[AEC] Astarot XP off?

[Urieal]

So, I'm going through all the monsters in LL and the AEC in order to validate the XP for monsters, and I wanted to know why Astarot's XP is only 17,000

By my count, it should be 84,250. Here's the calculation:
Base HD of 23 (uses the 22+ row of the XP chart). That gives 3,250 base XP due to HD.

He has 36 special abilities.

1. Infravision (90’) - +2,250 XP
2. Half damage from cold-based attacks - +2,250 XP
3. Half damage from electrical-based attacks - +2,250 XP
4. Half damage from fire-based attacks (all) - +2,250 XP
5. Half damage from gas-type attacks - +2,250 XP
6. Gate (varies in expression, not available to lower order demons)...this "overrides" the gate ability in the description - +2,250 XP
7. Telepathy (allows all languages to be understood) - +2,250 XP
8. Teleport without error (not available to lower order demons) - +2,250 XP
9. clairvoyance - +2,250 XP
10. clairaudience - +2,250 XP
11. continual darkness - +2,250 XP
12. fear - +2,250 XP
13. detect invisible - +2,250 XP
14. detect magic - +2,250 XP
15. dispel magic - +2,250 XP
16. ESP - +2,250 XP
17. greater phantasmal force - +2,250 XP
18. levitate - +2,250 XP
19. polymorph self - +2,250 XP
20. read languages - +2,250 XP
21. read magic - +2,250 XP
22. suggestion - +2,250 XP
23. telekinesis (500 lbs. per head) - +2,250 XP
24. wall of ice - +2,250 XP
25. water breathing - +2,250 XP
26. feeblemind - +2,250 XP
27. power word stun - +2,250 XP
28. project image - +2,250 XP
29. sticks to snakes - +2,250 XP
30. symbol - +2,250 XP
31. energy drain - +2,250 XP
32. charm gaze - +2,250 XP
33. fear gaze - +2,250 XP
34. only harmed by +2 weapons - +2,250 XP
35. breath attack - +2,250 XP
36. tail withering attack - +2,250 XP

+2,250 × 36 = 81,000 bonus XP

81,000 bonus XP + 3,250 base XP = 84,250

Is that wrong? I would say it seems high...but c'mon...it's Astarot!
Please verify if you have the time.

[aspiringlich]

Maybe you're not supposed to count each spell he can cast as a separate ability, but instead they're all included under the one ability to "cast spells"? That's all I can think of.

[Urieal]

Maybe you're not supposed to count each spell he can cast as a separate ability, but instead they're all included under the one ability to "cast spells"? That's all I can think of.

I thought of the same thing, but if you go and look at the Brownie entry, each of its spell-like abilities are counted towards the XP total (would normally be 5, but is 12 instead because of the 7 special abilities).

[Urieal]

And where did the original 17,000 come from?

Astarot has 23 HD.

If you use the 23+ XP row from the chart, it's impossible to arrive at 17,000.
If you use the 22+ XP row from the chart, it's impossible to arrive at 17,000.
If you use the 21+ XP row from the chart, you arrive at 17,000 with 7 special abilities...but, clearly, 21 HD isn't correct

[aspiringlich]

Could be just a plain jane typo. Concerning typos, I would suggest you also fix the movement rates for skeletons and zombies: they should be reversed (120' for skeletons, 60' for zombies). The way it is now is a mistake carried over from Moldvay, which was corrected in the PHB.

[Urieal]

Could be just a plain jane typo. Concerning typos, I would suggest you also fix the movement rates for skeletons and zombies: they should be reversed (120' for skeletons, 60' for zombies). The way it is now is a mistake carried over from Moldvay, which was corrected in the PHB.

Will do.

I'm on Astarot now. I've already found 13 mis-calculations for XP.

Well, 2 of the ones I've found should have a range instead of a static value (due to the possibility of a special ability).

[Urieal]

Could be just a plain jane typo. Concerning typos, I would suggest you also fix the movement rates for skeletons and zombies: they should be reversed (120' for skeletons, 60' for zombies). The way it is now is a mistake carried over from Moldvay, which was corrected in the PHB.

FYI.

OD&D has the Zombie at 60' per turn (M&T, p. 3). No mention of slow attacks or lost initiative, though.
Holmes Basic has the Zombie at 120' per turn, but they only attack every other round. It was a misprint, as Holmes monsters should have been doubled (as were the PC movement rates).
Moldvay has it the same (120'), but they lose initiative and attack each round.
Mentzer and the Rules Cyclopedia have it at 90'/30', and they lose initiative (so slower movement and lost initiative).
1E has them at 60' and losing initiative as well.

I changed to the Mentzer/RC ruling as it's a "middle ground" and seems to fill the spirit of what was being conveyed.

[aspiringlich]

Hmm, interesting, I never knew all that. I have them at 60'(20') and attacking last each round, but now I think I'll drop that last bit and just keep them at the slower movement rate, a la OD&D. I'm running an OEC campaign right now anyway, so it fits well.

[kingius]

Speaking of zombies, in my last game session I actually chased a player character all the way out of the dungeon with a humble zombie. It had slain his henchmen and so he ran for his life and got a real shock with the 120' movement rate ... the zombie was keeping pace with him every step of the way! It was only when he left the dungeon that the zombie gave up the chase.

[Urieal]

Hmm, interesting, I never knew all that. I have them at 60'(20') and attacking last each round, but now I think I'll drop that last bit and just keep them at the slower movement rate, a la OD&D. I'm running an OEC campaign right now anyway, so it fits well.

Note, that OD&D doesn't specify movement rates for combat (as far as I know), thus the movement for a Zombie or Skeleton was 60' per MOVE. That being said, there are 2 moves per turn in OD&D as well, so the movement for a Zombie or Skeletion was 120' per TURN. I believe Dr. Holmes broke the OD&D movement into rounds by dividing by 12.

Therefore, a PC got 1/12 their movement during each round. A 120 would net you 10' per round (and you can still attack). A 60 would net you 5' per round. And so forth.

It looks like Holmes actually got the movement rate for zombies correct ...as they would have been allowed to move twice per turn (with a movement rate of 60 each, so 120 per turn). I went back and double checked every monster entry for Holmes, he doubled Kobolds and Zombies...that's it...so probably a Holmes typo that got carried over into Moldvay.