B/X Monsters A to Z: Ghoul

 Oops. Once again, I'm posting a monster out of alphabetical order, this time because I just plain overlooked it. It's a good one, too, a staple of many a low-level dungeon-delve: the ghoul from the Basic Set.

And finally, our first undead creature! Ghouls are described as hideous, bestial undead humans who will attack any living creature they see. I generally imagine them being dressed in rags, with filthy, cracked grey skin, wild hair caked in dirt and offal, drooling mouths full of jagged, broken teeth, eyes somehow  at once lifeless and filled with hatred, moving with a hunched, shambling gait. They are the third rung on the undead ladder, just above skeletons and zombies and beneath wights, and can be turned by clerics, though 1st level holy folk need an 11 on 2d6 to manage the feat, and might make better use of a round swinging a mace at a skull.

With a middling (for beginning parties) AC of 6, a sturdy 2 Hit Dice, and a slashing frenzy of three attacks per round for 1-3 points of damage, ghouls are stout opponents for low-level PCs, even without their signature ability. Any creature of ogre-size or smaller except elves (presumably including creatures such as dogs, horses, mules, and others a party might have in their entourage) will be paralyzed by any successful attack unless a save vs. paralysis is made. That's three chances per ghoul to take an opponent out of the fight, and with low-level characters generally having less than a 50-50 chance to make the saving throw, the paralyzed bodies can pile up quickly. Even a higher-level party had best be cautious if a whole pack of ghouls is encountered (numbers appearing are 1-6 in the dungeon and a terrifying 2-16 outdoors). The description provides us with an interesting and useful tidbit about the monsters' habits in combat, specifically, they will ignore paralyzed victims until all opponents are dead or paralyzed or the ghouls are slain. That's good news for the unfortunates who fail their saves, since the ghouls won't stop to finish them off right away, but if anyone's hoping to make their escape while the ghouls feast on their fallen allies, they're out of luck. 

Ghouls move at 90' (30'), a bit slower than a unencumbered human, probably due to that shambling gait. If you wanted them to be more fearsome and feral, it would be a simple matter to house-rule them to a full 120' (40'). Another interesting fact is that ghouls seem to have either the capacity for fear or at least some sense of self-preservation: their Morale score f 9 is very solid, but not totally unshakable. So you might be able to outrun them, and they might even get tired of the chase and leave you alone after a while.

Ghouls have Treasure Type B, which can be a halfway decent haul, especially for a party of level 2-4 with a cleric or two and hot dice on the turning rolls. 

Where do ghouls come from? What causes a human to become a ghoul? With the description silent on this point, the DM is free to run with whatever suits the tone and flavor of the campaign. Perhaps dying with a mortal sin on one's soul, or being buried in unhallowed ground make for a chance of rising as a ghoul. Maybe they're members of a cursed family or village, or died in a swamp tainted with dark magic, or dabbled in forbidden rituals. Whatever tickles your ghoulish fancy!

Are there demihuman ghouls? I don't see why not, except perhaps in the case of elves.

Because ghouls were once human, and because they evoke horror triggers such as cannibalism, grave-robbing, and being stripped of everything but the feral desire to kill and feed, they make versatile foes for players. Mix and match them with other horror staples, such as spooky graveyards, defiled temples, lonely bogs and moors, and dark forgotten catacombs, and you've got the makings of some classic chills and thrills. For more powerful parties, who are less threatened by mere ghouls, you can play with the concepts of ghoulish fear by having them scared off or cowed by some greater being. What scares the unholy corpse-eating dead, anyway? Do the players really want to know?