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Those Feral Ghouls that prefer the dark, dank underground? They ARE basically mindless zombies. So kill as many as you damn well please.Three Dog

Feral ghouls are creatures found in the Capital Wasteland in 2277. They are ghouls who have lost their sanity and ability to reason due to radiation, making them aggressive to anyone who is not another ghoul. Feral ghouls are partially held by many humans to be responsible for the discrimination shown towards all ghouls, whether or not they have retained their mental faculties. They are referred to by Three Dog in one of his broadcasts as "mindless zombies" and in another, he describes their condition with obvious disgust as "Ew, ghoulification!"

Characteristics[]

Gameplay attributes[]

Feral ghouls often give a loud, low-pitched screech or growl before attacking enemies. This can be helpful in dark places or areas with objects blocking the Lone Wanderer's view, especially in the metro system and the Dunwich Building. As with normal ghouls, ferals are entirely resistant to radiation. This makes a glowing one especially dangerous when encountered with regular ferals, as they constantly emit radiation that will heal the ghouls within the surrounding area.

Feral ghouls attack with no strategy. They rush foes in one massive onslaught. At first, they attack with a running over-the-head strike. When close to an enemy, they will swipe at them horizontally or diagonally.

Variants[]

Feral ghoul[]

Feral ghoul

The basic feral ghoul variant in Fallout 3 wears only a pair of tattered shorts (or ripped pants) and is noticeably weaker than standard human opponents. They are easily defeated with one or two headshots or a solid hit with a decent weapon in close-quarters combat. Despite their noisy shrieks and remarkable speed, they are not much of a threat unless they outnumber their enemies.

Some feral ghouls come in different colors as well as different types. Some are a "healthy" pink color while others are a grimy gray color. Their skin colors are different depending on what ethnicity they were prior to ghoulification. Feral ghouls can drop rare pass cards in blue and red colors, and they have the highest chance in the game for a creature to drop them, at a 1.5% chance.

Name (Form ID)StatisticsBehaviorAbilitiesItems
Feral ghoul
0009FAFA
Level
3
Experience Points
?
Perception
3
Hit Points
25
Damage Resistance
0%
Aggression
Very aggressive: Will attack enemies and neutrals on sight.Icon requiredIcon requiredIcon optional
Confidence
Foolhardy: Will never flee or avoid anyone.Icon requiredIcon requiredIcon requiredIcon required
Gamebryo AI attributes#Assistance
Helps allies: Will help allies.Icon requiredIcon optional
Attack
Melee (5 Damage)
Ability
Radiation resistance Radiation resist. 85%
Ability
Radiation Healing
(+1 Hit Points +100 Radiation)

Feral ghoul roamer[]

Ghoul Roamer

These ghouls are seen wearing the remains of pre-War combat armor commonly used by the National Guard and U.S. Army. The majority of them can be found in abandoned metro tunnels and buildings, where people who could not gain entrance to the vaults often sought refuge.

Although what remains of their armor gives them some protection, roamers 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 poorly equipped wastelander. Due to the ruined condition of their armor, it cannot be taken after they are killed.

Name (Form ID)StatisticsBehaviorAbilitiesItems
Feral ghoul roamer
00072B79
Level
3
Experience Points
?
Perception
3
Hit Points
25
Damage Resistance
0%
Aggression
Very aggressive: Will attack enemies and neutrals on sight.Icon requiredIcon requiredIcon optional
Confidence
Foolhardy: Will never flee or avoid anyone.Icon requiredIcon requiredIcon requiredIcon required
Gamebryo AI attributes#Assistance
Helps allies: Will help allies.Icon requiredIcon optional
Attack
Melee (5 Damage)
Ability
Radiation resistance Radiation resist. 85%
Ability
Radiation Healing
(+1 Hit Point +100 Radiation)
Feral ghoul roamer
0009FAFB
Level
6
Experience Points
?
Perception
4
Hit Points
80
Damage Resistance
0%
Aggression
Very aggressive: Will attack enemies and neutrals on sight.Icon requiredIcon requiredIcon optional
Confidence
Foolhardy: Will never flee or avoid anyone.Icon requiredIcon requiredIcon requiredIcon required
Gamebryo AI attributes#Assistance
Helps allies: Will help allies.Icon requiredIcon optional
Attack
Melee (16 Damage)
Ability
Radiation resistance Radiation resist. 85%
Ability
Radiation Healing
(+1 Hit Point +100 Radiation)

Feral ghoul reaver[]

Feral ghoul reaver

Feral ghoul reavers, introduced in the Broken Steel add-on, are extremely strong ferals clothed in what appears to be the remains of metal armor. Their skin may, upon close inspection, appear to bubble and burn, emitting radiation and dark green smoke. If a reaver is killed by a critical hit from an energy weapon, the smoke will continue to emanate from the remains.

Tougher than other ghouls and more than twice as durable as a sentry bot or deathclaw, reavers are one of the most formidable enemies in the game. They are extremely quick, and their lunge attack can knock their targets back some distance. Reavers have the unique ability to throw pieces of their own body at a target. These chunks, thrown with deadly accuracy and range, explode like a grenade and can easily cripple limbs. The chunks also emit radiation.

Reavers, unlike deathclaws, seem to be highly perceptive and can detect their foes even in sneak mode, including those wearing a Stealth Boy or Chinese stealth armor, or even both. Feral ghoul reavers have no swimming scripts or animations, so they "walk" underwater.

Name (Form ID)StatisticsBehaviorAbilitiesItems
Feral ghoul reaver Broken Steel
xx00103E
Level
12
Experience Points
?
Perception
7
Hit Points
1100
Damage Resistance
0%
Aggression
Very aggressive: Will attack enemies and neutrals on sight.Icon requiredIcon requiredIcon optional
Confidence
Foolhardy: Will never flee or avoid anyone.Icon requiredIcon requiredIcon requiredIcon required
Gamebryo AI attributes#Assistance
Helps allies: Will help allies.Icon requiredIcon optional
Attack
Melee (100 Damage)
Ability
Radiation resistance Radiation resist. 85%
Ability
Radiation Healing
(+1 Hit Point +100 Radiation)

Glowing one[]

Glowing one

Glowing ones are feral ghouls that have absorbed massive amounts of radiation. Their irradiated skin is a pale translucent green that continually produces a soft glow. Their legs are draped in rags similar to those worn by the standard version of a feral ghoul. In battle, they sometimes release a massive burst of radiation, severely injuring and irradiating enemies and healing any other nearby feral ghouls.

Name (Form ID)StatisticsBehaviorAbilitiesItems
Glowing one
0001CF7B
Level
9
Experience Points
?
Perception
5
Hit Points
240
Damage Resistance
0%
Aggression
Very aggressive: Will attack enemies and neutrals on sight.Icon requiredIcon requiredIcon optional
Confidence
Foolhardy: Will never flee or avoid anyone.Icon requiredIcon requiredIcon requiredIcon required
Gamebryo AI attributes#Assistance
Helps allies: Will help allies.Icon requiredIcon optional
Attack
Melee (32 Damage)
Attack
Aura Explosion (5 Damage and 5 Radiation/sec for 2 seconds)
Ability
Radiation resistance Radiation resist. 80%
Ability
Radiation Healing
(+1 Hit Point +100 Radiation)

Swamp ghoul[]

Swamp ghoul

Swamp ghouls are ferals that inhabit the swamps of Point Lookout. Swamp ghouls wear a tattered pair of shorts commonly worn by tribals. They exhibit the same characteristics as the Capital Wasteland ghouls, but are paler in color and considerably weaker, and they only pose a genuine threat in numbers.

They can be found in various locations in Point Lookout, with high concentrations at the Turtledove Detention Camp and the Ark & Dove resting grounds along with the other types of feral ghouls, including feral ghoul reavers and glowing ones.

Name (Form ID)StatisticsBehaviorAbilitiesItems
Swamp ghoul Point Lookout (add-on)
xx0116F6
xx008807
xx009C09
Level
3
Experience Points
?
Perception
3
Hit Points
25
Damage Resistance
0%
Aggression
Very aggressive: Will attack enemies and neutrals on sight.Icon requiredIcon requiredIcon optional
Confidence
Foolhardy: Will never flee or avoid anyone.Icon requiredIcon requiredIcon requiredIcon required
Gamebryo AI attributes#Assistance
Helps allies: Will help allies.Icon requiredIcon optional
Attack
Melee (5 Damage)
Ability
Radiation resistance Radiation resist. 85%
Ability
Radiation Healing
(+1 Hit Point +100 Radiation)

Locations[]

Notable feral ghouls[]

Notes[]

  • When the Lone Wanderer passes through a certain doorway early in the forsaken Dunwich ruins section of the Dunwich Building, they will have a hallucination of pre-War times and see a man in front of themselves. They will then come back to reality and see that the man is now a glowing one. This glowing one is one of the few that are encountered regardless of level.
  • No variants of feral ghouls will be hostile towards the Lone Wanderer should they be wearing the ghoul mask.
  • If the Lone Wanderer remains undetected by feral ghouls for a while, the ghouls will begin to fidget and convulse inexplicably.
  • Feral ghouls are mainly found in dark areas like metros or buildings.
  • Feral ghouls seem to have less skin degradation than non-feral ghouls.
  • Feral ghouls have a chance of dropping edible human flesh which is one of the better healing items in the game.
  • Based on an unused audio present in the game's files, it appears that feral ghouls were originally meant to growl out words and phrases during combat. However, in-game, they are incapable of any intelligible speech.
    • Fallout: New Vegas would later give feral ghouls these phrases, but the lines were re-recorded.

Appearances[]

Feral ghouls appear in Fallout 3 and its add-ons Broken Steel and Point Lookout.

Behind the scenes[]

Feral ghouls in Fallout 3 were modeled by character artist Jonah Lobe, who used photos of packaged chicken meat as the basis of the model. Lobe used a Liquify filter to push it into position and create an "icky translucent look" emulating real human muscle.[Non-game 1]

Bugs[]

  • PCPC Xbox 360Xbox 360 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, make use of grenades or wear the ghoul mask. Ghouls affected by this glitch may begin shaking vigorously. Alternatively, you can open the developer console, click on the offending ghoul and type in disable then enable, however, this will reset them, including their health and any effects they might have received.[verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 When the feral ghoul reavers throw radioactive gore, it may explode, and they will keep throwing it.[verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 If a feral ghoul reaver is killed using a plasma rifle and the body disintegrates into a goo pile, then it may keep the green aura that surrounded the reaver prior to its death.[verified]
  • Xbox 360Xbox 360 In some cases, feral ghouls will be non-hostile when not wearing the ghoul mask and will not attack unless provoked.[verified]
  • PCPC Feral ghoul reavers encountered in Point Lookout may throw their flesh at you, though it does not explode. The red arrow will denote its location and when hovering over it, the name radioactive gore will appear. It is possible to pick it up, and will explode when dropped again.[verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 Feral ghoul reavers may occasionally constantly spasm, making them incredibly difficult to hit without the use of V.A.T.S. This is most notable with the reavers in the train tunnel to Adams Air Force Base.[verified]

Sounds[]

  • Aware feral ghoul

  • Glowing one emitting radiation

Gallery[]

References[]

Non-game

  1. Jonah Lobe on Twitter (archived): "Remember the Feral Ghouls from #Fallout3 ? To get that icky translucent look, I used photos of real meat (ie packaged chicken) & used the Liquify filter to push them into position, to make it look like real human(ish) muscle. Bon apetit!"
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