Analyze This, For Players, Saving ThrowsRichard OstranderSeptember 09, 2021saves, ability scoresComment

Analyze This: The Value of Saving Throws

Analyze This, For Players, Saving ThrowsRichard OstranderSeptember 09, 2021saves, ability scoresComment

So let’s discuss saving throws. I would love for this discussion to focus on their relative value, but I feel like before we can do that, we need to make clear exactly what a saving throw is. So to do that, let’s talk about… skills.

I know, an odd topic, given it’s not our intended topic. But I digress.

A skill, as you are hopefully aware, is an ability your character possesses that allows him to do something. This could be as simple as jumping over a pit (Athletics), or as complicated as solving a riddle (Investigation). The numeric value of a skill is the bonus of its associated ability score, and should you have proficiency with that skill, your proficiency bonus. So if you were trying to jump over a pit using Athletics, which you were proficient in, and your Strength bonus was +2 and your proficiency bonus was +2, you would have a skill of +4.

Now why does any of this matter?

A skill is ability bonus and possibly a proficiency bonus that you use to try to do something. A saving throw is an ability bonus and possibly a proficiency bonus that you use when something happens to you.

So let’s say someone throws a fireball at you and you’d rather it didn’t hit you. That is not an Acrobatics skill check, as you are reacting to the fireball. The fireball is happening to you. That make it a Dexterity Saving Throw. The math however, is still the same. Your Dexterity bonus, plus if your proficient in Dexterity saves, your proficiency bonus. So if your Dexterity bonus is +2, and your proficient in Dexterity Saves allowing you to add your proficiency bonus of +2, you have a Dexterity Save of +4. So now that we know all this, how do we affect the value of our saves?

So first, obviously, we can raise our ability scores. Raise your dexterity, increasing the bonus, and you increase your save.

Second, we can level, which over time will raise our proficiency bonus.

Third, and perhaps the most important of our options, we can determine our proficiencies. These save proficiencies are initially set by our choice of class at level 1. If you are multiclassing, only your first class counts, and often you might select your starting class because you like the saves it is proficient in. A good example of this is when casters, desiring a Constitution save, make sure their starting class is proficient in Constitution saves. Once you have selected your class and received your base set of save proficiencies, there are very few ways to gain more. Some can be gained by class abilities, like Rogues gaining proficiency in Wisdom saves at level 15 via Slippery Mind. Others can be gained through Feats like Resilient, which increased an ability score by 1 and gives you proficiency in a save that match that ability.

So now that we know where our proficiencies come from, what ones do we want? Which ones give us the most value?

So first and foremost, there is the Constitution save, which is used by casters when they are struck while concentrating on a spell. Most casters desire Constitution saves for this reason, though few casters have it (Sorcerer and Artificer yes, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Warlock, and Wizard No). But other than casters keeping their concentration, how else do we value a save? For most people, it comes down to how we use them. This use can often be broken down into physical saves and spell saves.

Physical saves involve not getting crushed by a bolder (Strength), leaping out of the way of an arrow (Dexterity) or surviving the ingestion of poison (Constitution). The frequency of these occurrences can vary, based on your DM and their proclivities, so it’s hard to say how often they will be used.

The remaining saves are primarily based on defending against the effect of spells, with each spell listing the specific save that is to be used. Our friends at Dungeon Solvers have mined the spell database at D&D Beyond and counted up exactly how many of each save appears within the game. So without further ado…

Strength 17

Dexterity 62

Constitution 45

Intelligence6

Wisdom 51

Charisma 14

So what does this all mean? Well, we quickly learn that Strength, Intelligence, and to a lesser extent Charisma are rarely used for spell saves. And opposing that, Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom are used the most often. In ability score selection this means there is always a danger to dumping Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom, and little reason to keep Strength, Intelligence, and Charisma if they are not used by your class.

So there you go. An overly long article that explains how a save is just like a skill, what contributes to it numerically, and which are the most helpful in terms of their frequency of use. At some point we might delve into this further, but until then…

Happy roleplaying, and may the dice be ever in your favor.