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Ghouls and Canterlot Ghouls

 

To paraphrase DJ PON-3, Ghouls are people too. They just had the misfortune to being exposed to more-than-lethal amounts of the necromantic magical radiation released by the balefire bombs and not dying of it (or at least not staying dead, depending on your personal views on ghoulification). The resulting mutated ponies age at a greatly reduced rate, capable of living at least as long as 500 years, possibly even longer. Many ponies speculate that the changed appearance and longer life of ghouls is a reaction related to the necromantic energies released by the bombs, but no one, not even the zebras, knows for sure.

There are a few different types of ghouls that you may encounter wandering about the wasteland, but only two versions of them are intelligent and aware enough of their surroundings enough to be player characters. Those two versions, and their various characteristics, are listed below. Alicorns cannot become ghouls but react in much the same way regarding radiation. There are no documented instances of Buffalo, Diamond Dog descendants, or Donkeys becoming ghouls – it is believed that they just die.

 

Ghoul (2 Character Creation Points, cannot be taken with the Addictive Personality, Unstable Genetics, or Mutation hindrances. Alicorns cannot become ghouls.)– Ghouls are the mutated and heavily irradiated ‘survivors’ of the balefire holocaust, and characters with this hindrance are the most common variant of ghoul around, save for the feral ones. Ghoul characters have an appearance similar to a monster from an old zombie flick, covered in flaking, greyed skin and rotted-looking flesh covering a form that appears emaciated to some degree. Many of them look near-skeletonized, their fur matted, irregular, and completely fallen out over most of their form, with only a few uneven patches remaining; the hair of their mane and tail is all but completely gone, only a few traces and strands still intact. Their eyes usually have some degree of post-mortem cataracts present, but in spite of this most ghouls can actually see almost as well as any smoothcoat (non-ghoul) in normal lighting, and can see quite clearly even in pitch blackness. They suffer from a considerable amount of prejudice because of their appearance (receiving a -20 to speechcraft versus most non-ghouls), but ghouls are a resilient bunch and get by as best they can. Those that don’t… well, there’s a reason there are so many feral ghouls around. Ghoul characters are (2d4*15) units of weight lighter than normal, “living” characters.

Ghoul characters are dead, technically speaking, and don’t need to sleep or eat to sustain themselves. Instead, they are sustained by the ambient levels of radiation in the wasteland, and cannot survive in areas completely free of the stuff for extended periods. If completely cut off from radiation for more than 14 days, a ghoul will become dormant and begin to starve. If dormant for longer than 2d4 days, they will die. Fortunately for them, the ambient radiation in the equestrian wasteland is quite easy to come by, and just being outside for an hour or two a day is sufficient for most ghouls’ needs.



Ghoul characters are healed by radiation at rate of 1 wound to all limbs per 200 rads absorbed every five minutes, and can regenerate broken or crippled limbs simply by exposing themselves to sufficient radiation levels. While maimed limbs cannot be regenerated in this way, they can be reattached if held in place while the regenerative effect takes place. Each wound removed by radiation-fueled regeneration metabolizes 20 rads. Rather than suffering from radiation poisoning as normal characters and creatures, ghouls are strengthened by it, providing them with a temporary bonus to their attribute scores equal to the penalty that normal wasters would take at that radiation level. If a ghoul has absorbed more than 600 rads worth of radiation, they will begin emitting it slowly (low to medium levels – see the Radiation header under “Dangers of the Wasteland” for more info) and affecting those around them. A ghoul who has absorbed a full 1000 rads or more might find that it takes them several days or even weeks before they can safely be around non-ghouls (Their radiation level decreases at 1d4*100 rads per day).

Ghouls also have an extremely increased resistance to drugs, particularly mind affecting ones. Drugs such as Dash and Flash, which affect the nervous system, simply do not work (though enhanced versions of these drugs, such as Rainboom, work as well as normal drugs do on non-ghouls). Other drugs and medicines, such as Med-X, healing potions, Stampede, and Buck, which have a predominantly physical rather than a mental effect work just fine. Ghouls receive a +20 bonus on endurance rolls made to resist addictions, and cannot become addicted to substances that do not significantly affect them. This resistance also affects a ghoul’s ability to get drunk or to resist the effects of poisons, but taint and enervation remain just as deadly to ghouls as it is to non-ghouls. Normal ghouls, being dead, are not affected by pink cloud. The difference for ghouls is that enervation simply pulls their spirit away from their decaying form rather than causing them physical harm, and taint doesn’t (usually) cause further mutation – just insanity or death, and these only after it’s built up to sufficient levels.

Ghouls have a very long lifespan (or un-lifespan), and no longer age physically after their turning. Characters that spend only two points on this trait are relatively young for ghouls, less than 50 years old. As a result, they have about as much experience with the wasteland and knowledge about its various goings-on as any other person living in it; they do not receive any skill bonuses.

Elderly Ghouls, i.e. those with the Elderly hindrance, are assumed to have survived from pre-war. In addition to the normal effects of Elderly, these ghouls gain the gain the benefit of their experience in terms of starting play with an additional 5 skill ranks, which they can distribute amongst their skills as they see fit. In place of these skill ranks, they may opt instead to receive the Specialization trait for free, or to begin play with positive or negative karma scores of up to ±100, subject to GM approval. Note that even elderly ghouls may still take the Young hindrance, the effects of which are not altered despite their actual physical age - this is the only scenario in which taking both the Young and Elderly hindrances could be considered acceptable barring Wasteland Weirdo.

In summary, Ghoul characters:

- No longer physically age after having been ghoulified

- Suffer a permanent -5 roll penalty to PER rolls, but take no PER penalties from lighting or weather

- Suffer a -20 speechcraft penalty versus non-ghouls (this can be removed, like all racial speechcraft penalties, by achieving fame or notoriety (±100 Karma)

- Do not need to eat, sleep or go to the bathroom.

- Are immune to the effects of heat exhaustion (but not cold)

- Are 2d4*15 units of weight lighter

- Are immune to (and healed by) radiation, to the point where it can reattach severed limbs. This metabolizes 20 rads per wound.

- Receive a +20 bonus on END rolls versus poisons and drug addiction, and are immune to regular-strength mind effecting drugs entirely – that includes all drugs that do not give a bonus to STR, END or AGI (but they’re NOT resistant to taint or enervation).

- Are immune to most diseases

- Are immune to the effects of taint and pink cloud


Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1021


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