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.)

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