FrogComposband FAQ
Q: I'd like to move one square at a time, but every time I press a key
my character moves halfway across the screen. Help!
A: You are somehow triggering the Run command instead of the Walk
command. In addition to normal running (with the '.' command),
FrogComposband uses preference files to support shiftrunning (running
by using the Shift key), which is preferred by some players. This
mechanic sometimes leads to unwanted running, especially on the
angband.live online server which has some very odd default settings. If
you are playing there, see if toggling Num Lock helps you stop running,
turn on the online_macros option in the Input Options menu (the '='
key), or else request help in the server chat.
Q: All right, I have a character up and walking. What should I do?
A: First of all, you will want things that help your character survive
difficult situations - either cheap healing potions (cure light/cure
serious wounds), or escape scrolls (phase door/teleportation), or
ideally both. These are sold at the Temple (shop 4) and the Alchemy
Shop (shop 5). After that, you'll probably want to either explore a
dungeon (Warrens, in Outpost, is the easiest and the usual starter
dungeon) or request and complete one of the early quests. While the
Thieves' Hideout quest is marked as level 5, for all but the weakest
characters it is doable at the very beginning of the game, at least
with a bit of luck and a cure wounds potion or two.
Q: How do I access the Thieves' Hideout quest?
A: In Outpost, walk to the large building just outside the city walls
and press 'q' to request a quest from the Count. Then walk to the
building in the northeast of the city and press '>' at the quest
entrance.
Q: Where do I find the other quests in the game?
A: All quests are offered by some building in some town, apart from the
two (Oberon and Serpent) that you start with, and the ten random
level-guardian quests in the Angband dungeon. Most quests have special
entrances, which can be found in towns or their immediate vicinity. (If
you can't spot the entrance visually, press the ']' key (or Ctrl-O) to
display the object list; it also displays nearby entrances.) The
entrances only appear after you request the quest.
A small number of quests are offered by towns but appear in dungeons.
The first of these is Pest Control (offered by the Count after you've
completed Thieves' Hideout), which is located on level 5 of the Warrens
dungeon, or level 5 of Angband in coffee-break mode and no-wilderness
mode.
Q: What is "coffee-break mode"? How does it differ from normal play?
A: Coffee-break mode is a quicker, simpler and more streamlined version
of the game. There is no wilderness, only one town (the "Lite-Town"
version of Outpost) and only one dungeon (Angband). Experience gain
(and many forms of proficiency gain) are greatly accelerated, monster
drops are improved, and the player receives bonus fame for reforging
purposes. All stairs in the dungeon are two-level shafts, and forced
descent is turned on. Small levels generate more often in the early
part of the game, but become rarer (and less small) towards the
endgame. Unlike other forced-descent play, the player is allowed to
recall back to town, as well as to skip random dungeon quests by
recalling (although recalling out of a quest incurs a large fame
penalty).
Coffee-break mode is a birth option; it is automatically turned on for
players who select the 'Beginner' option at character creation, but can
also be selected the normal way by non-beginners. Coffee-break mode is
not an easy-mode; it is activated for beginners because it is simpler
and allows faster progress, not because it is easy.
Q: I can't find any up staircases, only down staircases! Is there any
way I can get back to town?
A: In coffee-break mode (and Beginner mode), up staircases never
generate, but you can return to Outpost by reading a scroll of Word of
Recall (or using the 'Recall' class power on a Berserker). Be careful
not to run out of scrolls; if you start running low, buy a few more at
the Temple or the Alchemy Shop. (If all else fails, you can hope to
find a scroll in the dungeon.)
In pure forced-descent mode, up staircases never generate and recalling
is disabled, so you do not have any way to return to the surface once
you've left it.
In normal play every down staircase is matched by an up staircase, so
you can simply walk back, though recalling is still usually faster.
Q: How do I search for things in the help system (or on my character
sheet, or in my Recent Messages)?
A: First, locate the right document. Then press '/' if you want to
search forward in the document, and '\' if you want to search backward;
after this, type the search term and press ENTER. Note that searches
are case-sensitive. To search for the next occurrence of the same term,
simply press '/' (or '\') again and then ENTER; the search term does
not need to be typed in again.
A successful search moves you to the part of the document where the
search term appears, and highlights the term in yellow. If this does
not happen, the term you searched for does not appear in the document,
at least not in that direction. (If your search term was very long, you
can try a shorter search term and see if it makes any difference.)
Press '?' for other commands that can be used within the help system.
Q: I keep dying! What am I doing wrong?
A: Don't worry - this is an expected part of the development curve for
new players, and even experienced roguelike veterans die a lot (with
the possible exception of the player nicknamed "clouded"!) Learn from
your mistakes - if a situation got you killed, avoid getting in that
situation again, or make sure you have the supplies to keep you alive
if something similar does happen again. Do not rely too much on items
with a fail rate - the game is long, and if you take too many chances
you will fail at the wrong time eventually. Try to avoid situations
where you are one fail away from death.
At the same time, it is much better to have an item that saves you 97%
of the time than to not have that item! In particular, Staves of
Teleport are a key helper that will often get you out of a tough spot;
unlike scrolls of teleportation, staves can be used while confused,
which is often critical in the early midgame before the player acquires
resistance to confusion.
Learn to know the monsters, develop strategies appropriate to their
strengths and weaknesses, and avoid fights with enemies too strong for
you.
Q: I want to play with the strongest possible race/class combination.
Which one is that?
A: It's hard to say what the strongest class is, both because there are
so many (with different strengths and approaches) and because some
classes (like berserkers) are strong in the early game and not so
strong later, while others (like psions, an extremely powerful endgame
class) have the opposite curve. Ninjas are often used as an example of
a strong class, and while it's very debatable whether they are the
strongest, they do have the advantage of steady development that keeps
them powerful through all phases of the game. The same thing could be
said of weaponsmiths.
Demigods, Archons, Balrogs, Klackons and Draconians are all highly
powerful races, but they also have a very steep leveling-up penalty,
which can be a significant drawback if you want to go places fast. The
"plain" human is actually surprisingly powerful especially in the early
going, thanks to its low level-up penalty and early access to a demigod
talent.
At the opposite end, yeek tourists and snotling tourists are extremely
weak combinations, used by players looking for a challenge. Not that it
makes much of a difference on a Nightmare-mode Sexy thrall...
Q: How do I put arrows (or other projectiles) in my quiver?
A: First press 'w' (the "wear"/"wield" command) to equip the quiver,
then press 'w' again to put the arrows in the quiver.
Q: The game is offering me a stat-up. What should I invest in?
A: Choose a statistic your character needs; for example, on a melee
character you'll want to improve either your strength or dexterity
first, and constitution will also help you. If the base for one of your
key stats is exactly 18, you'll probably want to improve that stat,
because improvements get larger and more significant above 18. Do not
invest too much in any one stat, though; the improvements become much
smaller again as a statistic approaches its cap level.
Q: The game is offering me a demigod power. Which one should I pick?
A: It depends on what your character needs; take your time to read the
descriptions of all the powers to see which one suits you best.
Generally, though, Evasion, Unyielding and Fleet of Foot are all very
strong options and are good "default" picks if you don't feel
comfortable selecting something more exotic.
Q: My nice sword is described as (2d6) (+10,+15) [+5] (+4) - what are
all those weird numbers?
A: In this particular example, 2d6 are your damage dice (you roll two
6-sided dice), +10 is a bonus to accuracy, +15 is a bonus to damage,
[+5] is a bonus to armor class and (+4) indicates the size of various
other bonuses. See [a] and [b] for more generic answers.
Q: I have found lots of cool items, but the monsters I meet keep
destroying them! Am I doing something wrong?
A: Elemental resists help protect your inventory. With one level of
resistance, the chances of an item being destroyed by that element are
significantly reduced; with two levels of resistance, the item will
only be destroyed if you're really unlucky; with three levels of
resistance the item will be safe. Watch out for fire, acid, cold and
electricity in the early game, and also chaos in the late game. Sound
and shards can destroy potions.
If you don't have the appropriate resist and don't want to risk losing
the item, avoid monsters that might destroy it; or, if they only
destroy items in melee, avoid melee and kill them with ranged attacks.
Note that the armor you wear will always be susceptible to damage from
acid attacks - regardless of your acid resistance level - unless you
have immunity to acid. This can be really annoying in the early game;
by the late game you'll mostly wear artifacts or excellent items that
cannot be harmed by acid.
Q: I got bored in Outpost so I headed into the wilderness... and I'm
still there searching endlessly down one road after another looking for
a town. Where are other towns and dungeons?
A: You need to use the global wilderness map (press the < key on the
ground level). This gives you a scaled map of the world (often called
the "overworld map"), where you can travel to other towns and dungeons
more easily. It is possible to reach any location in the game without
using the overworld map (most roads do lead somewhere); but such an
approach will take you much longer and also entail more risk, since
monsters won't attack you as often if you travel through the overworld
map.
Q: I cannot access the overworld map. What's wrong?
A: You are either playing in no-wilderness mode, which has no overworld
map, or there is a monster nearby and the game won't let you escape too
easily by entering the overworld. Coffee-break mode forces
no-wilderness play. Selecting 'Beginner' (instead of 'Normal') at
character creation forces coffee-break mode (and consequently
no-wilderness play), which sometimes confuses players who've seen or
heard about the game and expect a wilderness.
Q: I keep getting ambushed in the wilderness! How do I survive?
A: Take enough Scrolls of Teleportation with you (or a Teleport staff),
and some form of healing (like potions of cure serious wounds or cure
critical wounds) for emergencies. Avoid high-level wilderness (like
mountains or deep seas, or the areas around high-level dungeons) until
you know your character can survive there. Daytime travelling is
somewhat safer than travelling at night, as ambushes are more likely at
night and approaching dangerous monsters are easier to spot in
daylight. Characters with low stealth are also more likely to be
ambushed.
Q: I tried to reach a dungeon through the overworld, and the overworld
map says I should be right on top of it; yet when I go to the normal
map I can't see a dungeon entrance anywhere. What's wrong?
A: Dungeon entrances in the wilderness can sometimes be tricky to
locate because one square on the overworld map corresponds to a fairly
large area on the normal map. If you exit the overworld map in the
right square but the entrance is still far enough away to be out of
sight, the game will tell you which direction it's in (e.g. "The
Angband entrance doesn't appear to be within sight. Perhaps it's a bit
further to the east?"). If no such hint appears, the entrance is within
sight, you've just missed it; press ] or O (the object list commands)
to see where it is. If such a hint does appear, explore the nearby area
in the direction indicated, pressing ] or O occasionally to make sure
you don't miss the entrance. If you feel you've walked a long way and
still can't find the entrance, check the overworld map to confirm you
haven't moved out of the right area, and then try again.
Q: I want to play as an Android, Balrog, Golem, Skeleton, Zombie,
Spectre, or Ent. But normal food doesn't seem to work for me, and there
are no reliable sources of Satisfy Hunger. How do I avoid starvation?
A: These races have special sources of nutrition. Androids can quaff
oil; Balrogs can eat human corpses; Golems, Skeletons, Zombies, and
Spectres can absorb mana from staves and wands using the 'E'at command;
Ents can gain enough nutrition from potions. (Note that many of these
races do also get some sustenance from normal food, just not very
much.)
Q: I'm playing as a berserker, and cannot read scrolls. How do I remove
a curse?
A: You can simply 't'ake off the cursed equipment. Since cursed items
will attempt to stick, you may need to try the 't'ake off command more
than once.
Q: Berserkers cannot use scrolls or rods. How do I get out of the
dungeon on a Berserker?
A: Berserkers gain the class power 'Recall' at level 10. Press 'U'
(original keyset) or 'O' (Roguelike keyset) to use class powers.
Q: What are the main advantages and disadvantages of the various types
of magical item (potions, scrolls, rods, wands and staves) compared to
each other?
A: Scrolls are relatively plentiful, bypass fear checks, and cannot be
drained by charge-drainers like rods, wands and staves; but they're
vulnerable to destruction from fire and acid, are consumed on use,
cannot be used while blind or confused, and have a slightly higher
minimum fail rate. An individual scroll doesn't weigh much, but a large
pile of scrolls will be heavier than a single rod or staff with the
same purpose would.
Rods have few charges, and many of the best rods have high fail rates,
but they are indestructible and recharge faster than wands and staves
do. Rods are also somewhat less susceptible to charge-draining than
staves and wands.
Staves and wands are fairly similar to each other in principle - both
have more charges than rods, but don't recharge as fast. Direct
comparison between a staff and a wand is seldom necessary, as they have
different effects with different purposes. (As a general rule, wands
have effects aimed at a particular target, staves have effects that do
not need to be aimed, and rods may have either type of effect.) Wands
can be destroyed by electricity and chaos, while staves can be
destroyed by acid, fire, toxic waste or chaos. Staves are the device
most likely to be used while confused or blind, although rods and wands
can also be used this way if needed.
Potions are the only magical item that can always be used with no
possibility of failing, making them highly valuable in emergencies. But
a potion is easily destroyed as three separate resists - cold, sound
and shards - must be covered to keep it safe from all elements; and
your supply of really good potions, once lost, is not easy to
replenish.
Q: Why do Ninjas start the game with Iron Spikes?
A: Ninjas (and Ninja-Lawyers) can use Iron Spikes as shuriken; use the
'v' command to throw a spike. (Other classes can technically also use
spikes as throwing weapons, but will only do marginal damage.)
Q: I'm at normal speed (+0). But normal speed monsters sometimes
double-move me!
A: In FrogComposband, the amount of energy needed for a move is
somewhat randomized (though less so than in its predecessor
PosChengband). This method of speed system is an important feature of
FrogComposband and simulates real fighting. Usually a monster with the
same speed as you will only get one move in, but always prepare for the
possibility that they might get two moves! Don't fight when your HP is
low unless you have a death wish.
Also, monsters don't always move at their listed speed; watch out in
particular for hasted monsters, who receive a temporary +10 speed
bonus. Non-unique monsters are born with somewhat random speeds, and
might be faster or slower than the average monster of their race.
(Probing such a monster will reveal its individual speed.)
Q: How important is my speed, anyway?
A: Speed is incredibly important, especially in the early game when you
don't have much of it and it's hard to come by. A character with +10
speed does everything twice as fast as a character with +0 speed. If
you survive to the late game, however, you may eventually start hitting
diminishing returns for speed; the difference between +30 speed and +40
speed is only ten percent. Potions of Speed, and in the late game
Staves of Speed and Rods of Heroic Speed, are extremely useful items
you should ideally always have.
Q: I've reached the town of Anambar, and can't find a home there. Do I
not have a home in Anambar?
A: Locate the Police Station and complete the quest they offer. You
will receive a home as a reward. (However, Zul is a town where you
really don't have a home.)
Q: I'm seeing "empty" rings or amulets that seem to do absolutely
nothing. Is there any point to them, or are they just flavor?
A: Empty rings and amulets are not directly useful, but they can be
used as the base item for a potentially useful artifact reforge.
Q: I put a Ring of Combat on my finger, but it doesn't seem to do
anything, what's wrong?
A: Melee rings, like Rings of Combat, only affect the weapon in the
corresponding hand; so a Ring of Combat worn on your right hand only
affects the weapon in your right hand (if any), and a Ring of Combat
worn on your left hand only affects the weapon in your left hand. (If
you wield a single weapon with both hands, both rings will apply to
it.)
Q: How does Free Action work in FrogComposband?
A: Free Action provides protection from paralysis, a potentially lethal
condition. One level of Free Action provides partial protection and
helps recover faster if you do get paralyzed; two levels of Free Action
provide complete protection against low-level monsters and very good
protection against high-level monsters; three levels of Free Action
provide complete protection against paralysis, except in the special
case of the Ancient Foul Curse.
How good "imperfect" Free Action (one level of protection in the early
game, or one or two levels in the late game) is depends on the level of
the attacking monster, and also on your saving throw. The better your
saving throw is, the less of a risk you're taking by not having three
levels of Free Action.
In many other Angband variants one source of Free Action is enough to
give complete paralysis immunity; if you've played such variants, be
careful not to rely too much on a single Free Action source in
FrogComposband.
Q: Is there any way to gain paralysis immunity even against the Ancient
Foul Curse?
A: A good saving throw improves your chances of not being paralyzed by
the curse. With a sufficiently good saving throw the chances of being
paralyzed by the curse become zero. Anti-Magic items push your saving
throw up to this level, but can be inconvenient for characters that
rely heavily on magic.
Q: How does See Invisible work in FrogComposband?
A: Every level of See Invisible improves your chances of noticing an
invisible creature. How good those chances become depends on the level
of the monster (high-level monsters are harder to see) and on your
Searching skill. Sometimes an invisible creature flickers in and out of
sight - now you make the sight roll, the next turn you don't. If you
have several sources of See Invisible and still have trouble seeing
invisible creatures, you may need either Telepathy or an item that
improves your Searching skill.
Q: Do I need to use the Mogaminator?
A: There is no need to use the Mogaminator, although most players
eventually do. If it feels too complicated to begin with, start with
the easy auto-destroyer and move to the Mogaminator once you have the
rest of the game figured out. If you don't like the Mogaminator
destroying so many items, you can turn on the always_pickup input
option or the leave_mogaminator auto-destroyer option.
Q: I tried to dual wield two weapons. But I couldn't hit anything!
A: You need to practice your dual-wielding skill (proficiency level)
and your weapon skills. Hitting high level monsters many times will
improve your skills. Note that the information command '~' reveals your
proficiency levels. Some classes are very bad at dual-wielding, while
others are much more adept at it or can become so with enough training.
If you try to dual-wield on a sniper and it doesn't work out, don't let
that discourage you from dual-wielding on a ninja.
Wearing gloves of Genji or gaining the Ambidexterity demigod talent
will give you bonuses to dual-wielding (though these bonuses will not
stack with each other). Mariliths and Dagger-speciality Weaponmasters
also receive a dual-wielding bonus.
Dual-wielding works best with relatively light weapons. Even fully
proficient dual-wielders will struggle to hit high-AC monsters with a
heavy weapon such as a Lance. Of course, even if a weapon's damage
output is limited, it could still be worth wielding for the resists and
bonuses on it!
Q: What about wielding one weapon with both hands? Is that a good idea?
A: From a purely melee-damage point of view, it is usually your best
option: wielding a single weapon with both hands improves your damage
and accuracy, and unless your blows per round are maxed out anyway you
will also receive more blows. The downside is that you effectively have
one fewer equipment slot, and miss out on the AC, stat bonuses, resists
etc. that a shield or second weapon in that slot would give. Whether
this is a good trade depends on your character, how much you gain, and
how much you give up. A fairly typical approach is to wield your weapon
with both hands until you find a good shield somewhere in the dungeon,
and then stop.
Many light weapons (specifically, those that weigh less than 10 pounds
and are not polearms) cannot be wielded two-handed, and should always
be used together with either a shield or a second weapon. On the other
hand, very heavy weapons (compared to your strength) can only be
wielded properly with two hands.
Wearing Gloves of the Giant will give you more blows with a two-handed
weapon, though if your blows per round are maxed out in any case this
bonus has no effect.
Q: How do skills (proficiency levels) work?
A: Weapon proficiency levels and dual wielding proficiency levels
increase your to-hit bonus. Spell proficiency levels decrease fail rate
and mana consumption rate of spells. Riding proficiency level gives you
more speed when you are riding on a high speed monster, and decreases
risk of falling from your mount.
Q: How do I increase my proficiency level?
A: Proficiency level of a weapon will increase when you hit a monster
whose level is high enough compared to your character level and to your
current proficiency. Proficiency level of a spell will increase when
you cast the spell at a dungeon level deep enough compared with the
spell level. The needed conditions to increase riding proficiency are
rather complex; generally, you need to hit a monster whose level is
high enough compared with current riding proficiency level or to shoot
a monster while riding on a high level mount.
Q: I'm a level 15 ranger and have been shooting everybody from the
beginning, but my short bow proficiency is still Beginner (+0). Is
something wrong?
A: Beginner (+0) doesn't sound great, but it's a lot better than
Unskilled (-20), and is good enough you need to shoot monsters of
native level 15 (or deeper) to get your proficiency up to +1.
Q: I'm a fighter type and rely largely on melee. Which weapon should I
use?
A: In the very early game, you should usually use the weapon that does
the most damage. Press Shift+C to see the character sheet, which
displays your melee damage and melee to-hit. You should look at both to
determine how good a weapon is - it's no use having a weapon that
technically does lots of damage if you can't hit anything with it! Also
remember, though, that your to-hit percentages will improve rapidly as
your proficiency with a weapon increases. Don't worry too much about
starting with an Unskilled proficiency - unless that's your proficiency
cap for the weapon, or if the weapon is an icky wield.
As you start finding {excellent} weapons and artifacts, you may well
want to wield a particular weapon for the resists, bonuses or abilities
it provides, even if you have another weapon that would do more damage.
A dead character has no use for a high damage output.
Q: What is an "Icky Wield"?
A: Some classes have a very strong preference for a certain weapon or
type of weapon, to the extent that other weapons are marked as icky.
The exact effects of wielding an icky weapon depend on class, but as a
general rule you should always assume that an icky weapon will be worse
than a non-icky one, at least from a melee perspective. In the specific
case of Priests, however, the melee penalty is relatively small and the
main drawback of an icky weapon is its effect on prayer fail rates.
Q: What exactly does the "Weapon Versatility" demigod talent do? Does
it allow me to use icky weapons?
A: It allows you to reach Master proficiency with all weapons,
including icky ones. However, the icky weapons will still be considered
icky and incur the same icky-wield penalties.
Q: Some weapons have slays (like Slay Orc) or brands (like Viper's
Fang). What do these mean?
A: Slays and brands do extra damage against the appropriate monsters
(so Slay Orc does extra damage against orcs, and Viper's Fang does
extra damage against monsters who don't resist poison). Slays and
brands work by multiplying the weapon's dice (which makes them much
more valuable on a 5d6 blade of chaos than on a 1d5 dagger).
If a weapon has multiple slays or brands that could apply to the same
monster, only the strongest slay or brand (the highest multiplier) is
applied; slays and brands never combine, with two exceptions. The first
is Force (Mana Brand), which fully combines with other slays. The other
is Mark of Chaos, which rolls a random slay or brand for each blow; if
the weapon also has other slays or brands, the Mark of Chaos sometimes
combines with them and makes them slightly stronger.
Q: I'm in a very dangerous spot, but there's a trap door right next to
me. Is there any way I can deliberately fall through the trap door
without making the automatic attempt to disarm it?
A: Use the '-' key, followed by the direction, to deliberately walk
into the trap.
Q: How do I ride on a monster?
A: At first, summon, charm or capture some suitable monster. Then use
the pet menu command 'p'.
Q: How do I use a Capture Ball?
A: Equip it and activate ('A') to a dying monster.
Q: I cannot hold a weapon and a shield without losing control of my
horse. My horse runs aimlessly!
A: You cannot directly control your mount unless you use one hand to
control your mount. But you can command your mount. Just use 'p'
command, and give your mount a target. The horse which was given a
target will no longer run around aimlessly.
Q: I have acquired a mutation! Is that bad?
A: Some mutations are good, while others are bad. Two towns - Zul and
Anambar - offer a "cure mutation" service that allows you to get rid of
bad mutations (the Zul service is much cheaper). Note, though, that you
don't get to choose which mutation is removed - you might be "cured" of
a good mutation, with the bad one staying in place...
Potions of New Life also cure mutations among their other effects, and
potions of Polymorph both give and cure mutations at random.
Having too many mutations gives a penalty to HP regeneration; the more
mutations you have, the worse the penalty. Beastmen are penalized less,
and can have a large number of mutations before triggering the penalty
at all. Permanent mutations (such as demigod powers or the White Aura
from the Lucky personality) do not count towards this penalty. Mana
regeneration is not affected by mutations.
Q: I am playing an Igor, and have acquired a fair number of body parts
from dissected corpses, but none of them seem to do anything special.
Am I missing something?
A: Igor body parts are very unpredictable: which parts you get from a
monster (and what positive and negative effects they have, if any)
depends on the level and thematic properties of the monster dissected,
the level and dexterity of the Igor, and sheer random luck. Strong,
high-level monsters give better body parts, but don't neglect all those
random ant and orc corpses either - there are just so many you will get
lucky with one eventually.
All interesting body part properties are indicated in the object
description, so you will know when you find a part that might be worth
keeping.
Q: Can I safely dissect wanted corpses on an Igor without missing out
on the rewards?
A: Yes. The only individual body parts that bounty offices accept as
proof of a kill are a monster's head and its ears; but an Igor who
dissects a wanted corpse will take great care to preserve one of the
two (usually the ears), which can then be turned in. (It is possible to
find another body part worth keeping in addition to the ears.)
Q: How important is Telepathy?
A: Full telepathy is extremely nice to have - it tells you about
approaching threats, helps you locate fleeing or blinking enemies, and
even allows you to spot monsters that might otherwise be invisible to
you. It is not absolutely needed, but most players generally try to
have it by the endgame. A player with no telepathy needs to detect very
often and must see invisible monsters reliably.
Staves of Telepathy are a handy option for players without permanent
telepathy from equipment.
Q: What does Reflection do? How important is it?
A: It gives you a 75% chance of reflecting any incoming bolt or
bolt-like attack. A reflected bolt will not damage you in any way, and
may bounce back and damage the monster that fired it in the first
place. Some monsters also have Reflection - in this case, they have a
75% chance of reflecting your bolt attacks, potentially back at you. If
both you and the monster have Reflection, it's possible for a bolt to
bounce between you two for a while... The main difference between
monster reflection and player reflection is that monsters cannot
reflect actual crossbow bolts (or arrows, sling ammo etc.) but you can
reflect monster arrows.
Reflection is very helpful (and remains useful throughout the game) but
is never really absolutely needed. Early on, it's particularly useful
in the Camelot dungeon, which has many dangerous bolt casters.
Q: What does Levitation do? How important is it?
A: Levitation gives access to dark pits and mountainous wilderness,
prevents overburdened characters from drowning in deep water, reduces
damage from standing in (or over) deep lava or toxic waste, reduces
damage from gravity, helps against the side-effects of gravity and
storm winds, eliminates movement speed penalties in wooded or snowy
areas, and allows you to harmlessly fly over some types of floor traps.
It is a necessity for entering mountainous areas (and a practical
necessity for entering deep seas on an overburdened character); it is
very handy (but not strictly necessary) for navigating snowy areas, the
Cloning Pits quest, and dungeons with dark pits or deep water. In other
situations Levitation is not very important; items that give levitation
but are otherwise not that great can be left at home to be shuffled in
when needed.
Q: What is Warning? Is it something I need... and what do the strange
messages it's giving me mean?!
A: Warning has two purposes. Firstly, it alerts you when you are about
to walk into an undetected trap, giving you the chance to avoid that
trap. Secondly, it alerts you when a new unique appears on the current
level, having either generated randomly or been summoned. This alert
takes the form "The warning-giving item glows pink!", where the color
provides you some rough information about how dangerous the unique is.
White and pink aren't much to worry about; but if the item glows red,
purple or (worst of all) black, it's best to pay attention.
Warning is convenient, especially if you don't detect traps regularly,
but it is not at all something that any character needs.
Q: Some elements don't just deal damage, but also cause status effects
like confusion or blindness. How much resistance do I need to be safe
from status effects?
A: Most status effects compare your resistance to a 33-sided die (or a
55-sided die in the case of base elements). Accordingly, 30% confusion
resistance gives you a 30 in 33 (about 91%) chance of resisting that
status effect, and 40% confusion resistance will provide immunity.
In some very unusual cases your resistance may not be checked at all,
or a special calculation may be used. (For example, a backfiring Invoke
Spirits spell can completely bypass your confusion resistance.)
Q: Can I ever resist exotic attacks/elements like Water, Ice, Gravity,
Rockets or Toxic Waste that aren't listed on my character sheet?
A: In most cases, you cannot resist the raw damage from such exotic
elements. (There are a few exceptions - Toxic Waste can be resisted
through poison resistance; Rockets have shard-based damage; Levitation
effectively provides resistance to Gravity; and Bombs are combined
sound and shards and can be resisted accordingly.)
However, many side-effects of exotic elements can be blocked or
mitigated by resisting appropriate normal elements. For example, Shard
resistance works against the cuts from Ice and Rocks, Sound resistance
works against most elemental stunning effects as well as potion
destruction from Water, and Cold resistance works against potion
destruction from Ice.
Q: My scrolls of Enchant Armor and Enchant Weapon keep failing! What's
wrong?
A: Scrolls of Enchant Armor and Enchant Weapon can only enchant items
up to +15. (Unlike item-enchantment spells and the town service, this
limit is fixed and independent of your character level.) The closer you
get to +15, the less likely it is that the scroll will work; in
practice you can view +10 or +11 as a soft limit, due to how difficult
enchanting items beyond that is. Trying to enchant an artifact or a
pile of multiple items raises the failure probability even higher.
Q: What does Mundanity do? Is it good or bad?
A: Mundanity allows you to turn an item of your choosing into a
perfectly average item. It removes all bonuses, resistances and other
enhancements not inherent to the object kind; this includes removing
the random resistances on Dragon Wings and the like, but not the
guaranteed resistances on Dragon Scale Mails. Mundanity also removes
all curses.
Mundanity has two main uses: to create an average item that can be used
as a reforge base, and to remove powerful curses. It is the only way to
remove a Permanent Curse from an item. Mundanity can be very useful,
but don't use it on the wrong item by accident... Essence absorption on
Weaponsmiths (and item monsters like Death-Swords) always mundanizes
the target item.
Q: Staves of Destruction are supposed to be great, yet mine doesn't
seem to do anything when I use it! What's wrong?
A: A number of items and spells do nothing when used on a town quest
level (any quest level not located inside a dungeon). In addition to
Destruction, this includes all Genocide, Mass Genocide and Annihilation
effects, Teleport Level, and capture ball activations against non-pets.
Destruction also does not work in the wilderness, and its effectiveness
is reduced on the Plains of Oz and in the Witch Wood. This is because
outdoors there's no ceiling to bring down!
Q: What do monsters' vampiric attacks do?
A: They drain life from you, thereby healing the monster and consuming
your life points.
Q: Are Unlife attacks the same as vampiric attacks?
A: Unlife attacks are very similar to vampiric attacks, but instead of
healing the monster they make the monster more powerful. A powerful
monster has a higher AC, hits harder and casts more dangerous spells.
Only Unlife attacks directed at the player can make a monster stronger.
Unlife attacks directed at a monster will not make the attacker more
powerful, but can make the target monster less powerful.
Q: What do the player's vampiric attacks do?
A: They drain life from the target monster; the monster will lose HP
like on a normal attack, but in addition its max HP will be lowered
slightly, and you will recover either a small amount of life points or
a small amount of HP, should you need either. (If both your life points
and hit points have fallen below the maximum, your life points will
recover first.) Vampiric attacks are very useful and powerful; however,
they only work on living monsters. Many strong monsters, like golems,
vortices, demons, undead and the Serpent of Chaos, are immune to
vampirism.
Monsters can never recover the lost max HP, although drained uniques
will be back to their normal HP (as well as normal, pre-Unlife monster
power) if encountered again on a subsequent level. Capturing a monster
with a Capture Ball also reverts it back to its normal maximum HP.
Q: What are "life points", anyway?
A: Life points determine your effective maximum HP. Normally, your
effective max HP and displayed max HP will be identical; but if your
life points fall below 100%, your effective max HP is lowered. Life
points are only shown (e.g. "Life: 95%") if they fall below the
maximum; a loss of a few points shouldn't worry you too much, but a
more significant drop can ruin your day.
Since life points only account for half of your max HP, your max HP
will never hit zero; accordingly, it is possible to run out of life
points without being killed outright. If this happens, you will be
permanently transformed into an undead - either a skeleton, a vampire,
a zombie, an einheri or a spectre - and regain full life points (or
"unlife points") since the undead are immune to loss of life.
Q: My current HP is lower than my max HP - but it's still shown in
green, not yellow, and it seems I can't heal any further. What's
happening?
A: You've hit your effective maximum HP, which is lower than your
displayed maximum HP because you've lost life points.
Q: How can I regain my lost life points?
A: Life points can be regained either through any type of vampiric
attack, or by using a potion, device or activation. Potions of Restore
Life Levels are a common way to regain life points, though they only
restore up to 15 percentage points at a time. The Restoration service,
available in most towns, also restores life points.
Q: I also have a "life rating", unrelated to my life points. Actually,
I seem to have several life ratings! Just how is my max HP calculated?
A: Every character has a random "life rating" between 0 and 76. This
rating (the life rating proper) corresponds to the overall result
(between 223 and 299) of 49 randomly rolled HP gains (one for every
character level after the first); the HP gains (and thus, your life
rating) can be re-rolled during the game in several ways, most commonly
by drinking a Potion of New Life. You are born with no knowledge of how
good your life rating is, but drinking a Potion of Self Knowledge (or
*Enlightenment*) will enlighten you. This is the only life rating you
can affect in any way during play, and is the one displayed on your
character sheet, if known.
The random life rating only accounts for about half of the HP you get
per level; the other half is non-random. The non-random gains always
total exactly 300 points, but how that total is distributed across the
49 level-ups depends on your class. In general, the distribution is
very late-game-heavy on mage-type classes (who will struggle with HP
for much of the early game as a result, even if they have a good life
rating and high CON), while fighter classes like warriors get a more
even distribution.
These two main contributions to your max HP are added together and
multiplied by four non-random modifiers; the first three are the life
multipliers of your race, your class and your personality. (These are
prominently displayed at character generation, and new players are
frequently confused by their relationship to the randomly generated
life rating proper.) The fourth multiplier is based on your CON and any
+Life or -Life items equipped.
Finally, after the multipliers, some lump sums are added (your class
base HP, race base HP, and any HP from active buffs like heroism); and
your effective maximum HP is adjusted to account for any reduction in
your life points. It's a complicated system, but during the game you
only need to worry about your random life rating and your CON!
Life ratings were previously displayed (and in many variants are still
displayed) on a percentage scale of 87% to 117%, with 87% corresponding
to absolute values of 0-2 and 117% to 73-76; the average on this scale
was around 102-103%, corresponding to 36-41.
Q: When should I reroll my life rating with a Potion of New Life?
A: In general, you should never reroll unless you know what your life
rating is, or have a very good reason to suspect that it's atrociously
low. The average life rating is around 39/76 (not 38), so that's the
theoretical break-even point for a single Potion of New Life; but in
practice, if you're already doing well, the risks of rolling a really
bad life may outweigh the potential benefits of rolling a great one. So
unless your life rating is really bad, it's worth having one or more
backup potions in case the first New Life just makes things worse. The
larger your backup pile, the further you can push the envelope - but
there's always the risk of a long streak of unlucky lives...
Potions of New Life also remove all your mutations, and reroll all your
internal stat caps. If you are very happy with either your mutations or
your stat caps, that should make you more reluctant to drink a potion
of New Life; though in general, your life rating is more important than
your stat caps. Note that if you have already maxed out your stats,
some of them are likely to be reduced by a Potion of New Life as new,
potentially lower internal stat caps are applied.
Q: I drank a potion of New Life and my max HP went down, yet Self
Knowledge says my life rating is higher than before! What gives?
A: Since your life rating is based on 49 random rolls, one for each
character level, the life with the better end result at CL 50 is not
necessarily better all the way through. Your old life might have had
high rolls early on and lower rolls for the late levels, and your new
life might be the opposite.
The other possible explanation is that you rolled a lower CON stat cap
and your constitution decreased as a result.
Q: How do internal stat caps (for STR, INT, WIS etc.) work?
A: They are randomly generated, no lower than 18/70 and no higher than
18/130; the average across the six stats is always 18/100, but it's
much more fun to have high caps in your key stats and low caps in stats
you don't really need than the opposite! The stat caps determine how
high the stat can go before modifiers from race, class, personality,
equipment, mutations etc. are applied.
The stat caps are much lower than the highest value a statistic can
take after modifiers: 18/220, displayed as 18/***. By the endgame you
will likely be getting large bonuses from your equipment; an extremely
powerful character might even have all six stats maxed out at 18/220,
regardless of the caps.
Q: There's a building in Morivant that offers artifact reforging. What
does that mean? Is it something I should do?
A: For reforging, you need a source item - any artifact - and a
destination item - any item that can be equipped and isn't already an
artifact or ego item. (For rings and amulets this means an "empty"
item, as all non-empty rings and amulets are considered ego items.) The
original artifact will be destroyed, and the destination item is turned
into a new artifact. The properties of the old artifact are not
retained; however, if the destination item already had special
properties despite being non-ego (e.g. resists on a dragon shield),
those will be retained.
How powerful the new artifact will be depends mostly on the power of
the source artifact. Usually it's going to be somewhat less powerful
than the source, especially if the source artifact represented a
"strong" slot (the strongest slots are the weapon slot and the body
armor slot) while the target represented a weak slot (the weakest slots
are lamps and amulets).
There are many reasons why reforging can be a good idea; for example,
you may be unhappy with your item in a particular equipment slot, or
you have an annoying resistance hole, or you have a very strong
artifact that has a high score but for some reason isn't useful to you
directly; or you're already wearing a non-ego item and want to upgrade
it into an artifact. Ninjas (and Ninja-Lawyers) often reforge onto
lamps, hoping to get an artifact lamp of darkness.
Q: What kind of source artifacts should I use for reforging? What kind
of destination items should I use?
A: Stronger artifacts give better results, so use the strongest
artifact you have that you can afford to reforge and that doesn't
exceed your reforge power limit. (Of course, don't use a source
artifact that's already useful to you, since the reforge will consume
it!) If you're reforging onto a weaker slot, consider using a source
artifact that's strong for its slot, rather than strong in absolute
terms; this way, less power is lost to a slot downgrade. (For example,
if you want a lamp, and you have artifact gloves with a 40K score and
artifact armor with a 70K score, use the gloves; the two items will
produce similar lamps, but the armor will produce a much better armor
or weapon since none of its power is lost to a slot downgrade. It is
also much cheaper to use the gloves.)
If possible, use a destination item that's already good in some useful
way - for example, dragon wings that already have resistances you'd
like, or a diamond edge with sharpness and high base damage - but not
one that's already good in some way you don't need, since that would be
lost value. Don't use a destination item that's too powerful compared
to the source item, since the reforge would be left without much room
for improvements. (If you're fortunate enough to have a Scroll of
Artifact Creation or a Scroll of Crafting, consider using one of those
on the already-powerful item instead.)
Reforge from strong slots to strong slots, weak slots to weak slots,
and - if necessary - strong slots to weak slots; but never reforge from
a weak slot onto a strong slot.
Q: What determines my reforge power limit?
A: Your reforge power limit is determined by how famous you are. You
gain fame by completing quests, turning in wanted monsters, killing
enemies in the Thalos arena, and killing uniques (especially high-level
uniques). You lose fame by failing quests or being defeated in an Arena
fight. There is a soft reforge-power limit of 90000 or slot-adjusted
equivalent - it is possible for a sufficiently famous player to use a
source artifact that exceeds this limit, but the extra power will be
ignored.
Q: When should I reforge?
A: Reforging is at its best relatively late in the game, when you've
both found many very strong artifacts and accrued enough fame to use
them as source items. Don't be afraid of trying it out earlier, though,
especially if you need something specific like a dark lamp.
Q: What do Poison Needles do?
A: Poison needles are a special weapon. A poison needle only gets one
hit per turn and usually only deals 1 damage on that hit; however,
poison needle hits have a small chance of instantly killing any monster
in the game, no matter how strong, unless it is a unique. Poison
needles are often used to kill metal babbles, which are very difficult
to kill through any other means. (The Metal Babble at the bottom of the
Arena dungeon is technically a unique, but is still susceptible to a
poison needle kill.)
Poison needles cannot be used in a reforge, and cannot be enchanted
through any normal means. (Some classes, like Weaponsmiths, can use
their special abilities to "enchant" a poison needle, but this has no
actual effect on the needle's performance.) Poison needles have a 100%
hit chance, unless the player is dual-wielding, in which case they have
a 50% hit chance.
Q: What do Rune Swords do? Are they as bad as they look?
A: Rune Swords start out extremely weak, but they gain power as you
kill monsters (especially uniques) with them. If you find a Rune Sword
early and use it into the deep endgame, it will eventually be very
strong offensively.
Growing a Rune Sword takes a long time, and it will also pick up a
number of negative attributes along the way - increasing AC penalties,
aggravation, and eventually (in the very late game) the Ancient Foul
Curse. The positive attributes of a Rune Sword, moreover, are purely
offensive; it will never provide resistances, stat bonuses or
additional abilities like many other strong weapons; and since Rune
Swords are permanently cursed, the only way to unwield them is to
essentially destroy them with Mundanity. For these reasons, most
players are quite wary of using Rune Swords, but the game has been won
with them many times.
Q: Are Sexy Swimsuits just a useless joke item, or can they be actually
good?
A: Sexy Swimsuits generate with special bonuses for characters with the
Sexy personality, as well as Aphrodite demigods. In addition, wearing a
Sexy Swimsuit makes Politicians' charming spells work better.
Other characters do not receive any special benefits from swimsuits,
but may still want to hold onto them as reforge targets should they
find any. Reforging a high-value artifact onto a Sexy Swimsuit can
produce exceptionally good results because the aggravation on the
swimsuit keeps its nominal value down.
Q: How do I create a character dump?
A: If your character is still alive, press Shift+C for the character
sheet, then press | to dump it. If you're dead, the tombstone screen
offers easy character dumping - simply type the filename you want
(usually something like "name.html" or "name_dead.html") and press
Enter. If you died earlier and forgot to take a character dump, access
the character sheet through the high score list (the '~' key, followed
by the 'H' key) and then press '|' as before. If you're playing on the
angband.live online server and have trouble dumping your character
(users on some keyboard/browser combinations have experienced problems
using the '|' key online), you can request help from your fellow
players; the angband.live high score list is shared between all
players, so anyone can use it to create a dump of your character.
Q: I want to post my character dump to the ladder on angband.oook.cz.
Should I use a TXT dump or an HTML dump?
A: Use an HTML dump.
Q: What is the genesis of FrogComposband?
A: FrogComposband is a fork of ComPosband, a fork of PosChengband,
which was based on Chengband, which was based on Hengband, which was
based on Japanese ZAngband, which was based on regular ZAngband, a fork
of Angband, which was based on Moria and Umoria. (Whew!)
In addition to these direct ancestors, FrogComposband and its "family"
have been strongly influenced by a number of other Angband variants,
like KAngband, Posband, ToME and OAngband. FrogComposband specifically
has also inherited quite a bit of content - starting with its name -
from Frogspawn, an unpublished fork of vanilla Angband.
Q: What is the design philosophy of FrogComposband?
A: Above all else, FrogComposband aims to be 1) fun and 2) challenging.
(It also aims to sneakily bring about Armageddon and the ascendancy of
hyperintelligent robots.)
The pursuit of a fun game involves quite a few things. The game tries
to be fair to the player - unavoidable deaths out of nowhere should be
unknown or at least extremely rare, and non-lethal attacks should add
to the challenge and atmosphere but not spoil the fun. (Some unpopular
effects can be turned off in the birth options.) Normal play should
always keep the player on his toes, offering new situations to tackle
and new decisions to make. FrogComposband also has much humorous
content to lighten the mood, some of it hidden to be discovered when
least expected.
You decide what's fun and what isn't! The game allows many different
playstyles, from speed-diving to a slow, methodical grind, without
trying to enforce any one of them on the player. It is also designed to
be highly customizable, with about 100 options and a number of other
ways to modify things. I don't try to make the decisions for you,
beyond providing generally popular default settings; every player wants
different things.
Winning the game should be an achievement! FrogComposband attempts to
not be easy, but also to avoid artificial difficulty of the "screw you,
you're dead" type; a player who makes no mistakes and knows what he's
doing should always have a good chance to win. The game also aims to be
balanced; while some classes, races, items and spell realms are much
stronger than others, none should be so strong as to make the game
unchallenging or uninteresting.
The game should be infinitely replayable; different personalities,
races and (especially) classes present very different challenges, and
even two characters of the same race, class and personality can play
very differently based on the decisions made, items found and monsters
encountered.
The game is constantly evolving (and hopefully improving); it does not
claim to have fully reached any of its aims yet, but it's trying to get
closer and closer. Player feedback helps there!
Q: Who wrote Hengband?
A: Hengband is mainly based on ZAngband 2.2.8 Japanese version.
ZAngband 2.2.8 Japanese version was developed by Mitsuhiro Itakura,
based on both ZAngband 2.2.8 and Angband 2.8.3 Japanese version, and
has some original features, for example the auto-picker, in addition to
simple translation.
Hengband also includes codes from many other variants, such as ToME and
OAngband. Mr.Hoge wrote the first original part of Hengband. It was
maintained by the Hengband Development Team including Mr.Hoge, Habu,
Henkma, iks, Kuwa, Mogami and nsk.
Q: So is that why there is so much Japanese content in this game?
A: Yes, though it doesn't hurt that Japanese popular culture has many
followers worldwide.
Q: Is there a more detailed help file?
A: Press '?' in-game to access the online help. If you are already
using the online help to read this file, look at the other sections,
which offer more detailed advice.
--
Original : Hengband FAQ written by Mogami
Updated : Hengband 1.5.4
Updated : PosChengband 1.0.0
Updated : FrogComposband 7.0.strawberry
Updated : FrogComposband 7.0.peppermint
Updated : FrogComposband 7.0.nougat
Updated : FrogComposband 7.1.toffee
Updated : FrogComposband 7.1.chocolate
Updated : FrogComposband 7.1.liquorice