Feral ghouls are creatures found in the Capital Wasteland in 2277. They are similar in appearance to ghouls, but they have lost their ability to reason and have become aggressive to anyone who isn't a ghoul. This has contributed to the discrimination of ghouls by human wastelanders, even those that have retained their mental faculties. They can only use the primal part of their brains.
Characteristics
Biology
The degeneration into a feral state (referred to as ferocious post-necrotic dystrophy) is not fully understood. It is known that it is a result of a degeneration of the brain (which is not affected by the regenerative mutation of the spinal cord) and emerges following the atrophy of higher brain functions, accompanied by an increased level of aggression and appetite. When the loss of capacity for thought is complete, a ghoul is considered feral.[1][2] The factors that may cause a ghoul to enter this state are unclear, but anti-social or isolated ghouls are more susceptible to it.[3] Exposure to intense radiation may also be a factor; feral ghouls have no body heat and emit lethal levels of radiation, indicating that feral ghouls are for all intents and purposes dead, their functions sustained only by their high irradiation. This allows them to survive for centuries, relying only on the energy provided by radiation, at the expense of a horrifying, emaciated appearance. The process is irreversible.[4][5]
Gameplay attributes
Feral ghouls often give a high-pitched screech before attacking enemies. This can be useful in dark areas or areas with objects blocking the players view, especially in the metros of the wasteland and the Dunwich Building. As with normal ghouls, ferals are extremely resistant to radiation; this makes a Glowing One especially dangerous when encountered with regular ghouls, as they constantly emit radiation which will heal their fellows.
Variants
Feral ghoul
The basic feral ghoul variant in Fallout 3 wears only a pair of tattered shorts and is noticeably weaker than standard human opponents. They are easily dispatched with one or two headshots or a solid hit in close quarters combat. Despite their noisy shrieks and remarkable speed, they are not much of a threat unless they outnumber the player, or when their character is at a low level.
Some feral ghouls come in different colors as well as different types. Some are a "healthy" pink color, while others are a grimy grey color and also some of them have grey tattered clothes. Their skin colors are different depending on what the human looked like before they turned into a ghoul.
Feral ghoul roamer
Wearing the remains of pre-war combat armor commonly used by the National Guard and US Army, roamers are likely ghoulified troops who were deployed in the DC area when the bombs fell. The majority of them are in the abandoned Metro tunnels where many who couldn't gain entrance to vaults sought refuge.
Although what remains of their armor gives them some protection (more than regular feral ghouls), they can still be brought down quickly with most weapons. However, they do have a tendency to appear in small groups and can be dangerous to a low-level player.
Glowing one
Glowing ones are feral ghouls that have absorbed massive amounts of nuclear radiation. As a result, their skin is a pale translucent green that continually produces a soft glow. Their legs are draped in similar rags that the standard version of a feral ghoul would wear. They are reportedly looked down upon by other ghouls.
In battle, they sometimes release a massive burst of radiation, severely injuring enemies and healing other ghouls. When killed, standing close to their corpses will cause the player to become irradiated (usually +1 Rad per second).
Feral ghoul reaver
Feral ghoul reavers are a type of feral ghoul which appears in the Fallout 3 add-ons Broken Steel and Point Lookout. The reaver wears what appears to be the remains of metal armor and upon close inspection, reavers' skin appears to "bubble" and other times, "burn", emitting slight radiation and letting dark green "smoke" billow out from the scars on their bodies. If such a reaver is killed by a critical hit from an energy weapon, this "smoke" will even persist on the green goo pile or ash remains.
They are much more combat-worthy than other ghouls and are one of the toughest enemies in the game, more than twice as durable as sentry bots or deathclaws. The reavers are extremely quick, and their lunge attack can send the player sliding back some distance with every strike. Their blows tend to pack quite a punch and even high level players characters are prone to getting crippled quickly or even outright killed if they're not careful.
Reavers have a special attack, where they can rip off pieces of radioactive gore from a gash in their stomach to throw at a target, much like a grenade. Their gore easily cripples limbs. The fact that they're deadly accurate with it doesn't help either though it takes a few seconds to go off after thrown.
Reavers seem to be highly perceptive (unlike deathclaws) as they can detect even high-level player characters in Sneak mode wearing a Stealth Boy or even the Chinese stealth armor.
Notes
There is one non-hostile feral ghoul reaver located in the Holy Light Monastery named Atom's Champion.
Feral ghoul reavers have no swimming scripts or animations, so they 'walk' underwater.
Swamp ghoul
Swamp ghouls are feral ghouls which inhabit the swamps of Point Lookout. Swamp ghouls wear a tattered pair of shorts commonly worn by tribals, hinting that they were once tribals who didn't eat their punga fruit. They still exhibit the same characteristics of their Capital Wasteland counterparts, but are paler in color and considerably weaker, most likely due to Point Lookouts cloudy and dark environment.
They can be found in various locations in point lookout with high concentrations at Turtledove Detention Camp and Ark & Dove Resting Grounds along with the other types of feral ghouls, including feral ghoul reaver and glowing ones.
Notes
- When the player passes through a certain doorway, early in the Forsaken Dunwich Ruins section, he will have an hallucination to Pre-war times and see a man in front of himself. He will then come back to reality and see the man is the Glowing One. Interestingly, this Glowing One is one of the few that are encountered regardless of level.
- If the player remains undetected by feral ghouls (or simply use the Ghoul mask), after a while, they will begin to fidget and/or convulse inexplicably.
Appearances
Bugs
- PC
Feral ghoul reavers may become invincible for a short period of time. While they can be successfully targeted in V.A.T.S, all shots fired will miss. If this happens, shoot for the legs, or make use of grenades. To detect when the ghouls are invincible they will begin shaking vigorously. Be careful they are nearly impossible to outrun and inflict much damage even on low difficulties.
- Playstation 3 Sometimes when the feral ghoul reavers throw radioactive gore, it won't explode, and will keep throwing it.
- Xbox 360 Occasionally, if the player knocks down a reaver with the Victory Rifle, they might have a physical glitch, and fly across the map.
- Playstation 3 If a feral ghoul reaver is killed using A3-21's plasma rifle (or any plasma rifle), and the reaver disintegrates into a goo pile, then sometimes they have the same green aura that they had around them before they died.
Gallery
Glowing one emitting a radiation wave.
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(Fallout: BoS, Fallout: BoS 2) | | Brahmin · Coyote · Dog · Experimental deathclaw (Baby experimental deathclaw) · Ghoul (Glowing one) · Giant rat (Mole rat) · Human · Radbug · Radscorpion (glowing radscorpion, spitting radscorpion, large giant radscorpion) · Small rat · Giant rat · Super mutant (Mariposa) | | | Project V13 | | Ghoul · Human · Mutant mantis shrimp · Super mutant (Project V13) | | | Fallout Shelter | | Bat · Deathclaw · Feral ghoul · Ghoul · Human · Mole rat · Cat · Dog · Parrot · Radroach · Radscorpion · Super mutant |
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