Ghoul, Reversed
Ghoul, Reversed AKA: Fubar, Regenerator Zombie, Healing Corpse, Backwards Ghost, Inverted HACKFACTOR: 4 EP VALUE: 25 - 50 CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any FREQUENCY: Uncommon ORGANIZATION: Solitary ACTIVITY CYCLE: Nocturnal DIET: Scavenger INTELLIGENCE: Very Low (3 - 5) ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil NO. APPEARING: 1 SIZE: Varies MOVEMENT: Varies PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil Attack/Defense Modes: Nil/Nil MORALE: Brave (14, Will always pick a fight) ARMOR CLASS: See Below NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2D6 with fists/claws/legs or 1D6 by bite SPECIAL ATTACKS: See Below SPECIAL DEFENSES: See Below MAGIC RESISTANCE: See Below HIT DICE: See Below CREATED BY: Scott G.
DESCRIPTION: The bizzare reversed ghoul is an oddity even in the strange worlds of Hackmaster. It appears in seemingly random places at night to feed on rotten corpses of animals, people, or other monsters. For some reason, however, it will never feed on other undead. After eating, the reversed ghoul will typically go hunting for more victims and hide the bodies until they become sufficiently ripe for use as food.
The reversed ghouls have no one specific physical form. They can appear as any other form of large animal, person, or monster. The reversed ghoul then takes on the appearance of that creature along with its size, movement, and armor class. A reversed ghoul's strength is always 17 regardless of its bodily form. On the other hand, reversed ghouls are easy to spot because they never get their disguises right. Their physical form is always dead -- very dead. If a reversed ghoul happens to be in the form of large dog, then it is a dog which appears by sight and smell to have been dead for at least a month and in terrible condition. Large gaping wounds and missing body parts are also common. They may be positively identified by characters who are both particularly perceptive and knowledgable because they always repeat what is said to them like a parrot only backwards. "Siht ekil kaeps yeht."
COMBAT/TACTICS: The reversed ghouls are particularly stupid undead with no tactics ever, but they do possess unique defensive abilities. Instead of possessing hit dice and hit points, reversed ghouls instead have negative hit dice and live on negative hit points. Weaker specimens have -1 hit die while the strongest have -4 hit dice. Damage taken by a reversed ghoul, therefore, makes it stronger instead of weaker. Reversed ghouls use arrow wounds like other creatures use bandages. Any damage received by a reversed ghoul will lower its hit point pool deeper into the negative numbers towards its minimum.
The only way to destroy a reversed ghoul is heal it. Restraining a reversed ghoul and administering first aid is one way to do it, but magical healing works best in combat. Some clever hunters have tried to slip healing potions and tonics into the food of a reversed ghoul and thus poisoning it. When a reversed ghoul reached zero hit points or greater, it will instantly turn to dust which in turn vanishes completely.
It may be possible for a reversed ghoul to have the form of some greater monster like a dragon, but such a ghoul would be incredibly rare. Thus far no reversed ghoul dragon has never been seen and identified. Even if such a monster were to exist, it would still be restricted to a minimum of -4 hit dice. It can never fly or copy any other special powers of the monster it is impersonating.
HABITAT/SOCIETY: Reversed ghouls originate from some strange plane of reality in a different dimension. Some scholars have guessed that they come from a parrallel world on the far side of the negative plane. No one has ever been able to find this other reality which is probably a good thing considering how bad these monsters smell. The reversed ghouls do, however, still manage to keep slipping into Hackmaster worlds by popping out of magical portals when the portals become unstable or are destroyed. (Optional rule for the GM: There is roughly a one percent chance that a reversed ghoul will appear every time a magic portal crashes.)
ECOLOGY: Reversed ghouls hunt and scavenge at night, so they have excellent infravision -- even if they don't any longer have eyes. Shortly before dawn, they will always seek out a quiet and dark place to hide until next sundown. During daylight hours, reversed ghouls are both asleep and paralysed. Since they are undead anyway and don't breath, a reversed ghoul discovered during daylight hours would probably be mistaken for a regular corpse.
YIELD:
Medicinal: Saliva may be used as a weak poison which causes random diseases.
Spell Components: Any part of the body of a reversed ghoul would be great to use in any age accelerating spell, but if the ghoul turns to dust when slain then how will the body parts be harvested?
Hide/Trophy Items: Nil
Treasure: Nil
Other: Nil
Mikeeze Wurld is © 2001 by Michael S. Hensley.
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