Editing Non Armor Defenses (section)

== Saving Throws ==
Before 3e, like [[THAC0#THAC0|a lot of things]], we had a confusing mess. AD&D's system was known as "Saving Throw against X"; a character's saving throws were as follows:

* Paralyzation, Poison, or Death Magic
* Rod, Staff, or Wand
* Petrification or Polymorph
* Breath Weapon
* Spell

The first fun thing? This was all governed by a bigass table towards the back of the PHB (also found in the DMG), with no explanation of how it was derived, and had bonuses and penalties that you had to add and subtract yourself.

The second fun thing? Figuring out which saving throw to apply. During the 1st Edition, no explanation was offered, so nobody knew what save to use for a polymorph wand or paralyzing breath weapon. 2nd Edition had an explicit "top down" rule (higher on that list? Higher priority, with a few notable exceptions).

Fun fact: "Saving Throws" originated in Tony Bath's ''Rules for Medieval Wargames'', where attackers made a to-hit roll, and then defenders had a "saving throw" to [[Armor Class|see if their armor protected them]] — as every unit in that game was a one-hit-point-wonder, this was the only way of surviving such a hit. ''[[Chainmail]]'' then chose to include saving throws for Hero units. To provide a bit of the feel of ''Chainmail's'' saving throws, the rule for dragon's breath was as follows: "Dragon fire will kill any opponent it touches, except another Dragon, Super Hero, or a Wizard, who is saved on a two dice roll of 7 or better."