###A separate sword frog would allow an adventurer to more easily change which sword they are using.

A typical fantasy adventurer may have multiple swords, such as steel one for general use and a silver one for dealing with magical monsters. Many sword scabbards had in-built belts which were permanently affixed to the scabbard or had loops for which to thread a separate belt through. This would mean that in order to change which weapon you had at your side, you would have to unfasten your belt and either put on the new belt with the other sword attached or take the old sword and scabbard off your belt to put the new one on.

Using a sword frog means changing out which sword is at your side is much easier and faster. Rather than having to take off your belt, you can simply grab the scabbard and drawing both it and the sword out of the frog. Then you can place the other sword and scabbard into the frog.

My testing found that I can draw a sword and scabbard out of a frog, put them down and place another sword and scabbard into the frog in around 7 seconds. To unbuckle the belt, put it down and put a new belt on takes about 30 seconds and to unbuckle a belt, take the scabbard off the belt and put it down and to put a new scabbard onto the belt takes around 40 seconds. Interestingly, if i’m wearing gauntlets, it adds an extra 10 to 30 seconds to take off and put on a belt. In contrast, the time it takes to draw a sword scabbard out of the frog and put a new one in remains largely unchanged, only adding a couple of seconds onto the total time.

Further, if instead of just taking the sword off the belt, you also needed to take off all your potions and pouches on your belt to transfer them over to the other sword belt, this would add significantly more time on. The time to take the sword scabbard out of the frog however would remain the same regardless of how many other things are hanging from your belt.

This means that a sword frog could be a very useful tool for an adventurer who needed to change swords as it would be far more convenient and would save time, an important thing to consider as adventurers are often working under time constraints where every second matters. If it takes them 2 minutes to change out their sword and more over their equipment, thats 2 minutes where the person they’re meant to be rescuing could be killed or the monster they are tracking could escape.

###A sword frog would allow an adventurer to sneak more easily than a scabbard

This is because a scabbard can easily catch on things and knock them over or bang into objects if you arent fully aware of where the scabbard is at all times. Even if you have your sword drawn, the scabbard can knock into things. Also, going down stairs whilst wearing a scabbard means it will hit off every stair if you aren’t holding it in front of you.

While its not an issue to hold a scabbard, if you were sneaking around with a weapon drawn, you’d want both hands on your weapon in the case of a two-handed sword or a free hand to grapple with in the case of a one-handed sword.

Using a frog instead of a scabbard would mean there is no chance of your scabbard hitting into things behind you and giving you away. Additionally, the frog gives you somewhere to put your sword when you needed both hands free, such as for picking locks, scaling walls or disabling traps, as opposed to using no sword holder at all. A sword frog may not be an ideal tool to carry your sword all of the time, as you’d be more likely to injure yourself, but it would be simple enough to leave your scabbard with the rest of your gear that you aren’t going to go sneaking around with, and just take the frog.

Essentially, the frog would be used to carry your sword for short period of time, such as when you’re in a dungeon, and a full scabbard is used for carrying it for longer periods of time such as travelling.