Saving Throws (HLC)

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All characters have the ability to resist hostile magic by rolling saving throws. This ability is quite potent at high levels. Chapter 1 discusses some of the problems this can cause in the campaign. This section includes rules to help ease some of those problems.
==A Reminder==
Every character group has a level beyond which saving throws cannot be further improved. Priests reach this limit at level 19, rogues reach it at level 21, warriors reach it at level 17, and wizards reach it at level 21. See Table 60 in the Player's Handbook for details.
==Automatic Saving Throw Failure==
Barring some special circumstance that makes a saving throw unnecessary, such as a successful magic resistance roll or immunity to a particular attack form, there is always a chance that a character can fail a saving throw. All characters and most other creatures fail their saving throws on rolls of 3 or less on 1d20, no matter how many bonuses they receive to the roll from magical items, spells, ability scores, and the like.
Some beings have lower failure numbers: Lesser deities fail their saving throws on rolls of 2 or less, intermediate deities fail on rolls of 1, and greater deities need not roll at all—they never fail their saving throws.
In a few cases, Table 60 from the Player's Handbook and Table 36 from this book show a saving throw success number of 3 or less; these numbers refer to the character's adjusted die roll, not the actual number rolled. For example, Wulf, a 21st-level priest, has a saving throw number of 2 against paralyzation, poison, or death magic. Wulf still automatically fails his saving throw against these attacks if his actual die roll is a 1, 2, or 3. However, if he encounters a particularly virulent poison that imposes a –3 penalty to the saving throw, his saving throw succeeds if Wulf rolls a 5 or higher on his saving throw die. (The roll, 5, is higher than the automatic failure number, and still equals a 2 after the –3 modifier is applied.)
==Saving Throws by Caster Level==
This rule allows the DM to change a character's saving throw number based on the levels or Hit Dice of the spellcaster and the target. Targets that are weaker than the spellcaster have worse saving throws than targets that are stronger, as shown on Table 36.
 Table 36: Saving Throws by Caster Level or Hit Dice
Target's Character Group	Target's Level1	Attack to be Saved Against 	Attack to be Saved Against	Attack to be Saved Against
Target's Character Group	Target's Level1	Paralyzation or Death Magic	Petrification or Polymorph	Spell*
Priest 	–7 or more 	10 	13 	15
 	–4 to –6 	9 	12 	14
 	–1 to –3 	7 	10 	12
 	0 	6 	9 	11
 	+1 to +3 	5 	8 	10
 	+4 to +6 	4 	7 	9
 	+7 or more 	2 	5 	7
 	 	 	 	
Rogue 	–9 or more 	13 	12 	15
 	–5 to –8 	12 	11 	13
 	–1 to –4 	11 	10 	11
 	0 	10 	9 	9
 	+1 to +4 	9 	8 	7
 	+5 or more 	8 	7 	5
 	 	 	 	
Warrior 	–7 or more 	16 	17 	19
 	–5 to –6 	14 	15 	17
 	–3 to –4 	13 	14 	16
 	–1 to –2 	11 	12 	14
 	0 	10 	11 	13
 	+1 to +2 	8 	9 	11
 	+3 to +4 	7 	8 	10
 	+5 to +6 	5 	6 	8
 	+7 to +8 	4 	5 	7
 	+9 or more 	3 	4 	6
 	 	 	 	
Wizard 	–6 or more 	14 	13 	12
 	–1 to –5 	13 	11 	10
 	0 	11 	9 	8
 	+1 to +5 	10 	7 	6
 	+6 or more 	8 	5 	4
: * Excluding those that cause death, petrification, or polymorph.
: 1 Subtract the spellcaster's level or hit dice from the defender's level or hit dice. For example, a 15th-level priest resisting a charm person spell cast by a 16th-level wizard uses the –1 to –3 row of the priest table and has a base saving throw number 12.
==How to Use Table 36==
Saving throws against poisons, breath weapons, or any other form of attack that is not a spell or spell-like ability from a creature or a device use the standard saving throw tables, not table 36. Rods, staves, wands, and other magical devices use the column from Table 36 that is closest to their effects. A fireball from a wand of fire uses the spell column, a paralyzation beam from a wand of paralyzation uses the paralyzation or death magic column, and so on. The type of device determines the attacker's level, since the wielder's level or Hit Dice is irrelevant when a device is used, as shown on Table 37.
During play, the DM should be careful to conceal the attacker's true level of power. That is, do not say, “Okay, the caster is four levels higher than the thief, so your saving throw number against the spell is an 11.” Simply tell the players what the attack form is and then inform them if their characters succeed or fail based on their adjusted rolls.
 Table 37: Device Casting Levels
Device 	Level
Rod 	12
Staff 	8
Wand 	6
Other Magical Item	12
Artifact 	20
==Saving Throw Penalties by Caster Level==
Using Table 36 can be somewhat cumbersome to use in regular play because the DM must perform a calculation each time a spell is cast. Table 36 is intended primarily for magical dueling (see Chapter 5).
A quicker and easier method to adjust saving throws by caster level is to assign a penalty based on the caster's level. Table 38 lists the penalties. If you use Table 38, do not use Table 36; use Table 60 from the Player's Handbook instead.
 Table 38: Saving Throw Penalties by Caster Level
Caster Level	Penalty
1–12 	0
13–15 	–1
16–18 	–2
19–21 	–3
22–24 	–4
25–27 	–5
28–30 	–6