Dungeons & Dragons has its roots in wargaming, and some of its rules still remind me of this far too much.  One of these rules is the saving throw system.  It's not the premise of the system, which I am fine with, but rather with the individual saves themselves.  Why, for example, are paralyzation, poison and death magic in one category in AD&D?  Are petrification and polymorphing really that similar?   Or, in D&D, why are rods and staves in one category, but wands are in their own?

My answer to all of this is the system below.  What it does is do away with these bizarre categories and distill all saves down into four easy to use saves: Dodge, Mind, Body and Magic.  It also makes the relation between the classes and saving throws much clearer: thieves are good at Dodge, but not as good at Mind.

This system can work for D&D rules.   This article also assumes you understand how the old saving throw system works

The Saving Throws

• Dodge  -  The Dodge saving throw is used when the character is being attacked by something which has a physical form that can be seen and moved away from in defensive manner.  Some examples include Fireballs and Lightning Bolts, as well as falling portcullises and spear traps.

• Mind  -  Any attempt to affect the mind of the character falls under the Mind saving throw.  It represents the character using force of will to resist the assault.  Examples of such attacks includes spells such as Hold Person (which the AD&D book states affects the mind), Charm, Feeblemind, Phantasmal Force, and so on, as well as all psionic attacks that affect the mind.

• Body  -  The Body saving throw is for those attacks that affect the body directly, not including attacks that can be dodged, such as a Fireball.  Examples include being paralyzed, petrified, poisoned or being knock unconscious from a nasty hit in combat.

• Magic  -  This final save is used for any magical or psionic attack that does not fall under the purview of one of the above saving throws, and would include things such as energy draining, various Power Words and unwanted teleportation or levitation.

These descriptions may seem a bit skimpy, but this is mostly due to the fact that they are much more self-explanatory than the old system.

Order of "Preference"
In the old system the saves were ranked in the order in which they applied.   If an attacked seemed like it could fall under two different saves, the one that came first in the order was used.  This applies for this system as well.  For example, a Fireball hurts people, but can also be partially dodged (the character can throw himself form the heart of the blast, taking only half-damage), so it uses a Dodge save rather than a Body save.

Primary and Secondary Saves
There is only one saving throw chart for humans, plus charts for Elves, Dwarves and Halflings), with some basic rules on how the numbers apply. 

[Author's Note: I once had someone say they didn't like my system because they thought it was too complicated.  All the talk of Primary and Secondary saves implied to him it was more complicated, since with the old way all you had to do was look at a chart, compare your level, and voila!  This system actually works the same way, it is just that each class uses different columns for different saves.  It is quite easy, I assure you.  That, and the only time it matters is when you advance a level.]

Each class excels at one save, is good at another, but only average in the other two.   These are called Primary (excels), Secondary (good), and Normal (average).  To find out what a character's saves are, simply look on the chart and compare your level to the appropriate column.  Do this for each of the four saves.

Bonuses from Attributes (Optional)
As an optional rule, the DM can rule that high or low attributes can affect a character's saving throws.  Doesn't it make sense that a particularly nimble character (Dexterity 16) should be able to get out of the way of a Fireball easier than a clumsy one?

The attributes affect saves as follows: Dexterity modifies Dodge, Wisdom modifies Mind and Constitution modifies Body.  There is no modifier for Magic.   The modifier is simply the normal bonus or penalty for that attribute.  

The Chart
The chart appears on a different page: click on D&D Saves to see it, along with tables that show what each class calls primary and secondary.

Monsters and Saving Throws
So, how do you decide what a monster's saving throws?  There are two approaches.

First, use the standard system for determining a monster's effective class and level, then go from there.

The second, and perhaps most gratifying, is to ignore the old way and simply assigning saves based on common sense for that monster.  For example, the party of adventurers encounters some hill giants and are attacked.  One of the characters, a wizard, throws a Fireball at one of the giants.  Now, while a giant can certainly take a lot of damage, how likely is it that the giant is going to be able to get out of the way of the attack?  Hill giants are hardly nimble.  So the DM decides the hill giants have a Dodge of 17, and the goes on to say they have a Mind of 12 (dull-witted but willful), Body of 6 (very sturdy) and Magic of 12.

This may sound like a lot of work, but none of it really needs to be addressed until it comes up.  Simply make up the monster's saves when they are needed, then jot them down.

Final Thoughts
I have been using this system in my games for several years now, and it works quite well.  I find it much easier to determine which of these broad saves is used for an occasion; much easier than the old system.  If you have any comments or questions, feel free to e-mail me with them.

For more information about new saving throws and AD&D rules, see Tarkas' Brain Lab

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