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Fr00
2008-11-01, 05:28 PM
I'm a new D&D player after about two years of Warhammer 40k, and I just bought the starter set, which frankly isn't all that good or helpful, unfortunately. Now, I've been somewhat familiar with D&D for some time, so I'm familiar with most terms, but I can't really figure out how armour class is determined or what it affects. Additionally, in the starter rules, most (if not all) attacks are listed has having, for example, "+6 vs. AC." Can anyone explain what this means, as well as what armour class is?

Thanks,

Fr00

Thrawn183
2008-11-01, 05:31 PM
The general set up for d20 is you have a difficulty class that you have to hit. You see if you hit it by rolling a d20 plus a modifier and seeing if the result is equal to or greater than the target difficulty.

In this case, its an attack where you roll a d20, add 6 and if the result is greater than or equal to the targets AC you hit them.

The same works for skills. You generally have a target Difficulty Class (DC)you have to make. You have a skill modifier that you add to your d20 roll and you see if you make the DC. That's really all there is to it.

Defiant
2008-11-01, 05:32 PM
When you attack, you roll a d20 and add all of your attacking bonuses. If your result at least equals the opponent's Armor Class, you have landed a hit.

Lert, A.
2008-11-01, 05:36 PM
I assume that you are referring to 4th edition.

+6 vs. AC would mean that you roll attack of d20 + ability modifier + misc. modifiers (feats and such) +6 vs. the AC score.

AC would = modifiers from armor and shields + dexterity or intelligence modifier (whichever is higher) if wearing light or no armor. (p.275 PHB 4ed)

only1doug
2008-11-01, 05:45 PM
I'm a new D&D player after about two years of Warhammer 40k, and I just bought the starter set, which frankly isn't all that good or helpful, unfortunately. Now, I've been somewhat familiar with D&D for some time, so I'm familiar with most terms, but I can't really figure out how armour class is determined or what it affects. Additionally, in the starter rules, most (if not all) attacks are listed has having, for example, "+6 vs. AC." Can anyone explain what this means, as well as what armour class is?

Thanks,

Fr00

(3.5)
AC (Armour Class) is how difficult someone is to hit.
AC is 10 + Armour bonus + Dex bonus (may be restricted by the armour) + Shield bonus + Natural armour + Deflection bonus + any other bonus's that may apply.
I'm guessing you are using 4.0, I'm not certain if anything has changed regarding AC from 3.5

Edit: the reason for AC being 10+ bonus's: I've seen a variant of the rules that says that the 10 is the player "taking a 10"* for defense and that instead the player should roll defensively against each attack.

*Taking a 10 is choosing not to roll the dice and instead assuming a result of 10 on the d20, this is normally only allowed when there are no stresses on the character.

Thurbane
2008-11-01, 05:48 PM
Bonus points to the OP for spelling Armour correctly. :smallbiggrin:

only1doug
2008-11-01, 05:50 PM
Bonus points to the OP for spelling Armour correctly. :smallbiggrin:

My spellcheck keeps telling me that armour has been spelled wrongly, but then it doesn't like spellcheck either.

Tuataralad
2008-11-01, 05:51 PM
Assuming you mean 4e, and AC for player characters, then AC is determined by:

10 +
half level +
armour/ability score (your amour bonus and dex or int modifier if it is light armour) +
enhancement on the armour if it is magic and finally +
any random feat, racial or class bonuses you might get to AC for whatever reason

Hope that helps

only1doug
2008-11-01, 05:54 PM
I'm a new D&D player after about two years of Warhammer 40k, and I just bought the starter set, which frankly isn't all that good or helpful, unfortunately. Now, I've been somewhat familiar with D&D for some time, so I'm familiar with most terms, but I can't really figure out how armour class is determined or what it affects. Additionally, in the starter rules, most (if not all) attacks are listed has having, for example, "+6 vs. AC." Can anyone explain what this means, as well as what armour class is?

Thanks,

Fr00

I often think that the best way to get to grips with a new system is to create a character for it, download a character sheet and just generate a few PC's and look up the bits that confuse you. generally the character sheets give at least a few hints about the most important aspects of the system.

don't expect the initial PC's to be any good of course.

Thurbane
2008-11-01, 06:01 PM
My spellcheck keeps telling me that armour has been spelled wrongly, but then it doesn't like spellcheck either.
I'd say your spellcheck is American, then. :smallwink:

mabriss lethe
2008-11-02, 12:34 AM
I'd say your spellcheck is American, then. :smallwink:

possibly outsourced to some place in India...

only1doug
2008-11-02, 06:54 AM
I'd say your spellcheck is American, then. :smallwink:

yes, it is. Trouble is that I never set it up, Firefox just suddenly decided to have an auto-spellchecker running on all web pages and I have no idea where the settings for it are.

It doesn't really bother me much, I know how to spell already but it does decide to underline some words in red, then i look at them and decide it has the wrong dictionary.