OD&D Why is AC 2 the best armor class?

[GreyLord]

Some thoughts...

Because, as it was derived...a 1 is an automatic miss.

I know...I know...that's not how it works in D&D with the AC vs To Hit Tables...but...

Yes...a 1 is always a miss.

Other reasons...it's guessed at strongly above, but it wasn't due to Chainmail, I don't think (Personal opinion) but the naval rules it was based off of. Also, using a 2d6 means that 2 was the lowest roll.

If your ship was an AC 12, (I know...I know...it only goes up to 9 or 10 depending on the version of D&D), it was automatically hit every time you attacked. No ship was that bad.

A 10 would mean that if you rolled a 10 or lower, you hit. A 9, 9 or lower you hit...and so on and so forth.

If you had an AC of 1, no one would ever be able to hit you (invulnerable ship). An AC of 2 meant that you would have to roll snake eyes to hit this thing...and that was pretty hard to do as well.

That is, until you start using a D12 or D20.

 

[Willie the Duck]

Assuming it is 2-9 to work with a 2D6 system: Without knowing the naval game in question it's conjecture whether the actual system was 2d6, if it's porting a Chainmail mechanic, or it was made up on the fly. Unfortunately, all searches I do for naval games or wargames called Ironclads reference modern games on Steam or a game first published in 1979.

Anyone have Jon Peterson's work at hand? I bet he's gone into inspiration for Hit Points. If Dave thinks the same game gave him the idea of HP and AC, Jon may well have reference to the actual game that would include published or some other search terms (or maybe even an overview or some visuals).