D&D General What types of Saving Throws do you like?

[EzekielRaiden]

Other. Saving Throws used only as a duration/intensifier mechanic.

Fort/Ref/Will should be static defenses. That way, support characters can help anyone, spellcaster or attack-roller. Simpler, easier to learn, mathematically equivalent, wider design space.

 

[Voadam]

What I really prefer are attacks directed at defenses rather than saving throws a la D&D 4e, with saving throws used to end ongoing effects. Which is probably "Middle Grade" in your definition? But I'll settle for "Modern."

I have players who have been playing for decades still regularly getting tripped up when they cast an attack spell on fantasy grounds (which handles all the rolling) and it comes up a 1. Either they fumbled the spell attack roll for a failure, or the target fumbled their save against the attack and the attack was a success.

 

[Blue Orange]

I liked Fortitude/Reflex/Will; some of the saves seem kind of forced and the asymmetry between Dex, Con, Wis and the others is somewhat unbalancing. Still like the new ability-system save better than the 1/2e categories; not sure what paralysis, poison, and death magic have in common, but I guess that's why they changed it!

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Old school modified by abilities.

So you can have a dexterity(spell) save or a dexterity(breath) save or a constitution(spell) save. This would neatly mirrow how skills and proficiencies work.

 

[Lanefan]

I liked Fortitude/Reflex/Will; some of the saves seem kind of forced and the asymmetry between Dex, Con, Wis and the others is somewhat unbalancing. Still like the new ability-system save better than the 1/2e categories; not sure what paralysis, poison, and death magic have in common, but I guess that's why they changed it!

They don't, and really needed to be split out. Having done it, I can say it's a trivially easy kitbash.

 

[Shardstone]

Old school is just so much more stylish to me. I wish that was the default.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Old school modified by abilities.

So you can have a dexterity(spell) save or a dexterity(breath) save or a constitution(spell) save. This would neatly mirrow how skills and proficiencies work.

Shameless self quote...

i think I would then add stability and perceptiveness/readiness to those categories... those should not be defined by skills.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Successful ones. I prefer nat 20s.

 

[Minigiant]

Just to better explain my Other (since I am home and can type on a keyboard)

Fortitude (Con with Str option): Saving throw that resists disease, poison, and forced movement.
Reflex (Dex with Int option): Saving throw to deflect and dodge to escape an area of effects or aimed energy attack.
Will (Wis with Cha option): Saving throw to resist direct attacks on the mind.
Death (Best of Str/Dex/Con): Saving throw to resist instant death or deadly energies
Soul (Best of Int/Wis/Cha): : Saving throw to resist manipulation of the soul, your core personality, or your astral self.
Magic (None): Saving throw to resist magic assault in anyway not described above that your body, mind, and soul can't defend against naturally.
Psionics (None): Saving throw to resist magic assault in anyway not described above that your body, mind, and soul can't defend against naturally.

 

[Shiroiken]

Modern, but get rid of the idiot legacy that makes Con, Dex, Wis the most common. If you spread out the saves across all abilities, everyone has a weakness somewhere and you can overall lower the difficulty to address this fact. I don't care for the fact that the difficulty increases while untrained saves do not, but that can be fixed by adding half proficiency to non-proficient saves.

I liked how old school saving throws give a higher bonus to save versus death. 3e lost that when it merged death and paralysis to get fortitude. While I don’t like the old school categories, I ended up voting old school anyway because I prefer rolling versus a value on your sheet (or against a static difficulty) to rolling against a DC set by the effect or caster.

The problem is that saving throws have changed over the decades. In AD&D a Saving Throw was just what it sounds like: a quirk of fate that saved you. Having to roll a save was a very terrible situation, because failure was usually a punishing experience. Because of this, characters always got better at saving throws, indicating the character is better at surviving such experiences. The shift to modern games turned them into a mitigating factor, not an actual saving moment (kinda like Hit Dice stopped meaning "average number of hits you can take").