Feral ghoul (Fallout 3)

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===
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.
===Feral 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.
===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.
===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.
===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.
==Locations==
* Found throughout the Capital Wasteland, frequently in subway metros.
* Found in Point Lookout.
* Found on Mothership Zeta.
==Notable feral ghouls==
* Ethyl - Tame glowing one in the Chop Shop.
* Meat - Friendly glowing one in the Chop Shop.
* Mr. Keller - Hostile glowing one in the National Guard depot bunker.
* Samuel - Hostile glowing one near Isabella Proud's camp.
* Stefan - Caged glowing one in the Red Racer factory.
* Atom's Champion - Non-hostile reaver in the Holy Light Monastery.
* Mother Curie III - Hostile reaver at the Megaton ruins if Megaton is destroyed.
* Sun of Atom - Non-hostile glowing one in the Holy Light Monastery.
==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 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.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!"
==Bugs==
* 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 then , however, this will reset them, including their health and any effects they might have received.
* When the feral ghoul reavers throw radioactive gore, it may explode, and they will keep throwing it.
* 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.
* In some cases, feral ghouls will be non-hostile when not wearing the ghoul mask and will not attack unless provoked.
* 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.
* 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.
==Sounds==
* Aware feral ghoul
* Glowing one emitting radiation
==Gallery==
Feral ghoul reaver.jpg|Feral ghoul reaver
Fallout3GlowingOne02.jpg|A glowing one
Fallout3GlowingOne.jpg|Glowing one emitting a radiation wave
Sun of Atom.jpg|Friendly glowing one Sun of Atom
Meat and Ethyl.jpg|Meat and Ethyl in The Chop Shop
Stefan friendly.jpg|A caged Stefan in the Red Racer factory's CEO offices
Keller Senior.jpg|Mr. Keller after mutating into a glowing one in the National Guard depot bunker
Atoms Champion.jpg|Friendly ghoul reaver Atom's Champion in the Holy Light Monastery
Mother Curie III Ghoul.jpg|Mother Curie III after mutating into a feral ghoul reaver at the Megaton ruins after the destruction of Megaton
Samuel.jpg|Glowing one Samuel near Isabella Proud's camp
Swamp ghouls trappers shack.jpg|Group of swamp ghouls caged in the trapper shack's basement
Feral ghoul attacking.jpg|A feral ghoul attacking
RavenRockCryoFeralGhoul.png|A feral ghoul in cryogenic stasis in Raven Rock
Fo3 radioactive gore.png|Radioactive gore thrown by reavers 
ghoul concept.jpg|From The Art of Fallout 3
==References==
Non-game
Category:Fallout 3 creatures
Category:Broken Steel creatures
Category:Point Lookout creatures
Category:Ghouls
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