THAC0

[Irie word of Jah]

I've played through BG2 twice a while back and never used backstab cuz i didnt really know how exactly to do it. But im Playing through no again and backstab is a cool way to disable the enemies. Im playing a Party consisting of a

1.Assassin
2.Swashbuckeler
3.Bounty Hunter
4.Skald
5.Blade
6.Jester

I wanted to play as a "Stealth, ninja-like" party, Basing most of my attacks on having the three theives all hide in shadows at the same time and back stab all at the same time while the bards are singing (kinda like in Lord of the Rings: The fellowship of the ring when the wraiths are in the tavern (where the hobbits first meet Strider) and all the wraiths go up to the room where they think the hobbits are sleeoing and all raise their swords and strike down all at once. The only problem is someone said backstab was based in THAC0 and all mine is at 0 and base THAC0 is like a -1's and -2's. Why is that and how can fix it so i can kill from the shadows???

[Dace De'Briago]

You might want to delete one of your stylish double posts

[Dace De'Briago]

From SixOfSpades website:

'THAC0: The acronym stands for "To Hit Armor Class Zero," and is a measurement of how likely you are to score a hit in combat. Yet again, a low THAC0 is good. (Getting all this?) That's because it represents the number you have to roll (on a D20) to hit an opponent with an Armor Class of 0. So a character with a THAC0 of 16 has to roll a 16 or higher to land a successful blow, while a character with a THAC0 of 9 only has to roll a 9 or higher. Each character's THAC0 starts out at 20, and then diminishes as you gain levels. There are also personal characteristics that affect THAC0: A very (physically) strong character has a much better chance than a very weak character to land a hit with a melee weapon, and a very nimble character has much better aim than a very clumsy character, when using a ranged weapon. THAC0 is also affected by the amount of proficiency you have with the weapon you're using: If you have 2 or more proficiency stars in your current choice of armament, you get bonuses, but if you haven't trained with the weapon at all, you'll actually recieve penalties for using it. (More on this in Chapter 7.)'

I suggest that you take a look at Volothamp's Comeuppance at http://www.geocities.com/sixospades/bg/bgguide.htm and familiarise yourself with how the game actually works.

And reading the forum rules might not hurt either

[andrewas]

THACO determines what you need to roll to hit a target of a given armour class. Lower THACO is better, so having a THACO below 0 is a good thing for your thief. More exact information on THACO can be found on the FAQ thread at the top of the forum.

[Xen]

Quore from the FAQ:

To Hit AC 0. Basically, if you have a THACO of 10, you need to roll a 10 or better on 1d20 in order for the hit to connect on a target who has an AC of 0. The basic formula is as follows, THACO - AC = Number to match or beat on 1d20. ie: THACO(5) - AC(2) = 3( Must roll 3 or better on 1d20) Always remember that when you subtract a negative number, it works out like this. 2 - (-2) = 2 + 2 = 4. Additionally, a roll of 1 is always considered a Critical Miss, while a roll of 20 is considered a Critical Hit and doubles the damage( if the target has headgear, it will still be an automatic hit, but the damage will not be doubled).

[Faceman]

and in addition to Xen's post:
Proficiencies in Two Handed weapon style or Single Handed weapon style allow you to make a Critical Hit on 19 AND 20 (provided you use a Two-Handed weapon or a Single Handed weapon with a free offhand). So then a 19 and a 20 would always be considered a hit regardless of the outcome of THAC0-AC

[Lord]

Originally posted by Dace De'Briago: You might want to delete one of your stylish double posts

Talk about double posts. Look at what you did [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Larry_OHF]

Here is the link to the other thread that was double-posted. Since this thread is the original, I'll keep this one alive, lock the other one that I have just linked to, and delete the third one that nobody had posted to yet.

Crisis resolved and nobody got hurt.

[ 11-10-2003, 07:12 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]