Hello,
Our party recently encountered a party of ghouls and one of them paralzyed the freshly created fighter( his cleric just died because of a coup de grace in the previous game :D)
Was it possible for another adjacent ghoul to perform a coup de grace and kill the fighter? ( it's specified melee weapon in the coup de grace )
If yes, then a ghoul is freaking dangerous!
Yep, a natural attack, such as the bite or claw, work just fine for a coup de grace.
And, yes, ghouls can be very dangerous lower level threats. The only possible saving grace is the save DC on the paralysis is fairly low. Of course when it sticks, you're in trouble without fast help from teammates.