Just adding my thoughts to the pile
They may be pretty f*cked, but I would not make the mistake of treating them as zombies. They are living creatures. Harold may be in pieces, but I've met cancer victims with faces that don't look far off some of his features, if ye need an example of that sort of thing, being, with reality suspended somewhat, survivable.
He coughs; he breathes. Ghouls bleed, they die.
So, I think they eat O.o
Simply long lived humans with frail and severely wasted frames, missing extremities, who have slowly endured their own bodies rotting away while simultaneously changing sufficiently to survive the process.
Damaged but not broken.
I agree, their perception should certainly be lowered. In terms of strength and agility, they should be crippled. Luck as a high note would fit the theme, given the 'style' of Fallout. They're survivors so far, give them the Luck that would perpetuate that state of existance appropriately.
Intelligence though... When you're barely able to walk, when you're rotting and no looker, you've got no young ladies to occupy you and you can't fight or work hard for a living, you've got a lot of time for thought. Long lived and endurant as they are, the average ghoul you meet will be of considerable age during the timeframe of Fallout 3 in particular, granting them life experiences. They should be naturally intelligent, fitting to both their archetype and via a few logical paths, the acceptable reality of Fallout.
This is all generalisation, there will always be exceptions to the rules, but intelligence, luck and endurance are their strengths.
They are used to physically debiliting afflictions, and either live in pain or don't feel it atall. Either way, Endurance is certainly a strength of theirs. They are human cockroaches, they survived the bomb! Though the ambient radiation has warped, corrupted and twisted their physical forms and often subtly their minds as a consequence, they have come to terms and evolved to survive with it, to use the term loosely.
Eh. That'll do.
*runs from the forums once more*
Edit:
Regarding Charisma, don't cripple a ghoul too badly. It's a f*cked world with f*cked people, and they are certainly ugly. But intelligence and a friendly demeanor count for more than a pretty face in a world as violent and harsh as Fallout. Many people suffer deformity, Ghouls are simply on the extreme end of the twist-o-meter.
A maximum of Seven, a minimum of Zero, a default of Four?
After all, Harold and Set, the two Ghouls we see close up during Fallout 1, are aged and experienced. Set is sufficiently matured, well travelled and tough to lead a band of violent Ghouls, while we all know Harold's story. They're among the most torn up of their race, I feel. Not all Ghouls would be so badly ruined. Rot, holes, gunk, but not all 'skeletons with scraps on and organs inside'... The average Ghoul is not quite as ugly.
