I need to say I've never played a Dungeons & Dragons game, like the physical tabletop game. I am very familiar with other ttrpgs and even crunchier ones so it's not too hard to wrap my head around the stuff I've seen from D&D 4e or 5e.
HOWEVER
Baldur's Gate 1 uses AD&D, the second edition iirc. And this game. Breaks my brain. I've been thinking about this part from the manual for days...
There are three components to an attack roll: The attacker’s THAC0, a d20 roll, and the defender’s AC.
THAC0, an acronym meaning “To Hit Armor Class 0”, is the attacker’s target on the d20 roll. In order to hit the target, the attacker’s roll must meet or beat their own THAC0 score. As a result, a low THAC0 is ideal.
...
For example, Porthos, a 3rd-level Fighter, has a THAC0 of 18. He is attacking a hobgoblin with an AC of 5. The hobgoblin’s AC is subtracted from Porthos’ THAC0 to yield a target number of 13. If Porthos rolls a 13 or higher, his attack is successful and does damage.
This is bonkers to me. This makes no sense. Surely this wasn't how the ACTUAL tabletop game was played right??? I'm losing my mind
