If you’ve missed the previous posts about a snowflake dungeon, you can find them here.
Ghouls, ghouls, ghouls. It’s time to stat the Ghouls.
For the most information about this faction, check out What do Ghouls Have to do With It? and Back to the Snowflake. This is where I’m pulling most of the information from.
There is a standard stat block for ghouls in Old School Essentials and I don’t feel like reinventing the wheel there. So who do I need to stat?
Looking through past emails on this, we have the following:
Francissi, their childlike leader.
Vilada, the huge ghoul guarding the entrance to the bell tower.
Ghoul Hounds. Friggin cool.
As a side note, it looks like I mentioned a holy symbol of St Saciscous at some point but did not include it in my room descriptions. Maybe I need to revisit the last step, where I went through curiosities, hazards, and unaligned dangers so that I can add a section for treasures.
Then again, eff those PCs. 🤣
(Kidding. I’ll probably do that after this step.)
It makes sense to me to base everything off the standard Ghoul stat block. Honestly, monster design is not my top skill. I often start with a published stat block and go from there.
Grotesque, animalistic, undead humans that crave the flesh of the living.
Armor Class | 6 [13] |
|---|---|
Hit Dice | 2* (9hp) |
Attacks | 2 × claw (1d3 + paralysis), 1 × bite (1d3 + paralysis) |
THAC0 | 18 [+1] |
Movement | 90’ (30’) |
Saving Throws | D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (2) |
Morale | 9 |
Alignment | Chaotic |
XP | 25 |
Number Appearing | 1d6 (2d8) |
Treasure Type | B |
Paralysis: For 2d4 turns (save versus paralysis). Elves and creatures larger than ogres are unaffected. After paralyzing a target, ghouls will attack others.
Undead: Make no noise, until they attack. Immune to effects that affect living creatures (e.g. poison). Immune to mind-affecting or mind-reading spells (e.g. charm, hold, sleep).
Let’s start with the Ghoul hounds. Honestly, mixing a Dire Wolf stat block with a Ghoul stat block should do the trick. Sometimes simple is best.
Armor Class | 6 [13] |
|---|---|
Hit Dice | 4+1 (19 hp) |
Attacks | 1 × Bite (1d6 + Paralysis) |
THAC0 | 15 [+4] |
Movement | 120 (40’) |
Saving Throws | D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 |
Morale | 9 |
Alignment | Lawful |
XP | 125 |
Paralysis: For 2d4 turns (save versus paralysis). Elves and creatures larger than ogres are unaffected. After paralyzing a target, ghouls will attack others.
Undead: Make no noise, until they attack. Immune to effects that affect living creatures (e.g. poison). Immune to mind-affecting or mind-reading spells (e.g. charm, hold, sleep).
The Ghoul Hounds were created by Francissi and will listen to her commands above all others. There are four of them in total: Snarl, Growl, Dead Eyes, and Fluffy*. If all four are killed, ignore any random encounter rolls that include a Ghoul Hound.
*Obviously, Vilada named this one.
Armour Class | 6 [13] |
|---|---|
Hit Points | 9 hp |
Attacks | 1 × Knobby Club (1d10) |
THAC0 | 15 [+4] |
Movement | 90’ (30’) |
Saving Throws | D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 |
Morale | 10 |
Alignment | Lawful |
XP | 125 |
Paralysis: For 2d4 turns (save versus paralysis). Elves and creatures larger than ogres are unaffected. After paralyzing a target, ghouls will attack others.
Undead: Make no noise, until they attack. Immune to effects that affect living creatures (e.g. poison). Immune to mind-affecting or mind-reading spells (e.g. charm, hold, sleep).
Vilada is the eldest son of Elemina, the first ghoul that Francissi created. She was killed by a group of mutants around a week ago, leaving her son a mess. Since then, Vilada has been tasked with guarding the entrance to the Bell Tower from mutants and the Ones Below. He is rather simple and while initially standoffish, he will be incredibly loyal once his confidence is won.
Vilada talks of himself in the third person. He is hungry all the time and has no shame when it comes to eating the dead. He loves the Ghoul Hounds dearly. When not otherwise engaged, he will twiddle his thumbs as a nervous habit.
Armour Class | 2 [17] (plate mail + shield) |
|---|---|
Hit Points | 14 hp |
Attacks | 2 x claw (1d3 + paralysis), 1 x bite (1d3 + paralysis, turning) |
THAC0 | 18 [+1] |
Movement | 60’ (20’) |
Saving Throws | D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 |
Morale | 7 |
Alignment | Lawful |
XP | 25 |
Spells: Blight, Hold Person
Paralysis: For 2d4 turns (save versus paralysis). Elves and creatures larger than ogres are unaffected. After paralyzing a target, ghouls will attack others.
Undead: Make no noise, until they attack. Immune to effects that affect living creatures (e.g. poison). Immune to mind-affecting or mind-reading spells (e.g. charm, hold, sleep).
Turning: Francissi can turn others into a ghoul. To do so, she must eat their heart, effectively killing them. She then places a fragment of her own heart into their chest (causing herself 2d6 damage). In 2d4 days, the subject will rise as a ghoul.
Francissi was born 96 years ago to Brethren Camitalli and Sister Milensis. One of the major tenants of the Priests of St Saciscous is chastity. As such, the couple left on a “holy mission” for one year once they discovered the pregnancy. They returned to the temple with Francissi, a child with grey, cold skin and an eternal hunger for the flesh of dead humans.
This caused a great rift in the priesthood. Many saw this child as cursed for the sins of her forbearers. Camitalli and Milensis could find no sin in love and refused to give her up. The other priests could not find the strength to take her from them, so they were at a stalemate.
Eventually, it was decided that the entire temple was despoiled, as the act happened within it’s walls. Most of the priests left the temple to establish the monastery. Those that supported the couple stayed. Francissi grew until the age of twelve, but then her physical development stopped. It was at this age that the knowledge of turning came to her. Most of the priests that stayed were changed into ghouls, though her parents never were. Francissi could not bring herself to kill them to perform the ritual.
Francissi is the leader of the ghouls. She has the brain of an elderly (but sharp) woman in the body of a twelve year old. She speaks from a place of wisdom, but will giggle like a little girl on occasion. She has a deep sadness and worries incessantly about the safety of her family.
Okay. This step is my favorite yet. It’s the one where this adventure is getting really interesting to me. I’m thinking more and more that I might publish it sometime next year. We shall see.
Talk soon,
James
P.S. To finish up this step, I just have The Ones Below! How they split from Francissi is something I still need to figure out. That’s a future James problem.
TAGS: Game Theory, GM Tips, Dungeons, Snowflake Dungeon
If you’ve missed the previous posts about a snowflake dungeon, you can find them here. I can’t wait to run this damn thing. After much hacking and slashing, I’ve got a (very) rough draft
If you’ve missed the previous posts about a snowflake dungeon, you can find them here. The Lurker in Shadow gets ever closer. There isn’t a lot of dangerous creatures in this area – just one,
If you’ve missed the previous posts about a snowflake dungeon, you can find them here. Whew. Nineteen friggin rooms. The Under is… well, under the Ruined Temple. This is where the Ones Below (now
If you’ve missed the previous posts about a snowflake dungeon, you can find them here. The Ghouls are in the belltower. In my snowflake dungeon, that is. We’re tackling a small location today. The ghouls
If you’ve missed the previous posts about a snowflake dungeon, you can find them here. I didn’t expect this to keep growing. As it came time to actually put locations into key, it kept creating
If you’ve missed the previous posts about a snowflake dungeon, you can find them here. Man, some posts are longer than others. I’ve been toiling away in the background, working on the snowflake dungeon. This
Four new sets of wooden minis are coming! Click below to follow the campaign and get notified on launch (and get all the secret bonuses 🤫).
A light-hearted, demonic portal crawl between worlds for low level characters.
Grab the coolest wooden minis, dripping with old school cool. Live on Kickstarter!
Bones. So many bones. How many people have been buried here?
You find a rusty long sword and a small, golden vulture head worth 250 gp.
The sand here on the edge of the sacrificial ground is loose and looks recently churned.
The Vulture Priests are the enemy of knowledge and enlightenment. They seek to bring the eternal silence, the end of all things. Decay and obedience is their only god.
Armor Class 6 [13]
Hit Dice 1 (4hp)
Attacks 1 × Beak (1d4 or by weapon)
THAC0 19 [0]
Movement 120’ (40’)
Saving Throws D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (1)
Morale 8 (11 when at their temple)
Alignment Lawful
XP 10
Number Appearing 2d4 (1d6 × 10)
Treasure Type D
Immune to the Divine: The spells and powers of clerics and paladins have no effect on them.
Weapons: They frequently use wickedly curved daggers, which they use for sacrificial purposes.
Soul Clouders: There is a 10% chance that any Vulture Priest can use the sleep spell once per day. The targets are still awake, but they are beset by such a deep depression that it has the same effect as sleep. They may only watch what unfurls around them.
