Note: Although pressing ? on the introduction screen
will take you here, and this page does give a quick
overview of much in the game, it is not the main page
for the entire help system. Press ! if you wish to
access other parts of the FrogComposband help.
Creating a Character
FrogComposband is a role-playing game in which you - the player -
control a character in a dangerous world of myth and magic, populated
with demons, dragons, deities, ducks and other rare and strange
creatures of the Last Days. The most important decision you make on
your quest to slay the Serpent of Chaos is what kind of character to
play: spell-wielding magician or sword-waving warrior? Stealthy rogue
or musical bard? Holy priest or evil spawn of chaos? The choices are
myriad, and the process of generating a new character is described in
this help file, which will also serve to introduce you to many of the
core concepts of the game.
Character creation, or birth, is controlled through a variety of
choices. You must choose your character's race (Human, Dwarf, Hobbit,
Ogre, Vampire, Werewolf, etc), your character's class (Warrior, Mage,
Priest, Lawyer, etc) and your character's personality (Mighty, Shrewd,
Chaotic, Split, etc). Each of these choices is described in the help
files (see [a]).
There are three main screens for the birth process. The first is a
brief welcome screen in which you select the type of game to play (the
Game Mode). The next screen allows you to select or change your race,
class, gender, personality and character's name. The final screen
allows you to enter your starting stats. We will describe each of these
screens in detail, explaining things as we go. Ready?
The Welcome Screen
The first screen is the Welcome Screen. It simply introduces you to the
game and allows you to choose one of several options that will control
the birth process. It looks something like this:
Welcome to FrogComposband, a dungeon exploration role-playing game.
Your goal is to defeat the dreaded Serpent of Chaos, but before you can
face it, you must battle many foes. Your first step is to create a
character for this quest. The following screens will guide you through
this process so that you may quickly begin playing. You can get general
help at any time by pressing ?.
First, you must decide what type of game to play. Beginner Mode limits
the options available, simplifying things for new players.
Choose the Type of Game to Play
b) Beginner
n) Normal
m) Monster
=) Options
?) Help
s) View Scores
ESC) Quit
Tip: You can often get specific help by entering the uppercase letter
for a command. For example, type B on this screen to receive help
on Beginner Mode.
If you are new to the game, consider the Beginner mode. With this
option, you won't be so overwhelmed with choices as is normally the
case, allowing you to breeze through the birth process and quickly
begin playing (and enjoying) this game. Once you have played a few
times and wish to experience more of what the game has to offer,
including a vast wilderness with many diverse dungeons to explore and
the full array of race, class and personality choices, then you should
choose the Normal mode.
If you are truly bold you can experiment with the Monster option, which
allows you to play as one of many different types of monster. Monsters
don't have a class, but instead evolve into more powerful forms as they
gain experience. They also tend to have variable body types, making the
equipment sub-game both more fun and more challenging.
Also on this screen may be an option to Quick Start. This option simply
repeats the birth selections of your previous character, who presumably
just met an untimely demise. This is a useful option if you are dying
often in the early game, as it greatly speeds up the birth process.
The Race/Class Screen
On this screen, you can change your race, your class and (unless you
picked Beginner Mode) your personality. The screen will look something
like the following:
Name : Fatty Bolger Game Speed: Coffee-Break
Sex : Male STR INT WIS DEX CON CHR Life BHP Exp
Pers : Ordinary +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 100% 100%
Race : Hobbit -2 +1 +1 +3 +2 +1 92% +14 120%
Class: Rogue +2 +1 -1 +3 +1 +1 100% +12 125%
Magic: Burglary == +0 +2 +0 +6 +3 +2 92% +26 150%
n) Change Name *) Random Name
s) Change Sex ?) Help
p) Change Personality =) Options
r) Change Race TAB) More Info
c) Change Class RET) Next Screen
m) Change Magic ESC) Prev Screen
g) Change Game Speed
Tip: You can often get specific help by entering the uppercase letter
for a command. For example, type R on this screen to receive help
on your currently selected race.
So, what do we see? First, the fields in blue are those that you may
change on this screen. Default selections are already in (and sane
enough to play with), but you probably want to change them and make
your own picks. Your sex is essentially just flavor, and has almost no
game-play effects (choices are limited to simply Male and Female, but
at least the game is progressive enough to provide ways to swap between
those during play!). The other selections you can make are much more
important, though: your race, class, personality, and magic realms (if
any) will form the key to your character.
To the right is a table displaying information about the stat bonuses
and other modifiers you would receive from your current race, class and
personality choices. Every character has six basic attributes, called
stats, that are very important to game play; finding ways to increase
your stats will be one of your main practical goals during the game.
The six basic stats are: Strength (STR), Intelligence (INT), Wisdom
(WIS), Dexterity (DEX), Constitution (CON) and Charisma (CHR); see [b]
below for more detailed information. Your character's spell stat, if
any, is displayed in violet; this is a very important stat for magical
classes, since it determines how well the character can cast spells,
and normally you want it to be as high as possible.
On the next screen, you will choose the starting stats for this
character, and the values you choose will be modified by the amount
shown in the table. The bottom row in the table is the total row,
showing you a nice summary of the cumulative effects of your various
birth choices. It is the value in this row that gets added to your
starting stats.
Other fields in the table include:
Life: Life Multiplier. This value multiplies your maximum hit points
(HP). Hit points are your character's health; if your hit
points go below zero, you die and the game is over! See [c] for
more on how your maximum hit points are calculated.
BHP: Short for Base Hit Points, this value is a lump sum added to
your starting hit points to make the early game easier.
Exp: Short for Experience Factor, this percentage determines how
quickly or slowly your character gains new levels. (All players
begin at level 1, and may advance up to level 50. Increasing
your level gives more hit points, improves your skills, gives
access to more powerful spells, and may also provide other
effects or bonuses.)
In addition to stats, your player also has skills (see [d] below). For
example, your Melee skill determines your ability to hit monsters in
hand to hand combat. Like stats, these skills are also affected by your
birth options, and are displayed in the information table on this and
the next screen; but, since your screen is only so wide, you'll need to
use the TAB key:
Name : Fatty Bolger Game Speed: Coffee-Break
Sex : Male Disarming Device Save Stealth
Pers : Ordinary Fair Fair Fair Fair
Race : Hobbit Superb Very Good Good Superb
Class: Rogue Excellent Excellent Fair Very Good
Magic: Burglary == Superb Superb Good Heroic
And TAB again:
Name : Fatty Bolger Game Speed: Coffee-Break
Sex : Male Searching Perception Melee Archery
Pers : Ordinary Fair Fair Fair Fair
Race : Hobbit Heroic Superb Bad Very Good
Class: Rogue Fair Fair Excellent Very Good
Magic: Burglary == Good Good Very Good Excellent
Ah, we see that hobbits aren't so good at melee. However, the class
choice of Rogue more than makes up for this, and we can tell from the
summary line that this character's melee skill will be pretty good. It
is a general rule that class influences skills more than race and
personality do, especially later in the game (as you gain levels, you
also gain skill bonuses, but mostly through your class). The main
exception to this rule is Stealth, where the bonuses tend to be zero.
Below the player fields and the information table is a list of commands
that you may choose. These commands might bring up a menu of choices
for you to select from, as, for example, the Change Race command:
Name : Fatty Bolger Game Speed: Coffee-Break
Sex : Male Searching Perception Melee Archery
Pers : Ordinary Fair Fair Fair Fair
Race : Hobbit Heroic Superb Bad Very Good
Class: Rogue Fair Fair Excellent Very Good
Magic: Burglary == Good Good Very Good Excellent
Choose a Type of Race to Play
a) Human
b) Elf
c) Hobbit/Dwarf
d) Fairy
e) Angel/Demon
f) Orc/Troll/Giant
g) Shapeshifter
h) Undead
i) Other
*) Random
Aternatively, the command might take effect immediately, as with the
Change Sex command. Or, if you use the Change Name command, you can
edit your character's name directly in place:
Name : Skinny Dipper Game Speed: Coffee-Break
Sex : Male Searching Perception Melee Archery
Pers : Ordinary Fair Fair Fair Fair
Race : Hobbit Heroic Superb Bad Very Good
Class: Rogue Fair Fair Excellent Very Good
Magic: Burglary == Good Good Very Good Excellent
n) Change Name *) Random Name
s) Change Sex ?) Help
p) Change Personality =) Options
r) Change Race TAB) More Info
c) Change Class RET) Next Screen
m) Change Magic ESC) Prev Screen
g) Change Game Speed
Tip: You can often get specific help by entering the uppercase letter
for a command. For example, type R on this screen to receive help
on your currently selected race.
Changing the game speed does not affect your character directly;
rather, it selects the type of game you wish to play. The options are
normal (a full game with a wilderness), coffee-break (an accelerated
game with no wilderness) and instant-coffee (an ultra-accelerated
game). Game speed selection is not available in Beginner Mode, where
the coffee-break setting is always used.
When you are happy with your character choices, press RET to move on to
the next screen. You can always ESC to back up and make changes, so
experiment as much as you want.
The Stats Screen
On this screen, you enter your starting stats. You do this by
allocating points to each stat; you have a total of 30 points to spend,
though you can get some more by allocating negative points to stats you
really don't care about at all. Very high starting stats are expensive.
By default, the game tries to guess a reasonable allocation, and if you
are a new player, you might just want to use the defaults.
Here is a sample screen:
Name : Fatty Bolger Game Speed: Coffee-Break
Sex : Male STR INT WIS DEX CON CHR Life BHP Exp
Pers : Ordinary +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 100% 100%
Race : Hobbit -2 +1 +1 +3 +2 +1 92% +14 120%
Class: Rogue +2 +1 -1 +3 +1 +1 100% +12 125%
Magic: Burglary == +0 +2 +0 +6 +3 +2 92% +26 150%
Enter Your Starting Stats
Base Pts Mod Total
s/S) STR 16 10 +0 16 n) Change Name
i/I) INT 16 10 +2 18 ?) Help
w/W) WIS 9 -2 +0 9 =) Options
d/D) DEX 16 10 +6 18/40 TAB) More Info
c/C) CON 14 3 +3 17 RET) Begin Play
r/R) CHR 10 -1 +2 12 ESC) Prev Screen
30
Note: You may adjust each starting stat using the indicated keys. The
lower case key decrements while the upper case increments the
starting value. Values may range from 8 to 17 and each value that
you enter is charged the indicated number of points. You only
have 30 points to spend, so be sure to adjust those stats that
matter most.
Follow the instructions to make changes. If your point total exceeds
30, the option to begin playing will be disabled until you decrease
your overall score. When you are ready, press ENTER to begin play!
Where to Go from Here?
You can begin playing at this point. Use the help system (?) to learn
the basic commands. You may also wish to read some additional help
files, like the [e] General Information document or the [f] Newbie
Guide; they explain more about what you'll be up against, and contain
tips to help get you started. There is much more in the in-game help
besides, but you probably don't really want to bury yourself in 500
pages of documentation!
Character Attributes
During the game (and even during the birth process), you will see many
different numerical values that are used to measure or determine your
character's relative skills and abilities. Here's a quick overview:
Statistics
Each character has six basic statistics (or more simply stats). These
are strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution and
charisma, and they modify the abilities of the character in a variety
of ways. For example, strength affects your carrying capacity, the
amount of damage you do to a monster when you hit it, and the number
of blows per round you get with a weapon. See [g] below for more
detail on the basic statistics.
Experience (EXP/XP)
Experience affects almost everything else about your character.
Experience is mostly gained by slaying monsters, but can also be
earned by casting spells for the first time, disarming traps or
unlocking doors. Certain classes may also gain experience by
destroying specific dungeon spellbooks, and there are potions in the
dungeon that will boost your experience if you quaff them. The
Android race follows its own unique experience rules.
When your character's experience crosses certain fixed boundaries,
you will attain a new character level (up to a maximum of 50). When
this happens, your hit point pool, mana pool (if any) and primary
skills will all increase; you might also gain new powers or
abilities, or get to improve a stat of your choice. The character
level boundaries depend on the Experience Factor noted above.
Certain monsters can "drain" your experience, and thus potentially
also lower your character level. Luckily, you can restore drained
experience through magical means, through town services, or simply by
regaining the experience all over again.
Gold (AU)
Each character starts with some gold, which can be used to buy items
and services from the shops and other buildings in towns. More gold
can be obtained by selling items to the shops, taking it from the
corpses of dead monsters, mining it, or simply by finding it lying on
the dungeon floor.
Hit Points (HP)
Each character has hit points, representing how much damage the
character can sustain before he dies. Your HP pool depends on your
character level, race, class, personality, constitution, equipment
and life rating, and can be temporarily boosted with magic; see [h]
for a detailed explanation. Lost hit points may be regained by
resting, or by a variety of magical means.
Spell Points (SP/Mana)
Many characters have spell points, or mana, which represents how many
spells they can cast. Your mana pool depends on your character level,
class, the primary spellcasting stat of your class, and any penalties
from sources like excessively heavy armor (see [i]). Lost spell
points may be regained by resting or by magical means.
Skills
Each character has several primary skills: disarming, magic device
skill, saving throw, stealth, searching, perception, melee, and
archery (bows/throws). These skills are derived from the character's
race, class, personality, stats, level and magical equipment. The
skills are described in more detail below (see [j]).
Speed
Speed is an incredibly important attribute. The speed system is
somewhat complicated; but basically, the more speed somebody has
(whether it's you or a monster), the more often they get a turn
compared to everybody else. If you are really slow, an enemy might
get four or five or six moves for every one move you get, which
obviously isn't ideal - but won't it be fun when you get more speed
and can turn the tables?
Losing speed is very easy: just carry more items than your strength
comfortably allows. But to increase your speed you generally need
magic, either in the form of a spell or potion, or in the form of an
enchanted piece of equipment (such as Boots of Speed). Potions of
Speed will serve the early player well, and you should use them
liberally against foes that seem too powerful otherwise (especially
quest monsters and level guardians!). As you dive deeper, you will
quickly find normal unenchanted speed insufficient; even with bags of
HP, you could still die from full health without getting a single
action if your opponent is too fast compared to you.
Statistics
Each character has six basic stats (strength, intelligence, wisdom,
dexterity, constitution, and charisma) which modify the abilities of
the character in a variety of ways. Every stat has a numerical value,
ranging from a minimum of 3 to a tipping point at 18, and beyond that
into a fractional range represented as 18/01 through 18/220; 18/220 is
the maximal value, and generally displayed as 18/***. In this notation,
18/10 is equivalent to what a new player might intuitively think of as
19, 18/20 is equivalent to 20 etc.; but the switch in notations makes
it clear that there is a tipping point at 18, beyond which sources of
permanent stat gain work in a very different way.
As you play the game, your stats can be increased through magical
means, as a reward for accomplishing a difficult task, or as a reward
for gaining enough experience to advance to a key level. Eventually,
your stats will reach their internal maximum value (or stat cap), which
is a value between 18/70 and 18/130 and is randomly chosen at character
birth. At this point, it will be up to your race, class and personality
modifiers, magical equipment, and maybe other sources like a bizarre
mutation, to boost your stats further up to the 18/*** limit.
Your primary stat (or spellcasting stat) determines your spell fail
rates and the size of your mana pool, as well as how many spells you
can learn if you are a book spellcaster. As a general rule, if your
spellcasting stat falls to 7 or below, you run out of mana altogether.
Which stats are important varies from character to character, although
practically everyone wants decent Strength and Intelligence, and
Constitution becomes ever more valuable as the game progresses. Melee
characters need Dexterity, and magic users require above all whichever
stat is their spellcasting stat. Allocate your points accordingly!
Strength (STR)
Strength is critical to fighting effectively in melee combat and with
missile weapons. A high strength will improve the number of blows you
get with your melee weapon, increases the amount of damage done with
each hit, allows you to use heavier weapons without penalties and
slightly improves your accuracy. Strength is also useful for
tunnelling, bashing doors and simply for carrying heavy items without
being slowed down. Many melee classes, such as Maulers, Berserkers
and Weaponmasters, use Strength as their primary stat.
Intelligence (INT)
Intelligent characters are better at using magic devices, picking
locks and disarming traps. Intelligence also influences how quickly
characters learn from their experiences. Intelligence is a common
primary spellcasting stat for mage-like spellcasters.
Wisdom (WIS)
Wise characters have higher saving throws, giving them a better
chance to resist evil curses and paralysis. Wisdom also affects the
speed at which level feelings and object feelings appear. Wisdom is a
common spellcasting stat for priest-like classes.
Dexterity (DEX)
Dexterity is a combination of agility and quickness. High dexterity
allows you to get more blows with weapons, thus greatly improving
your melee damage; it also improves your accuracy with any weapon,
and directly affects your AC by allowing you to dodge blows from
enemies. Dexterity is also useful in picking locks, disarming traps,
and protecting yourself from the thieves that inhabit the dungeons.
Dexterity is the spellcasting stat for a number of classes, including
the "default"-selection Burglary Rogue.
Constitution (CON)
Constitution is a character's ability to resist damage to his body.
Characters with a high Constitution receive more hit points and
recover from wounds and stunning more rapidly. Blood-Knights use
constitution as their primary stat.
Charisma (CHR)
Charisma represents a character's personality and force of will.
Characters with a high Charisma receive more favorable pricing at
shops, and all charming effects work better with high charisma.
Additionally, charisma is used for determining player and monster
fear; players with low charisma are often frightened, sometimes even
to the point of paralysis (see [k])! Conversely, charismatic players
can more easily break the morale of their foes. A number of classes,
such as Bards and Sorcerers, use Charisma as their primary spell
stat.
Skills
These attributes are generally based largely on your class, but can
also be affected by your race, personality, stats and equipment. They
often, but not always, go up with character level:
Melee
Melee skill is very simply a baseline for your accuracy in melee
combat (whether armed or unarmed). Strength and Dexterity boost this
skill, and you can further boost your accuracy through combat bonuses
on equipment. This skill increases with character level, except for
Sorcerers who are uniformly poor at melee.
Archery
This skill generally applies both to using ranged missile weapons and
to throwing projectiles, although in some cases separate calculations
might apply. Archery skill, like melee skill, is a baseline for your
accuracy; but exceptionally high Archery skill can also improve your
shooting speed and reduce the chance your ammunition breaks on
impact. Strength and Dexterity can boost your Archery, although this
boost only affects your accuracy and not the additional bonuses
noted. Archery improves naturally with character level for all
characters except Berserkers and Sorcerers.
Saving Throw
Saving Throw is the ability of your character to resist the effects
of spells cast on you by a monster. Most commonly, Saving Throw is
applied when the spell involves some kind of curse, either against
you or against your equipment. Saving Throw also helps you against
paralysis, though having Free Action is also needed for that! This
skill increases naturally with level - but you'll also be running
into nastier curses at high levels... Saving Throw is affected by
Wisdom.
Stealth
The ability to move silently is very useful. Characters with good
stealth can usually surprise their opponents, gaining the first blow
(or the opportunity to avoid a fight entirely), while characters with
low Stealth will be mobbed by enemies as everybody nearby wakes up.
Stealth generally does not improve with character level, and depends
only on your race, class, personality and equipment. New players
should value Stealth highly; the less experience you have handling
monster mobs, the less you can afford to invite them.
Disarming
Disarming is the ability to remove traps (safely), and includes
picking locks on chests and doors. A successful disarming will gain
the character some experience. A trap must be found before it can be
disarmed. Dexterity and Intelligence both affect Disarming skill, and
this skill also increases with character level.
Magic Device Skill
Using magical devices requires experience and knowledge, and natural
spellcasters such as mages tend to be much better at it than melee
classes. Device Skill is the most important of all skills, especially
in the late game; and although your class accounts for the bulk of
your device skill, the bonuses from race and personality are also
important simply because the skill itself is so important. Device
Skill is affected by Intelligence, and improves with character level.
Perception (Searching Frequency)
Searching (Searching Ability)
These two skills are very closely related. Both help you notice
secret doors, floor traps, and traps on chests; Searching helps when
you are actively looking for them, and Perception might allow you to
notice them without actively looking. Searching also improves your
ability to see invisible monsters. These skills are based on your
race, class, personality and equipment, and generally do not improve
with character level.
Additional Abilities
Like stats and skills, these additional abilities help your character
survive and get about. They can be affected by your race, class or
personality, but only in exceptional cases (apart from Infravision,
which is based mostly on your race). As such, these abilities are not
as prominently displayed during the birth process, but they do make a
difference during the game!
Regeneration
Regeneration determines how quickly you recover lost hit points and
mana. It is generally affected only by magical effects or equipment,
not by your race or class, though there are some exceptions (for
example, Amberites, Beornings, Werewolves and Einherjar regenerate
exceptionally fast). If you get hit with an evil curse that affects
your regeneration, or suffer hideous mutations that slow it down, the
pain will hit very quickly...
Infravision
Infravision is the ability to see heat sources. Since dungeons tend
to be cool or cold, infravision will not allow your character to see
walls or objects, but does allow you to detect warm-blooded creatures
up to a certain distance. Infravision works equally well with or
without a light source. Many monsters are cold-blooded and so not
detected by infravision, but especially in the early game (when
warm-blooded monsters are more common and See Invisible is often
lacking) infravision can make a difference. Most non-human races have
some innate infravision, and any race can gain infravision from
magical equipment.
Digging
This ability allows you to mine for treasures and create new tunnels
more effectively. It is affected by Strength, by magical equipment,
by digging implements such as picks and shovels, and by the weight of
your weapon/digging implement (heavy weapons are better for digging).
Digging is not usually affected by race, class or personality,
although again there are some exceptions; Lawyers, for instance, are
very good at digging.
Birth Options
During character generation you may press '=' at any time to access the
birth options, unless you selected Beginner Mode which assigns
mostly-default options to you. Popular birth options include
coffee-break mode, which accelerates the game (but removes the
wilderness); no selling, which increases gold drops in the dungeon but
prevents the player from selling items for money; and no scrambling,
which removes the controversial Stat Scrambling mechanic from the game
and replaces it with an incantation of the evil but less controversial
Baby Foul Curse. There are dozens of other birth options as well, some
likewise popular, others very niche; see [l] for a detailed explanation
of each.
Reference
Beginner Mode Designed for new players, this mode greatly restricts
the races and classes available to you. In addition, it
removes Personality from the birth process,
automatically assigning you the Ordinary personality
(which has absolutely no gameplay effects). Birth option
selection (=) is also disabled to speed up character
creation; you will play with automatically assigned,
mostly default options. The effective_speed display
option ("Show speeds as energy multipliers") is turned
on by default in Beginner Mode, as it makes the meanings
of speed values clearer to new players. Finally, this
option forces the player to play in coffee-break mode,
which accelerates the game, eliminates the wilderness
and uses the special Lite-Town as the only town. Since
up staircases don't generate in coffee-break mode,
beginners start with extra scrolls of Word of Recall so
they (hopefully) won't get stuck in the dungeon.
Normal Mode This is the standard way to play: the Full Monty, so to
speak. All races and classes are available to choose
from, even ones that might be under development and not
yet fully tested. The player has access to both the
Birth Options and the Personality subsystem. Here you
may (if you wish!) play with a vast surface wilderness,
complete with numerous dungeons and towns to explore.
Monster Mode This mode allows the player to play as a monster rather
than a normal character. There is no class to choose;
instead, the racial (and subracial) choices determine
the type of monster you play, and are effectively both
your race and your class. There are many options to
choose from, including some really zany ones! Most
monster forms evolve from weak forms to stronger ones
(e.g. from a Forest Troll to a Fire Troll, and so
forth); and many forms have unique body types (e.g. a
Xorn has two full sets of arms, and can wield up to four
melee weapons). In addition, most monster races have a
boss who will drop a nifty artifact when slain. But the
goal of the game remains the same: kill the Serpent of
Chaos.
Quick Start Once an existing character dies, you may create a new
one from the same savefile. If so, you receive this
extra option; choose quick start, and you get a new
character with exactly the same race, class, options,
and personality as your last character. Since it is
common to die early on, Quick Start can save you the
tedium of picking the same choices again and again.
Character Name During the birth process, you may change the name of
your character. This name will be used for your savefile
(unless you created this character inside an existing,
already named savefile) and any options and preferences
you may set. So choose your name carefully. Changing
your name, as you may imagine, is a complicated legal
process involving much paperwork (and a hefty fee).
Should you decide to change your name in the future,
inquire at Count Uldrik's castle and he will direct you
how to proceed.
Original : (??)
Updated : (??)
Updated : Zangband DevTeam
Updated : Hengband 1.5.2
Updated : PosChengband 1.0.0
Updated : PosChengband 4.0.0
Updated : PosChengband 5.0.3
Updated : FrogComposband 7.1.liquorice