Attack Rolls and the Number You Have to Beat
The mechanic is not complicated. Roll the d20, add the relevant modifiers, and compare the total to the target’s Armor Class. Meet it or exceed it, and the attack lands. Fall short, and it misses. There is no separate math for heroes and no gentler curve for villains. AC is a fixed number and the roll either reaches it or it does not.
The trouble starts when a DM applies the rule with a thumb on the scale. A player notices that their own 15 against AC 15 was a hit, then watches an orc’s 15 against the same AC get waved off as a graze. Now you are not running combat, you are litigating it. Consistency is the entire point of a target number. The instant it flexes for one side, every result becomes negotiable, and the table stops trusting the dice.
Equal counts as a hit. Not “close,” not “almost.” Equal. This is the one place where treating monsters and characters identically costs you nothing and buys you a table that stops arguing.
At the table: State each roll out loud against the AC (“18 versus 16, that hits”) for enemies as readily as for players, and the disputes evaporate.
Related
- The Boring Button Wins the Fight
- The Comic Relief That Bites: Seeding Ancient Dragon Encounters
- The Myth at the Table
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