Ralif Redhammer
Legend
As others have said, Dex, Con, and Wis come up the most in my games. But really, it's Dex and Con that get used the most.
D&D 5E What are the "important" saves?
- Thread starter Ancalagon
- Start date
feartheminotaur
First Post
FWIW, I've found Dex saves to be less important in this edition since there are so many mitigating tactics for Dex save based damage (e.g., Shield Master, Evasion)
FormerlyHemlock
Hero
Also, you get advantage on Dex saves any time you Dodge.
Saeviomagy
Adventurer
Con ends up being #1 for sure, because it's very common, it saves you from very serious effects AND it also covers concentration checks, which most characters will find useful.
Wis is common and saves you from nasty effects
Str is pretty common, but typically saves you from fairly weak effects, but it's very DM dependant. If your DM has you fight near pits, pools of lava or acid or other traps, then it can be nasty to fail a str save. That's the assumption I have in placing it here: that monsters with push and pull effects will be paired with suitable environments.
Personally I place dex fairly low down the totem pole, because it saves you a lot of the time, but only from some damage. Obviously if you have evasion or something similar it gets better.
Int is extremely rare in the scheme of things, but the things it saves you from are extremely bad. If your campaign features intellect devourers and illithid, it rockets up to be more valuable than constitution.
Charisma saves are slightly more common than intelligence ones, but their effects are nowhere near as nasty as intelligence ones.
Wis is common and saves you from nasty effects
Str is pretty common, but typically saves you from fairly weak effects, but it's very DM dependant. If your DM has you fight near pits, pools of lava or acid or other traps, then it can be nasty to fail a str save. That's the assumption I have in placing it here: that monsters with push and pull effects will be paired with suitable environments.
Personally I place dex fairly low down the totem pole, because it saves you a lot of the time, but only from some damage. Obviously if you have evasion or something similar it gets better.
Int is extremely rare in the scheme of things, but the things it saves you from are extremely bad. If your campaign features intellect devourers and illithid, it rockets up to be more valuable than constitution.
Charisma saves are slightly more common than intelligence ones, but their effects are nowhere near as nasty as intelligence ones.
Sword of Spirit
Legend
My take is that Con, Wis, and Dex are the most important, in roughly that order. I'm going to disagree with some and put Str in fourth place, simply because there are reasonable number of effects that actually use Str saves compared to ones that call for Cha or Int.
Cha is probably fifth, with Int as a solid last.
That being said, the upcoming psionics rules are most likely going to use a lot of Int saves, so that order will vary depending on how much (if any) psionics you choose to include in your game.
Cha is probably fifth, with Int as a solid last.
That being said, the upcoming psionics rules are most likely going to use a lot of Int saves, so that order will vary depending on how much (if any) psionics you choose to include in your game.
Ancalagon
Dusty Dragon
Geometry... ?
"DM: The dark sorcerer zardok hurls a fireball at you!
Player: Form of the Square!
DM: Drats, no one can square the circle! You gain advantage on your save!"
????
FormerlyHemlock
Hero
Geometry in the sense of "use of space." For example, if no two PCs are within 40' of each other, you're not vulnerable to Fireballs hurled by hidden Death Slaads. When in doubt, disperse.
This assumes of course that your party is built to be capable of mutual support at a distance. An all-melee party will struggle to achieve a good defensive geometry, whereas a hypothetical party of Sharpshooters would always have awesome mutual support even spread around a 500' radius football stadium.
jgsugden
Legend
The true answer is: Your DM decides this by establishing your foes. Also, it is likely to evolve as the edition continues and things like Psionics, which will use Intelligence saves, become more common.
Generally, the game is designed to typically give each class one save from Dex/Con/Wis and one save from Int/Chr/Str. These are divided this way, it seems, because Dex/Con/Wis are more common and giving a class two of these saves would be giving it an advantage - although some classes have abilities that do grant that advantage.
In terms of importance of making a save, the worst 'save fail' impacts usually are domination (which turns you from an advantage for your party into a disadvantage) and incapacitating (which turn you from an advantage to a non-contributor). The worst incapacitating save fails just kill you. While damage is not generally something people consider to be incapacitating, it should be noted that some damage saves from reasonable foes do enough damage on a failed save to kill many PCs from their full hp status.
When I build PCs, the only save I go out of my way to gain is Wisdom. I will take Resilient just to gain good wisdom saves because the are so frequent and tend to have a high impact on the game. Beyond that, I enjoy what I have and do not worry too much about it.
Generally, the game is designed to typically give each class one save from Dex/Con/Wis and one save from Int/Chr/Str. These are divided this way, it seems, because Dex/Con/Wis are more common and giving a class two of these saves would be giving it an advantage - although some classes have abilities that do grant that advantage.
In terms of importance of making a save, the worst 'save fail' impacts usually are domination (which turns you from an advantage for your party into a disadvantage) and incapacitating (which turn you from an advantage to a non-contributor). The worst incapacitating save fails just kill you. While damage is not generally something people consider to be incapacitating, it should be noted that some damage saves from reasonable foes do enough damage on a failed save to kill many PCs from their full hp status.
When I build PCs, the only save I go out of my way to gain is Wisdom. I will take Resilient just to gain good wisdom saves because the are so frequent and tend to have a high impact on the game. Beyond that, I enjoy what I have and do not worry too much about it.
