Does a character feel a will save?

[Minwaabi]

So your character is out walking through the woods minding your business and some wizard casts scrying or some similar spell on you. Do you know it? I know you get to make a will save, but would you know you made one? Does it matter if you make the save or not?

Practically speaking, is this a hidden check the DM would make? I feel like asking the character: "make a will save" could end up messing with a session while the PC runs around looking for wherever that wizard is who just tried to cast a spell on him (especially if he has no idea who the wizard is or that he's 100+ miles away. If it is a hidden check does the PC get to know if they passed it sort of like: you feel like someone tried to cast a spell on you?

[Jeraa]

From the 3.5 PHB, page 177:


A creature that successfully saves against a spell that has no obvious physical effects feels a hostile force or a tingle, but cannot deduce the exact nature of the attack. For example, if you secretly cast charm person on a creature and its saving throw succeeds, it knows that someone used magic against it, but it can’t tell what you were trying to do. Likewise, if a creature’s saving throw succeeds against a targeted spell, such as charm person, you sense that the spell has failed. You do not sense when creatures succeed on saves against effect and area spells.

If the character succeeds on the save, he knows he made one. Doesn't know against what, but he does know something has happened. If the character fails, he has no idea anyone was even attempting to cast a spell on him (unless that spell has obvious visual effects, like the burst of flame from a fireball).

I would personally roll the save for the PC in secret, just as I would roll the parties Spot and Listen checks in secret right as they walk into an ambush.

[Funkyodor]

...Uh, ninja'ed...

What he said.

[Douglas]

As already quoted, if the save is successful then the character knows he made a save. Additionally, the Spellcraft skill has a DC for identifying a spell after successfully saving against it. So, a character with high enough Spellcraft could potentially realize the specific information that someone tried to scry on him.

[Mustard]

Just be sure to note who has bonuses or penalties to certain sub-types of saves (e.g. against poison), or re-roll abilities. I'd take note of the exact rolls just to be sure - you can consult the record if needed. For re-roll abilities, you can pass notes, or perhaps ask the player when the roll result becomes relevant later on, if there's a delayed effect, e.g. "you needed to make a save earlier, for which I rolled <X> in secret; would you want to re-roll it?" and then basically rewrite history if the re-roll changes the result.