Feral ghoul (Fallout 3)

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. (They also tend to be hunched over rather than walking or standing upright.) This has contributed to the discrimination of ghouls by human wastelanders, even those that have retained their mental faculties.

Characteristics
Feral ghouls are among the most commonly encountered foes in the wasteland, particularly while traversing the metro system stretching beneath the ruins of the capital. Although individual ghouls aren't much of a threat, they usually attack in packs, trying to bring their target down in melee. As their brains have degenerated long ago, ferals are incapable of using tactics or tools. The closest they get is with the loud screech they release when alerted, telling the pack that they have detected a threat and bringing them down on whatever raised their ire. Being ghouls, all ferals are immune to the deleterious effects of radiation. Instead, radiation heals them. As such, glowing ones can keep a pack in action longer and should be taken down first when present.

Dealing with ferals involves keeping them at range and avoiding swarms. Ferals can be taken down with explosives or at a distance. When they start screeching, they will typically sprint at the target, attacking them with an overhead strike with their hardened fists, then attack with side-swipes up close. Wearing the ghoul mask renders all feral ghouls non-hostile, allowing players to observe their convulsions and fidgeting up close.

Feral ghoul
The basic variant, easily distinguished by the tattered shorts it wears. The basic ghoul can appear in two different variants, one with a reddish flesh color and another with a greyish hue. Functionally, they are the same creature and pose the same, minimal threat.

They are among the weakest creatures in the game and can be reliably dispatched with any melee weapon or a few shots to the center mass. A headshot will suffice too. Ferals also drop the rare pass card for metro lines, with a 1.5% chance for them to spawn, the highest among all creatures in the game.

Feral ghoul roamer
Roamers can be easily identified by the tattered Army combat armor they wear on top of tattered remains of a uniform. Commonly encountered in abandoned Metro tunnels and derelict buildings, roamers are what remains of pre-War soldiers who succumbed to radiation poisoning, but were not granted the mercy of a quick death.

Centuries of exposure to the environment robbed the combat armor of most of its protective qualities and roamers can be taken down just like regular ghouls. However, their higher resistance to gunfire and melee, combined with the fact they spawn in groups, can make them dangerous to unprepared players.

Glowing one
Feral ghouls who absorbed too much radiation can turn into undead conduits of radiation. The sheer amount of rads they absorbed has caused them to glow, with their skeleton visible beneath the translucent, greenish skin. Like regular feral ghouls, they wear nothing but a pair of short, ragged trousers. However, they are much more resilient and can release bursts of radiation, injuring non-ghouls and healing nearby feral ghouls. Even after they are dispatched, the radiation continues to leak out of their bodies, creating a small, mildly irradiated zone (+1 rads/sec).

A glowing one is guaranteed to spawn at the Dunwich Building, in the forsaken ruins, when the player has a vision of pre-War times and sees a man in the distance. When they revert to the present, a glowing one will always spawn in the man's place.

Feral ghoul reaver
The most far gone variant of feral ghouls, introduced in Broken Steel and Point Lookout. Covered by ruined metal armor, reavers have survived long enough for the radiation to twist and harden their bodies, while supercharging their regenerative properties to the point they can literally rip off pieces of themselves to hurl at a target without damage to themselves. They are also incredibly perceptive and alert.

As a result, the reaver is one of the most powerful creatures in Fallout 3. It has twice as much health as a sentry bot or deathclaw, while being faster and potentially more damaging than either. They close distance fast, attacking with quick lunge attacks that knock the target back and can easily cripple limbs. They can also rip out their guts and throw them at a distance, with reaver chunks exploding like a grenade.

Reavers are dangerous at all distances and highly alert to boot, capable of detecting sneaking players protected by stealth fields generated by Stealth Boys or Chinese stealth armor. As such, fighting off a reaver requires a good deal of firepower or giving them a (very) wide berth.

Notable reavers

 * Atom's Champion: Found in the Holy Light Monastery, the Champion is non-hostile.

Swamp ghoul
A sickly, degenerated variant of a feral ghoul found in Point Lookout. Exposed to the marsh environment and wearing tattered remains of their former clothes, these pale ghouls are weaker than their counterparts and can be easily dispatched with any weapon. However, they usually appear in number and support more powerful ghouls like reavers or glowing ones. Major concentrations can be encountered at the Turtledove Detention Camp and Ark & Dove Resting Grounds.

Bugs

 * Reavers do not have proper swimming animations associated with them, so they will simply walk underwater.
 * Reavers might become impossible to kill for a short while, when they start to violently shake. This can be bypassed by using explosives or targeting the legs.
 * The gore chunk thrown by reavers might fail to detonate on impact, leaving them stuck in a perpetual throwing cycle.
 * The special aura may not correctly despawn when the reaver is killed with any plasma rifle and disintegrates into goo, remaining active around the pile.

Appearances
Feral ghouls appear in Fallout 3.