What is the distribution of Saving Throws associated with each attribute that are required by spells?

Question

I read somewhere that in D&D 5e, the Saving Throw distribution for spells was biased towards DEX, CON and WIS. In other words, if you had proficiency in those attributes, you would benefit a lot more than having proficiency in other attributes.

What is the distribution of Saving Throws across attributes for spells in D&D 5e?

I'm looking for a percentage of each attribute for all the spells available (one would expect this to be uniform). Bonus points if this is also calculated for only spells that can be cast by RAW monsters (MM and VMG).

Answer 1

In a similar format to the previous answer, here's an updated count of spells with saving throws available on D&D Beyond. I've updated it again - it's now current as of 12 January 2024.

I am aware of two spells which don't list a primary save, but which can provoke a number of different saves:

• Symbol (from the PHB and Basic Rules; thanks mdrichey in the comments for this one) has eight possible effects, each provoking a save, and the caster can choose which they want. I've effectively counted it as eight different spells, adding three Constitution and Wisdom saves, and one Intelligence and Charisma save.
• Nathair's mischief from Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons has one of four randomly determined effects, with a 50% chance of forcing a Wisdom save and 25% chance of a Dexterity save. (The other effect does not allow a saving throw.) I have just counted it once for each save.

Because of those two spells, the total spell count here seems slightly lower than it ought to be. There may be other such spells which have a saving throw involved other than a single primary one, but there is no easy way to search for them. I believe this list is still pretty indicative of the frequency of saving throws in spells.

Saving Throw	Official	% Official	Partnered	All	% All
Strength	17	7.87%	2	19	8.19%
Dexterity	66	30.56%	1	67	28.88%
Constitution	52	24.07%	14	66	28.45%
Intelligence	10	4.63%	1	11	4.74%
Wisdom	56	25.93%	2	58	25.00%
Charisma	15	6.95%	0	15	6.58%
Total spells	208		20	228

Note that some spells previously included as official are now noted as "partnered content" on D&D Beyond, specifically those from the two Critical Role books published by Wizards of the Coast. I'll also note that filtering for spells with any kind of save comes up with more spells than the method I used of filtering for each save separately, a discrepancy I've not yet solved. I also need to check if some spells are being counted twice where the Basic Rules version uses a different name (e.g. Tasha’s hideous laughter and hideous laughter). But I think above stats are still pretty representative.

For a list of official sources for spells, and how to find them on D&D Beyond, see this question: What official books contain spells? (The list in the accepted answer is out of date, but the method for finding official books still works.)

Answer 2

According to D&D Beyond, the number of spells in the SRD that require saves on each attribute is:

	Attribute	# spells
	Strength	4
⋆	Dexterity	32
⋆	Constitution	24
	Intelligence	2
⋆	Wisdom	34
	Charisma	12

But saving throws are required for many things that aren't spells, including non-spell monster abilities (a medusa's Petrifying Gaze, for example), traps, poisons, and environmental hazards. So I don't think optimizing based on spells alone is ideal.

Furthermore, spells don't appear with equal frequency, so just counting the number of spells that call for a given attribute's save is probably not going to yield much useful information.