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Based off of this question. There are 3 characters, Gary, who is grappling Victor, and both are targeted by Thunderwave from Casey.

Gary makes his save, meaning he is not moved by the spell.

Victor fails his save, meaning he IS moved 10ft by the spell.

By most rulings (as seen in the answers to that question), if Victor is moved out of the reach of Gary, the grapple ends.

My question is, can Gary see that Victor failed his save and voluntarily fail his save in order to maintain the grapple? Conversely, can Victor see that Gary made his save and voluntarily fail his own save in order to escape the grapple?

More generally, is there a specific order to saving throws and when can one choose to voluntarily fail?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Possible duplicate of Can you choose to fail a saving throw? \$\endgroup\$
    – Christopher
    Commented May 9, 2016 at 17:09
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    \$\begingroup\$ Not a duplicate. While there is overlap, this question also wants to know -assuming you can choose to fail- if you can do it after someone else has already rolled their save. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kyle W
    Commented May 9, 2016 at 17:13
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    \$\begingroup\$ "My question is, can Gary…voluntarily fail his save…?" Seems like a duplicate to me \$\endgroup\$
    – Christopher
    Commented May 9, 2016 at 17:16
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Christopher If a question asked “Can Gary voluntarily move in order to…” it would not be a question asking if voluntary movement is possible. This isn't asking if voluntary save fails are possible, it's asking if they can be used for a certain purpose. That may be answered by “no, because you can't voluntarily fail…”, but different questions that have the same answer are still different questions. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented May 9, 2016 at 17:21

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No.

There's nothing in the rules that says that you can choose to fail a saving throw (some spells like Polymorph allow you to).

This is confirmed by Jeremy Crawford. (Twitter)

If you choose to allow people to fail saves, then the character would need to decide whether they are going to resist the effect before seeing the result of the effect.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ No need to point to another answer you disagree with when it's been shown by reasoned argument and the Word of Crawford that it doesn't work that way. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented May 9, 2016 at 17:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ @SevenSidedDie If only that wasn't a brand-new answer to an old question buried at the bottom of a million other answers. I've updated my answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kyle W
    Commented May 9, 2016 at 17:26
  • \$\begingroup\$ Clearly it needs more upvote love. :) \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented May 9, 2016 at 17:28
  • \$\begingroup\$ Indeed, I upvoted it after I scrolled through looking for what you were talking about. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kyle W
    Commented May 9, 2016 at 17:29
  • \$\begingroup\$ The link you've already put in your answer to it will probably help, too! I've noticed that links to old Q&A usually result in exposure and more upvotes. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented May 9, 2016 at 17:31

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