Can You Become a Ghoul in Fallout 4?

Ghouls are a big part of Fallout 4‘s world, both regular and feral. Even the ones who don’t want to eat your face are often shunned. But can you become a ghoul in Fallout 4? Here’s the answer.

Can You Become a Ghoul in Fallout 4?

You cannot become a full ghoul in vanilla Fallout 4, but there is a perk that will give you one of the benefits of being a ghoul. In the world of Fallout, ghouls are people who’ve been exposed to radiation but who haven’t died. Instead, they become immortal, their skin becoming pock-marked and discolored.

Some retain their minds, while others become zombie-like feral ghouls, but even the ones who haven’t gone mad are looked down upon by society. So, having you play as a ghoul could be quite the game-changer. However, every Fallout game to date casts you as a human. There is no ghoul class.

What you can do with the vanilla version of Fallout 4 is, through your perk/skill tree, acquire the “Ghoulish” perk. You’ll need Endurance of 9 to unlock this, but it means radiation heals you, and with the perk maxed out (which requires the Nuka-World DLC), radiation is nearly a non-issue. Your appearance, however, remains the same. 

That’s what you can do with the vanilla version of Fallout 4. However, there are mods available to take things a little further.

Related: How to Wait in Fallout 4

How to Play as a Ghoul in Fallout 4 Using Mods

If you take a look at the Fallout 4 mods, available through the in-game mod browser, you’ll see that there are at least two that let you change your appearance to look like a ghoul. The one I’d recommend is “Revamped Playable Ghoul” by Cebius, available on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. 

The mod hasn’t been updated in a while, but when you create a character, it’ll give you the appearance of a ghoul. This does mean starting all over again, but if you’re thinking about playing as a ghoul, chances are you’re about to start a new game.

If you combine that mod with the Ghoulish trait, you’ve got a reasonable approximation of what it might be to be a ghoul. The snag is that your voice remains the same, and no-one reacts to your appearance. But it’s as close as you’re going to get unless Fallout 5 does add a ghoul class. 

So, the answer to whether you can become a ghoul in Fallout 4 is not really, but the combination of a perk and mod comes pretty close. 

Fallout 4 is available now.