Homebrew Ghoul Species Details
For many, the word “ghoul” conjures grotesque images
that shock and nauseate. Dwellers in graveyards and
connoisseurs of flesh and bone, these hooved eaters of
the dead move with hungering poise, slaver for the living,
and exude the stench of a charnel house. A Mythos ghoul
shares a taste for flesh with these monstrosities, but it is
not savage or feral. Rather, these folk possess a keen in-
tellect and a complex culture steeped in lore and custom.
Indeed, a Mythos ghoul is just as likely to aid visitors as
attack, if not more so.
Unlike the more well-known grave-gorging undead that
share the same name, these ghouls are living creatures.
While their demeanor and nature would seem to make
them natural allies to their monstrous brethren, competi-
tion for food and the mundane ghoul’s hatred of the living
makes living ghouls and their undead counterparts bitter
enemies. Mythos ghoul necromancers are fond of using
undead as minions, as undead ghouls often appeal to the
sardonic sense of irony so many ghouls possess.
Unless otherwise noted, the word “ghoul” is used in the
text below to refer to the living ghouls of Lovecraft’s tradi-
tions, rather than monstrous undead ghouls.
Ghoul Traits
Your ghoul character is a monstrosity. As such, spells and effects that only work on humanoids do not affect you. The ghoul race is an excellent choice for a player who wishes to play a monstrous race that can fill a more scholastic role, but care should be taken to ensure that the GM and the rest of the players are comfortable with having a party member who may well be wallowing in unpleasant or taboo subjects (eating dead humanoids can easily upset one’s allies).Ability Score Increase
Increase. Your Constitution and Intelli-
gence scores each increase by 1.
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.
Grave Nose
You have advantage on Wisdom (Per-
ception) checks that rely on smell to notice or recognize
corpses, decaying things, meat, and undead creatures.
Bite
Bite. You can bite as an unarmed strike if you could not
already. When you make an unarmed strike with your bite,
it has the light and finesse properties and deals 1d4 pierc-
ing damage. You can use your bite in two-weapon fighting.
Claws
You can make a claw attack as an unarmed
strike with each hand. When you make an unarmed strike
with a claw, it has the light and finesse properties and
deals 1d4 piercing damage.
Psychic Feast
When you feed upon the flesh of a dead
humanoid or monstrosity, you absorb some of the linger-
ing traces of memory and knowledge that the creature
possessed in life. Strangely, the older the corpse, the
more potent the memories become. Feeding on a corpse
less than 24 hours dead provides no benefit but nour-
ishment. If you spend 1 minute feeding on an older
corpse that has some amount of flesh
(even dried flesh, such as a mummy
might have), you gain insight into a
skill or tool that the creature was
proficient with. Specify a skill or tool
you believe the creature possessed;
if you’re correct, you gain that insight.
If the creature lacked that proficiency, you
get an insight of the GM’s choice instead.
You add half your proficiency bonus to ability
checks using a skill or tool if you have an
insight into it and were not already
proficient in that skill or with that
tool. If you have an insight and
are proficient in a skill or with
that tool, you add one and one-
half times your proficiency
bonus instead of your normal
proficiency bonus on checks
using that skill or tool. You can
normally gain only one insight
from any given corpse. At the GM’s discre-
tion, a particularly ancient corpse might grant
a larger bonus or two insights. You can maintain
up to three total insights. If you use this trait when you
already have the maximum number of insights, choose
one to forget in order to replace it with the insight from
the new corpse. You can enhance this ability by taking
the Erudite Feaster feat (page 68).
Inured to Disease
You are immune to nonmagical
diseases and have advantage on saving throws against
magical diseases.
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