D&D 5E L&L for November 24th

[Falling Icicle]

No, they didn't.

They Removed Fortitude, Reflex, and Will and made you roll ability checks vs Spell DCs. But did not adjust the spell DCs.

I don't remember any point in the playtest when there were Fort, Ref or Will saves. And as far as spell save DCs go, those are "adjusted" from 3e, since they don't include spell level.

So for almost 2 years, PCs and NPCs all practically autofailed all their saving throws. And playtester complained about it for months. My players started saying "Why bother" when I acts for Dex saves. Eventually they realize that a value had to added to saving throws and the DCs needed to shrink.

At the same time, they made saving throws mostly use DEX, CON, and WIS anyway. STR, INT, and CHA saves are rare.

The deletion of FRW from the sheets did make the game easier to use. But the desire for a simple game and personal preferences got in the way of elegance. It's been plaguing the playtest since it was opened.

The problem with saving throws was that mages got a spellcasting/proficiency bonus, allowing their save DCs to scale as they went up in level, while saving throws didn't improve at all. They've since tried to address this with saving throw proficiencies, but it would be better if they just removed the prof bonus from save DCs instead. That way, there wouldn't be an arms race between saves and save DCs, nor an ever-widening gap between one's good and poor saves.

 

[Blackbrrd]

The problem with saving throws was that mages got a spellcasting/proficiency bonus, allowing their save DCs to scale as they went up in level, while saving throws didn't improve at all. They've since tried to address this with saving throw proficiencies, but it would be better if they just removed the prof bonus from save DCs instead. That way, there wouldn't be an arms race between saves and save DCs, nor an ever-widening gap between one's good and poor saves.

This is my preferred solution as well. DCs for spells should follow the same pattern as AC.