"-x to hit"

[Ryme]

It's subtracting a number from your chance of hitting the opponent. The to-hit stat is mostly hidden, but occasionally shows up in items. Positive is good, negative is bad.

Damage will always say damage specifically, and is treated separately from your chance to hit.

[Cristiona]

I was thinking about it the other day, and thought to ask: can "-x to hit" reduce to hit chances to/below 0?

You end up attacking yourself?

[Ryme]

I suppose it's possible. You just wouldn't be able to hit anything.

[Ryme]

Really? Every game I've played where your character has a to-hit ability, increasing that ability improves your chances.

Also, I'm not sure how +5 to hit and +5 chance of hitting are really semantically that different. They're both +5, and they both say "it involves your ability to hit." But "chance" for me starts to imply a percentage, which the to-hit calculation isn't.

What about:
+5 (increased) to hit ability
vs.
-5 (decreased) to hit ability

Or "attack rating"?

??

[Cristiona]

"hits stuff more betterer"?

I dunno. "+5 to hit" seems pretty clear to me. Unless some people are reading it as "You now need 5 more whatevers in order to hit", which seems to be a pretty overcomplicated way to interpret something.

[Cristiona]

Well, that's because people don't read the manual and think in terms of turns instead of minutes.