Ghoul

Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

This page is about the player species. For the monster, see Ghoul (monster).

Ghouls are horrible undead creatures that sleep in their graves for years on end, only to rise and stalk the living. Slain foes heal these monstrous beings as they feast on the macabre energies released. They aren't very good at doing most things, although they make decent unarmed fighters with their claws and, due to their contact with the grave, can use ice, earth and death magic without too many difficulties. Like other undead, ghouls are naturally immune to poisons, negative energy and torment; have little warmth left to be affected by cold; and are not susceptible to mutations.

Innate Abilities

• Ghouls are undead and have the following innate traits:
  • Ghouls have Cold Resistance 1, Life Protection 3, and immunity to poison and Torment. Ghouls will lose stats instead of mutating.
  • Ghouls do not need to breathe and are resistant to asphyxiation damage and certain types of clouds.
  • Ghouls are vulnerable to Dispel Undead Range and holy damage, including the holy wrath brand.
  • Ghouls cannot go berserk, willingly or unwillingly.
  • Ghouls cannot worship the "good gods," The Shining One, Elyvilon, or Zin.
  • Ghouls cannot be polymorphed or change form, but they can be petrified.
  • Ghouls cannot memorize any self-transformation spells (Beastly Appendage, Blade Hands, Dragon Form, Storm Form, Ice Form, Spider Form, Statue Form, Necromutation), nor can they memorize spells that only affect the living (Borgnjor's Revivification, Death's Door, and Sublimation of Blood).
• Claws 1: Ghouls have claws on their hands and receive a bonus to unarmed combat damage.
• Inhibited Regeneration: Ghouls do not heal when monsters are visible.
• Ghouls can regain HP by killing living enemies. Each killed enemy gives a 50% chance to restore 1dXL HP.

Ghouls have a base Strength of 11, Intelligence of 3, and Dexterity of 4 (before Background modifiers). They have -1 to their base magic points.

Preferred Backgrounds

• Warriors: Gladiator, Monk
• Warrior-Mages: Warper
• Mages: Necromancer, Ice Elementalist, Earth Elementalist

Ghouls are prohibited from becoming Transmuters.

Level Bonuses

• +1 strength every 5th level.
• 10% more HP than average.
• +3 magic resistance per level.

Starting Skills and Equipment

Ghouls start with the skills and equipment listed for their background.

Difficulty of Play

Ghouls are a fairly durable undead species that can enjoy the full effect of potions and have decent aptitudes. Ghouls naturally tend to have very poor dexterity and intelligence, though this can eventually be offset by the chosen stat bonuses that one receives every three levels.

Skill aptitudes

The higher the value, the better the aptitude.

Skill	Aptitude	Skill	Aptitude	Skill	Aptitude
Attack		Miscellaneous		Magic
Fighting	1	Armour	-1	Spellcasting	-2
		Dodging	-1
Maces & Flails	-1	Shields	-1	Conjurations	-2
Axes	-1	Stealth	2	Hexes	-2
Polearms	-1			Summonings	-1
Staves	-1	Invocations	1	Necromancy	0
Unarmed Combat	1	Evocations	-1	Translocations	-1
Throwing	-1	Shapeshifting	N/A	Alchemy	-1
				Fire Magic	-2
Short Blades	-1			Ice Magic	1
Long Blades	-1			Air Magic	-2
Ranged Weapons	-1	Experience	0	Earth Magic	1

Strategy

The most obvious way to play a Ghoul is to use your claws, which give Ghouls a +2 bonus to unarmed combat damage that is helpful in the early game, when bare-handed combat struggles to keep apace of weapons. This play style is further supported by a good aptitude in unarmed combat. However, Ghouls' weapon aptitudes are reasonable, and a weapon-wielding Ghoul is perfectly viable.

Ghouls can also make for moderately competent spellcasters. Their aptitudes for it are not as bad as they first appear: they are good at Ice and Earth Magic, and generally passable at most other things. They are, however, held back by their low intelligence: those who want to make a serious Ghoul caster will want to pick a spellcasting background and devote their stat increases to nothing but Int. However, their good HP and unarmed abilities give them better resilience than most casters.

As far as gods go, Makhleb is a popular choice for Ghouls. Aside from the usual benefits, Ghouls enjoy Makhleb's HP-for-kills because this complements their innate HP-for-kills, allowing them to restore health even faster. Kikubaaqudgha gives Ghouls an easy way to branch into Necromancy. Unarmed fighters should, as usual, consider Okawaru, as Heroism is even more powerful for Unarmed Combat than it is for other weapon skills.

Any of the other typically strong gods, such as Nemelex, Ashenzari, Ru, and so on, are likewise strong for Ghouls. Do note, however, that Ghouls cannot go berserk or regenerate during fights, and thus do not benefit nearly as much as most other species from worshiping Trog.

History

• Prior to 0.26, ghouls rotted over time. Also, they could heal by eating chunks instead of by killing enemies.
• Prior to 0.24, ghouls couldn't worship Fedhas Madash.
• Prior to 0.20, ghouls had Slow Regeneration 1 instead of Inhibited Regeneration and could slowly regenerate health even when monsters were visible.