Saving Throws

Saving Throws are die rolls used to ascertain the efficacy of non-melee attacks such as magic, poison, or various other forms against a character or monster. The specific methods of countering or evading these attacks is a subject of considerable debate. The rules here presume that a successful saving throw implies that the defender has skillfully evaded, eluded, retreated from, escaped, parried, resisted, conquered, stood up to, mentally resisted, or fortuitously benefited from luck, lessening the impact of the attack. The danger of such attacks, and success in side-stepping them, enhances the overall game 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