Ghoul

2025-09-01T15:57:32Z

BiggerAndDumber: Added more genes with positive effects on ghouls (heatstroke is so negligable but ghouls aren't immune)

{{Anomaly}}
{{infobox main|entity
| name = Ghoul
| image = Ghoul.png
| description = Ghouls are engineered murder machines, twisted by dark psychic influences.<br>Ghouls are very dangerous in melee combat. However, the process of their creation leaves them incapable of higher levels of thought, preventing them from holding weapons or tools. They cannot work and outside combat they wander in a half-conscious stupor.<br>Many people find the constant twitching of ghouls disturbing.
More disturbing is their dependence on raw meat. If they go hungry they will turn hostile, even attacking their creators to sate their hunger.
| type = Entity
| type2 = Basic
| flammability = 0.7
| movespeed = 4.6
| baseleatheramount = 75
| min comfortable temperature = {{#expr: {{Q|Human|Min Comfortable Temperature}}-40}}
| max comfortable temperature = {{#expr: {{Q|Human|Min Comfortable Temperature}}+40}}
| marketvalue = 275
| bodysize = 1
| healthscale = 1
| hungerrate = 1
| diet = raw meat and corpses
| leathername = Human leather
| lifespan = 80
| packanimal = No
| psychic sensititvity = 0
| pain factor = 0
| max nutrition = 2

| minimum containment strength = 35
| anomaly knowledge = 1.5 
| knowledge category = Basic
| study interval = 120000
| gets cold containment bonus = true
| min monolith level for study = 1
| base escape interval MTB days = 120

| combatPower = 90

| attack1dmg = 8.2
| attack1type = Blunt
| attack1cool = 2
| attack1part = left fist
| attack1stun = 14
| attack2dmg = 8.2
| attack2type = Blunt
| attack2cool = 2
| attack2part = right fist
| attack2stun = 14
| attack3dmg = 5
| attack3type = Blunt
| attack3cool = 2
| attack3part = head
| attack3chancefactor = 0.2
| attack4part = teeth
| attack4type = Bite
| attack4dmg = 8.2
| attack4cool = 2
| attack4chancefactor = 0.5
| attack5part = left claw
| attack5type = Scratch
| attack5dmg = 7.0
| attack5cool = 2
| attack5chancefactor = 1.5
| attack6part = right claw
| attack6type = Scratch
| attack6dmg = 7.0
| attack6cool = 2
| attack6chancefactor = 1.5

| attack7dmg = 8.2
| attack7type = Bite
| attack7cool = 2
| attack7part = teeth
| attack7chancefactor = 0.07
}}
'''Ghouls''' are [[human]]s that have been warped into powerful, twisted combat [[entities]] with very few needs. Ghouls can appear as both enemy units and become a part of your colony.

== Acquisition ==
Ghouls can appear in games with the AI storyteller's [[AI Storytellers#Monolith setting|Monolith setting]] set to either "Standard with Monolith" and the "Ambient Horror" enabled. "The Anomaly" starting [[Scenario_system#Default_Scenarios|Scenario]] begins the player with one friendly player-controlled ghoul.

Wild ghouls can be encountered as a [[Entities#Basic|Basic Entity]] at any level of Void Monolith activity, meaning the Monolith does not have to have been interacted with for them to appear. Any ghoul encountered in the wild will be permanently hostile to the player. These ghouls can be captured for Study or to extract [[Bioferrite]] from, as is normal to hostile Entities. Capturing a wild ghoul alive can be difficult, as they cannot be downed by [[pain]] and psychic weaponry is ineffective.

Once a ghoul has been encountered the [[Ghoul infusion (research)|ghoul infusion]] research project becomes available. After completing the research, the player can schedule the ghoul infusion operation on any colonist, [[prisoner]], or [[slave]]{{IdeologyIcon}} for {{Icon Small|Bioferrite||30}} [[Bioferrite]] and {{Icon Small|Shard||1}} [[Shard]] permanently turning that pawn into a ghoul. Regardless of whether the pawn was a member of your colony, they will be under the player's control once the operation is completed - there is no need to convert them beforehand. The pawn completing the medical operation must have a [[Skills#Medical|Medical skill]] of 4 or higher.

== Summary ==
A ghoul is effectively a colonist that is limited to only melee attacks. They cannot wield [[weapons]] or [[apparel]], do any work, take [[drugs]] or use any special ability they had in life. Ghouls can be restricted to [[zones]] and [[drafted]] like normal colonists. In combat, they can be directly commanded to melee attack or use the ability provided by ghoul-specific body parts. Ghouls will fight adjacent [[fire]]s, but do not seek out fires to extinguish. All ghouls are [[incapable|capable]] of violence no matter their [[backstories]], [[traits]], or [[genes]].{{BiotechIcon}}

=== Properties ===
Ghouls do not age at all, even if not yet at maturity. Note that this means that ghouls created from younger pawns will never have the full [[body size]] and body part health of an adult. Ghouls can have age related [[heart attack]]s. They retain most properties they had in life:
* [[Melee]] and [[Shooting]] skills (even though ghouls can't shoot) and passions are retained. Other skills and passions are disabled.
* [[Traits]] and [[backstories]] are retained, this can cause a ghoul to be incapable of firefighting.
* Hediffs are retained, including [[void touched]].
* Body types and non-cosmetic [[genes]]{{BiotechIcon}} are retained. After converted, they can still undergo gene extraction or be implanted with new [[xenogerm]]s{{BiotechIcon}}. Due to the low cost of [[ghoul resurrection serum]], ghouls can be killed and resurrected to bypass the gene regrowing time. (BE WARNED) a ghoul will lose all but its base genes if you do this (E.g. A [[Impid]] will keep its genes but not a [[Hussar]]). If you wish to harvest xenogenes instead, you MUST kill the ghoul and revive it first to remove the genes regrowing heddif.
* Ghouls retain the natural attacks of a human but also gain a left and right claw attack and an additional bite attack.

Ghouls have 100% [[Vacuum Resistance]]{{OdysseyIcon}} meaning they can survive in space.

All ghouls are given two hediffs that implement the majority of the stat changes experienced by ghouls. These hediffs are "Ghoul" and "Regeneration".

'''Ghoul:'''
* [[Pain]]: '''×0%'''
* [[Max Nutrition]]: 2
* [[Psychic sensitivity]]: '''×0%'''
* [[Minimum Comfortable Temperature]]: {{---|{{Temperature|40||delta}}}}
* [[Maximum Comfortable Temperature]]: {{+|{{Temperature|40||delta}}}}
* Minimum Containment Strength: {{++|35}}
* [[Talking]]: {{Bad|x0%}}

'''Regeneration:'''
* Regenerate 100 HP/day

Separate from these hediffs, ghouls also don't bleed when injured. The regeneration hediff will heal any wound, including missing limbs or scars that the ghoul has at a rate of 0.1 HP/s. Ghoul regeneration heals wounds in the order they were received, one wound at a time until that wound is fully healed. The one exception is fully missing body parts: these will be converted into a generic "wound" and healed after all other injuries. Regeneration prevents wounds from scarring, even eye and brain injuries that would otherwise always scar, but it does not prevent or cure [[trauma savant]]. Note that if the ghoul regeneration has already began to heal the missing body part when another injury is dealt it will not switch targets, it will continue to heal the missing limb once it has begun.

Ghoul regeneration is separate from a pawn's normal [[Injury#Healing Rate|healing rate]]. The ghoul continues to heal the way a normal pawn does at the same time as healing from Ghoul Regeneration. As with normal human pawns, a Ghouls ''natural'' healing is affected by [[Genes]], [[Healing enhancer]]s, and [[Juggernaut serum]]. Ghoul Regeneration is ''not'' affected by these factors. See [[Injury#Healing|Healing]] for more information on healing mechanics for all pawns.

A Ghoul wont get sick like a regular pawn from [[Infection]], [[Flu]], [[Malaria]], [[Sleeping sickness]] and most other illnesses.{{Check Tag|Untested?}}. They also can't be part of any rituals, Anomaly or Ideology.

=== Needs ===
Ghouls can only eat raw [[meat]] and fresh [[corpse]]s. They will automatically try to eat available food in their assigned zone. Friendly ghouls that are not fed will eventually{{Check Tag|When?}} go berserk, betraying the colony and never becoming friendly again. Once their food need reaches 0, a hidden Meat hunger hediff will appear and worsen over roughly 24 hours. The more extreme this hediff is, the more likely the ghoul will betray.{{Check Tag|Detail needed}}

Other than food, ghouls have no other needs, [[mood]], or relationships. Other needs created by genes or addiction will be disabled. They can't have [[mental break]]s and won't be counted as a colonist for things like the [[recluse]] trait.{{BiotechIcon}}. Despite the in-game description, colonists do not gain negative mood for being near a friendly ghoul, however they will experience a negative mood if a loved one becomes a ghoul or spawns as a ghoul.{{Check Tag|Detail needed|Minimum exact causes and use of Template:Thought}}

Captured ghouls do not require food.

=== Ghoul-specific upgrades ===

Ghouls can have normal human body parts installed. However there are also some ghoul-specific upgrades available by researching [[Research#Ghoul_enhancements|Ghoul enhancements]] in the Anomaly tech tree:

* [[Adrenal heart]] — Passively increases hunger, grants an ability to gain a burst of {{Good|x0.7}} attack cooldown and {{Good|+4.00}} movement speed for 15 seconds. The cooldown is 29.17 seconds.
* [[Corrosive heart]] — Allows the ghoul to spew acid on a 2 hour cooldown, but only has 85% part efficiency
* [[Ghoul barbs]] — Increases melee damage by {{Good|x150%}} at the cost of {{Bad|-0.25}} speed
* [[Ghoul plating]] — [[Incoming Damage Multiplier]] {{Good|x0.5}} at the cost of {{Bad|-0.75}} speed.
* [[Metalblood heart]] — On a 6 hour cooldown, gain the [[Hediffs#Metalblood|Metalblood hediff]] for 40 seconds, which gives {{Good|x50%}} damage resistance and {{Bad|x400%}} fire and burn vulnerability. This hediff does not stack with the [[metalblood serum]].
* [[Blood warmer]] - A prosthetic that actively heats the Ghoul's blood. Lowers Min Comfortable Temperature to {{Good|{{Temperature|-26||delta}}}}.

Ghouls can be administered [[serums]], but not drugs. They aren't affected by any mood effect by serums.

== Analysis ==
{{Rewrite|section=1|reason=Cleanup/redundancy. Also tentacle strat should be represented in tables, not just wooden hand}}
Ghouls are very powerful guard dogs and melee attackers:
* With melee upgrades of [[ghoul barbs]], [[power claw]]s, [[juggernaut serum]], and [[strong melee damage]] gene, their attacks will destroy any body part of any human they hit (no matter the armor), frequently one-hit killing enemies in [[cataphract armor]].
* With metabolic upgrades of [[nuclear stomach]], +5 metabolic efficiency, and [[robust digestion]] gene, they need less than 4 twisted meat per day to survive.
* Due to their regeneration and the affordability of [[ghoul resurrection serum]], it's safe to use ghouls as tanks, or even let them die in combat.
Converting a colonist into a ghoul is a good way to make use of an otherwise terrible pawn or a colonist you can't save from death. The converted ghoul will quickly regrow lost limbs and self-cure detrimental health conditions.

A ghoul makes excellent bait to lure [[sightstealer]]s, as they can remain patrolling outside forever.

While requiring direct control, Ghouls can still help with some work in colony. While drafted they can be used to hunt animals (though they will not carry the corpses back). They can also be used to fight fires. In [[Scenario_system#The Anomaly|Anomaly starting scenario]] the Ghoul allows you to skip early defences, indirectly reducing amount of work that needs to be done.

Be especially careful when engaging enemy ghouls in melee combat. They will not be forced down due to pain, so they will fight much longer than regular human raiders.

Ghouls can benefit from the [[frenzy inducer]] and the [[Pollution stimulus (gene)|Pollution stimulus]] gene.{{BiotechIcon}} You can build a room with pollution and a frenzy inducer for your ghouls to take advantage of their effects. Additionally, this can double as a freezer for your twisted meat, the containment cell for the [[fleshmass nucleus]], and the frosbite chamber for [[toughspike]]s.

=== Hunger management ===
Hunger is the primary cost of ghouls and their inability to eat anything but raw meat and corpses means that traditional sources of nutritional efficiency are unavailable. However, with some upgrades, ghouls require less resources to maintain than humans in every way.

These are:
* The [[nuclear stomach]]:{{RoyaltyIcon}} An [[artificial body part]] which multiplies [[hunger rate]] by {{Good|x25%}}. Note that [[cancer]], the primary downside of the nuclear stomach, is not a concern for ghouls.
* The [[Robust digestion]] gene:{{BiotechIcon}} A gene multiplies the nutrition gained from raw meat, but not corpses, by {{Good|x1.8}}
* A [[metabolic efficiency]] of 5+:{{BiotechIcon}} which multiplies [[hunger rate]] by {{Good|x50%}}

These stack to make for a ghoul that only requires as little as {{Icon small|Meat||{{#expr: ({{Q|Ghoul|Real Hunger Rate}}*0.25*0.5)/({{Q|Meat|Nutrition}}*1.8 ) round 2}}}} [[meat]] per day and significantly increasing the time that can be safely spent between meals.

Ideally, all corpses should be butchered by a competent cook for maximum nutrition, however usually time before beserking is the most relevant factor,

Ghoul made from [[body mastery]] [[creepjoiner]] don't need to eat at all, however this significantly reduces the [[trait]] options available for the sake of removing an almost negligible cost in the mid and late game.

=== Body parts ===
Due to their massive improvement to resilience and damage, [[ghoul barbs]] and [[ghoul plating]] are essential upgrades for ghouls, try to get them as soon as possible. For the heart upgrade, get the [[metalblood heart]] if you don't plan to produce [[metalblood serum]]s. But if you do, instead upgrade your ghoul with an [[adrenal heart]] to improve combat power or a [[corrosive heart]] for the painful [[acid spray]] attack.

Ghouls can also make effective use of [[body part weapons]]. As they cannot hold conventional weapons, implanted weaponry offers them a powerful upgrade, while combination with [[ghoul barbs]] gives ghouls offer {{DPS}} comparable to high tier melee options. The ghoul can then be enhanced similarly to other melee pawns, such as with [[juggernaut serum]] and the [[strong melee damage]] gene.{{BiotechIcon}}

[[Power claw]]s offers the highest damage, albeit with a small [[moving]] penalty per claw. Note that combining one power claw and a [[flesh tentacle]] on the other arm will result in the same base {{DPS}} as two power claws while retaining more of the pawn's moving capacity due to how the melee verb system selects and disregards certain attacks. Practically, the {{DPS}} is likely higher due to the manipulation bonus to [[melee hit chance]] from the tentacle. A similar effect can be obtained by replacing the other hand with a [[wooden hand]] instead of the tentacle, however it will likely slightly reduce melee hit chance due to the hand's manipulation penalty - the {{DPS}} is still close to that of two claws however. Other hand and arm replacements will not work.

[[Flesh whip]]s come in a close second in term of {{DPS}} and offer no moving penalty. The above strategy of combining with a flesh tentacle for superior {{DPS}} also applies to the flesh whip, however with no penalties there is no reason to combine it with a wooden hand unless another flesh whip and a flesh tentacle are both unavailable. Note that while the flesh whip has superior base {{AP}} to the power claw, unlike the claw it's {{AP}} is not affected by the [[melee damage factor]] of the ghoul, meaning any MDF of {{#expr: {{Q|Flesh whip|Attack 1 AP}}/{{Q|Power claw|Attack 1 AP}} * 100 round 0}}% or more will result in the power claw having more {{AP}}. Ghoul barbs and the strong melee damage gene{{BiotechIcon}} result in an MDF of 225%.

Because installing ghoul enhancements does not require any medicine and there isn't any chance of the ghoul dying, you can set up a system to increase your doctors' medical skills very quickly and for cheap. By getting two different types of ghoul heart enhancements, doesn't matter which ones, you can swap out one for the other repeatedly to quickly gain large amounts of medical points. One requirement is that your colonist must have a medical skill of 4 but you can get to this level with relatively low amounts of medicine by installing and removing peg legs on your ghouls; keep in mind that a ghoul takes a long time to regenerate a leg because of all the components.

Note that ghouls cannot be targeted by the [[twisted obelisk]], and so flesh parts should be acquired before ghoulification occurs.{{Check Tag|Unnatural Healing?|What about unnatural healing by a creepjoiner? Though that only helps with the tentacle, not the whip}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Ghoul melee damage at melee level 20 and no other hediff or gene
|-
! Upgrades !! Move Speed !! Melee DPS !! Melee AP
|-
|-
| None || 4.6 c/s || 3.29 || 11%
|-
| 1 Power claw || 4.23 c/s || 8.28 || 28%
|-
| 2 Flesh whips || 4.6 c/s || 9.22 || 60%
|-
| Power claw + Wooden hand || 4.23 c/s || 9.64 || 33%
|-
| 2 Power claws || 3.86 c/s || 9.90 || 33%
|-
| Ghoul barbs + 1 Power claw || 4.00 c/s || 12.42 || 41%
|-
| Ghoul barbs + 2 Flesh whips || 4.35 c/s || 13.84 || 60%
|-
| Ghoul barbs + Power claw + Wooden hand || 4.00 c/s || 14.45|| 49%
|-
| Ghoul barbs + 2 Power claws || 3.65 c/s || 14.85 || 49%
|-
| Barbs + Juggernaut + Strong Melee Damage{{BiotechIcon}} + 1 Power claw || 4.46 c/s || 27.72 || 92%
|-
| Barbs + Juggernaut + Strong Melee Damage{{BiotechIcon}} + 2 Flesh whips || 4.85 c/s || 31.13 || 60%
|-
| Barbs + Juggernaut + Strong Melee Damage{{BiotechIcon}} + Power claw + Wooden hand || 4.46 c/s || 32.52 || 111%
|-
| Barbs + Juggernaut + Strong Melee Damage{{BiotechIcon}} + 2 Power claws || 4.07 c/s || 33.52 || 111%
|}

=== Genetics ===
{{Biotech|section=1}}
Ghouls primarily benefit from genes that improve their [[Incoming Damage Multiplier]], melee skill and damage, movement speed, and achieving a good metabolic rate to reduce meat consumption. Ghouls will inherit genes from their underlying xenotypes, meaning that some make for better ghoul candidates than others.

Below are ''all'' genes that have positive effects on ghouls. Other genes either have negative effects, no effects, or only positive in term of metabolic efficiency
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Good Genes
|-
! Gene !! Improves !! Metabolic Cost !! Commentary
|-
|-
| [[Robust]] || {{Good|x75%}} [[Incoming Damage Multiplier]] ||style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-2}} || Reduces damage taken by ghouls, improving their capability to soak incoming damage for longer.
|-
| [[Strong melee damage]] || {{Good|x150%}} [[Melee Damage Factor]] ||style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-2}} || Increases damage dealt by ghouls
|-
| [[Naked speed]] || {{Good|+0.1}} [[Movement speed]] ||style="text-align:center;" | {{Good|+2}} || Slight increase to movement speed while giving free metabolic efficiency
|-
| [[Fast runner]] || {{Good|+0.2}} [[Movement speed]] ||style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-3}} || Double the movement speed bonus of Naked Speed
|-
| [[Very fast runner]] ||{{Good|+0.4}} [[Movement speed]] ||style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-5}} || Huge increase to movement speed, but very metabolically costly.
|-
| [[Strong melee]] || [[Melee]] Skill {{Good|+4}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-1}} || Improves Melee skill which boosts melee hit chance and melee dodge chance
|-
| [[Great melee]] || [[Melee]] Skill {{Good|+8}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-3}} || Larger Improvement to Melee skill
|-
| [[Unstoppable]] || [[Stagger Time Multiplier]] {{Good|x0%}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-2}} || Removes stagger from receiving damage
|-
| [[Fire resistant]] || [[Flammability]] {{Good|x10%}}, [[Flame]] damage {{Good|x25%}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-2}} || Resist flame damage and avoid being set on fire
|-
| [[Partial antitoxic lungs]] || [[Toxic Environment Resistance]] {{Good|+50%}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-1}} || Resist toxic fallout and tox gas
|-
| [[Total antitoxic lungs]] || [[Toxic Environment Resistance]] {{Good|+100%}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-2}} || Immune to toxic fallout and tox gas
|-
| [[Cold tolerant]] || [[Minimum Comfortable Temperature]] {{Good|−10 °C (36 °F)}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-1}} || Resistance to hypothermia
|-
| [[Cold super-tolerant]] || [[Minimum Comfortable Temperature]] {{Good|−20 °C (36 °F)}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-2}} || Larger resistance to hypothermia
|-
| [[Heat tolerant]] || [[Maximum Comfortable Temperature]] {{Good|+10 °C (36 °F)}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-1}} || Resistance to heatstroke
|-
| [[Heat super-tolerant]] || [[Maximum Comfortable Temperature]] {{Good|+20 °C (36 °F)}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-2}} || Larger resistance to heatstroke
|-
| [[Robust digestion]] || [[Raw Nutrition Multiplier]] {{Good|x180%}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-2}} || Increase nutrition given by raw meat
|-
| [[Elongated fingers]] || [[Manipulation]] {{Good|x110%}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-1}} || Slightly increase manipulation, which affects melee hit chance
|-
| [[Smooth tail]] || [[Manipulation]] {{Good|+5%}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-1}} || Slightly increase manipulation
|-
| [[Superfast wound healing]] || [[Injury Healing Factor]] {{Good|x400%}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-3}} || Quadruple the normal healing factor to roughly 25 HP/day
|-
| [[Pollution stimulus (gene)|Pollution stimulus]] || Up to [[consciousness]] {{Good|+5%}} and [[move speed]] {{Good|x120%}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Bad|-1}} || Speed boost when exposed to pollution
|}

There are many genes whose negative effects don't affect ghouls at all, thus they can be used to improve their metabolic efficiency. Some of the notable genes are:
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Free Metabolic Efficiency
|-
! Gene !! Changes !! Metabolic Cost !! Commentary
|-
| [[Awful animals|Awful Skill]] || Skill {{Bad|-8}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Good|+2}} || Ghouls only use Melee skill, any other skill can be ignored
|-
| [[Poor animals|Poor Skill]] || Skill {{Bad|-4}} || style="text-align:center;" | {{Good|+1}} || Ghouls only use Melee skill
|-
| [[Hyper-aggressive]] || Mental Breaks and Social Fights || style="text-align:center;" | {{Good|+3}} || Ghouls don't social fight or have mental break
|-
| [[Aggressive]] || Mental Breaks and Social Fights || style="text-align:center;" | {{Good|+2}} || Ghouls don't social fight or have mental break
|-
| [[Very sleepy]] || Sleep Fall Rate || style="text-align:center;" | {{Good|+4}} || Ghouls don't need rest
|-
| [[Sleepy]] || Sleep Fall Rate || style="text-align:center;" | {{Good|+2}} || Ghouls don't need rest
|-
| [[Very unhappy]] || Mood Penalty || style="text-align:center;" | {{Good|+5}} || Ghouls are unaffected by mood penalties
|-
| [[Unhappy]] || Mood Penalty || style="text-align:center;" | {{Good|+3}} || Ghouls are unaffected by mood penalties
|-
| [[Deathrest]] || Need for deathrest || style="text-align:center;" | {{Good|+6}} || Ghouls don't need deathrest
|-
| [[Hemogen drain]] || {{Bad|−8}} Hemogen per day || style="text-align:center;" | {{Good|+6}} || Ghouls don't need hemogen
|-
| [[Pyrophobia]] || [[Mental_break#Fleeing_fire|Fleeing fire]] mental break || style="text-align:center;" | {{Good|+4}} || Ghouls don't have mental breaks
|-
| [[Kill thirst]] || Causes need to kill humanoids|| style="text-align:center;" | {{Good|+4}} || Ghouls don't have needs beyond hunger
|-
| [[Extra pain]] || Increases pain|| style="text-align:center;" | {{Good|+2}} || Ghouls don't feel pain
|-
| [[Nearsighted]] || Decreases shooting accuracy|| style="text-align:center;" | {{Good|+2}} || Ghouls can't shoot
|-
| [[Weak immunity]] || More likely to die from diseases|| style="text-align:center;" | {{Good|+2}} || Ghouls are immune to diseases
|}

=== Medical quirks ===
Because ghouls rapidly regenerate their organs, you can harvest their organs before turning them into a ghoul:
* Harvesting a spare [[lung]] and [[kidney]] is possible for normal pawns.
** You can harvest all six organs from a [[sanguophage]].
** If you have a [[detoxifier lung]] and [[detoxifier kidney|kidney]], you can install them to the pawn and harvest the second natural lung and kidney. After the ghoul has finished regenerating one of each organ, you can then safely remove the artificial organs.
*** By spending some [[ghoul resurrection serum]]s, you can also harvest the [[heart]] in the same manner.
* Ghouls can have genes implanted or harvested same as other pawns. If a Ghoul has the [[Genes#Archite|Gene implanter]] Archite Gene, The option for the Ghoul to implant genes will not appear, but can still be manually triggered. The Ghoul must first be downed, such as under anesthetic from a surgery. Select the pawn you want to implant the Genes into, and right-click on the Ghoul to bring up the option. If the Ghoul dies from having its Genes harvested too early, simply use [[ghoul resurrection serum]]. Being resurrected will remove the "Genes regrowing" Hediff, allowing for rapid implantation for relatively low cost.

Becoming a ghoul does not remove [[hediffs#duplicate sickness|duplicate sickness]], [[paralytic abasia]] or [[cirrhosis]]. However, if you then euthanize the ghoul and revive them with a ghoul resurrection serum, it '''does''' remove the sickness but won't cure the [[paralytic abasia]].

=== The Ideal Ghoul ===
Here is the setup for the best ghoul that can be mass-produced by an advanced colony. The follow features are very hard to achieve; but once achieved, they can be duplicated using the [[Corrupted obelisk]] any number of times:
* [[Void touched]]: available during the Anomaly ending, gives 100 hp/day regeneration on top of ghoul's regeneration.
* Level 20 melee skill: massively improve melee hit and dodge chance.
* All keystone and good genes listed above, except for Strong Melee and Great Melee, as they have already been covered by the base melee skill. Other metabolically efficient genes should be included to bring the efficiency up to +5.
* [[Tough]] trait: [[Incoming Damage Multiplier]] x50%.
* [[Jogger]] trait: [[Move Speed]] +0.4.
* [[Nimble]] trait: [[Melee Dodge Chance]] +15. This gives a small increase in the final melee dodge chance and can be skipped.
* [[Trauma savant]]: arguably the hardest to achieve, while only giving a very small improvement for melee hit chance.
* [[Fleshmass lung]]: optional, will give some tox resistance for the ghoul if you don't install [[detoxifier lung]]s for them.
* [[Flesh whip]]: optional, will give some melee damage for the ghoul if you don't install [[power claw]].
Once you have a colonist or slave with these features, duplicate them using the [[Corrupted obelisk]] and turn the duplicate to ghoul, keeping the original. The ghouls can have these body parts installed to upgrade them further:
* [[Ghoul plating]]: [[Incoming Damage Multiplier]] x50%, while [[Move Speed]] -0.7
* [[Ghoul barbs]]: [[Melee Damage Factor]] x150%, while [[Move Speed]] -0.25
* [[Adrenal heart]]: gives a massive buff for move speed and melee damage when used.
* [[Power claw]]s, or power claw and wooden hand: greatly improves ghouls' melee damage. This is optional if the ghoul already has 2 flesh whips.
* [[Detoxifier lung]]s: gives tox resistance and a slight boost for move speed.
* [[Nuclear stomach]]: Food Consumption x25%.
* [[Stoneskin gland]]: sharp armor +70%, blunt armor +30%, heat armor +50% while moving x85%. This will also be the final armor values of the ghoul.
* Regular [[Juggernaut serum]] administering: [[Move speed]] +0.5, [[Melee Damage Factor]] x150%, [[Injury Healing Factor]] x200%.
* [[Metalblood serum]] administering: [[Incoming Damage Multiplier]] x50%, while flame and burn weakness x400%. The flame weakness is cancelled out by the fire resistant gene.
* [[Frenzy inducer]]'s field: +0.4 move speed.
* Pollution stimulus: x120% move speed.
* [[Healing enhancer]]: natural healing factor x150%.
* Bionic eyes and legs: improve melee hit and dodge change, and also move speed. These can also be skipped without reducing the power of the ghoul by much. Archotech eyes and legs could be used instead, but the sheer amount of punishment you will likely have your ghoul be taking means that they will break eventually, giving them to a ranged pawn to help them better support the ghoul is a better use of resources.
Note that power claws, bionic eyes and legs may be destroyed in combat if they take too much damage, so be ready to replace them if you decide to give to the ghoul. Other body parts are less likely to be lost as the ghoul are more likely to be downed or die before that. Overall, the ghoul would have these stats:
* Daily Food Consumption 0.32 with Raw Food Multiplier x180%: this means they need only 3-4 twisted meat per day to live.
* Healing 200 hp/day, plus roughly 96 hp/day (208 HP/day when lying on hospital bed) from the 800% Injury Healing Factor and 150% Natural Healing Factor.
* Incoming Damage Multiplier 9.4%: this improves the amount of damage ghouls can take by over 10 times, which means it takes roughly 2925 damage point/day, or 2.9 point/s (after armor and melee dodge) just to negate the healing effect of the ghoul. In practice, the ghoul can fight an infinite horde of [[Chimera]] one by one.
* Melee Dodge Chance 38%.

==== Weapon ====
As mentioned above, there are multiple choices for the weapon, each with its own tradeoff between damage and move speed:
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Ghoul weapon combos
|-
! Weapons !! Move speed !! Move speed (ghoul frenzy) !! Melee hit damage !! Melee DPS !! Melee AP
|-
| 2 [[flesh whip]]s || 6.93 c/s || 12.02 c/s || 69.19 || 32.07 || 60%
|-
| 1 [[power claw]] + 1 [[wooden hand]] || 6.47 c/s || 11.23 c/s || 74.25 || 34.39 || 111%
|-
| 2 [[power claw]]s || 6.08 c/s || 10.55 c/s || 74.25 || 34.41 || 111%
|}

== Gallery ==

=== Hairs ===
<gallery>
Ghoul Hair Furious south.png|Furious, facing south
Ghoul Hair Furious east.png|Furious, facing east
Ghoul Hair Furious north.png|Furious, facing north
Ghoul Hair Hungry south.png|Hungry, facing south
Ghoul Hair Hungry east.png|Hungry, facing east
Ghoul Hair Hungry north.png|Hungry, facing north
Ghoul Hair Ravenous south.png|Ravenous, facing south
Ghoul Hair Ravenous east.png|Ravenous, facing east
Ghoul Hair Ravenous north.png|Ravenous, facing north
Ghoul Hair Twisted south.png|Twisted, facing south
Ghoul Hair Twisted east.png|Twisted, facing east
Ghoul Hair Twisted north.png|Twisted, facing north
Ghoul Hair Vengeful south.png|Vengeful, facing south
Ghoul Hair Vengeful east.png|Vengeful, facing east
Ghoul Hair Vengeful north.png|Vengeful, facing north
Ghoul Hair Warped south.png|Warped, facing south
Ghoul Hair Warped east.png|Warped, facing east
Ghoul Hair Warped north.png|Warped, facing north
Ghoul Hair Wicked south.png|Wicked, facing south
Ghoul Hair Wicked east.png|Wicked, facing east
Ghoul Hair Wicked north.png|Wicked, facing north
</gallery>

=== Heads ===
<gallery>
Ghoulskin Head Heavy south.png|Heavy, facing south
Ghoulskin Head Heavy east.png|Heavy, facing east
Ghoulskin Head Heavy north.png|Heavy, facing north
Ghoulskin Head Narrow south.png|Narrow, facing south
Ghoulskin Head Narrow east.png|Narrow, facing east
Ghoulskin Head Narrow north.png|Narrow, facing north
Ghoulskin Head Normal south.png|Normal, facing south
Ghoulskin Head Normal east.png|Normal, facing east
Ghoulskin Head Normal north.png|Normal, facing north
Ghoulskin Head Wide south.png|Wide, facing south
Ghoulskin Head Wide east.png|Wide, facing east
Ghoulskin Head Wide north.png|Wide, facing north
</gallery>

=== Bodies ===
<gallery>
Ghoulskin Fat south.png|Fat, facing south
Ghoulskin Fat east.png|Fat, facing east
Ghoulskin Fat north.png|Fat, facing north
Ghoulskin Female south.png|Female, facing south
Ghoulskin Female east.png|Female, facing east
Ghoulskin Female north.png|Female, facing north
Ghoulskin Hulk south.png|Hulk, facing south
Ghoulskin Hulk east.png|Hulk, facing east
Ghoulskin Hulk north.png|Hulk, facing north
Ghoulskin Male south.png|Male, facing south
Ghoulskin Male east.png|Male, facing east
Ghoulskin Male north.png|Male, facing north
Ghoulskin Thin south.png|Thin, facing south
Ghoulskin Thin east.png|Thin, facing east
Ghoulskin Thin north.png|Thin, facing north
</gallery>

== Version history ==
* [[Anomaly DLC]] Release - Added.

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