Ghoul

Version 0.31: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

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:
  • Cold Resistance 1: Ghouls are resistant to cold.
  • Life Protection 3: Ghouls are resistant to negative energy.
  • Poison Immunity: Ghouls are immune to poison.
  • Torment Immunity: Ghouls cannot be tormented.
  • Ghouls cannot gain mutations, use talismans, or be polymorphed. When mutated, they receive stat penalties instead.
  • Ghouls are unbreathing, cannot be put to sleep, cannot go berserk, and do not have blood.
  • Ghouls are vulnerable to Dispel Undead, holy damage, and holy wrath-branded weapons. They may not worship the good gods (The Shining One, Zin, or Elyvilon) or wield weapons of holy wrath.
  • Ghouls cannot use the spells Borgnjor's Revivification, Death's Door, or Sublimation of Blood.
• Claws 1: Ghouls have claws on their hands. They receive a +2 damage bonus to Unarmed Combat, if they are not wearing gloves.
• Inhibited Regeneration: Ghouls do not heal when monsters are visible.
• Devour on Kill: Ghouls can regain HP by killing living or plant enemies, even when using spells or killing from a distance. Each killed enemy gives a 50% chance to restore 1dXL HP.

Ghouls have a base Strength of 11, Intelligence of 7, and Dexterity of 4 (before Background modifiers). They have normal 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 willpower per level.

Starting Skills and Equipment

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

Difficulty of Play

Ghouls are a durable species with undead resistances. In particular, poison immunity helps early, while torment immunity is great in extended. If you play to their strengths (heavy armour, usually with Unarmed Combat), you can win without too much fuss. They can also be decent casters (in Ice Magic, Necromancy, or Earth Magic in particular).

As undead species, Ghouls are vulnerable to Dispel Undead and holy damage. However, these types of damage are rare before reaching extended. For the early- and mid- game, all you need to watch out for are monsters with holy wrath weapons (which can really hurt if not paying attention) and a few unique monsters (like Josephine).

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, as Ghouls are most proficient in Unarmed Combat, and the Claws mutation gives +2 damage. It helps most in the early game, where bare-handed combat would otherwise struggle to keep apace of weapons. Their weapon aptitudes are reasonable, so a weapon-wielding Ghoul is perfectly viable.

They can also make for moderately competent spellcasters. They have +10% HP, good aptitudes for Ice and Earth Magic, and generally passable at most other things. If you run out of MP in the early game, you still have claws. While you probably shouldn't switch to being a 'pure caster' as a melee start, starting with a caster background isn't the worst.

God Choice

• Makhleb is a popular choice for Ghouls; it complements a Ghoul's innate HP-for-kills, allowing them to restore health even faster.
• Kikubaaqudgha gives Ghouls an easy way to branch into Necromancy. Invoked torment is much more useful for Ghouls, since it won't cause self-harm.
• Okawaru is good for any unarmed fighter. 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, so do not benefit nearly as much as most other species from worshiping Trog.

History

• Prior to 0.31, Ghouls only had 3 Int, and had -1 base MP.
• Prior to 0.28, Ghouls couldn't heal by killing plant monsters.
• 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.