Races of the Cardinal Planes, Vol. 3
By Nildecanter
Image Credits
Wayne Barlowe (front cover and interior illustration on pg. 4). All rights reserved.
Ghoul
At last he discerned above him the projecting edge of the great crag of the ghouls, whose vertical side he could not glimpse; and hours later he saw a curious face peering over it as a gargoyle peers over a parapet of Notre Dame. This almost made him lose his hold through faintness, but a moment later he was himself again; for his vanished friend Richard Pickman had once introduced him to a ghoul, and he knew well their canine faces and slumping forms and unmentionable idiosyncrasies."
--H.P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
Once the haunt of graveyards and other desolate locales, the sturdy and monstrous scavengers known as ghouls were bound by an ancient treaty to leave the surface world and take up residence in the Netherdom, an expansive subterranean world beneath the main landmass of Orpheus. Thought to be distantly related to werewolves or some other lycanthrope, not all ghouls were born the way they are, as it is possible for them to increase their numbers by "infecting" other humanoids and transforming them into one of their kind.
Creatures of the Night
Ghouls resemble largely hairless, hyaenid werewolves with a starved, haggard leanness which belies their incredible strength. Due to the longness of their limbs, ghouls are able to alternate between a bipedal and quadrupedal gait, and their fingers can bend comfortably at ninety degree angles to accommodate this. They have greenish or blueish-gray skin and large, gnarled hands which end in long, curved claws suited to tunneling and slashing alike. Most of the hair on their bodies forms along their heads, necks, shoulders, and backs in light patches and in a long, equine mane which crests at the scalp and ends at the base of the tail. Most ghouls, due to their living conditions and quality of life, appear sickly or diseased, but a few ghouls find for themselves positions of import and consequently higher standards of living, and may then achieve a sort of savage majesty or tragic beauty in their appearance.
An End to Exile
Before they were the peaceful scavengers they are today, ghouls were once the hunting hounds of the Seelie Highlord Cernuada, but were captured, and twisted into the vile servitors of the Beast-Mother Nemhaignon, who rules the lands where Hell and Faerie intermingle. During these times, they lurked in deserts and graveyards and along the fringes of civilization, ambushing the weak and helpless; but after millennia of bloodshed, they ritually purged themselves of the Beast-Mother's evil influence, and went into a self-imposed exile in the Netherdom to atone for their crimes against the planes. Only the dreaded wendigo eschewed redemption, and continue to wreak havoc across the multiverse in the dark name of the Beast-Mother.
During the Greater War, the Orpheans sought the support of the ghouls, pardoning their sins in exchange for their service as soldiers against the forces of humanity, whom they
Something's Familiar...
The discerning player or DM may notice the similarity between the gnolls of the established D&D multiverse and the Lovecraftian ghouls of the Cardinal Planes; this is because they are more less the same. Gnolls are not yet a playable race in 5e, but they were in 3.5e, so the stats provided in the 2003 supplement Unapproachable East have been combined with the gnolls' stats in the 5e Monster Manual to create this race. As for the name, gnolls, like other races, are known by a different moniker in this setting.
consumed the flesh of in darker times.
Most intelligent races approach ghouls with a mixture of caution, disgust, and even pity. With their close resemblance to evil lycanthropes, it is all too easy to assume that a ghoul is a mindless or vicious beast--but to those who know their ways and speak their language, a ghoul makes a loyal and valuable ally who will go to any length to be of service. Those who enjoy the hospitality of the ghouls (as much as it can be enjoyed by the more refined races) find themselves treated as members of the brood itself, with all the benefits that entail.
Adventuring ghouls are a freakishly rare sight. Even with the advent of the Risorgimento and the Greater War, ghouls have yet proven to be a skittish and solitary bunch, far-removed from settlements large and small. Ghouls have been described as both pack and herd animals, and spending thousands of years in the Netherdom has only reinforced this. A lone ghoul is often a pariah, or else the lone survivor of its brood.
Such ghouls seek out companionship as soon as possible, either with another brood, in humanoid settlements which accept them, or with adventuring parties. Some desperate and less tolerant ghouls seek out isolated villages to infect with the ghoul transformation, but incidents of this are few and largely isolated throughout the Cardinal Planes.
Ghoul Names
The language of the ghouls is a gibbering and remarkably articulate series of meeping whines, croaks, and barks combined with hand gestures, body language, and facial expressions. It comes naturally to ghouls, but is surpassingly difficult for other humanoids to master. Though ghouls are also able to speak Undercommon and a broken dialect of Common, their names are usually derived from the piping, guttural sounds rendered in their native speech.
Male names: Atal, Rreen, Hask, Nual, Menes, Lop, Rroff, Grrend, Chulah, Tharrash
Female names: Rhew, Enga, Gula, Rolc, Iznah, Cliss, Ahlu, Hemphne, Ish, Ulthra
Ghoul Traits
As the children of Cernuada and the former servants of Nemhaignon, ghouls have been shaped over the millenia to share certain traits.
Ability Score Increase. Ghouls are sturdy and strong, but not particularly bright, and their monstrous appearance is off putting to most other races. Your Strength score increases by 4, your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Intelligence and Charisma scores are decreased by 1.
Age. Ghouls age slower and live longer than humans, reaching adulthood at the age of 25 and living to be as old as 175 years.
Alignment. Following their ritual disunion with the Beast-Mother, ghouls have become peaceful and demure, and tend towards neutrality in their alignments. However, as former fey twisted into depraved monsters by the half-infernal influence of Nemhaignon, ghouls have retained their chaotic bent, eschewing the influence and authority of non-ghouls and upholding only the structure and safety of the brood.
Size. When standing at full height (a time-honored intimidation tactic meant to ward off aggressors) a ghoul can grow as tall as 7 and a half feet. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet, and your burrowing speed is 15 feet.
Darkvision. Ghouls spent centuries in the Netherdom, and have adapted accordingly. 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.
Languages. You may speak, read, and write in Common, and you may also communicate in Ghoulish without difficulty.
All Fours. You may adopt a quadrupedal gait, augmenting your land speed. When not carrying a two-handed item, you may add an additional 10 feet to your base walking speed in addition to any other bonuses when moving on your turn in combat. After using this trait, you cannot use it again until you spend one round of combat not moving.
Lingering Savagery. When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack on your turn, you can take a bonus action to move up to half your movement speed and make a bite attack. This can be used in conjuntion with All Fours.
Tooth and Nail. As a bonus action, you may make a bite attack or two claw attacks provided you are not carrying a two-handed weapon, in which case you may make a single offhand claw attack, detailed below:
- Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 1d4 + 2 piercing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be infected with the ghoul transformation.
- Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft. , one target. Hit: 1d6 + 3 slashing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be infected with the ghoul transformation.
A Difficult Language
Non-ghouls attempting to communicate to one or more ghouls in their native speech must succeed on a DC 15 Performance check. Failure to meet this DC means the creature has miscommunicated somehow. The DM must then roll 1d6 to determine the ghouls' reactions.
| d6 | Reaction |
|---|---|
| 1 | Outrage |
| 2 | Fear |
| 3 | Disgust |
| 4 | Shame |
| 5 | Confusion |
| 6 | Amusement |
Infection
The ghoul transformation, also known as Pickman's Disease or transfigurosis, occurs whenever a ghoul infects another humanoid creature with a bite or scratch which pierces the skin and enters the bloodstream. If the subject survives the encounter, they begin to experience the onset of symptoms within 24 hours, including changes in appetite and demeanor, hair loss, toothaches, rapid body growth, and frequent bouts of intense pain in the limbs and torso. Left untreated, the full transformation occurs within a week of the initial infection.
