THAC0

Sailor Saturn · Post by **Sailor Saturn** » Wed Dec 19, 2001 12:40 am

How important is THAC0 and what exactly does it affect?

Main reason I'm asking right now is I found a Flawless Two-Handed Sword which has a +2 bonus to THAC0 while the Bastard Sword +1 I bought only has a +1 bonus to THAC0. Since the Flawless Two-Handed Sword does more damage and has a higher THAC0 bonus, does that mean it is better than the Bastard Sword +1? (Ignoring the fact that the FT-HS is ineffective against some of the monsters the BS+1 is effective against)

Sojourner · Post by **Sojourner** » Wed Dec 19, 2001 1:20 pm

Well, the Flawless Two-handed sword doesn't do that much more damage than the Bastard Sword +1: 10 max dam vs. 9 max dam (excluding strength bonuses). On average, I'd say you'd actually do more damage with the bastard sword since it does a min damage of 3 vs. a min damage of 1 for the Flawless two-hander.

Early on in the game, that extra THACO bonus can be valuable against creatures that don't require magical weapons to be hit, but the downside is you can't equip a shield. I'd say the Bastard Sword +1 is a bit better.

Sailor Saturn · Post by **Sailor Saturn** » Wed Dec 19, 2001 8:49 pm

Originally posted by Sojourner:
<STRONG>Well, the Flawless Two-handed sword doesn't do that much more damage than the Bastard Sword +1: 10 max dam vs. 9 max dam (excluding strength bonuses). On average, I'd say you'd actually do more damage with the bastard sword since it does a min damage of 3 vs. a min damage of 1 for the Flawless two-hander.</STRONG>

I like the potential to do a higher max amount of damage, but I do see your point.

<STRONG>Early on in the game, that extra THACO bonus can be valuable against creatures that don't require magical weapons to be hit, but the downside is you can't equip a shield. I'd say the Bastard Sword +1 is a bit better.</STRONG>

Not a downside for me. My char, a Fighter/Thief/Mage, doesn't carry a shield.

Gruntboy · Post by **Gruntboy** » Thu Dec 20, 2001 4:13 am

Bastard sword will do 2D4+1 damage (thats 3-9, or a greater probability of 6 per hit) and can hit tose monsters immune to non-magical weapons.

The 2 handed sword does 1D10 (thats 1-10 with a probability of doing 5-6 damage in the long run).

But as a F/M/T you may want the THACO bonus of +2 with the flawless 2-H sword (due to slower levelling up - even though you're soloing, that's 3 characters worth of XP you have there).