Successful first game, and some beginner rolling questions

[SledSnipe]

Just want to put a huge thank you out to the people responsible here, just GMed an aesthetically modified version of Basic Fantasy. I wrote my own intro and a few extra encounters, created some extra "pallet swapped" races that retained the same attributes of the four existing ones, and used the 1st Morgansfort dungeon.

It went amazing, the Fighter/MU dual class wanted to charge head long into everything, the healer stayed back and rationally thought over everything, and our thief would constantly think outside the box, like sneaking behind wolves and lighting their tails on fire, or using a charisma heavy hug to disarm gray ooze. Everyone had a lot of fun.

My only problem is this. I sort of fudged the rules on rolling, (I did all the rolling) generally keeping it casual and letting things happen when I wasn't sure. Could anyone give me some example rolls where I'm confused?

For example, the rules say to use a d20 for PC attacking. My fighter has 15 STR and a Maul that's 1d8. What does he roll against an enemy? Is it 1d20+1d8?

Conversely, these are level 1 characters, so even a low level character attacking could kill them at any time (the way I'm most likely interpreting damage). I'm sort of confused as to what the AC value represents. I just figured that AC corresponds to the bonus/penalty #, so 14 armor class is basically a -1 to incoming hits. So when carnivorous apes had 2 d4 claws, I'd roll both, e.g 1+2 and -1 for AC. Is that correct?

Also, my thief at low levels has percentages around 25-30 for skills, and maxed levels are around 80-90. I have a proper d100 set, but what number am I looking for for success in the 25 range?

Additional non-combat rolls, like those based on charisma and persuading, or things like my thief throwing a torch on a wolf to ignite them, how are those done?
We're looking forward to the next session, just want to make sure things are accurate. Thanks so much for your help!

[SledSnipe]

Ok, I know this is for a different game system but let me know if this answers my own questions: http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Attack_Roll

So e.g a fighter rolls a d20. If he has a maul or similar weapon, he adds that d to his d20. The total amount rolled between his 2 die, including his STR bonus/penalty, must exceed the AC of his opponent. A natural 1 on the d20 is a miss. A natural d20 is a crit. The amount of points exceeding the targets AC is the damage dealt.

So, a foe has 9 hp and 13 AC. The fighter rolls an 8 on his d20, and a 6 on his d8 maul, with an attack bonus of +1. That makes his total 15, and minus the AC of 13, deals 2 damage to the foe, who has 7 hp remaining.

This works the same for attacking pcs. They take a lot less damage than i thought they did previously.

With things like an unorthodox tail-burning, you assume what # would have to be rolled for a success to happen based on the assumed difficulty. So a 12 or higher on a d20 is a success.

My remaining question, if that's all correct, is how do charisma interaction successes and failures work? And the % success rate on thief skills? Also, how often do you/can you use a saving throw?

Thank you! Sorry for the greenhorn nature of my GMing.

[dymondy2k]

Sled..

I'll help out as much as I can here

First you've got alot of things mixed together.. The attack and the damage.. The only thing you need know about a weapon when determining if it hits, is whether its a melee or ranged weapon.

Melee
D20 + The Characters Base Attack Bonus + Strength Modifier
Ranged
D20 + The Characters Base Attack Bonus + Dexterity Modifier

If the total of these is equal or higher than the creatures AC, it hits.

The Base Attack Bonus chart is on page 47 of the Rules and is determined by the characters class and level.

The Strength and Dexterity modifiers are based on their Ability Scores for these attributes. The chart for determining the bonus/penalty is on page 4 of the rule book.

A Monster attacking a character is pretty much the same

D20 + BAB (based on Monsters HD level Also on page 47)

If its equal or higher than the characters AC it hits..

As for those things outside of this.. I am a big fan of the ability roll chart on page 141. Just do a D20 + whatever modifier you think best.. for a sneaky wolf tail fire I would use Dex. So you roll the dice, add the modifier and see if it beats that target. The target number is based on level. the higher the character the better chance he would have of pulling something like this off..

[SledSnipe]

Awesome. Thanks so much for your help. I really tried with the core rules but the specific nature of AC, etc. evaded me, thank you.

Now as far as weapons go, in the "store" on pg.11, there are d's listing the weapon's DMG value. The maul, which my fighter chose, has 1d10. Does that not factor in to his roll at all?

I think I finally have it all figured out otherwise, thanks to your help!

[SmootRK]

Welcome.

Fudging is fine so long as everyone is OK with your decisions and outcomes work out OK. I applaud that you were able to do so and keep the game rolling even while having some gross misunderstanding of how it should really work.

Attacking is done by d20 roll as described above by dymondy2k.

Once the attack is determined to Hit (above), then one rolls the damage die indicated (d10 for maul in your case). The amount rolled there (plus STR bonus for the character if applicable) is then deducted from the monster's hit point total. When the monster's hit points fall below zero, then it is dead/defeated.

The reverse applies against the characters. The monsters have a Attack Roll compared against AC of character. If that attack hits, then a damage roll is done (given in monster stat block)... if character's hit points fall to zero or below, then he is dead/out/defeated.

I promise that as confusing at it might seem at first (with no prior experience with such games), it will come together quickly even for total novices. It will make better sense after just a few examples of play. Again, great job on holding it together despite the confusion of first time.

[Solomoriah]

As a convenience to the GM, monsters under 9 hit dice have an attack bonus equal to their hit dice. For example, a 4 HD monster has a +4 attack bonus. That's why encounters in the published modules don't usually list a monster's attack bonus... because the hit dice figure is the same.