data/claims/paladins-quest.yamlPaladin's Quest: magic, battle rules and rewards
Game: Q7126357.
A party member's spell is paid for with that member's own HP, as both manuals say. The party's casting code takes the spell's cost from the caster's HP and refuses the cast unless the caster has more HP than the cost, so a spell never knocks out its caster. Costs run from 1 (AT S) to 250 (Spirit); FireS costs 12 and FireA 28. paladins-quest/hp-cost
About: Q7126357 Hit points
CodePaladin's Quest (USA) ·0xB3D1-0xB41D — $01:B3D1-$B41D: the party's cast command (slots below 4, HP at $15FE): the spell's record, (number - 1) times 6; its last byte subtracted from the caster's HP, and the cast refused when the result is zero or belowPaladin's Quest (USA) · 0xB48D-0xB497 — $01:B48D-$B497: the refused castレナス 古代機械の記憶 取扱説明書 (Lennus: Kodai Kikai no Kioku instruction booklet) · 「レナス」ゲームのすすめ方, printed pp. 4-5 (scan leaves 7-8)呪文を唱えるためには術者の体力（HP）を使用することになります。強力な呪文はそれだけ体力を使います。Our translationTo cast a spell, the caster's physical strength (HP) is used. A stronger spell uses that much more HP.Paladin's Quest (USA) instruction manual · p. 12, The ScreenGetting vi''oundi?d or custing spells uses up HPAll 37 spells, with the spirits each is built from, its HP cost, and its power: 8 spells use one spirit, 28 use a pair, and Spirit uses all eight. The casting code takes the cost from the caster's HP and marks the spirits as used; the damage code scales the power by the caster's mastery of those spirits. The spirits match the Averlus guide's pairs for 36 of 36 (its list leaves out Spirit), and the cost matches RPGClassics' table for 36 of 37; the exception is BoltA, 28 in the ROM and 40 in RPGClassics. CodeChecked by claude, 2026-11-08 — read the casting routine in our disassembly, both passages in the pinned OCR text (the US one as the OCR spells it), and the cost column in the ROM tableRevised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-11-08.The Japanese quote is normalized from the scan's OCR, which spaces the characters and drops a few; the US OCR reads 'wounded' and 'casting' as shown.
A spell's strength rests on the caster's mastery of the spirits it is built from, not on the caster's level. Casting marks the spell's spirits in a record the battle keeps for each party member; on a win, each member still standing whose record is marked gets, for each marked spirit, a roll of 100 under 70 (180 in 256, 70.3%) for 2 more mastery, up to 127. So a spirit gains at most once a win, however many times it was cast. The Japanese manual says only the characters who survive the battle gain; the US manual says a spell's power rises each time it is cast. paladins-quest/spirit-mastery
0xB3D1-0xB41D — $01:B3D1-$B41D: a cast ORs the spell's spirit byte into the caster's record for the battlePaladin's Quest (USA) · 0x91AA-0x91AF — $01:91AA-$91AF: the four records cleared, with other battle statePaladin's Quest (USA) · 0x87D8-0x87E8 — $01:87D8-$87E8: the victory sequence, which calls the gain at $87E6 before the experience and goldPaladin's Quest (USA) · 0x88B1-0x8903 — $01:88B1-$8903: the gain, for each party slot whose bit is set in the standing mask and whose record is nonzero: for each spirit bit, a roll below 100 under 70 adds 2 to that mastery byte, capped at 127Paladin's Quest (USA) · 0xB990-0xB9A3 — $01:B990-$B9A3: a member's bit cleared from the standing mask as its status bit 1 is set, the pattern of a knockoutPaladin's Quest (USA) · 0xA8E-0xAB2 — $00:8A8E-$8AB2: the roll, A times a byte of a 256-byte table, over 256; 180 of the table's bytes give a roll below 70レナス 古代機械の記憶 取扱説明書 (Lennus: Kodai Kikai no Kioku instruction booklet) · printed p. 19, レベルアップ呪文効果はレベルとは連動していません。Our translationSpell effect is not linked to level.レナス 古代機械の記憶 取扱説明書 (Lennus: Kodai Kikai no Kioku instruction booklet) · printed p. 21, 精霊と呪文その戦闘を生き抜いたキャラだけが習熟度もアップしますOur translationOnly the characters who survived the battle get the mastery increase too (the sentence before: just as with receiving experience points).Paladin's Quest (USA) instruction manual · p. 16, Spiritswill increase each time it is cast.Paladin's Quest: FAQ/Walkthrough (v2.00) · Intro/Tips, 1. Magicusing FireS once in a battle will increase your affinity with the Fire Spirit as much as using FireS 10 times in a battle will.Checked by claude, 2026-11-08 — read the casting, clearing, victory, gain and knockout routines in our disassembly, counted the random table's bytes, and found each passage in the pinned textsRevised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-11-08.A two-spirit spell marks both spirits, so it raises both, as Chris Thornton's guide (v2.00) says. The 127 cap fits the highest starting mastery in the character table (paladins-quest-tables/characters). The standing mask is read from its use: the knockout code clears a member's bit, and the target code skips members without one. That the clearing routine runs at each battle's start is read from what it clears with the records, not from its caller.
When a party member casts an attack spell other than Storm, Heat or Crush, the damage is the spell's power, raised or lowered by how far the caster's mastery outruns the target's defense against it: power plus (mastery minus twice the defense) times power / 64, at least 1. The mastery is the sum of the caster's mastery of each of the spell's spirits, doubled for a single-spirit spell, so one spirit at 30 counts the same as two at 30; Spirit, built from all eight, sums all eight. The defense is the target's value for the spell's type plus 1, and 100 more while the target has a status coded 2. paladins-quest/spell-damage
About: Q7126357 Damage formula
CodePaladin's Quest (USA) ·0xD5C4-0xD628 — $01:D5C4-$D628: the target's defense for the spell's byte 3, doubled; the caster's strength minus it, times byte 4, over 64, sign kept, plus byte 4; 1 if zero or belowPaladin's Quest (USA) · 0xD6E7-0xD7AD — $01:D6E7-$D7AD: the defense for byte 3: a party member's Luck, Light, Fire or Sky mastery, twice what its Water mastery exceeds its Fire (0 if it doesn't), level or battle defense; an enemy's bytes 9-12, byte 9 less byte 10 (0 if below, not doubled), level or defense; then plus 1, and plus 100 under status bit 1Paladin's Quest (USA) · 0xD7AE-0xD841 — $01:D7AE-$D841: a party caster's mastery bytes summed over the spirit bits of the spell's byte 0, doubled when one bit is set; an enemy caster's from two of its four spell valuesPaladin's Quest (USA) · 0xD3B5-0xD3D1 — $01:D3B5-$D3D1: spells 11 and 12 (Storm, Heat) take a variant at $01:D564 and 15 (Crush) $01:D68B; the rest take $01:D5C4All 37 spells, with the spirits each is built from, its HP cost, and its power: 8 spells use one spirit, 28 use a pair, and Spirit uses all eight. The casting code takes the cost from the caster's HP and marks the spirits as used; the damage code scales the power by the caster's mastery of those spirits. The spirits match the Averlus guide's pairs for 36 of 36 (its list leaves out Spirit), and the cost matches RPGClassics' table for 36 of 37; the exception is BoltA, 28 in the ROM and 40 in RPGClassics. CodeChecked by claude, 2026-11-08 — read the damage, strength and dispatch routines in our disassemblyRevised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-11-08.Read from the dispatcher at $01:D3B5; other dispatchers, if any, are not read. An enemy caster's strength comes from two of its spell values by a table at $02:9A08, not read here. The multiply is the PPU's signed 16-by-8 one, so a power above 127 would read as negative; only Dft S (130) has one, and its routine is not traced.
In the US release Dft A (named as if it hit all enemies) hits one enemy and Dft S hits all, RPGClassics says. The spell table agrees: its target-like byte is $80 for Dft A, the value of BoltS, FireS and BreakS, and $82 for Dft S, the value of BoltA, FireA and BreakA. paladins-quest/dft-names
Magic Spells, legendAn error to note: Dft A (Defeat All) only affects one enemy and Dft S (Defeat Single) affects all enemies.All 37 spells, with the spirits each is built from, its HP cost, and its power: 8 spells use one spirit, 28 use a pair, and Spirit uses all eight. The casting code takes the cost from the caster's HP and marks the spirits as used; the damage code scales the power by the caster's mastery of those spirits. The spirits match the Averlus guide's pairs for 36 of 36 (its list leaves out Spirit), and the cost matches RPGClassics' table for 36 of 37; the exception is BoltA, 28 in the ROM and 40 in RPGClassics. CodeChecked by claude, 2026-11-08 — read the pinned table's note and the byte in the ROM's spell recordsChecked by a second AI model, 2026-11-08.The byte's meaning is read from its pattern across the attack spells, not from code. The Lennus Revival hack's page says the same names were swapped in translation; its Wayback capture holds no text, so it is not cited.
Spirit cards raise a spirit's mastery, and every two points a card gives is worth one battle's use of the spirit, Chris Thornton's guide (v2.00) says. paladins-quest/spirit-cards
Intro/Tips, 1. MagicEvery two points that a card raises your affinity is like using the Spirit one time in battle.Checked by claude, 2026-11-08 — found the sentence in the pinned v2.00 textRevised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-11-08.The battle gain is 2 a spirit, on a roll of 100 under 70 (paladins-quest/spirit-mastery), which fits the guide's two points a battle.
The US ROM has 37 spells: 8 built from one spirit, 28 from a pair (every pair of the eight spirits once), and Spirit, built from all eight. The US manual counts 37; the Japanese manual counts 36, the 8 single-spirit and 28 two-spirit spells, and leaves Spirit out of its count. paladins-quest/spell-count
p. 16, Spiritscreate 37 different spells.レナス 古代機械の記憶 取扱説明書 (Lennus: Kodai Kikai no Kioku instruction booklet) · printed p. 21, 精霊と呪文2つの精霊の組み合わせによる呪文が28種、合計36種の呪文Our translation28 spells from combinations of two spirits, 36 spells in allChecked by claude, 2026-11-08 — counted the spirit bits of each record in the ROM's spell table and read both manuals' countsRevised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-11-08.A physical hit does the attacker's attack, plus a random 0 to 25/255 of it, minus nine tenths of the target's defense, at least 1. A target whose chosen command is the one coded 3 (14 for an enemy) takes half, rounded up. A battle flag raises the attack by a quarter, and a status raises the target's defense by an eighth. paladins-quest/damage
About: Q7126357 Damage formula
CodePaladin's Quest (USA) ·0xA063-0xA12B — $01:A063-$A12B: defense D (plus D/8 under status bit 3); attack A (plus A/4 when bit 7 of $1A0F is set); A + (A times a roll below 26)/255 - (D - D/10), 1 if zero or below; halved, rounding up, when the target's command byte is 3 for a party member or $0E for an enemyPaladin's Quest (USA) · 0xA1F1-0xA1FA — $01:A1F1-$A1FA: an enemy's attack becomes its action's powerEvery enemy in the game, 165 and a blank, with what a battle loads from its record: HP, attack, defense, agility, a level the party's is measured against, its defense against four types of spell, the experience and gold it gives, and the item it may drop with the chance in percent. The battle code sets each field's use; the HP column is the base a battle varies by up to a tenth, except in battles where a flag fixes it. 160 of the 165 match a row of odino's enemy list on attack, defense, agility and the first four letters of the name, and 157 of those also on experience and gold; the item names the guide's drop in 159 of the 160. CodeChecked by claude, 2026-11-08 — read the damage routine in our disassemblyRevised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-11-08.The halving fits a Defend command and the quarter a charge or power-up, but neither command nor flag is named in the code read. Where a party member's attack comes from (Strength and weapon) is not traced.
Cited by: Damage formula
How Paladin's Quest decides a hit or a miss and whether the party gets away is not found yet, in the code read or in any source. paladins-quest/hit-and-run
About: Q7126357 Fleeing
UnsourcedChecked by a second AI model, 2026-11-08.A combatant's turn-order value is its speed times a roll from 6 to 13, over 10, so a fighter with twice another's speed usually has the larger value, but not always. paladins-quest/turn-order
About: Q7126357 Turn order
CodePaladin's Quest (USA) ·0xACE7-0xAD59 — $01:ACE7-$AD59: speed (an enemy's agility; a party member's battle speed, first scaled by a small table when its command is 1) times (6 + a roll below 8), over 10Every enemy in the game, 165 and a blank, with what a battle loads from its record: HP, attack, defense, agility, a level the party's is measured against, its defense against four types of spell, the experience and gold it gives, and the item it may drop with the chance in percent. The battle code sets each field's use; the HP column is the base a battle varies by up to a tenth, except in battles where a flag fixes it. 160 of the 165 match a row of odino's enemy list on attack, defense, agility and the first four letters of the name, and 157 of those also on experience and gold; the item names the guide's drop in 159 of the 160. CodeChecked by claude, 2026-11-08 — read the routine in our disassemblyRevised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-11-08.The caller and the sort that orders the values are not read, so neither how often the roll is made nor whether the larger value acts first is shown; both are the usual reading.
An enemy's HP varies from battle to battle: the battle adds its listed HP in whole hundreds, rounded down, times a roll from -10 to +10, so a 180-HP Evilrat starts with 170 to 190 and an enemy under 100 HP never varies. In battles with a flag set ($1843) the roll is fixed and the HP is the table's. That explains why odino's enemy list gives HP that differ from the ROM table's in 103 of the 160 enemies our script matched to it (paladins-quest-tables/enemies), by -9.1% to +10.0% as computed, while its attack, defense and agility match exactly: the guide read one fight. paladins-quest/enemy-hp-spread
About: Q7126357 Hit points
CodePaladin's Quest (USA) ·0xAC15-0xACD4 — $01:AC15-$ACD4: HP/100 times (a roll below 21, minus 10) added to the record's HP, stored as HP and max HPEvery enemy in the game, 165 and a blank, with what a battle loads from its record: HP, attack, defense, agility, a level the party's is measured against, its defense against four types of spell, the experience and gold it gives, and the item it may drop with the chance in percent. The battle code sets each field's use; the HP column is the base a battle varies by up to a tenth, except in battles where a flag fixes it. 160 of the 165 match a row of odino's enemy list on attack, defense, agility and the first four letters of the name, and 157 of those also on experience and gold; the item names the guide's drop in 159 of the 160. CodePaladin's Quest Experience Chart / Enemy List (v1.0) · Enemy ListEvilrat 177 320 180 275 400 56 P waterChecked by claude, 2026-11-08 — read the battle-start routine in our disassembly; compared each matched row's HP with the table's (scratch/gen-tables.mjs)Revised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-11-08.With the flag set the roll is 10, the middle of 0 to 20, so the change is 0.
An enemy may drop one item, with a chance in percent stored beside the item in its record, from 3% to 50% in the US ROM. At victory the game rolls once for each of the battle's enemy groups (up to four) that the battle has marked: a roll of 100 under the chance adds the item to the spoils. The random table makes the stored chances 3 (8 in 256, 3.1%), 4 (11, 4.3%), 5 (13, 5.1%), 15 (40, 15.6%), 16 (42, 16.4%) and 50 (129, 50.4%). paladins-quest/item-drop
About: Q7126357 Item drop table
CodePaladin's Quest (USA) ·0x8CE9-0x8D33 — $01:8CE9-$8D33: the loop over four groups; for each marked in the battle's mask, the enemy's byte 18; if nonzero, a roll below 100 against byte 19, and the item queuedPaladin's Quest (USA) · 0xA8E-0xAB2 — $00:8A8E-$8AB2: the roll, A times a byte of the 256-byte table that follows, over 256Every enemy in the game, 165 and a blank, with what a battle loads from its record: HP, attack, defense, agility, a level the party's is measured against, its defense against four types of spell, the experience and gold it gives, and the item it may drop with the chance in percent. The battle code sets each field's use; the HP column is the base a battle varies by up to a tenth, except in battles where a flag fixes it. 160 of the 165 match a row of odino's enemy list on attack, defense, agility and the first four letters of the name, and 157 of those also on experience and gold; the item names the guide's drop in 159 of the 160. CodeChecked by claude, 2026-11-08 — read the drop routine and the roll in our disassembly, counted the random table's bytes for each stored chance, and read the chance column in the ROM tableRevised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-11-08.What sets a group's bit in the mask (defeated, perhaps, rather than fled) is not read.
Cited by: Item drop table
An enemy well below the party's level may take the action coded 22 instead of the one it would otherwise pick. When the party's average level is 3 to 7 above the enemy's level the chance is 10 in 100 (26 in 256, 10.2%); 8 to 14 above, 20 (53, 20.7%); 15 to 24 above, 30 (80, 31.3%); 25 or more, 50 (129, 50.4%). The check is skipped when either of two battle flags is set, and for enemies 24 and 25 while in a status coded $40 (they take action 12); enemy 117 first takes action 22 on a separate roll. paladins-quest/enemy-level-gap
0xA18E-0xA1EF — $01:A18E-$A1EF: skipped when bit 2 of $1A0E or $1843 is set; enemies $18 and $19 with status bit 6 take action $0C; enemy $75 takes action $16 on another roll below 60 (routine $00:8A48, not read); then average level minus byte 8; the gap looked up in the table below; a roll below 100 under the chance sets action $16Paladin's Quest (USA) · 0x12D89-0x12D92 — $02:AD89-$AD92: (gap below, chance) pairs: 3, 0; 8, 10; 15, 20; 25, 30; 250, 50Paladin's Quest (USA) · 0xA6D3-0xA709 — $01:A6D3-$A709: the party's levels summed and divided by the party's sizeEvery enemy in the game, 165 and a blank, with what a battle loads from its record: HP, attack, defense, agility, a level the party's is measured against, its defense against four types of spell, the experience and gold it gives, and the item it may drop with the chance in percent. The battle code sets each field's use; the HP column is the base a battle varies by up to a tenth, except in battles where a flag fixes it. 160 of the 165 match a row of odino's enemy list on attack, defense, agility and the first four letters of the name, and 157 of those also on experience and gold; the item names the guide's drop in 159 of the 160. CodeChecked by claude, 2026-11-08 — read the action-choice, table and average routines in our disassembly, and counted the random table's bytes for each chanceRevised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-11-08.Action 22 is not traced; running away is the likely reading, but no source or code read says so.
The party holds four: usually the hero and heroine and two hired mercenaries. Mercenaries wait in each town's tavern; some join free and others for a contract fee (the ROM's hiring table holds each fee, from 50 for Destry to 8,000 for Peppi). The US manual says to enter commands for all characters. paladins-quest/party
p. 18, Soldiers of Fortuneyour party is four. Usually, two are the hero and heroine, and you can hire two mercenaries.レナス 古代機械の記憶 取扱説明書 (Lennus: Kodai Kikai no Kioku instruction booklet) · printed p. 27, 傭兵システムただで仲間になってくれる傭兵もいれば、いくらかの契約金を払わなければ仲間になってくれない傭兵もいます。Our translationSome mercenaries join for free; others won't join unless you pay a contract fee.レナス 古代機械の記憶 取扱説明書 (Lennus: Kodai Kikai no Kioku instruction booklet) · printed p. 27, 傭兵システム各都市の酒場で、あなたを待っています。Our translation(The mercenaries) wait for you in each city's tavern.Paladin's Quest (USA) instruction manual · p. 12, The ScreenEnter battle commands for all characters.How each character is hired: the fee, a second fee the hiring code takes instead when the character's bit is set in a per-character flag array, and the six items the character joins wearing. The hiring code checks the party's money against the fee and takes it; the join copies the six items into the party record. The fee matches the Averlus guide's recruitment cost for 19 of the 21 characters it gives one for. Lilie's fee is 0: the guide lists '34800G/Free' and explains that the 34,800 is the price of her equipment, which you must buy before she joins early, and that her fee is free. GRasav (2) has 1,000 in the ROM where the guide says Free. The equipment matches the guide's profiles for 31 of 31, leaving out the count the guide writes after a belt item ('Minibl 9'). CodeChecked by claude, 2026-11-08 — read the passages in the pinned OCR text and the fee column in the ROM tableRevised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-11-08.Two encounter modifiers are named in the pinned guides: the Pro Ball item, which keeps weak enemies away, the Averlus guide says, and the Peace spell, which RPGClassics says keeps random encounters away for a short time, repelling only enemies much weaker than the party. No source gives the encounter rate or how a battle is rolled. paladins-quest/pro-ball
About: Q7126357 Random encounter
GuidePaladin's Quest: FAQ/Walkthrough (v2.00) ·ItemsPro Ball | Protection Ball | Keeps weak enemies away.Paladin's Quest: FAQ/Walkthrough (v2.00) · Spirits/SpellsPeace: Not confront weak enemy.Paladin's Quest Magic · Magic Spells, PeacePrevents random enemy encounters for a short period of time. Only enemies who are significantly weaker than the party are repelled, though.Checked by claude, 2026-11-08 — found the row and the two Peace passages in the pinned textsRevised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-11-08.Cited by: Random encounter
The game names its makers in two places. The boot screen reads '© 1993 asmik corporation'. The staff-roll text in the ROM, decoded through our reading of the game's font, lists producers Hiroshi Okamoto and Shinji Ogawa, Kohei Nomura as original system coordinator ('COORDINATER'), Kohei Tanaka for the original score, and Hidenori Shibao as writer and director, and includes the lines 'BASED UPON LENNUS' and 'LENNUS STAFF'. Neither names a development company: Copya System, which secondary sources give as the developer, is not in the ROM's text. paladins-quest/credits
frame 290© 1993 asmik corporationPaladin's Quest (USA) · 0x73526-0x73855 — $0E:B526: the staff-roll lines, each a column byte, the letters in the game's codes, and a 0. Decoded, in stored order, they include: 'PRODUCER', 'HIROSHI OKAMOTO', 'SHINJI OGAWA', 'ORIGINAL SYSTEM COORDINATER', 'KOHEI NOMURA', ... 'ORIGINAL SCORE', 'KOHEI TANAKA', ... 'WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY', 'HIDENORI SHIBAO', ... 'BASED UPON LENNUS', 'LENNUS STAFF'Every enemy in the game, 165 and a blank, with what a battle loads from its record: HP, attack, defense, agility, a level the party's is measured against, its defense against four types of spell, the experience and gold it gives, and the item it may drop with the chance in percent. The battle code sets each field's use; the HP column is the base a battle varies by up to a tenth, except in battles where a flag fixes it. 160 of the 165 match a row of odino's enemy list on attack, defense, agility and the first four letters of the name, and 157 of those also on experience and gold; the item names the guide's drop in 159 of the 160. CodeChecked by claude, 2026-11-08 — decoded the boot screen's BG3 tilemap at frame 290 after power-on with no input, and the staff-roll lines from the ROM; searched the whole ROM for COPYA, COPIA, Copya, ASMIK, ENIX in the game's letter codes (none)Revised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-11-08.The frame was read by dumping VRAM in Mesen at frame 290 after power-on with no input and decoding the BG3 tilemap (word address $5C00) through the boot font's tile numbers (scratch/vtext.mjs in the researcher's worktree). That text is drawn in a small-capitals tile font, so it reads lower-case here. The staff roll's letter codes are the ones the enemy and item names use (paladins-quest-tables/enemies). The search covers text in the game's letter codes, not logos drawn as graphics.