Greetings, for all my time playing Baldur's Gate I've never fully understood exacly how it works. Reading the BG readme says:
[spoiler]"X + Y = Z
Where
X = base to hit roll (1-20)
Y = any bonuses/penalties to hit
Z = total to hit roll
Y is the total aggregate value of all bonuses and/or penalties
that are applied to the character's to hit roll. This value
is also usually reflected in the difference between the
character's THACO and base THACO on the character page.
However, certain bonuses or penalties will show in the value Y
that don't show on the THACOs on the Character Record, such as
off handed attack penalties. Also - weapon versus armor type
bonuses and penalties are also applied to Y.[/spoiler]
So I ran into two odd situations yesterday, starting out on my new character:
When I attack a Candlekeep Monk or Phlydia, a Watcher etc (for testing purposes only) the roll will display eg "15+3=18: Hit"
So I assume this means the left number is the roll and added are my thac0 bonus which is 17 (20 - 17 = 3)? But then I attacked Shank, one of the assassins in Candlekeep, and for him, the roll displayed "15-5=10: Miss". So what do the negative number imply? Naturally I had an easier time hitting Shank than the others with my missile weapon (+3 thac0) than with my melee weapon (no bonus) - but why the negative number?
[spoiler]"X + Y = Z
Where
X = base to hit roll (1-20)
Y = any bonuses/penalties to hit
Z = total to hit roll
Y is the total aggregate value of all bonuses and/or penalties
that are applied to the character's to hit roll. This value
is also usually reflected in the difference between the
character's THACO and base THACO on the character page.
However, certain bonuses or penalties will show in the value Y
that don't show on the THACOs on the Character Record, such as
off handed attack penalties. Also - weapon versus armor type
bonuses and penalties are also applied to Y.[/spoiler]
So I ran into two odd situations yesterday, starting out on my new character:
When I attack a Candlekeep Monk or Phlydia, a Watcher etc (for testing purposes only) the roll will display eg "15+3=18: Hit"
So I assume this means the left number is the roll and added are my thac0 bonus which is 17 (20 - 17 = 3)? But then I attacked Shank, one of the assassins in Candlekeep, and for him, the roll displayed "15-5=10: Miss". So what do the negative number imply? Naturally I had an easier time hitting Shank than the others with my missile weapon (+3 thac0) than with my melee weapon (no bonus) - but why the negative number?