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Saturday, November 18, 2017

Treating Saving Throws As Attack Rolls

I've realized for some time now that you could combine the saving throw table with the combat table by setting each saving throw category as the equivalent of an armor type and just using one table. But I never got around to working out the equivalents -- until now.

Fighter


Save
Categories
        Armor
Equivalent
DeathLeather
WandsLeather+Shield
StoneChain
BreathChain+Shield
SpellsPlate


Magic-User


Save
Categories
        Armor
Equivalent
DeathLeather+Shield
WandsChain
StoneLeather+Shield
BreathPlate
SpellsChain+Shield

(plus bonus vs. spells = Level/4, round down)

Cleric


Save
Categories
        Armor
Equivalent
DeathShield
WandsLeather
StoneChain
BreathPlate
SpellsChain+Shield

Thieves save as either clerics or magic-users, depending on whether you are using OD&D, Holmes Basic, or one of the other Basic D&D versions, or you can construct a unique saving throw scheme by comparing the other classes (perhaps save as clerics vs. death magic and wands, but as fighters vs. everything else.

Notes:


  1. I'm using "Death [Magic]" as the name of the first category rather than "Poison" to emphasize my opinion that the saving throw categories should be reserved for supernatural situations. I don't believe in using save vs. wands to dodge javelins, for example. Poison is such an extreme situation that it gets the benefit of being treated like death magic.
  2. Magic-Users get the bonus to save vs. spells because in OD&D, they improve in this category faster than their other saving throws. A bonus equal to 25% of their level is a good approximation.

2 comments:

  1. How would you propose using this method?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm actually thinking of tweaking this for a follow-up post, but my thinking for the current method is that the columns on the attack table for each armor type are annotated. So the header for AC 7 on the standard descending AC table would say:

      AC 7

      Leather Armor

      Fighter: Save vs. Death

      Cleric: Save vs. Wands



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