Understanding saving throws are a critical key to fast speed runs. If you’ve ever tried to take a party of level 13 heroes to Mangar’s tower, you realize very quickly that in Mangar 2 and 3, about half of the random encounters have a fair chance of killing some or all of your team. And on Mangar 4 and 5, almost every encounter is a complete team wipe. Why? Because both spell damage reduction and fleeing are based on saving throws.
The implications of the saving throw are complex, and discussed at length with respect to Binary Spells, Spell Damage, and Fleeing.
So, let’s jump straight into the math. A character’s saving throw is based on the following factors:
- Generic Bonus
- 2 points
- Fixed for all races and classes at all times
- Luckshield Bonus
- 2 points if equipped
- 0 in all other cases
- Luck Attribute Bonus
- One point for each point of luck greater than 15
- 3 points is the max with 18 luck, 0 is minimum at 15 luck or less
- Hex-edited characters with more than 18 luck seem to get extra bonus points which leads to funny results – like 100% disarming of traps by typing “asdf”.
- Level Bonus
- Level/2 rounded down to the nearest integer
- Technically calculated as Level >> 1
- Max value of 18 obtained at level 36
- Class Bonus
- +3 for Wizards
- +2 for Sorc/Mag/Conj
- +1 for War/Hunt/Bard/Rogue/Monk
- Paladins vary based on level
- +1 at Levels 1 – 3
- +2 at Levels 4 – 9
- +3 at Levels 10 – 17
- +4 at Levels 18 – 25
- +5 at Levels 26 – 29
- +6 at Level 30 and higher
The Saving Throw is the sum of the bonuses. In other words, Saving Throw = Generic Bonus + Luckshield Bonus + Luck Attribute Bonus + Level Bonus + Class Bonus.
In some circumstances, such as fleeing or when enemy creatures cast spells that affect the group (MAST, HYIM), a party saving throw is calculated. A party saving throw is the character saving throw of the first position character in the party. Hence the preference for a Paladin in the first position, as his saving throw bonus benefits the entire party for both fleeing and group disabling spells.
A creature saving throw (including friendlies in the Special slot), is calculated based on the following factors:
- Monster Index Bonus
- MonsterIndex / 8, rounded down to the nearest integer
- Technically calculated as MonsterIndex >> 3
- Uses this poorly labeled monster index.
- In the index, the Kobold is 1, Mad Dog is 13, Red Dragon is 101
- Seems consistent with my experience for the MSDOS version of BT1
- Random Bonus
- Completely random integer
- Min 0, Max 7
The creature saving throw is the sum of the bonuses. In other words, Creature Saving Throw = Monster Index Bonus + Random Bonus. By way of example, the highest level creatures (Soul Sucker – Index 120 through Old Man – Index 127) have a minimum saving throw of 15, an average of 19, and a max of 22.
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