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<blockquote data-quote="Man in the Funny Hat" data-source="post: 6397291" data-attributes="member: 32740">Thac0 is simply a shortcut around the use of large tables for determining what a PC needs to roll to hit.&nbsp; Appendix E of the 1E DMG lists basic monster stats and includes a column labeled &quot;To Hit AC 0&quot;.&nbsp; All that did is look that number up on the monster attack matrix on p.75 ahead of time, which made it a timesaver for a DM.&nbsp; The number you need in order to hit AC's higher or lower than 0 was easy to figure out, and you could always just go back and use the table again anyway.&nbsp; Players can do the same thing for their PC's - just look up what number they need to hit AC 0 ahead of time and do the math for higher or lower AC's.&nbsp; That's Thac0.The only confusion there in 1E would be that ALL the attack matrices use repeated 20's (six 20's) before continuing on again with 21 and higher, so the top end of calculating Thac0 isn't as simple as it might seem in 1E.&nbsp; In 2E, those repeating 20's were dropped - all the attack matrices were dropped entirely.&nbsp; The table presented ONLY Thac0 - a straight function of class and level.&nbsp; You still had to do the math for higher or lower AC's but the confusion of the repeated 20's was no longer there so the original matrices that showed those wasn't needed anymore.Librariman's &quot;little trick&quot; is interesting and it seems fully functional.&nbsp; It's just moving where/how the adjustment for higher/lower armor class from 0 is done, but it's bound to be confusing to someone not already very familiar with attack matrices and Thac0 functions.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Man in the Funny Hat, post: 6397291, member: 32740"] Thac0 is simply a shortcut around the use of large tables for determining what a PC needs to roll to hit. Appendix E of the 1E DMG lists basic monster stats and includes a column labeled "To Hit AC 0". All that did is look that number up on the monster attack matrix on p.75 ahead of time, which made it a timesaver for a DM. The number you need in order to hit AC's higher or lower than 0 was easy to figure out, and you could always just go back and use the table again anyway. Players can do the same thing for their PC's - just look up what number they need to hit AC 0 ahead of time and do the math for higher or lower AC's. That's Thac0. The only confusion there in 1E would be that ALL the attack matrices use repeated 20's (six 20's) before continuing on again with 21 and higher, so the top end of calculating Thac0 isn't as simple as it might seem in 1E. In 2E, those repeating 20's were dropped - all the attack matrices were dropped entirely. The table presented ONLY Thac0 - a straight function of class and level. You still had to do the math for higher or lower AC's but the confusion of the repeated 20's was no longer there so the original matrices that showed those wasn't needed anymore. Librariman's "little trick" is interesting and it seems fully functional. It's just moving where/how the adjustment for higher/lower armor class from 0 is done, but it's bound to be confusing to someone not already very familiar with attack matrices and Thac0 functions. [/QUOTE]

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