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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
AD&D players and referees, what do you think of ascending AC?
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<blockquote data-quote="Man in the Funny Hat" data-source="post: 9285763" data-attributes="member: 32740"><p>Been playing D&D since 1976 or so and effectively 1E since the MM publication in 1977. Descending AC is not really a difficulty for any <em>child</em> old enough/smart enough to be able to grasp negative integer math. Is it more cumbersome than ascending AC? Sure. Is it worth the effort to reverse one for the other? IMO no. Any such conversion is of course not hard to do - but it's VERY extensive to the point that it's just not worth fretting about. Besides, I would argue that using descending AC and combat tables instead of d20-system based mechanics DOES have features that are lost if you flip it and discard the combat tables. Even 2E's choice to only drop the combat tables for "THAC0" was a change not necessarily for the better. It's a bit fiddley and not talked about a lot - but it's most definitely there. How desirable those features are is subjective, yet it has come to be something I actually like about 1E mechanics over later editions.</p><p></p><p>In any case, for AD&D (and 1E in particular) ascending/descending AC is <strong>SO FAR</strong> down the list of system issues warranting real concern it's hilarious. AD&D is not for the feint of heart. It will fight you, especially if you're coming from a comparative easy-mode RPG like 5E. If AD&D is what someone is really interested in, I'd say focus on the more important parts needing attention.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Man in the Funny Hat, post: 9285763, member: 32740"] Been playing D&D since 1976 or so and effectively 1E since the MM publication in 1977. Descending AC is not really a difficulty for any [I]child[/I] old enough/smart enough to be able to grasp negative integer math. Is it more cumbersome than ascending AC? Sure. Is it worth the effort to reverse one for the other? IMO no. Any such conversion is of course not hard to do - but it's VERY extensive to the point that it's just not worth fretting about. Besides, I would argue that using descending AC and combat tables instead of d20-system based mechanics DOES have features that are lost if you flip it and discard the combat tables. Even 2E's choice to only drop the combat tables for "THAC0" was a change not necessarily for the better. It's a bit fiddley and not talked about a lot - but it's most definitely there. How desirable those features are is subjective, yet it has come to be something I actually like about 1E mechanics over later editions. In any case, for AD&D (and 1E in particular) ascending/descending AC is [B]SO FAR[/B] down the list of system issues warranting real concern it's hilarious. AD&D is not for the feint of heart. It will fight you, especially if you're coming from a comparative easy-mode RPG like 5E. If AD&D is what someone is really interested in, I'd say focus on the more important parts needing attention. [/QUOTE]
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AD&D players and referees, what do you think of ascending AC?
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