D&D 5E Frequency of Saves in the Monster Manual

[Thaumaturge]

Hey, if we have Flumphs and Modrons, I'm not sure there's a "WTF" line to be crossed...

Are you daring people? Shush you, or I'll sic' a carbuncle on you.

Frequency is one thing... importance is another. A 'save or pushed 5' is different than 'save or die'. There is a wide spectrum between these extremes, and I'd be interested to see where things end up falling long term.

I see your point. I maybe even agree with it. I may also disagree. A Con save or be petrified when at 1 HP isn't a huge deal--you were probably toast anyway. A Str save to be pushed 5' off a cliff ledge is another story. That's just to say some things get so situational, things that seem important might not be or vice versa.

I think the 'Int' save #s will skyrocket when the Psionics materials are released.

I agree with that. And, based on the 3 in the MM, you'll want to make those saves.

So basically, you're saying that we can use "Something from the back of the MM" as a euphemism for "You're going to be terrified every time it hits you", right?

I like that. "Of course you're free to take another short rest. While you do, I'll just flip through the back of the MM."

Probably because dragons, demons, and devils (things that shoot fire at you) are all at D, and all the cool undead are near the end of the alphabet (vampire, wraith, spectre, etc.).

This matches my experience of flipping through the book, to be sure. Dragons, though, are interesting. Some of the metallic dragons cover 4 different saves. Fear (Wis), Wing Buffet (Dex), Breath Weapons (one Str & one Con). They can hose a party across a variety of stats.

The appendices would probably be interesting, I bet there might be a few Str and Con saves in there (I think wolves and big cats have some thing where they knock you prone if they jump on you).

That's probably true. I might check tonight or tomorrow to see if it substantially changes anything.

CON saves will be frequent from negative energy attacks, that is a certainty. But it also comes from poisons; there are lots of snakes, spiders, yuan-ti, etc in the second half of the MM. Also, petrification is also usually CON-based, so there's the Gorgon and Medusa among others.

This, also, matches my experience. Con is the "physical endurance" stat. A lot of things just hammer "physical endurance". Beyond hit points.

But let's all remember that plenty of monsters can cast spells too, so you might need to combine this info with the spells they tend to use to get a real picture of how often you'll face the various kinds of saves.

Yeah, that was outside the scope of what I wanted to do today, for sure. I think someone has put together a similar list for the PH(B), but maybe not. I think the spells only further sway things in favor of Con, Dex, and Wis.

Sounds like the Resilient (Constitution) feat will be a constant on all of my characters!

This was my number one takeaway for any characters I make. My players don't read this board. And they didn't do the homework. They'll have to figure that one out themselves.

I would love to overlay this with frequency of save or die and save or suck abilities. For example... there are a ton of Con saves, but if only a small percentage or save or die/suck then it's not as bad as it sounds. Might also be interesting to see this broken out by CR and monster type (Dragon, Giant, etc).

I agree. Since people seem interested, I might give that a go next week, once school starts. But, as a matter of percentage, Int is the save you never want to fail. One third of the saves are: fail and lose 3d6 Int points. The other two thirds involve damage and being stunned. Two thirds of failed Int saves represent your character's brain being consumed.

Did you read the OP?

I tried to think of all of the caveats I needed, but I may have put so many that they hide amongst each other.

Thaumaturge.