Ghast

Description

Ghouls are undead monsters which eat the flesh of dead humanoids to survive. They are vile, disgusting carrion-eaters, but are more than willing to kill for food. Those slain by ghouls will generally be stored until they begin to rot before the ghouls will actually eat them.

Living creatures hit by a ghoul’s bite or claw attack must make a saving throw or be paralyzed for 2d8 turns. Elves are immune to this paralysis. Ghouls try to attack with surprise whenever possible, striking from behind tombstones or bursting from shallow graves; when they attack in this way, they are able to surprise opponents on 1-3 on 1d6. Like all undead, they may be Turned by Clerics and are immune to Sleep, charm, and hold magics.

Humanoids bitten by ghouls may be infected with ghoul fever. Each time a humanoid is bitten, there is a 5% chance of the infection being passed. The afflicted humanoid is allowed to make a saving throw; if the saving throw is failed, the humanoid dies within a day.

An afflicted humanoid who dies of ghoul fever rises as a ghoul at the next midnight. A humanoid who becomes a ghoul in this way retains none of the knowledge or abilities they possessed in life. The newly-risen ghoul is not under the control of any other ghouls, but hungers for the flesh of the dead and behaves like any other ghoul in all respects.

Ghasts look and fight almost exactly like ghouls, but they are smarter and just a bit more powerful. Refer to the previous paragraphs for information about their claw attacks and other abilities.

The stink of death and corruption surrounding these creatures is overwhelming. Living creatures within 10 feet must succeed on a saving throw against poison or be sickened for 2d6 rounds (-2 to attack rolls). A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by the same ghast’s stench for 24 hours. A Neutralize Poison spell removes the effect from a sickened creature.

They may be Turned by Clerics using the same column as the ghoul, but as they are superior to ghouls, in a mixed group of ghasts and ghouls the GM should apply Turning effects to the ordinary ghouls first.

Humanoids bitten by ghasts may be infected with ghast fever. Each time a humanoid is bitten, there is a 10% chance of the infection being passed. The afflicted humanoid is allowed to make a saving throw; if the saving throw is failed, the humanoid dies within a day.

An afflicted humanoid who dies of ghast fever rises as a ghast at the next midnight, in a similar fashion to the ghoul. However, a humanoid who becomes a ghast in this way retains all of the knowledge and abilities they possessed in life, unless those abilities are directly incompatible with the creature's new form (as decided by the GM). For such ghasts, the GM should also adjust XP values to include any such abilities. The newly-risen ghast is not under the control of any other ghasts, but hungers for the flesh of the living and behaves like any other ghast in all respects.

Source note: This creature is converted from Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, 4th Edition Release 142, © 2006–2025 Chris Gonnerman. The Basic Fantasy textual material is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International; this page adapts that creature to White Box.

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