Armor Class in Scarlet Horizons

Armor Class

In many systems, Dungeons & Dragons, Scarlet Heroes, and — yes — in my own Scarlet Horizons, the goal of a to-hit roll is to get a d20 die result equal to or higher than a certain target number.

In the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons, that target number is an Armor Class, and in the modern 5th edition of the game, the higher the Armor Class, the more difficult it is to penetrate with an attack.

But in earlier versions of AD&D, Armor Class did not range from 10 to (the upper thirties, or even higher). Rather, in these older systems, Armor Class ranged from negative ten, to positive ten, and the lower an Armor Class, the better. (see also here). My system, Scarlet Horizons, uses this older AC system, but expands the range of armor classes from +10 all the way down to -30.