These terms are confusing me...

[ArmageddonX]

What on earth is a THACO (chance to hit?)? Why is it good to have a very low armor what does each unit less mean for me? How helpful is a saving throw bonus +1? Will items that protect me from critical hits help me a lot? What's the difference between a round and a turn? How badly does 1d3, 1d10, or 2d6 damage hurt? What's the difference between a base, offhand, and main THACO? Which is better, a low or high speed factor? When a spells talks about the number of levels a caster has recieved, what exactly is it talking about (experience levels?)? Please, any help you can give me would be very appreciated!

Read the game manual, it answers all these types of questions...

[ArmageddonX]

I don't HAVE the manual... so if someone does could they kindly tell em what it says or something?

[omegadawn]

Your welcome Armageddonx, Have fun.
I may have never played and then owned BG1 if a friend who was done with hadn't lent it to me.I purchased BG2 the moment(9:00 am est,when the mall opened)it was available and when I'm done with it( if ever ) one of my pals will get it to try for FREE!!! Power to SHARING!!!(it aint piracy if you own it and give it away)

I am very anti-pirate, but if your friend gives you his disks when he is done with the game, that is PERFECTLY LEGAL. If you are playing the game with original disks, you are not a pirate. In fact, if you pass those disks on twenty times, it is still not illegal as long as you do not copy the disks and distribute them. Read the copyright agreements. I have a problem with services like napster which allow people to DL copyright material en mass, thus having the potential to erode profit bases that could potentially affect the future quality and logistics involved with future intellectual property.

[omegadawn]

THACO is an acronym for To Hit Armor Class Zero (0) That is the number a character needs to roll on a 20 sided dice to hit AC 0. ie. If a monster has an AC of 4 and your thaco is 10 you need to roll a 6 to hit.(thaco 10 minus armor class 4 = 6 to hit)
The lower the armor class the better.(dont ask me why)
Some mage spells get more powerful the higher exp lvl the mage is. ie. Magic missle the higher exp lvl the mage the more missles he throws.
Any bonuses to saving throws are helpful.
Items that protect from critical hits protect you from taking double damage from a critical hit. Definitly useful.
The lower a weapons speed factor the faster it hits.
There are 10 rounds in a turn. each round is 6 seconds, therefore a turn is one minute.
You recieve a penalty to hit if you attack with your off hand using the two weapon fighting style. you can decrease this penalty by putting proficency slots in the two weapon fighting style. your base thaco is before calculating bonuses for magic weapons,proficenies, ect.
Just call me the answer guy

[Mandrake]

You dont have the manual???
Well pirate, I recommend that you buy the game. The people at black isle put a shit load of work into making this game for us and they are only going to keep making games if they make a decent profit. If its worth your time playing then its worth your bucks. BG2 packs a lot of hours gameplay so you get your monies worth!!

[WOLFGIR]

Couldn´t agree more Mandrake!
Lousy loosers! Buy the game or don´t play it!
Its a good game and as stated before! Buy so the people at Black Isle and Bioware can go on and make more games like these!
If you are a cheapscape than wait until its released in a game of the year edition or something at about half the price. If you buy them they´ll get cheaper but well sofar I have had hours of worth with it, and it´s keep on giving..

If you found more problems with the terms I suggest that you buy the pen and paper game, but then agian maybe you can copy them...

[bilqis]

There are other reasons to not have a manual than theft/piracy. I happen to know this personally. I can't find my manual either .. BUT I did buy the game. I have 2 teens & a teen wanna-be in my house who always walk off with things and misplace them. Note an earlier post of mine where they lost my TOSC disc. SO I've bought a new one. Frustrating but worth losing sleep over? No.

I'm having great fun playing through BG1 again .. intending to import that character into BG2 when I finish. We all must have goals in life, don't you agree?? hehehe

That's fair enough. This bloke said a friend lent him the game in a different post, though.