Stronger enemies appear as the Stranger gains experience levels.
If a non-evil enemy is killed, the Stranger loses virtue points. Carry a stock of slings, in order to weaken such enemies without killing them, until they flee. Also, you can flee from non-evil enemies without losing virtue. In some ports, the game acts a bit odd in regards to non-evil creatures, sometimes inconsistent (e.g. lost valor for fleeing from non-evil, or taking no penalty for killing in an already started combat) as if the mechanic includes more complex, hidden variables (or just a small bug).
In the NES remake, the distiction between evil, undead, and non-evil enemies was omitted: the companions should defeat all enemies, and never flee.
The sprites for the MS-DOS are similar to those for Amiga & Atari ST, but with slightly different colors.
Land enemies[edit]
Undead enemies will flee when the "Undead spell" is successfully cast. This spell was omitted from the NES remake.
The NES-only "Reflect" spell fully protects from the physical ranged attacks by Trolls, Ettins, and Cyclops (as well as sea Nixies).
Sea enemies[edit]
Sea enemies leave no gold after combat. Pirates leave their ship.
Pirate ships start appearing when the Stranger reaches level 4 (800 experience points).
Dungeon enemies[edit]
Reapers become harmless if the companions cast the "Negate" spell.
In the NES remake, all enemies can move. Also, enemies labeled as "non-evil" only appear when the party is at a low experience level (i.e. they disappear before the party is ready to brave the dungeons).