Talk:Warframes/@comment-67.81.113.159-20140814192636/@comment-14910471-20140816004017

You probably didn't lose them, either you didn't have them equipped (The mods with the abilities on them), or you just didn't have the energy to perform them (as indicated by the icon on the bottom right.

In order to use different abilities you have to have the assosiated frame, Excal can't turn into a puddle of water, but Hydroid can't procure a dozen swords to skewer his enemies.

As it stands I assume you only have the base number of slots, I recommend you get more with your starting 50 platinum, also to note, you can earn plat in-game by selling Prime parts, I especially recommend farming for his Chassis during T1 Survivals as that's a big ticket item. Just when you hit Mastery Rank two, can handle the mobs in the game, and in general just start your real Warframe experience it's a great relief to own all the frames for various reasons.