HOLMENTZER MONSTERS: P - S

P - Pegasi, Pixie, Purple Worm

R - Giant Rat, Robber Fly, Rust Monster

S - Shadow, Giant Shrew, Shrieker, Skeleton, Snake, Spectre, Giant Spider, Sprite, Stirge

Pegasi is Holmes.

Pixie is in H & M. Holmes' entry remains intact, except for a touch of nixed description: "They use short bows, small spears, and daggers. Their royalty are powerful magic-users. All are friendly with elves and fairies." The major diff between editions comes to mechanics surrounding pixies' invisiblity powers, & how to deal w/ attacking them when-so. While Holmes simply says, "defenders note minor shadows and air distortions," Mentzer, taking Moldvay's lead, tacks a -4 penalty on Hit Rolls to reflect this (Moldvay was -2, btw). Will use Mentzer for now.

Purple Worm is Holmes.

Giant Rat is in H & M, though Mentzer, via Moldvay, has stats for Normal Rats as well. Statistically, Holmes' Giant Rat survives in Mentzer, though in description, as well as in dealing w/ poison, there are a few differences. First off, Holmes reveals the literary influence of the Giant Rat ("also known as Sumatran rats"), referencing the Sherlock Holmes story, "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire", in which a Giant Rat from Sumatra is mentioned. Secondly, in regard to poison, Holmes specifies that the rat's disease is a "bacterial infestation" having a duration of 60 days, & while it can be fatal (25% chance like Mentzer), if not, will take an additional "10 weeks to recover". So in Holmes, if a PC doesnt die from rat disease, they will be out of play for roughly 4 1/2 months game time. Mentzer on the other hand, simply states that if the disease is not fatal, the victim will "be sick in bed for 1 month, unable to adventure." In other words, Holmes' disease is much more taxing to a PC's system. I'm gonna go w/ Holmes.

Robber Fly is Mentzer, via Moldvay.

Rust Monster is in H & M. While statistically Holmes' Rust Monster survives into Mentzer, the big diffs are when/how exactly a Rust Monster rusts a weapon and/or magical weapons. Holmes' Rust Monster proves to be "the bane of anyone wearing metal." For any hit by or against Holmes' RM will cause either metal armor, or weapon, to "rust instantaneously", "even magic weapons". But whereas Holmes' RM is an "inoffensive looking little creature", Mentzer's, via Moldvay, has "a body like a giant armadillo with a long tail, and 2 long front 'feelers' (antannae)." For Mentzer, these "feelers" are what cause "any non-magical armor or weapon hit to immediately crumble to rust", so it isnt the RM's body in general that causes rustage. Therefore a successfully hit on the RM in Mentzer means a weapon is not affected, unlike both Holmes & Moldvay. Lastly, in Mentzer, like Moldvay, magical weapons have a 10%-for-every-"plus"-chance to not be affected in above circumstances. When they are affected, they lose one plus @ a time, until normal, & finally turn to rust, if it comes to that. As mentioned above, Holmes of course doesnt find favor for magical weapons vs. the RM. I think I'm gonna go w/ Holmes, but not certain.

Shadow is in H & M. Holmes' entry remains intact here, w/ the addition, that in Mentzer, Shadows are given the chance of surprising on 1-5 w/ 1d6. That said, an editing bit to note, is that while Mentzer is almost word-for-word Moldvay, he chooses to revert to Holmes' "Non-corporeal... intelligent creatures" vs. Moldvay's "in-corporeal... intelligent creatures".

Giant Shrew is Mentzer, via Moldvay. "No. Appearing" in Mentzer is flip-flopped: misprint.

Shrieker is in H & M. First off, while Holmes' Shrieker is a "form of mindless fungus which is ambulatory", Mentzer's Shriekers, via Moldvay, "look like giant mushrooms". While Holmes' moves a foot more per turn (10 feet/turn vs. 9 feet turn), the biggest diff here is that Holmes' reacts to light within 30' & movement within 10', whereas Mentzer's reacts to light within 60' & movement within 30'. Also, while Holmes says if the Shrieker shrieks there's a "50% chance of attracting wandering monsters each round thereafter", Mentzer limits this possibility to rounds that the shrieker is actually shrieking. Since Holmes uses the word round, I think it safe to assume he means rolling for wandering monsters each round after a shriek, until the encounter is over & the game reverts to a turn basis. Therefore, while Holmes' Shrieker has limited range, it can potentially alert a lot of monsters; on the other hand, Mentzer's shroom detects passing parties more easily, but only alerts monsters while it's shrieking. Going w/ Holmes.

Skeleton is in H & M. Holmes writes, "Animated skeletons act only under instructions of their motivator, an evil magic-user or cleric." This is important to note, b/c some of this verbage survives to Mentzer ("often used as guards by the high level magic-user or cleric who animated them"), & though on surface a slight diff, it's telling: Holmes' Skeleton is neutral, whereas Mentzer's is chaotic, i.e. Holmes' Skeleton is more a puppet than Mentzer's. In addition, Mentzer's Skeleton, via Moldvay, is sturdier than Holmes' (1 HD vs. 1/2 HD) & harder to hit (AC 7 vs. AC 8). Lastly, unlike Mentzer, Holmes informs the fledgling DM that skeletons "usually make no noise since they do not move unless they are attacking." Gonna use Holmes for now...

Snake is Mentzer, via Moldvay. However, one could potentially construct an entry for Holmes, as Holmes does mention snakes in a number of places, w/ stats: asps within his Medusa entry do 1-6 damage/bite & a "giant snake" in the sample dungeon is AC 6, HD 2, 100 feet/turn movement. These stats come closest to Mentzer's Pit Viper, but given the variety here, no point in analyzing further (see Giant Spider below). Lastly, while Mentzer relays Moldvay here, he adds Giant Racer to the entry.

Spectre is Holmes.

Giant Spider is in H & M, though the entries are quite divergent. First off, Holmes' "Spider" entry is for Large, Huge & Giant Spiders, while Mentzer's "Giant Spider" entry, which is via Moldvay, is for Crab Spider, Black Widow & Tarantella. B/c of this spectrum, it is hard to do comparison as I have been, though what I can say, is that Holmes' Giant Spider, while a bit slower than any of Mentzer's, is harder to hit/kill, having 4 + 4 HD (Mentzer's Tarantella is 4 HD) & an AC of 4 (Mentzer's Tarantella is AC 5). Interestingly, in the sample dungeon section of Holmes, there is a "giant spider", though its AC is "3 (plate mail)". Apparently this stat diff from the monster section has to do w/ changes made over the course of reprints (1st print of Holmes didnt have Spiders in the monster section @ all, only an "enormous spider" in the J room of the sample dungeon - see Zenopus Archives post). That said, I find no prob using all spider options for Holmentzer, including Enormous Spider.

Sprite is Mentzer, w/ misprint action: no AC is listed (stats are erroneously shifted up to where HD is where AC should be). That said, as Moldvay's AC for a Sprite is 5, & Mentzer is otherwise relayed Moldvay, it's safe to insert here.

Stirge is in H & M. While Mentzer, via Moldvay, has added land movement stats & changed the Treasure Type, Holmes' Stirge remains, though slightly weakened in attack/damage. Holmes' Stirge "attacks at +2 on all die rolls", while Mentzer's only gets +2 "on its first Hit Roll against any one opponent due to its speedy diving attack". Also, Holmes' Stirge, after initially latching to its victim & sucking blood for 1-3 damage, does 1-4 damage each round thereafter, whereas Mentzer's Stirge does 1-3 damage no matter. Lastly, it's interesting to note changes in the descriptive text through editions: Holmes says, "Large bird-like creatures with long proboscises, rather like feathered ant-eaters"; Moldvay says, "birdlike creature with a long nose, looking rather like a very small feathered anteater"; Mentzer says, "birdlike creature with a long nose". Going w/ Holmes' proboscises.

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