Talk:THAC0/@comment-185.44.4.216-20180323080137

I'm glad they decided to revamp the AC and THAC0 systems in later editions of D&D, it's just too complicated. For example, a Longsword + 1 gives a "+1 bonus to THAC0", which intuitively would mean a THAC0 of 10 would become a THAC0 of 11. However, that would mean I now have a HARDER time to hit enemies! Instead the formula would read "THAC0 - ([AC of enemy]+[THAC0 bonus]), so I would need to roll a 9 to hit an enemy with an AC of 0.

This gets further complicated by the fact that saving throw modifications work the other way round. A bonus of -4 to a saving throw is a good thing. For example, my saving throw vs Death is 15. I get a bonus of -4, so now I need to roll 11 or higher to make a succesful saving throw. A "bonus" of +4 would mean, I'd need to roll a 19 or higher.

So, one time a + modification is a good thing, the other time it has to be a - modification to be considered good. Maybe it is because a +1 weapon will also give a +1 to damage rolls and it wouldn't make much sense to apply a -1 to damage as that would mean I would deal less damage. But it's very hard to get your head around this.