Ghouls

Undead cursed with an eternal hunger for humanoid flesh, ghouls prowl graveyards and the ruins of dead cities. Though content to feed on corpses, ghouls prefer fresh meat. The unfortunate victim of a ghoul’s paralytic touch can’t struggle—or even scream—as the ghoul devours them alive.

Dark Blessing. Legends say the first ghoul was an elf who practiced depraved, cannibalistic rituals to curry favor with the demon lord of undeath. When this elf repented, the gods decreed that he and his kind would be forever immune to the ghouls’ paralytic touch. Still, the demon lord continues to reward feasters of flesh by transforming them into ghouls. Even those who turn to cannibalism out of desperation might unwillingly receive the lord’s dark blessing. Aboleths , hags, and necromancers know rites to create ghouls, as well.

More than Monsters. Unlike mindless undead such as skeletons or zombies, ghouls are intelligent, though constant hunger turns most into ravening monsters. A ghoul whose appetites are routinely satisfied, however, might recover some of its faculties. Much like vampires, many “noble” ghouls conceal their nature from the settlements they feed upon, so as to keep a steady supply of food at hand. Others journey far beneath the earth to seek out the ghoulish empire said to exist in those dark, forbidding caverns.

Undead Nature. Ghouls and ghasts don’t require air, sustenance, or sleep.