Thouls are a bizarre humanoid species from the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.
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The name "thoul" was first referenced on pg. 10 of Volume 3 of the original 1974 edition of D&D, on a random encounter table directly above a line listing ghouls as a separate creature.[1]
The thoul appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1981, 1983),[2][3] and the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (1991),[4]
The thoul appeared in second edition for the Mystara setting in the Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994).[5]
Thouls are a crossbreed of magical origins, a mixture of traits of hobgoblins, trolls and ghouls. Despite their partially ghoulish origins, they are alive, not undead, and are capable of normal reproduction.
The origins of the Thoul are a topic of much discussion [1]. One common theory chalks their creation up to a mistake. Their first appearance in print was in an introductory mini-module included with an early D&D boxed set. They were intended to be a pair of ghouls, but showed up as "Thouls" due to a typo. TSR received several inquires as to what exactly a 'Thoul' was, and made up the creature on the spot.
The Thoul was most recently showcased in Zeitgeist Games' d20 publication "Dave Arneson's Blackmoor," where it was updated to the d20 rules system and incorporated into the Blackmoor campaign setting.
Thouls are native to Mystara, one of the early settings for DnD.
^ "Origin of the Thoul?". Dragonsfoot Forums. http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4703&highlight=thoul. Retrieved February 22, 2004.