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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TwinBahamut" data-source="post: 4708373" data-attributes="member: 32536">It is probably a little late for all of this, but I may as well weigh in my opinion.My experience with THAC0 is a little unique, simply because I had to actually learn the system because I played in 2E adventures (actually, I DMed them for my brother, with no "experienced player" to tell us how to do things), but I never really immersed myself in those rules for any period of time. It was just me and my brother, having to figure out how the entire system works using a "D&D Adventure Set" with a few adventures and pre-made characters. Shortly afterwards, we acquired real D&D books, which ended up being the first-printed 3E core books. And my first reaction to reading a core rules book for the first time was that the BAB system was a tremendous improvement over THAC0. I didn't even realize that the difference was a result of an edition change, I just liked that it was much easier to use.THAC0 is really something that you need to immerse yourself in to really "get". With all of these arguments in this thread, there is one question that I have not seen be brought up, which is actually part of my biggest complaint about THAC0. Why, exactly, is the entire thing phrased as your ability to hit AC 0? What is so special about AC 0? When I was actually using the system, I had the hardest time even really grasping what in-character quality THAC0 was even really supposed to represent. The fact that is explicitly references game terminology like numbered AC and dice rolls, rather that character qualities, made it worse.I mean, it is more than just a difference between adding or subtracting. A "To Hit AC 20" system would possibly be just as confusing as a THAC0 system, even if it used nothing but positive AC values and positive attack modifiers. The problem is the mental task of converting the "To hit AC X" number to the number you need to roll in order to hit an actual AC. It feels like the completely wrong approach, since it feels like someone did work for you, but it was the wrong work, so every actual task involves undoing a step and then redoing it properly.</blockquote>

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