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<blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 8207417" data-attributes="member: 6801286">The math involved is counter intuitive, and so it is hard to remember what the exact rule is, regardless of how simple it is. I think the main confusion comes from 3 things:The negative armorclass system:It seems nonsensical that the lower your armor score, the better the defense. What makes it worse, is that we're basically dealing with both values above 0 and below it. THAT is confusing. Why does someone with no armor on, not have AC 0? But no, base AC is 10 in 2E. They could have just had it scale from 0 to -10, but instead for some weird reason it is from 10 to -10. So a character in 2E starts from AC 10. Then, as they add pieces of armor, their AC gradually lowers until it is below 0.Thac0:The fact that this isn't a straight attack bonus, but that you substract your roll from the Thac0 score is weird. Also, naming it Thac0, and not &quot;attack&quot;, makes it further confusing.Adding is easier than substracting:While both are simple math, adding numbers is easier and more intuitive. Further more, it is easier for many people to compare positive numbers, rather than negative numbers.So it is both confusing, and hard to remember, and unintuitive. And as I'm writing this down, I find myself rereading it just to make sure I got the rule right.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Imaculata, post: 8207417, member: 6801286"] The math involved is counter intuitive, and so it is hard to remember what the exact rule is, regardless of how simple it is. I think the main confusion comes from 3 things: [b]The negative armorclass system:[/b] It seems nonsensical that the lower your armor score, the better the defense. What makes it worse, is that we're basically dealing with both values above 0 and below it. THAT is confusing. Why does someone with no armor on, not have AC 0? But no, base AC is 10 in 2E. They could have just had it scale from 0 to -10, but instead for some weird reason it is from 10 to -10. So a character in 2E starts from AC 10. Then, as they add pieces of armor, their AC gradually lowers until it is below 0. [b]Thac0:[/b] The fact that this isn't a straight attack bonus, but that you substract your roll from the Thac0 score is weird. Also, naming it Thac0, and not "attack", makes it further confusing. [b]Adding is easier than substracting:[/b] While both are simple math, adding numbers is easier and more intuitive. Further more, it is easier for many people to compare positive numbers, rather than negative numbers. So it is both confusing, and hard to remember, and unintuitive. And as I'm writing this down, I find myself rereading it just to make sure I got the rule right. [/QUOTE]

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