy feeling in close proximity to the crack. Their stomachs feel queasy and they find the hairs on the nape of their necks stand up, they may also get goose bumps. The closer one gets to the crack, the cooler the air temperature becomes. Standing right beneath it, the air is so cool, one shivers. A darkness in noticed within the crack. Torches and lanterns will not illuminate it, a light spell does not even penetrate it. Voices are heard from the within the crack. Whispers in a language that none can fathom. The hushed whisper increases into a present drone. Finally, a tentacle slithers from the crack, followed by another. That is when the darkness radiates from the crack acting as a Darkness spell.

Now is when the characters, if they are smart, run. I use insanity rules in my games, and would require sanity checks. If they stick around to fight it out, they most likely will perish. They should be able to grab some treasure and run before all hell breaks loose.

Adventure Idea -- The Hunger Games

My daughter has been begging my wife and I to read Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games for a long time now. She was excited about the movie coming out and was disappointed that I wouldn't be in town to see it with her opening weekend. To make up for my absence, I borrowed her copy of the book for my business trip and promised to read it.

I finished tonight and found it an enjoyable read; however, this isn't a review. From the get go, I was reminded of a Dungeons & Dragons session I ran when I was in the seventh or eighth grade that had a strikingly similar set up.

I was twelve when I first started out as a dungeon master, and I quickly earned a reputation for killing characters. It was a badge of honor for me at the time. I strove to come up with novel ways of pitting my players characters against great odds. I didn't kill them all, but most. To this day, I've never actually killed a player, just their characters.

In the session I ran, I had my five players start out as convicted prisoners that were sentenced to death. Their captors gave them one chance at life. They were set loose in the dungeon via magic portals. The dungeon belonged to a powerful wizard. They were told that only one of them was allowed to make it out alive, but that person would not only earn his freedom, he would also be allowed to keep whatever he recovered in the dungeon. Of course the dungeon was stocked full of nasty monsters and even nastier traps. I had decided that whichever character made it to the end of the dungeon would be faced by the wizard and a small army of minions. The wizard would demand whatever valuables the character had recovered. If he cooperated, he would be allowed to live and leave naked. Yeah, I was not a nice DM, and I'm not sure why anyone ever wanted to play with me, young bastard that I was.

The five of them were not alone. I set loose ten NPC's with them, each of which had the same deal as they. All of the fifteen were set loose at different points in the dungeon. As I remember it, one of them was quickly attacked by a group of three NPC's that had decided to join forces. Witnessing this, the remaining four decided to gang together and started NPC hunting. This lasted for a bit, until one of them, a thief, back stabbed a fellow player character.

At that point, all hell broke loose. In the end, none of them survived as I cheated. One of the NPCs was actually a devil polymorphed into the form of a human. When he was encountered, well, it didn't end well for the remaining two players that met up with him.

In retrospect, it was a juvenile concept, but sometimes juvenile is good, dirty fun.