D&D 5E Giving Classes an Additional Saving Throw? (+)

[EzekielRaiden]

Barbarian (STR / CON) - Dex. Barbarians are associated with speed and the ability to avoid traps and the like.
Bard (DEX / CHA) - Wis. One of those "resistant to your own wares" sort of things.
Cleric (WIS / CHA) - Con. Clerics are trained in war, even Light Clerics. That includes endurance training.
Druid (INT / WIS) - Dex. Think of it as physical intuition due to their familiarity with many different body-shapes.
Fighter (STR / CON) - Wis. Fighters need acute, accurate awareness of the battlefield around them.
Monk (STR / DEX) - Wis. It's honestly weird to me that they got Dex instead of Wis here.
Paladin (WIS / CHA) - Con. Even moreso than Clerics, they're trained for war.
Ranger (STR / DEX) - Wis. They're trackers, hunters, they have to be able to distinguish camouflage from real stuff. That's Wis.
Rogue (DEX / INT) - Con. IMO, thematically many rogues lack wisdom, but often inexplicably survive pulverization, which screams "Con."
Sorcerer (CON / CHA) - Dex. A physical intuition like the Druid, but coming from rigorous self-examination.
Warlock (WIS / CHA) - Con. Being a successful Warlock usually means surviving dives into deep
Wizard (INT / WIS) - Dex. Being a Wizard means lots of careful equation-writing and diagram-drawing. That's part of Dex.

These are intentionally all "good" saves. And I got lucky--it didn't take more than a cursory effort to ensure that each new save showed up exactly equally with the others.

If we reduce this to "good" saves, we get
Con/Dex: 3 (Barb, Rogue, Sorc)
Con/Wis: 4 (Cleric, Fighter, Paladin, Warlock)
Dex/Wis: 5 (Bard, Druid, Monk, Ranger, Wizard)

If you wanted to balance it out so that you instead have four of each pair of "good" saves, give Ranger Con saves instead of Wis. I originally had "Wis or Con" for Rangers (as in, "you as designer should pick one of those, which all Rangers will get," not letting the player choose one), so I'm perfectly comfortable with that. Having each of the three "two good saves" combinations equally-represented would be a solid game design choice--it means that it's very unlikely that any given party will be totally weak to a single "important" save, so long as everyone plays a different class.

 

[DEFCON 1]

For the thought experiment I would give each of them one of the good saves (the lists previously mentioned were good)... and I'd also make a change to the Resilient feat by having it give proficiency in TWO saving throws-- one Primary (dex/con/wis) and one Secondary (str/int/cha)-- and then let the +1 to an ability score be to either of the two abilities chosen for the save.

I wrote this in my last survey... I thought the feat as it is was not worth it because more often than not the desire for a new save proficiency did not match up to the ability score that the PC would want boosted. With the whole even/odd score thing and whether a +1 ASI would increase a modifier and whatnot... you might want one save proficiency but not the +1 because it doesn't do anything right now. Thus players are less inclined to take the feat (and I know not a single one of my players have ever taken the feat once over these last 8 years).

If the feat was changed to grant two save proficiencies, there was a much greater chance that one of those two would be an ability score worth boosting and thus players would be more inclined to take it.

 

[DND_Reborn]

For the thought experiment I would give each of them one of the good saves (the lists previously mentioned were good)... and I'd also make a change to the Resilient feat by having it give proficiency in TWO saving throws-- one Primary (dex/con/wis) and one Secondary (str/int/cha)-- and then let the +1 to an ability score be to either of the two abilities chosen for the save.

That isn't a bad idea really, but if I implemented something like that I would not include the ASI +1. Two save proficiencies would be strong enough, ASI +1 would be a bit too much.

If the feat was changed to grant two save proficiencies, there was a much greater chance that one of those two would be an ability score worth boosting and thus players would be more inclined to take it.

IME this feat is taken a LOT actually as it is because the +1 ASI and the save are both something the PC can really use.

 

[DEFCON 1]

To each their own. To me, the baseline feat is merely a +2/+3 bonus to usually a single Primary save (becoming +4 or higher later on) and a +1 ability score bonus that might not actually DO anything until 4 levels from now when the PC gets another feat and can get another +1 ASI to the same stat and thus bump the modifier. So to me, that's barely a thing and why no one ever wants to take it. I'm sure if you play in a game where spells get thrown around a lot more often and DEX, CON, and WIS saves occur all the time the feat as-is might be wonderful... but my games never see saving throw occur that often where a single +2 (and up) to a single save is worth a feat.

Thus granting a second +2 (and eventually higher) to Secondary save (one that will rarely come up anyway) is hardy game-breaking. To me, the real reason for the second save proficiency is to give a reason for that +1 ASI to possibly get assigned to a stat the player wants bumped and which could actually accomplish something right then and there at the time of feat selection.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Of course. My preference is for less "powerful" feats, so I lean more towards the lower side instead of the upper side.

Resilient for STR, DEX, CON, and WIS are most common IME, and in every game I've run or played in, at least one (and often two) players take the feat for their PC.

First, because the ASI bump is desired, of course, but also DEX and CON saves are very common (even without spells!)

In one of my new games I just had a player take Resilient for STR for their Rogue PC who is more of a bruiser-type and he wanted the save to help against knock-downs.

If you feel Resilient isn't useful enough, adding the secondary save certainly won't break anything, I just find it unnecessary myself.

 

[TwoSix]

If we reduce this to "good" saves, we get
Con/Dex: 3 (Barb, Rogue, Sorc)
Con/Wis: 4 (Cleric, Fighter, Paladin, Warlock)
Dex/Wis: 5 (Bard, Druid, Monk, Ranger, Wizard)

If you give Dex to Artificer, then you would be at 4, 4, 5, which is as even as you can get for 13 classes.

 

[aco175]

I would be more in favor of giving the first base save in the class primary stat and an option of two others for the second save instead of three. If I was to grant a third, I can see what more of the others are giving but may give casters Con since they should have trained in making concentration checks when training as a caster.

 

[Stormonu]

I'd make it a floating save - the player chooses the save to improve. Probably make it a 3rd level feature when they choose their subclass.

 

[NotAYakk]

There are two tiers of saves -- Dex/Wis/Con is top tier, and Str/Int/Cha is not.

With multiclassing in mind, they all have to be either good or bad.

Barbarian (STR / CON) + Dex
Bard (DEX / CHA) + Wis
Cleric (WIS / CHA) + Con
Druid (INT / WIS) + Con
Fighter (STR / CON) + Dex
Monk (STR / DEX) + Wis
Paladin (WIS / CHA) + Con
Ranger (STR / DEX) + Wis
Rogue (DEX / INT) + Wis
Sorcerer (CON / CHA) + Dex
Warlock (WIS / CHA) + Con
Wizard (INT / WIS) + Con

After this, all primary casters have Con saves.

I might be tempted to do something like give out 1 additional save at 5, 11 and at 17 you'd have them all. The Monk L 14 Diamond Soul would grant double proficiency in all saves they are proficient in (which makes it ... still worse than the Paladin 6 feature). Rogue L 15 Slippery Mind might become automatically succeeding (ie, immunity) at saves against charms, sleep effects and illusions.

Slippery Mind:
You are immune to effects that seeks to command, suggest, charm, sleep, control or read your mind, and automatically succeed on investigation checks against magical illusions. If a spell is divining something about your mind, you are aware of it, and can fake any set of thoughts or emotions you wish. This does not make you immune to psychic damage, nor to fear effects.

 

[JasonZZ]

I only have a few, but here's what I could come up with on short notice:

Barbarian: Wis, sort of a mental reflection of their Con bonus (mental endurance to go with the physical).
Bard: Int, because they seem like the sort to be able to notice when something is off.
Druid: Con, as I think a nature priesthood would probably focus on physical resilience, as an aspect of the whole "nature, red in tooth and claw" thing.
Fighter: Dex, as part of that "whole body training" thing I would expect a fighter to be into.