THAC0 - i dont get it?

[Bruce Campbell]

Ive read all i can to help me understand this but as im really new to AD&D its still like french to me. What i really want to know is on my char attributes screen it gives me a base THAC0 a weapon THAC0 and an offhand THAC0. all with different numbers. Basically is it best to have low or high numbers, and is that relevant to all the THAC0 ratings. Why do magic weapon give you a bonus +1 o THAC0 if its bad...?? someone please help me out :E

[[AHL]Dragonne]

Okay, here's how it works:

As you know, your armour class (AC) starts at 10 (worst, and drops downward (better). The THAC0 number is 'to hit armour class zero'. So, if your opponent has an AC of zero, you will need to 'roll' that number or higher on a 20 sided die in order to hti them. If their AC is lower than zero, you add the absolute value onto your THAC0 to see what you need, and if their AC is above zero, you'd subtract it from your THAC0. Bearing in mind that a roll of a 1 always misses,and a 20 always hits.

The reason you'll have different THAC0's, is that with certain weapons you'll be more proficient than others, so you'll get bonuses with them, and others you may not be proficient with, so you'll get penalties to those. Off hand THAC) is to do with the skill required to weild two weapons at the same time.

As for the plusses of weapons, the reason they are plusses is that you are not supposed to add the plus to your THACO, but you add the plus to your dice roll.

I hope this makes sense, the AD&D rules can take a while to get into your head, and may seem complicated at first...

[Tenshi]

LOL in other words.. it's best to have a low thac0
(to hit armour class 0)

you get a low base thac0 by having a high dexterity.. etc.. :)

hope that's useful for ya :P

[Crimson_Avenger]

On a similar note, does anybody know what happened in my copy of Icewind Dale when, after levelling up to level 13 (I think) one of my fighters had a THAC0 of -127?

[[BLITZ]Scarab]

Your copy of Icewind dale needs patching up, many people have had that problem.

[Bruce Campbell]

Thanks guys i got it. same as AC lower is best cheers

[Tenshi]

happy to be of assistance :)

[Crimson_Avenger]

Thanks, Scarab. Completed the game now, though, and I'm delving into BG2 so I don't think I'll bother patching it just yet.