Thaco and chance to hit questions/discussion

Everything i learned about ad&d i learned from bg. i learned spells and ac and classes and proficiencies and everything. now i play ad&d normal (with other people not with comp) and im fine with it. Just 1 thing i never learned and i cant seem to understand is thaco

i havent played fighters alot in bg or bg2 so i usually dont deal with thaco too much but now i started a monk and a paladin so i gotta learn. Is a big thaco better or is smaller better. How do you calulate the chance to hit another creature oh sayyyyyy a dragon or something. Does the other guys ac effect your chance to hit alot and if so how much?

just wondering cuz i got quivering palm with my monk and carsomyr with paladin and i just wanna thawk stuff.

the smaller the better and yes to your questions

[Father Bronze]

Example: If a character has a THACO of 11 it means that if Character-A were trying to hit a character/creature with an Armor class of 3, Character-A would need an 11-3=8 (dice roll from 1-20). If the same Character-A tries to hit a character/creature with an AC of -10, Character-A would need an 11--10=21 (yes, minus the negative number).

Each creature you encounter in the game (goblins, dragons, vampires, etc.) has an AC and a THACO, although you don't get to see the stats unless you use some editing utility to browse the creature files.

Hope this helps a little.

Once upon a time I posted a very detailed showing of who thaco and to hit works. Not gonna repost that. If one of the Board Communities wants to find it and post the link I will be greatful. Plus, no bleeding fingers from all the typing.

What it all boils down to is that you take your THAC0 (which means To Hit Armor Class Zero) and Subtract their Armor Class (AC) and that is the number you need to roll on your twenty-sider to hit. (remembering if their Armor class is negative, you will add that to your THAC0) If you have a Plus something weapon, you just add that to your roll to see if you hit. Capiesce?

BK