UPDATED SAVING THROWS --------------------- "By means of skill, luck, magical protections, quirks of fate and the aid of supernatural powers, the character making his or her saving throw takes none or only part of the indicated results—fireball damage, poisoning, being turned to stone, or whatever." -Gary Gygax 1) Categories: REFLEX/RAYS TOUGHNESS/BLASTS SPELLS 2) REFLEX SAVING THROWS: Dodging laser beams, death rays, and the effects of magic wands(aimed magical or tech devices which shoot things like lightning bolts, magic missiles, fire balls, polymorphing and disintegration spells, etc). Avoiding needle traps, a stone wall shooting poisoned darts, or the envenomed fangs of a giant spider. A Monk catching a deadly arrow in flight. Grabbing the last tree branch before helplessly sliding over the edge of a cliff, etc. TOUGHNESS/BLAST SAVING THROWS: Poison(ingested or from venomous creatures), Dragon Breath and other dangers which have an Area Of Effect (explosions, clouds of toxic gas, rockfall traps, or an avalanche), Paralysis, Polymorphing, Turn To Stone/Pet- rification, Hostile Environments, Radiation, an Infection/Disease, and other such things. SPELLS SAVING THROWS: Magic Spells from a spellcaster, scroll, staff, magic item, or artifact. Charms and enchantments, Hold Person, mind control, and psionics. A spell- caster trying to maintain a spell or counter-spell concentration when hit for damage during a melee round. Maintaining a grip on reality when beset with illusions or hallucinations. Resisting the Harpy's Song, and similar things. ** Failure to make the SAVE results in the attack having full effect, i.e. you are turned to stone, take full damage from dragon's breath, etc. A successful SAVE(rolling the indicated or above) means the attack has no effect(death ray, polymorph, paralysis, stone, or spell) or one-half effect(poison scoring one-half of the total possible hit damage and dragon's breath scoring one-half of its full damage). Wands of cold, fire balls, lightning, etc. and staves are treated as indicated, but saving throws being made result in one-half damage. 3) Roll a D20. Add the PC class bonus to the saving throw. Add relevant attribute bonus(ONLY IF APPLICABLE). Rolled number + bonus must equal or exceed the target number to be successful. 4) At level 1, the base Difficulty Levels for Player Character Saving Throws are 16 for SPELLS, 15 for TOUGHNESS/BLASTS, and 14 for REFLEX/ RAYS. For "Normal Men" the Difficulty Levels are 18 for SPELLS, 17 for TOUGHNESS/BLASTS, and 16 for REFLEX/RAYS. 5) PCs add +1 their roll(at levels 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16+). Saving Throws top out at XP level 16. So, at XP level 16, the Base for each category of saving throw, not counting class bonuses, will be 8 for SPELLS, 7 for TOUGHNESS/BLASTS, and 6 for REFLEX/RAYS. 6) Monsters generally Save at whatever Hit Die they have, so an ogre with 4HD would save as a 4th level character. Some monsters will have bonuses to certain saving throws. For example, Orks will have a +2 bonus to REFLEX/RAYS Saves because they are quite acrobatic, and Dwarves (who are not leveled) would get a +2 to TOUGHNESS/BLASTS saving throws. 7) Saving Throws may be subject to situational modifiers. For example, a character standing in a pool of water is potentially more suscept- ible to lightning attacks and less vulnerable to fire attacks. "Someone once sharply criticized the concept of the saving throw as ridiculous. Could a man chained to a rock, they asked, save himself from the blast of a red dragon's breath? Why not?, I replied. If you accept fire- breathing dragons, why doubt the chance to reduce the damage sustained from such a creature's attack? Imagine that the figure, at the last moment, of course, manages to drop beneath the licking flames, or finds a crevice in which to shield his or her body, or succeeds in finding a way to be free of the fetters. Why not? The mechanics of combat or the details of the injury caused by some horrible weapon are not the key to heroic fantasy and adventure games. It is the character, how he or she becomes involved in the combat, how he or she somehow escapes—or fails to escape—the mortal threat which is important to the enjoyment and longevity of the game." ... "A character under magical attack is in a stress situation, and his or her own will force reacts instinctively to protect the character by slightly altering the effects of the magical assault. This protection takes a slightly different form for each class of character. Magic-users understand spells, even on an unconscious level, and are able to slightly tamper with one so as to render it ineffective. Fighters withstand them through sheer defiance, while clerics create a small island of faith. Thieves find they are able to avoid a spell's full effects by quickness..." - Gary Gygax ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ORIGINAL SAVING THROWS ---------------------- Class and Death Ray/ Wands - including Paralysis or Rods/Staves/ Level Poison Polymorph Turn to Stone Dragon Breath Spells ---------- --------- ---------------------- ------------- ------------- ------------ Normal Man 14 15 16 17 18 Fighter 1-3 12 13 14 15 16 Magic-User 1-5 13 14 13 16 15 Cleric 1-4 11 12 14 16 15 Thief 1-4 13 14 13 16 15 Elf 1-3 12 13 13 15 15 Dwarf Hobbit/Gnome 1-3 8 9 10 13 12 Fighter 4-6 10 11 12 13 14 Magic-User 6-10 11 12 11 14 12 Cleric 5-8 9 10 12 14 12 Thief 5-8 12 13 11 14 13 Elf 4-6 10 11 11 13 12 Dwarf Hobbit/Gnome 4-6 6 7 8 10 10 Fighter 7-9 8 9 10 10 12 Magic-User 11-15 8 9 8 11 8 Cleric 9-12 6 7 9 11 9 Thief 9-12 10 11 9 12 10 Elf 7-9 8 9 9 10 10 Dwarf Hobbit/Gnome 7-9 4 5 6 7 8 Fighter 10-12 6 7 8 8 10 Magic-User 16+ 5 6 5 8 3 Cleric 13+ 3 5 7 8 7 Thief 13+ 8 9 7 10 8 Elf 10+ 6 7 8 8 8 Dwarf 10+ 2 3 4 4 6 Fighter 13+ 4 5 5 5 8