Saving Throws

Saving Throws are die rolls used to determine whether magic, poison or various other forms of non-melee attacks are effective against a character or monster. The actual means by which the attack is minimized or avoided is a source for much contention; this wiki takes the position that success indicates that the defender has dodged, eluded, withdrawn from, escaped, fended off, resisted, overcame, stoop up to or mentally resisted or benefitted from enormous luck that mitigates the effect of the attack. And that further the potential for escaping such attacks promotes a better game-playing experience.

Bards, Fighters & Rangers

Level	Poison	Paralyse & Petrify	Polymorph	Rod, Staff & Wand	Breath Weapon	Other Magic
1-3	15	15	16	15	17	15
4-7	14	14	15	13	16	14
8-10	12	13	13	12	14	12
11-15	11	12	11	10	13	11
16+	9	10	10	9	11	9

Assassins & Thieves

Level	Poison	Paralyse & Petrify	Polymorph	Rod, Staff & Wand	Breath Weapon	Other Magic
1-6	13	12	14	14	16	15
7-11	12	11	13	12	15	13
12-15	11	10	12	10	14	11
16-19	10	9	11	8	13	9
20+	9	8	10	6	12	7

Illusionists, Mages & Monks

Level	Poison	Paralyse & Petrify	Polymorph	Rod, Staff & Wand	Breath Weapon	Other Magic
1-4	14	12	12	11	15	12
5-8	13	11	10	9	13	10
9-12	11	10	8	7	11	8
13-17	10	9	6	5	9	6
18+	8	8	4	3	7	4

Clerics, Druids & Paladins

Level	Poison	Paralyse & Petrify	Polymorph	Rod, Staff & Wand	Breath Weapon	Other Magic
1-4	12	11	13	14	15	15
5-8	11	10	12	13	14	14
9-13	9	8	10	11	12	12
14-18	8	7	9	10	11	11
19+	7	6	8	9	10	10

To succeed in a saving throw, the shown rolls must be equalled or bettered by the characters that have been attacked, according to their level and hit dice.

Regardless of the type of magic a rod, wand or stave casts, always roll on that column for attacks by these items.

Non-magical monsters are counted as fighters. Magical monsters — those possessing either spells or natural magical abilities — should be treated as mages with their number of hit dice equal to the level indicated. Magical monsters that possess more hit dice than spell levels (such as dragons) should roll according to their best chance of success.

See Also,
Combat
Magic Resistance
Saving Throws for Items