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Message: <blockquote data-quote="justanobody" data-source="post: 4691481" data-attributes="member: 70778">Dave created the system based on naval vessel rqtings, where the lower number was better.Think of it like spaceships vs watercraft, and underwater craft.We live at 1 atmosphere. Spaceships must be built to survive 0 atmospheres.Normal ships require 1 atmosphere to not be crushed under Earth's gravity.So a spaceship can survive 1 and 0 atmospheres.Watercraft can survive at least 1 atmosphere.Underwater craft can survive 1 atmosphere, 2 atmospheres, etc as they can go deeper.The ratings i think go negative to show how far below sea level a vessel can travel before it reaches crush depth.so a -1 rating would mean it can withstand twice normal atmospheric conditions or 32.x PSI from the outside.Which is what a hit is in regards to damaging something. Pressure from the outside needed to cause damage.So something with a -2 rating could take more pressure before being damaged than something with a 1 or -1. Thus THAC0 and its use of lower equals better.Its what happens when smart people make games with technical backgrounds.You could always rewrite THAC0 and have the numbers go up. that is all BAB did. same sytem, just different window dressing.But i hope that explains a bit why the lower numbers were better with THAC0. maybe on of the Dragon Magazines gives it in better detail. Check that thread to see if it has been mentioned yet by un in "reading the entire run".So all in all the main problem with the THAC0 system, is people just get caught up on the math. All there is to it.So for anyone having problems with THAC0, just use the one for the players that simple algebra lets you extract that i gave above, and will repeat here:Player uses:THAC0 - (Number rolled + modifiers) = AC you can hitAnd let the DM do the comparisons.player number =< AC of target means a successful hit.</blockquote>

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