Homebrew Ghoul Species Details

Physical Description

Ghouls appear as any normal human, save for one feature; their eyes. When in contact with human blood or hungry, their sclera becomes pitch black, with their iris and veins becoming more prominent and bright red. 

History

The beginning of the race of ghouls is a mystery. For as long as they have been known, they have been feared and hunted en masse.

Society

Ghouls have two options when it comes to society. Certain ghouls choose to live as a hermit, living by themselves, separated from society, only associating themselves with ghouls briefly to hunt for prey. Other ghouls choose to assimilate themselves into society. This is considered extremely dangerous, as if they are discovered, they must either flee or kill those who discover them. Ghouls within society will often wear masks to conceal their identity when hunting so as not to be discovered.

Ravenous Buzzards

Ghouls are monstrous creatures of the undead. They have vague forms that toe the line between man and beast. There are various variations of ghouls, depending on the land which they are found. To date, there are two subraces of ghouls in Kara-Tur, and another subrace specific to Faerun. Each subrace is fairly unique, but all share a vague humanoid form, feral eyes, stringy to no hair, a small tail, and sharp teeth for devouring flesh.

The two subraces in Kara-Tur are found mainly in Malatra, the Plain of Horses, and the Northern Wastes. One, who occupies lands further in the north, appears like a stout demon with curl dark hair, horns, and protruding fangs. They may resemble satyrs due to having a furrier lower body. But instead of a goat, they have the hind legs of a hog. The second ghoul subrace on Kara-Tur is further down south. They resemble hyenas, with snout-like faces and flared ears. They can also change into the form of a hyena.
The ghoul subrace living in Faerun is supposedly the ugliest of all. They are taller than the other subraces, but have green, slimy skin pulled over a thin and bony torso. Their faces are gaunt and the skin pulls tight against the skull to show a visage of a grinning skeleton with sharp teeth. They have yellow, glowing eyes and usually a head of slimy dark hair. The lower half of their body is that of a goat.

Doomed Detritivores

There are various stories and legends as to how ghouls came to be. The general accepted lore is that they originated from Kara-Tur, having migrated to Faerun alongside the Shou refugees during the Tuigan invasion of Shou Lung. They are believed to have developed a different stature from their Kara-Tur counterparts due to a change in diet on a new continent.
One theory as to the origin of ghouls is that they are in fact a type of genie. Ghouls in south Kara-Tur in particular are acclimated to deserts, which is associated with the Dao. An offshoot of that origin theory is that they were genies who bridged the heavens and earth, delivering ill-begotten wisdom from eavesdropping on the gods to humans, thus making them soothsayers. As they grew more bold and daring in their exploits, the heavens began barring them from entering the different spheres of the heavenly domain. Eventually, after the last sphere was closed from their reach, they were effectively trapped in the material world. The egotistical marids were unwilling to accept exile, and so they continued trying to breach heaven. Heaven placed a barrier of fire and swarms of comets on guard, which bombarded and burned the marids severely. Those who did not burn to death were burned beyond recognition as they fell back to the ground, scorching the land upon descent, and making deserts where they fell. Deformed, they were driven to insanity and doomed to roam the land as ghouls. In this particular canon, it is said they can regain their genie forms if one casts a certain prayer over them.

Night Stalkers

Ghouls are best known for their hunting grounds, which are any areas where the dead may be buried and exhumed. This is not exclusive to cemeteries, as ghouls are also found in the deserts, tundras, as well as sewers and swamps. Where there is a battlefield of the slain, ghouls will show up to claim the carrion a few days later, along with the crows. They are known to viciously attack those who would get in the way of their meals, be they clerics purifying the ground, or a simple gravekeeper doing his rounds. In Faerun, ghouls are luckily rather solitary, roaming under the cover of night in graveyards, robbing mausoleums. Ghouls in Kara-Tur, particularly the southern variety, tend to travel in ravenous packs and desecrate entire burial grounds. It is not known if they have any kind of hierarchy.

People regard the ghouls with fear as any other undead. It is thus highly common to tell children stories about these grave robbers to deter curious kids from going into resting places in the dark. Unfortunately, more than one child has fallen victim to ghouls during a silly dare or game of courage, as well as grown men. There are alleged ghouls who will take the form of women, or use the leftover skin from a dead woman's cadaver to disguise itself and catch a man. Carrion is not always enough, it seems. In fact, female ghouls are said to be more dangerous due to the fact they can momentarily mask their undead nature and appear beautiful. They seem to like the taste of living more than dead. Charms are sometimes placed around the perimeter of burial spaces to deter ghouls.

There was once a clever wizard who utilized a group of ghouls to devour the dead left behind after a grisly battle. The wizard was in a feud with a necromancer, who could then not utilize the ruined leftovers. These sorts of stories bear the levity most do not in regards to ghouls. They remain a staple figure for cautionary tales. As a matter of fact, calling another person a ghoul is derogatory, meaning they either derive pleasure from the macabre perversely, or they are gluttonous.

Clever Graverobbers

Ghouls are vindictive creatures with guile and cunning. Combined with their voracious appetites, they are extremely able killers and hunters. They have a can-do attitude that makes them very tenacious. While not all ghouls travel in packs, they are known to be able to cooperate. They are also rather intelligent and can often use a glib tongue to confuse those who pursue them, disarming them and making them easy prey. This differentiates them from other ferocious creatures like the wendigo, who are savage hunters without a second thought. They can temporarily absorb certain features of those who they consume, be it their voice or their face. Ghouls are ultimately creatures driven by appetite, but even in their most ravenous state, they have a mind to cause mischief.

Ghoul Names

Gender does not really matter for a ghoul. It is more like a small throwaway gesture. Their names reflect this indifference, usually just having the "ghoul" sound somewhere in there.

Male: Ghul, Ghul-e Biyaban, Ghul Am-ahra, Ghul mum-Ra

Female: Ghula, Umm Ghulah, Fati-Ghulah, Ghulah E'Bin

Ghoul Traits

undead

Ability Score Increase. 

Your Constitution score increases by 2.

Age.

 Ghouls can lose vitality if they aren't careful to keep a steady supply of corpses at hand. Under the best circumstances, they can live long lives to terrorize for generations to come. The oldest ghoul was 3000 years old.

Alignment. 

Ghouls have a wide variety of alignments that are as diverse as humans, but tend toward neutral or chaotic alignments due to their forced separation from society.

Darkvision.

 You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Carrion Eater.

 You gain nutrition from corpses, ignoring any detriment. You may consume dead or rotting bodies and flesh to fulfill your food requirement, and you are immune to any diseases or effects that would render you poisoned when you do so.

Extreme Feeding. 

Ghouls are very dependent on their diet and must consume one body’s worth of flesh (see Hunger) to fulfill their food requirement, after which they are satiated for 2d20+your Constitution modifier days. If they eat before they require food again, it does not stack and they must roll again. 3 days before they require food, they must succeed a DC 12+1 each day they do not eat Constitution saving throw at the end of combat. If they fail the save, they suffer one of the effects in the short term madness table located in the DMG for 1d10+15 minutes. While under these effect, they do not gain the benefits of Extreme Recovery

Extreme Recovery. 

Ghouls may regrow limbs or other parts of the body during a long rest. If you regenerate a limb during a long rest, you do not replenish Hit points, Hit dice, or spell slots. Along with this you add your proficiency bonus to your hit dice when you use them to heal

Ghoulish Appetite. 

You gain nourishment from human flesh, though you don't need to eat every day. Additionally, you must pass a DC 15 Constitution check to keep yourself from vomiting should you consume any other foods. Drinks, however, are fine.

Ghoul Sense.

 You have advantage on Perception checks based on hearing and smell. You can distinguish between ghouls and non-ghouls without the need for a roll. Lastly, dim light no longer affects your vision negatively.

Hunger.

 You can only receive nourishment from human flesh. When consuming other food, you must succeed a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or Performance check, your choice. On a failure, you vomit. Regardless of whether or not you vomit, it will not fulfill your food requirement for the day.

Once every 1d20 + 10 + your Constitution modifier days, you need to consume at least 1.5 lbs worth of human flesh (or a sentient equivalent). Every meal resets the days and a reroll is needed. When the amount of days left is equal to your Constitution modifier, you must pass a DC 12+1 (per day after) Charisma saving throw or suffer one of the effects from the short term madness table in the DMG for 15 minutes, increasing by 15 minutes on each consecutive failure.

Languages. 

You can speak, read and write in Common and Abyssal.

Size.

 Your size is Medium.

Speed. 

You have a base walking speed of 30 feet.

Undead Nature.

 Your creature type is undead and humanoid. You do not need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep.

Ghoulish Claws. 

You are proficient with your unarmed strikes, which deal 1d6 slashing damage on a hit.

 

 

Paralyzing Strike.

 When you hit a humanoid or beast with your claws, you can force the target to make a DC Constitution saving throw DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is paralyzed for up to 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. Elves succeed their saving throw automatically. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you complete a long rest.

 

Ghoulish Nature. 

You are immune to poison damage and can’t be poisoned. You must maintain a diet of rotting flesh (at least 72 hours after death), in equal portion to the amount of food a living member of your original race would require. Your muscles require the same amount of rest that your original race would in order to stave off exhaustion.