I have a question about the class saving throw proficiency. I'm trying to find any rules or information that can tell me why these are the way they are. Does anyone know if I can find this in the rule books? If so what page or section of the book can I find it at? (I tried to find it but failed, I guess my investigation skills weren't high enough)
For example a druid gets proficiency in Intelligence & Wisdom, but if you were to, say, not use intelligence, why can't you pick something else? Wisdom and constitution seem the most optimal pair if you simply look at their primary ability and overall spell casting abilities. But maybe someone wants a strength/charisma based Druid, which would tie in better with their intimidating pit fighter who happens to have a druidic origin. So in that case a strength/charisma save might be what they desire. I get that a homebrew game, or race or dm can simply allow it, and that there are feats to grant you, 'said desired saving throw proficiency', however I assume there are rules written somewhere that explain why these saves are like they are.
I just wondered why certain class option's can't be changed, especially since many things like race, background, origin can be modified. Or at least when creating a character on the site you can't. (I know you can modify the abilities later to match your liking (if the dm allows it) )
Hopefully I can get some assistance or guidance to find some answers for my investigation on the subject.
@Kotath, I appreciate your response, but I'm afraid this answer doesn't provide what I'm looking for. Is there any information about this in the books or a more detailed post that you know off? I'm more interested on this subject in-depth, rather than someone just saying it is a balance things.
Still appreciate you took the time to reply, so thank you :)
@Kotath, I appreciate your response, but I'm afraid this answer doesn't provide what I'm looking for. Is there any information about this in the books or a more detailed post that you know off? I'm more interested on this subject in-depth, rather than someone just saying it is a balance things.
Still appreciate you took the time to reply, so thank you :)
WOTC is not in the habit of explaining their design approach anywhere, let alone in their rulebooks. All you'll find on this forum is speculation, if your question is why classes get the save proficiencies they do.
It is mainly a balancing issue, in most cases, with some sense of "logic" applied, even if said logic could be debated. Monks are a prime example. Proficiency in Dex and Str saves. Dex makes perfect sense and Str, well, they are masters of the body and thus can seem stronger than one might expect. What about Wisdom, though, as Monks are also quite wise, Back to Balance, so Str it is. Dex and Wis are big saves you see a lot, Con being up there as well. Giving 2 "main" saves to any class tips the balance a bit more than it should, so they pick and choose.
As stated, there isn't anything official stated as to exactly why things are as they are, so I wouldn't waste much effort looking for it. Opinions and reasoning for those opinions is the best you'll find.
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Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
@Kotath, I appreciate your response, but I'm afraid this answer doesn't provide what I'm looking for. Is there any information about this in the books or a more detailed post that you know off? I'm more interested on this subject in-depth, rather than someone just saying it is a balance things.
Still appreciate you took the time to reply, so thank you :)
WOTC is not in the habit of explaining their design approach anywhere, let alone in their rulebooks. All you'll find on this forum is speculation, if your question is why classes get the save proficiencies they do.
This. While it is fairly easy to speculate the in-game 'whys' of certain attributes, the real reason is that the designers balanced the game a certain way. Changing that balance to "optimize" a character is exactly the sort of min-max chicanery that gets a bad rap around here.
That said, I'll add my rampant speculation now: Most classes get a saving throw proficiency with their primary attack stat (so STR/DEX for martials, and the spellcasting stat for casters; Rangers are the odd one out in that they get martial and don't get their casting stat), and a secondary that either represents a traditional architype of the class, or counters a weakness that the game designers want to avoid. So, for example, Sorcerers get Charisma (their casting stat) and Constitution, which could represent the innate magics of the class bolstering the PC's ability to resist losing concentration, among other things. You could argue that the Druids innate connection with nature provides a calm that lessens the effects of mental assault (which would include both Wisdom and Intelligence). You could argue a Clerics faith and convictions bolster their willpower (represented through proficiency in Charisma saves), and so on for every class.
@Kotath, I appreciate your response, but I'm afraid this answer doesn't provide what I'm looking for. Is there any information about this in the books or a more detailed post that you know off? I'm more interested on this subject in-depth, rather than someone just saying it is a balance things.
Still appreciate you took the time to reply, so thank you :)
WOTC is not in the habit of explaining their design approach anywhere, let alone in their rulebooks. All you'll find on this forum is speculation, if your question is why classes get the save proficiencies they do.
While it is technically speculation, there are some very clear patterns:
You get one out of DEX/CON/WIS and one out of STR/INT/CHA. 5e has two tiers of saving throws (which again is not stated but emerges when you look at the games spell lists) and you get one of each.
You get proficiency in the classes primary stat - the class spellcasting ability for spellcasters, STR for melee weapon users, DEX for finesse/ranged weapon users.
Combining these rules, pretty much every class makes sense. Paladin has two main stats - STR and CHA. But those are both weak saves, so STR gets upgraded to WIS. Why WIS and not CON? Here's where we get into speculation.
But regardless of that, we can use these patterns to determine that there is good reason not to homebrew a druid to be WIS/CON, for example. But WIS/CHA? Sure, go for it.
Thanks all! That clears things up a lot more. Also I wasn't looking for min-maxing, I just used the druid as an example. But it is nice to get a better insight on it. So, if I'm correct the minor saves consist of STR, INT and CHA and on the other hand the major ones being; DEX, CON, WIS. (Which I can imagine can be a matter of perspective depending on the play style too, the group and challenges of the DM could be more centered towards saves of a certain type) But that aside, general speaking 3 major saves and 3 minor saves.
Obviously a lot of testing goes into balancing these classes and I'm not here to reinvent or break the wheel. But it does make you wonder since with 3 major and 3 minor saves you could potentially have various combinations. example WIS + STR, WIS + INT, WIS + CHA, ect leading up to 18 variations of 1 major + 1 minor proficiency saving throws combinations where one of the stats is picked as primary ability. But if you add that to the various classes and even races you get an insane amount of combination which might complicate things a lot, not to mention balancing would be a lot of work every time a subclass is released.
On the other hand if the dm allows it and everyone is having fun that is all that matter in the end :)
Thats basically it...looking at filtering spells (can't as easily check monster, item, and class abilities), of the "minor" saves, STR has the most, at 18 spells that use them (Int has only 9), whereas for the major saves, DEX is the winner with 64 (with the others in the 50s).
So as a general rule, if you wanted to homebrew other options, a "major" and a "minor" seems to be the way to go.
You get proficiency in the classes primary stat - the class spellcasting ability for spellcasters, STR for melee weapon users, DEX for finesse/ranged weapon users.
Except for rangers, who are here to have fun and break rules -- they get STR and DEX, no WIS save.
You get proficiency in the classes primary stat - the class spellcasting ability for spellcasters, STR for melee weapon users, DEX for finesse/ranged weapon users.
Except for rangers, who are here to have fun and break rules -- they get STR and DEX, no WIS save.
Several classes have a couple of options for your primary stat, but I would say that for the majority of rangers Dex is their primary stat.
Pure Paladins are pretty evenly split between Charisma and Strength, with Dex based paladins a small minority. (A lot of paladins take a level of warlock so they can use Cha for their weapon attacks) (Neither Strenth nor Dex based paladins are proficient in their primary stat)
While strength based fighters are probably the majority there are a lot of Dex based Fighters who ar not proficient in their primary stat.
While most monks would put Dex before Wis, some put ti the other way round (Monks not proficient in Wis)
Back to the original question, as others have said WotC give us the rules not why they made the rules as they are, but every class has exactly one proficincy in Wisdom, Dex or Con and experanced players know these are the three most important saving throws (there is debate arounf the order, for example Dex saves ar emore common but typically failing a wisdom save has more impact, con saves are much more important for spellcasters using concentration spells), similarly every class has exactly one proficiency in the less important saves (and again there is debate about the order between them, I am currently in a game where we are agaist a lot of mind flayers so Int saves ar emore important than in most campaigns).
I am speculating but I suspect the proficiencies were based on balancing the following ideals:
Having exactly one proficiency in Wis, Dex or Con
Having proficiency in the classes main abilities
Having variety in proficiency combinations among classes
Note these are mutually exclusive, the second most important ability for wisdom casters usually con (and if not con, dex) but the first rule means they can not have wisdom and either of these.
Historically (3rd Edition), there were only 3 saving throws: Fortitude (Constitution), Reflex (Dexterity), and Will (Wisdom). A plurality of abilities still use Con/Dex/Wis as their saving throw and so are more common.
Every class gets one of the "Common" saving throws and then one of the other three (Str/Int/Cha).
Thanks all! That clears things up a lot more. Also I wasn't looking for min-maxing, I just used the druid as an example. But it is nice to get a better insight on it. So, if I'm correct the minor saves consist of STR, INT and CHA and on the other hand the major ones being; DEX, CON, WIS. (Which I can imagine can be a matter of perspective depending on the play style too, the group and challenges of the DM could be more centered towards saves of a certain type) But that aside, general speaking 3 major saves and 3 minor saves.
Obviously a lot of testing goes into balancing these classes and I'm not here to reinvent or break the wheel. But it does make you wonder since with 3 major and 3 minor saves you could potentially have various combinations. example WIS + STR, WIS + INT, WIS + CHA, ect leading up to 18 variations of 1 major + 1 minor proficiency saving throws combinations where one of the stats is picked as primary ability. But if you add that to the various classes and even races you get an insane amount of combination which might complicate things a lot, not to mention balancing would be a lot of work every time a subclass is released.
On the other hand if the dm allows it and everyone is having fun that is all that matter in the end :)
It's also messier than that - it's not nearly so simple as "three common and three uncommon". If you're interested in rampant speculation, as you seem to be, there's very little indication the saves assigned to each class are based on anything other than some rules developer's (or rules developer committee's) opinion of how the class should be, as opposed to a genuine attempt to make the core classes differ (as you allude to), or as opposed to balance. While the one common and one uncommon rule is also widespread, they're not equal within each other - strength saves are far more common than int or cha, only dex saves are subject to cover, and con saves are far and away the most important for any caster, to maintain concentration.
So that's how we get to where we are. The general theme goes like this:
Are you a primary caster? You must have your primary casting stat as a save proficiency.
Was your primary casting stat intelligence or charisma? Ask the magic eight-ball if WOTC decided you deserve to be actually competent at magic.
The answer is yes for Sorcerers: they get Constitution save proficiency, the only save proficiency relevant to casting spells.
The answer is no for Wizards, Warlocks, and Bards; based on the rules team's opinions of the general vibe of the class, rather than balance, Wizards and Warlocks get Wisdom, Bards get Dexterity.
Was your primary casting stat wisdom? That's a compulsory common save, so you're not allowed to be very good at magic - no Constitution proficiency for you. Ask the magic eight-ball for your uncommon save.
Clerics get Charisma (so they match Warlocks), Druids get Intelligence (so they match Wizards).
Are you a half-caster, including martials who don't technically cast spells but do inflict saves off of a mental stat?
If yes and your casting stat is uncommon, you must have it as a save proficiency. For your common proficiency, ask the magic eight-ball.
Artificers are in luck! They are allowed to be good at magic: Int + Con.
Paladins are not! They match Clerics and Warlocks: Wis + Cha. Paladins get bonus weirdness here, as you need Str to multiclass in or out of Paladin, but they don't have proficiency in Str saves.
If yes and your casting stat is common, meaning it's Wisdom, you inexplicably don't get it as a save proficiency - and you don't get Constitution, either. Basically, we throw all the rules out the window, and Rangers and Monks get proficiency in Strength and Dexterity saves, regardless of character concept. As a result, more Paladin weirdness, where you need a stat to multiclass that you don't get a save proficiency in.
Are you a full martial, no inflicted saves without a subclass granting it?
Barbarians get Str+Con, one of the examples of non-weirdness - those are indeed the abilities Barbarian rewards you most for pursuing.
Rogues get Dexterity because of course, and then in probably a nod to how intelligence was an important stat for Rogues in prior editions, intelligence saves, which is basically magic eight ball logic again.
For maximum derp, Fighters get the Barbarian save proficiency kit despite being written to be able to choose Str or Dex, in both their multiclass rules and their quick build text. Here, even with a magic eight ball I can't tell you why Fighters can't choose between Con and Dex for their good save.
The net result of that mess is that you can sort classes by how good their saves are, and part of multiclassing is often ensuring you start with the class that has the saves you want - as a result of that and other level 1 realities, like extra hit points and equipment proficiencies, you'll find many multiclassing builds telling you to start with artificer or fighter if you're making a multiclass wizard, sorcerer or fighter for a multiclass paladin, warlock, or bard, and fighter for a multiclass ranger, cleric, or druid (very few monk subclasses need to maintain concentration, so it's less important for them, but starting with fighter is also how you e.g. make a good way of shadow monk).
There's no indication whatsoever that e.g. artificers get a good save pairing while rangers get a bad one is intended for any sort of balance rather than just what the dev team felt like at the time. It's an upgrade to let rangers switch from Dex+Str to Con+Str, but there's no good reason to assume this upgrade will violate any balance WOTC intentionally set up.
(Which I can imagine can be a matter of perspective depending on the play style too, the group and challenges of the DM could be more centered towards saves of a certain type) But that aside, general speaking 3 major saves and 3 minor saves.
The reasoning of WotC is all speculation, Kitsumea implies most if it is a mix of random and muddled thinking, Geann proposes it was based on the most important stats for each class and a case can also be made for balance, for example:
For nearly all casters Con in the most important save, poll like this one suggest that Sorcerer is the least powerful full caster and this is with proficiency in Con saves, it is quite possible that the developers seeing the Sorcerer wasa bit underpowered gave it proficiency in Con to give it a bit of a boost.
I would also say that within the main three saves and the lesser 3 saves there is no clear order of importance. For casters who regularly cast concentration spells (most of them) Con is the most important save but fr none casters it is the least important of the main three. How common a save is is only half the story the impact of failing is just as important, and while a layer will rarely have to make a charisma or intelligence saving throw when they deo they realy want ot succeed:
Failing a strength save usually results in being restained, having forced movement or taking damage (typicially you would take half anyway on a success) situationally you might be pushed into a trap or something for extra damage but the results are rarely going to turn the tide in a battle.
Charisma saves are typically to avoid or allow teleportation. Failing a save to be banished takes you out of the battle until concentration is broken, if you want to get out of forecage by casting dimension door you need to pass a Cha save.
The classic example of int saves is a mind flayer, a PC who dumps Int to 8 (and isn't proficient) will fail the save of a mind blast (or tentical attack) 75% of the time if it fails there is a very real risk of having their brain extracted.
While you can make generalizations about "what kind of effect" each save is good against, you end up with the mental ones pretty much just... all being Will saves:
Strength: resist being restrained, pushed, pulled, rarely to avoid damage. "Movement stuff"
Dexterity: dodge out of the way to avoid or lessen damage, rarely to avoid status effects unless they come with damage. "Damage stuff"
Constitution: resist physical status effects like poison, disease, fatigue, that shut you down or debuff you, rarely to avoid damage other than poison damage. "Stuns and disadvantage"
Wisdom: Charm or fear effects. "Mental Stuff"
Intelligence: ???? Almost never used, seems to be "Wisdom saves, but with a Latin (language) twist".
Charisma: Almost never used, and when it is... still for Charm or fear effects. Seems to be "Wisdom saves, with a Latin (lover) twist."
I'm not mad when I get one physical and one mental, even if that one physical is Strength. It's rare to come across Strength saves, but when they do, they're from big creatures you don't want to get grabbed by. And I'm not mad when I get two physical, because all three are distinct and useful.
But two mental saves? That's a kick in the gut, especially if it's Intelligence, because 99% of mental effects are wisdom, and those that aren't probably could have been if the author wasn't trying to be cute.
I’ll echo the others - it’s one common (Dex/Wis/Con), one uncommon (Str/Int/Cha) - and one has some relevance to your class. That’s why no class has two common saves and the non-relevant save is somewhat arbitrary.
Balance wise, it won’t make much of a difference later game if you adjust the uncommon one to another uncommon save.
Edit: It would have a much bigger impact on balance if you switched an uncommon save to a common one, or vice versa.
Hello!
I have a question about the class saving throw proficiency.
I'm trying to find any rules or information that can tell me why these are the way they are. Does anyone know if I can find this in the rule books? If so what page or section of the book can I find it at? (I tried to find it but failed, I guess my investigation skills weren't high enough)
For example a druid gets proficiency in Intelligence & Wisdom, but if you were to, say, not use intelligence, why can't you pick something else? Wisdom and constitution seem the most optimal pair if you simply look at their primary ability and overall spell casting abilities. But maybe someone wants a strength/charisma based Druid, which would tie in better with their intimidating pit fighter who happens to have a druidic origin. So in that case a strength/charisma save might be what they desire.
I get that a homebrew game, or race or dm can simply allow it, and that there are feats to grant you, 'said desired saving throw proficiency', however I assume there are rules written somewhere that explain why these saves are like they are.
I just wondered why certain class option's can't be changed, especially since many things like race, background, origin can be modified. Or at least when creating a character on the site you can't. (I know you can modify the abilities later to match your liking (if the dm allows it) )
Hopefully I can get some assistance or guidance to find some answers for my investigation on the subject.
Thanks for your time and help!
Kitsumeo
@Kotath, I appreciate your response, but I'm afraid this answer doesn't provide what I'm looking for. Is there any information about this in the books or a more detailed post that you know off?
I'm more interested on this subject in-depth, rather than someone just saying it is a balance things.
Still appreciate you took the time to reply, so thank you :)
You aren't going to get anything more in depth than "[class] is proficient in these 2 saves" from the book.
It is just for balancing. Most classes have proficiency in 1 common save and 1 uncommon save.
And being proficient in a save for your dump stats is a good thing. It makes you less likely to fail (especially at higher level).
WOTC is not in the habit of explaining their design approach anywhere, let alone in their rulebooks. All you'll find on this forum is speculation, if your question is why classes get the save proficiencies they do.
It is mainly a balancing issue, in most cases, with some sense of "logic" applied, even if said logic could be debated. Monks are a prime example. Proficiency in Dex and Str saves. Dex makes perfect sense and Str, well, they are masters of the body and thus can seem stronger than one might expect. What about Wisdom, though, as Monks are also quite wise, Back to Balance, so Str it is. Dex and Wis are big saves you see a lot, Con being up there as well. Giving 2 "main" saves to any class tips the balance a bit more than it should, so they pick and choose.
As stated, there isn't anything official stated as to exactly why things are as they are, so I wouldn't waste much effort looking for it. Opinions and reasoning for those opinions is the best you'll find.
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
This. While it is fairly easy to speculate the in-game 'whys' of certain attributes, the real reason is that the designers balanced the game a certain way. Changing that balance to "optimize" a character is exactly the sort of min-max chicanery that gets a bad rap around here.
That said, I'll add my rampant speculation now: Most classes get a saving throw proficiency with their primary attack stat (so STR/DEX for martials, and the spellcasting stat for casters; Rangers are the odd one out in that they get martial and don't get their casting stat), and a secondary that either represents a traditional architype of the class, or counters a weakness that the game designers want to avoid. So, for example, Sorcerers get Charisma (their casting stat) and Constitution, which could represent the innate magics of the class bolstering the PC's ability to resist losing concentration, among other things. You could argue that the Druids innate connection with nature provides a calm that lessens the effects of mental assault (which would include both Wisdom and Intelligence). You could argue a Clerics faith and convictions bolster their willpower (represented through proficiency in Charisma saves), and so on for every class.
While it is technically speculation, there are some very clear patterns:
Combining these rules, pretty much every class makes sense. Paladin has two main stats - STR and CHA. But those are both weak saves, so STR gets upgraded to WIS. Why WIS and not CON? Here's where we get into speculation.
But regardless of that, we can use these patterns to determine that there is good reason not to homebrew a druid to be WIS/CON, for example. But WIS/CHA? Sure, go for it.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Thanks all! That clears things up a lot more. Also I wasn't looking for min-maxing, I just used the druid as an example.
But it is nice to get a better insight on it. So, if I'm correct the minor saves consist of STR, INT and CHA and on the other hand the major ones being; DEX, CON, WIS.
(Which I can imagine can be a matter of perspective depending on the play style too, the group and challenges of the DM could be more centered towards saves of a certain type) But that aside, general speaking 3 major saves and 3 minor saves.
Obviously a lot of testing goes into balancing these classes and I'm not here to reinvent or break the wheel. But it does make you wonder since with 3 major and 3 minor saves you could potentially have various combinations. example WIS + STR, WIS + INT, WIS + CHA, ect leading up to 18 variations of 1 major + 1 minor proficiency saving throws combinations where one of the stats is picked as primary ability. But if you add that to the various classes and even races you get an insane amount of combination which might complicate things a lot, not to mention balancing would be a lot of work every time a subclass is released.
On the other hand if the dm allows it and everyone is having fun that is all that matter in the end :)
Thats basically it...looking at filtering spells (can't as easily check monster, item, and class abilities), of the "minor" saves, STR has the most, at 18 spells that use them (Int has only 9), whereas for the major saves, DEX is the winner with 64 (with the others in the 50s).
So as a general rule, if you wanted to homebrew other options, a "major" and a "minor" seems to be the way to go.
Except for rangers, who are here to have fun and break rules -- they get STR and DEX, no WIS save.
Birgit | Shifter | Sorcerer | Dragonlords
Shayone | Hobgoblin | Sorcerer | Netherdeep
Several classes have a couple of options for your primary stat, but I would say that for the majority of rangers Dex is their primary stat.
Pure Paladins are pretty evenly split between Charisma and Strength, with Dex based paladins a small minority. (A lot of paladins take a level of warlock so they can use Cha for their weapon attacks) (Neither Strenth nor Dex based paladins are proficient in their primary stat)
While strength based fighters are probably the majority there are a lot of Dex based Fighters who ar not proficient in their primary stat.
While most monks would put Dex before Wis, some put ti the other way round (Monks not proficient in Wis)
Back to the original question, as others have said WotC give us the rules not why they made the rules as they are, but every class has exactly one proficincy in Wisdom, Dex or Con and experanced players know these are the three most important saving throws (there is debate arounf the order, for example Dex saves ar emore common but typically failing a wisdom save has more impact, con saves are much more important for spellcasters using concentration spells), similarly every class has exactly one proficiency in the less important saves (and again there is debate about the order between them, I am currently in a game where we are agaist a lot of mind flayers so Int saves ar emore important than in most campaigns).
I am speculating but I suspect the proficiencies were based on balancing the following ideals:
Note these are mutually exclusive, the second most important ability for wisdom casters usually con (and if not con, dex) but the first rule means they can not have wisdom and either of these.
Historically (3rd Edition), there were only 3 saving throws: Fortitude (Constitution), Reflex (Dexterity), and Will (Wisdom). A plurality of abilities still use Con/Dex/Wis as their saving throw and so are more common.
Every class gets one of the "Common" saving throws and then one of the other three (Str/Int/Cha).
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It's also messier than that - it's not nearly so simple as "three common and three uncommon". If you're interested in rampant speculation, as you seem to be, there's very little indication the saves assigned to each class are based on anything other than some rules developer's (or rules developer committee's) opinion of how the class should be, as opposed to a genuine attempt to make the core classes differ (as you allude to), or as opposed to balance. While the one common and one uncommon rule is also widespread, they're not equal within each other - strength saves are far more common than int or cha, only dex saves are subject to cover, and con saves are far and away the most important for any caster, to maintain concentration.
So that's how we get to where we are. The general theme goes like this:
The net result of that mess is that you can sort classes by how good their saves are, and part of multiclassing is often ensuring you start with the class that has the saves you want - as a result of that and other level 1 realities, like extra hit points and equipment proficiencies, you'll find many multiclassing builds telling you to start with artificer or fighter if you're making a multiclass wizard, sorcerer or fighter for a multiclass paladin, warlock, or bard, and fighter for a multiclass ranger, cleric, or druid (very few monk subclasses need to maintain concentration, so it's less important for them, but starting with fighter is also how you e.g. make a good way of shadow monk).
There's no indication whatsoever that e.g. artificers get a good save pairing while rangers get a bad one is intended for any sort of balance rather than just what the dev team felt like at the time. It's an upgrade to let rangers switch from Dex+Str to Con+Str, but there's no good reason to assume this upgrade will violate any balance WOTC intentionally set up.
Well, not really. There are certain saves that are more common than others. https://www.enworld.org/threads/most-common-saving-throws.397976/
There are only six scores, and you only get to pick two of them, so it is difficult to make judgement calls
Monks, Paladins, and Rangers are pretty MAD about not getting three different saves they can be proficient in.
<Insert clever signature here>
The reasoning of WotC is all speculation, Kitsumea implies most if it is a mix of random and muddled thinking, Geann proposes it was based on the most important stats for each class and a case can also be made for balance, for example:
For nearly all casters Con in the most important save, poll like this one suggest that Sorcerer is the least powerful full caster and this is with proficiency in Con saves, it is quite possible that the developers seeing the Sorcerer wasa bit underpowered gave it proficiency in Con to give it a bit of a boost.
I would also say that within the main three saves and the lesser 3 saves there is no clear order of importance. For casters who regularly cast concentration spells (most of them) Con is the most important save but fr none casters it is the least important of the main three. How common a save is is only half the story the impact of failing is just as important, and while a layer will rarely have to make a charisma or intelligence saving throw when they deo they realy want ot succeed:
Failing a strength save usually results in being restained, having forced movement or taking damage (typicially you would take half anyway on a success) situationally you might be pushed into a trap or something for extra damage but the results are rarely going to turn the tide in a battle.
Charisma saves are typically to avoid or allow teleportation. Failing a save to be banished takes you out of the battle until concentration is broken, if you want to get out of forecage by casting dimension door you need to pass a Cha save.
The classic example of int saves is a mind flayer, a PC who dumps Int to 8 (and isn't proficient) will fail the save of a mind blast (or tentical attack) 75% of the time if it fails there is a very real risk of having their brain extracted.
While you can make generalizations about "what kind of effect" each save is good against, you end up with the mental ones pretty much just... all being Will saves:
I'm not mad when I get one physical and one mental, even if that one physical is Strength. It's rare to come across Strength saves, but when they do, they're from big creatures you don't want to get grabbed by. And I'm not mad when I get two physical, because all three are distinct and useful.
But two mental saves? That's a kick in the gut, especially if it's Intelligence, because 99% of mental effects are wisdom, and those that aren't probably could have been if the author wasn't trying to be cute.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
I’ll echo the others - it’s one common (Dex/Wis/Con), one uncommon (Str/Int/Cha) - and one has some relevance to your class. That’s why no class has two common saves and the non-relevant save is somewhat arbitrary.
Balance wise, it won’t make much of a difference later game if you adjust the uncommon one to another uncommon save.
Edit: It would have a much bigger impact on balance if you switched an uncommon save to a common one, or vice versa.