ZombieWiki
Zombie Wiki / All zombies / Games
Illustration of Ghoul (Dungeons & Dragons)
Original AI-made illustration based on the descriptions in the sources. Not an official design.
File No. 092 of 446

Ghoul (Dungeons & Dragons)

GamesUndead1968 to 1999

The flesh-eating undead of Dungeons & Dragons, part of the game since 1974. Unlike the game's zombie it is cunning and contagious: its touch paralyses and its bite carries a disease that raises the dead as more ghouls.12

Battle it
First appeared
1974
Dungeons & Dragons (1974)
Source work
Dungeons & Dragons (1974)
TSR
Made in
USA
What causes it
Other
Undead that rise hungering for living flesh; their bite carries ghoul fever.
How you become one
Anyone who dies of ghoul fever rises as a ghoul at the next midnight.
Intelligence
Clever
Weak spots
  • a cleric's power to turn undead
  • elves are immune to its paralysis

When did it first appear?

Ancient worldMiddle Ages1500 to 18991900 to 19671968 to 19992000 to 20092010 to today1974

Dungeons & Dragons (1974)

field notes

What the sources say

1

Its touch paralyses, a trait it has had since the 1974 rules12

2

Intelligent: it speaks the languages it knew in life12

3

Bursts out of shallow graves and from behind tombstones12

4

Hunts alone, in gangs or in packs of up to a dozen12

5

An aquatic cousin, the lacedon, lurks near reefs where ships are wrecked12

Sources

  1. Ghoul - d20 SRD (D&D 3.5 System Reference Document)
  2. Undead (Dungeons & Dragons) - Wikipedia

Every fact on this page comes from these sources, written in our own words. Spotted a mistake? Tell us at [email protected].

Feed the horde. No ads, no trackers, paid for by one person. A tip keeps it online.Leave a tip

More from Dungeons & Dragons

Zombie (Dungeons & Dragons)Dungeons & Dragons (1974)Wight (Dungeons & Dragons)Dungeons & Dragons (1974)GhastDungeons & Dragons (1974)

Same era: 1968 to 1999

Feral ghoulFallout (1997)Headcrab zombieHalf-Life (1998)NemesisResident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999)Zombie (Resident Evil)Resident Evil (1996)Cerberus (zombie dog)Resident Evil (1996)LickerResident Evil 2 (1998)
Feed the hordeLeave a tip