whats a thaco

Galmar · Post by **Galmar** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 8:15 pm

i dont want to sound TOO rude, but why dont you try reading the manual? Or any FAQ, or even try using the "search" button.

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 11:36 pm

it's the chance To Hit AC 0.

As a rule of thumb multiply your THACO (if > 0) with 5 to know your chance (in %) to miss a creature that has AC 0.

Or substract the AC of your enemy from your THACO and multiply by 5 to know your absolute chance to miss (in %).

Bruce Lee · Post by **Bruce Lee** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 11:50 pm

Try to keep your thac0 below the enemies AC and you'll do just fine

Antharias2k · Post by **Antharias2k** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 4:57 pm

thaco stands for: to hit armour class of.

i would recommend that you keep your thaco below 0 if you want a pretty good hit every time.

Harbinger · Post by **Harbinger** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 12:16 am

Originally posted by Antharias2k
thaco stands for: to hit armour class of.

i would recommend that you keep your thaco below 0 if you want a pretty good hit every time.

I beg to differ, it means to hit armor class 0(zero).

Antharias2k · Post by **Antharias2k** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 1:13 pm

soz. my mistake. it just makes a little more sense cause when your thaco is low you stand a better chance of hitting something.

Sir Redweed · Post by **Sir Redweed** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 3:36 pm

To Hit Armour Class 0

DashGore12 · Post by **DashGore12** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 7:43 pm

whats a THACO?

i am sorry i am not answering the question whoever made that thread but i too do not know what thaco is and i cold not understand what the peeps responding to it meant! (i have a simple mind

) so if sum1 could be more specific with my simple mind! i use Shadow Keeper, should i NOT set my thaco to 100?

-Dash

____________________________________________

-"What kind of word is blasphemy?"

Harbinger · Post by **Harbinger** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 8:39 pm

Well this is how it started, in the old days of PnP AD&D you had to go digging through rule books to figure out what dice roll you needed to hit a particular armor class (AC). AC can be anywhere from 10(worst) to -10(best) so AC0 is right in the middle.

With this in mind all you need to know is what dice roll is needed to hit AC 0 say 12 for example, at THACO = 12 any roll 12 and higher on a 20 sided die against enemy with AC 0 would result in a hit anything lower would be a miss. So from there you could figure out any chance to hit because they are sequencial so with a THAC0 of 12 the list would look like this.

AC ......To Hit Roll
10 ............2
9 .............3
8 .............4
7 .............5
6 .............6
5 .............7
4 .............8
3 .............9
2 .............10
1 .............11
0 .............12 <----- THACO
-1 ............13
-2 ............14
-3 ............15
-4 ............16
-5 ............17
-6 ............18
-7 ............19
-8 ............20
-9 ............20 <----- Note a roll of 20 is always a hit.
-10 ...........20

So we use the THACO number as a shortcut to this chart. But in BGII its not that significant because the computer determines everything for you. So to simplify in BGII the lower the THACO the better.

JackOfClubs · Post by **JackOfClubs** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 9:15 pm

Re: whats a THACO?

Originally posted by DashGore12
i am sorry i am not answering the question whoever made that thread but i too do not know what thaco is and i cold not understand what the peeps responding to it meant! (i have a simple mind ) so if sum1 could be more specific with my simple mind! i use Shadow Keeper, should i NOT set my thaco to 100?

No, actually you would want to make it as LOW as possible. A -20 should allow you to hit just about anything (except that rolling a "natural" 1 is always a miss).

But I think if you modify this in Shadow Keeper it will be recalculated at your next level up, so I would advise against messing with it. Better to supply yourself with good wepons and high STR (for melee weapons) and DEX (for missile weapons).

Antharias2k · Post by **Antharias2k** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 1:51 pm

No, sending your thaco through the roof like that to 100 would only get you into trouble.

i am not sure on the old D&D rules and in fact i do not know about them.

But Baldurs Gate has this thing that your armour class must be in the negative for melee attacks and missile attacks. spells are different to this whole issue.
that is why some weapons are +5 for example will take your thaco down by at least 3 and will add to the amount of minimum and maximum damage that you do.

please will sum1 tell me if this is not true because as i said earlier my knowledge on the rules are very limited.

Aule · Post by **Aule** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 4:43 am

i think harbringer made an exellent description .
most people i know who played bg dont even know wat aD&D is they just swing and see if they hit and dont understand things like 1d8 or thac0

DashGore12 · Post by **DashGore12** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 8:26 am

Hmmm

ya Aule, i dont know how to play DnD, but i kno wat it is.... i just never rly had the time to play it with my friends. ive heard that it takes many many hours of "togetherness" *shiver* eww.. lol jking but i dont rly have that long an attention span for oral video games... but the vid games are great.

-Dash

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"OW! 3rd degree burns!..... i mean, NEAT! 3rd degree burns!!!"