Although a huge 4e fan, I am still bothered by the 4e save mechanism. The flip-a-coin approach just feels wrong to me. I realize it is simple and smooth, but I have been thinking if there was an easy way to replace it. This is what I came up with.
Example: a wizard +8 to hit with his spells casts sleep on a Bugbear Strangler which has a Will defence of 16.
Normal play: The wizard rolls to hit, and if hit the Bugbear is slowed. Next round, the bugbear rolls a save, and on 1-9, he falls asleep.
My version: The wizard rolls to hit, and if hit, the Bugbear is slowed. Next round, the bugbear makes a save. However now, instead of it being a flip of the coin, the bugbear rolls a Will save (his modifier to his Will Defense, in this case a +6) against the wizard's Attack (10+attack modifier), which gives us an 18, in this example. If he fails to hit the required DC, he falls asleep.
So, in my example, the bugbear retains the same chance of being hit by the spell, but suffers a lower chance to escape it.
Now, had the spell been another spell, and targeted fortitude, the bugbear would have had an +8 modifier (since his fortitude defense is 18) in his attempt to get out of the wizard's spell. (The DC would still be 18, since the wizard's attack modifier most likely is the same, no matter if it is a spell that targets fortitude or will).
Since the attack +'s and defenses are pretty streamlined across the board, I do not think the change would be a big problem, or create some unbalancing issues. Yes, higher level monsters' spells and effects will be harder to escape/avoid, but is that so bad?
Anyway, it would be nice if you could point out some issues (that I seem to miss) that this change would cause in other parts of 4e.
