New to 5th edition, long time 3.5 player, best books.

[Yogibear41]

Recently got invited to join in on a new 5th edition game, I am a long time 3.5 player. I already have the 5th edition PHB, but am looking for suggestions on other books to pick up, or just advice in general. As a 3.5 player I am using to having all kinds of customizations, feats, alternate class features etc. so I am looking for similar options for 5th edition classes, although my understanding is that 5th edition has way less of these than 3.5 does.

[Greywander]

First, welcome aboard. I hope you find 5e to your liking, as it's quite different to 3.x in many ways. On that note, it seems to be especially important for those coming from an older edition to carefully read the rules and to make no assumptions about the way something works just because it has the same name as something else from the older edition. A lot as changed, and it might take some getting use to.

As for which books to get, the big ones are Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and the recently released Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Those contain the majority of new player options so far. You can find a few more player options in some of the setting-specific books (some of which got reprinted in Tasha's or Xanathar's), including Eberron: Rising from the Last War, the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, the Mythic Odysseys of Theros, and the Sword Coast Adventer's Guide. The Elemental Evil Player's Companion is (IIRC) a free supplement with some race options for the Elemental Evil module. Volo's Guide to Monsters is mostly a Monster Manual supplement, but includes some playable monster races. The DMG also has two villainous subclasses: the Death domain cleric and the Oathbreaker paladin.

Hopefully that should give you enough to get started. You're always welcome to ask questions here on the forums.

Do you have an idea yet what kind of character you want to play?

[Yogibear41]

Not sure what I want to play exactly, or what the setting will be but I'm usually a fan of the dark warrior types, so maybe something like an anti-paladin or the blade-lock I have heard about. Something that is primarily melee, but has magic to fall back on if melee isn't an option. Also a fan of sword and board characters.

[Greywander]

You might want an Oathbreaker (DMG) or Conquest (Xanathar's) paladin. Vengeance paladin would probably also work. Or a Hexblade (Xanathar's) warlock. Or, if you're feeling brave, you might jump in with a multiclassed character. Paladin, sorcerer, and warlock all go well together in any combination. Just... make sure you thoroughly read the multiclass rules before attempting this, and I probably wouldn't recommend it for your first character.

Based on what you've said, Hexblade warlock with the Pact of the Blade is probably your best bet. Alternatively, you could fluff an Eldritch Knight fighter to fit that concept fairly well.

[Yogibear41]

Out of curiosity, do any of the saving throws seem to matter more, or come up more often? For example in 3.5 Fort and Will saves were generally considered more important to make than reflex saves, is there a trend like this in 5th? or is it all about the same. Reading through the rules Constitution seems important, if only to maintain concentration on spells.


Are their any particular skills that are more or less useful than others?

Also is there anyway to be able to concentrate on more than one Concentration spell at a time? A feat Perhaps?

[T.G. Oskar]

All saves are relatively important, but you're looking for Dexterity, Constitution and Wisdom. Those are your Fort/Ref/Will save equivalents.

Strength, Intelligence and Charisma have their uses, but not that much. Strength is mostly for spells that imply binds (Web, Entangle, etc.); Intelligence isn't that used but it does apply against spells that deal psychic damage (such as Synaptic Static, which is pretty nasty) and for some of the nastiest monsters (like Intellect Devourers for low-level characters, for example). Charisma, IIRC, is used mostly for Planar Binding and the like.

Getting new saving throws can be an issue, though. You can't get new proficiencies through multiclassing - only through certain ways, such as the Resilient feat (which also boosts that score by 1 point) or class features (Monks eventually gain proficiency in all saving throws, and Rangers with the Gloom Stalker archetype eventually get proficiency in Wisdom saves alongside what they already get). Most classes get 1 good (Dex/Con/Wis) and one "bad" (Str/Int/Cha); most fighter classes get Con saves + usually Strength, most mages get Wis + either Int or Cha. Sorcerers are weird in that they get Constitution and Charisma, and Paladins get Wisdom and Charisma but no Constitution (odd for a front-liner, but there it goes). Keep that in mind when building your character.

P.S.: As for skills - Perception (think Listen + Spot mixed in) is always useful and it's pretty easy to get. Either Deception or Persuasion (think Bluff vs. Diplomacy) works well for your social dealings; Intimidation doesn't have the Demoralize effect so it's about as useful as the previous two. Consider Athletics or Acrobatics (whichever is related to the highest score you have between Strength and Dexterity, if available); they're useful to protect against certain moves, and Athletics in particular is great if you intend to Shove or Grapple, since it runs off that modifier. Do note that skills only allow you to add your proficiency bonus (starts at +2, ends at +6), so if you have a high starting score it's not as quintessential.

You'll also need to think about tools. Stuff like Open Lock/Disable Device and Disguise got replaced by Thieves' Tools and Disguise Kit (same for most Craft and Profession subspecialties), so think about the utility you can get from it. Tools are relatively easy to get (backgrounds are the easiest), but focus only on tools you'll be sure to use.

[Yogibear41]

Was leaning toward paladin for Wisdom/Charisma, then taking the resilient feat for Constitution. Then the paladin ability to add +cha to saves for the icing on the cake.

[noob]

Recently got invited to join in on a new 5th edition game, I am a long time 3.5 player. I already have the 5th edition PHB, but am looking for suggestions on other books to pick up, or just advice in general. As a 3.5 player I am using to having all kinds of customizations, feats, alternate class features etc. so I am looking for similar options for 5th edition classes, although my understanding is that 5th edition has way less of these than 3.5 does.

You can A: pick the book with the most op content or B: realise that customisation have been vastly reduced for making the game easier: monsters are also weaker relatively to the levels at which you are supposed to encounter them.

[Unoriginal]

Was leaning toward paladin for Wisdom/Charisma, then taking the resilient feat for Constitution. Then the paladin ability to add +cha to saves for the icing on the cake.

Well given that Paladins tend to have high CON and yours would add +CHA to the save, Resilient (CON) may not be worthwhile.

It won't be bad, to be clear, but you may want to spend your ASI in something that gives more return.

[Kane0]

Core 3, Xanathars Guide to Everything and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

And obligatory ‘welcome to 5e’

- Proficiency bonus is used for skill/ability checks, attacks and saving throws instead of BAB, save progressions and skill points. It's all based off Stat + Proficiency, and the numbers are lower and scale slower. HP and abilities/options are the primary differentiation between low and high levels.
- Due to reduced scaling of basic numbers (skills, attacks, damage, AC) it is expected that low CR creatures remain a threat to higher level parties in significant numbers. This is intended.
- You have a saving throw type for each attribute.
- You can't have a stat higher than 20 by normal means, nor a stat higher than 30 by any means.
- Movement is not an action, and actions can happen between movement. Bonus actions are like swifts, reactions are like immediates. No action can be traded for another type. You can also make one interaction (grab a weapon, open a door, etc) per turn for free.
- Attacks are classified oddly but they all boil down to a combination of [melee or ranged] and [weapon or spell]
- You cannot delay, only ready an action.
- Only one thing provokes an AoO: Moving out of a creatures reach.
- Learn the advantage / disadvantage mechanic, it replaces 90% of fiddly +1s and -2s.
- Dying works differently. You only die outright when you take damage equal to your max HP in one hit after reaching 0. When reduced to 0 you make saving throws, three successes stabilizes you and 3 failures you die. Taking damage while making death saves counts as one failure.
- Damage resistance, reduction and vulnerability is simplified. It's half damage, doesn't exist (as such) and double damage respectively.
- There are two kinds of rest: short and long. There is expected to be two short rests for every long on average, which is important to maintain balance short rest classes (monk, warlock) against long rest classes (paladin, sorcerer).
- Everybody can heal via hit die, which are spent during short rests.
- Concentration is a thing you need to know well. Most buff, debuff and control spells need concentration, and you can concentrate on one thing at a time. You have a chance to lose concentration each time you take damage.
- All casting is 'spontaneous', as in you don’t put individual spells into slots, you just have a collection of spells available to you and spell slots to fuel them with. Your spells will either be prepared or known based on class.
- High casting stat doesn’t give you additional spell slots, but does affect your spell attack bonus and spell DC (which is the same across all spell levels).
- Cantrips are notable now, offering viable damage output based on PC level not caster level
- Levels 1-3 are supposed to go by very quickly, and 4-5 fairly quickly. The majority of PC time is angled to be spent in the level 6-11 range.
- Encounter design and challenge rating is also different. A CR 6 enemy is an easy (little resource expenditure & low chance of falling) challenge for a level 6 party of 4, not an easy challenge for a single level 6 character. You are expected to deal with half a dozen or so medium encounters during an adventuring day, not one or two hard ones.
- Don't use any optional rules to start with. This includes multiclassing and feats.
- The core math of the game does not expect you to get magic items by default. You can play through levels 1 to 20 without seeing a magic item at all, anything you get/give is a bonus.
Golden Rule: Thou shalt not assume to know that which shares a name
Sneak attack works differently. Protection from Evil works differently. Critical hits work differently. Do not skim over things that look familiar because they are almost all different in subtle ways that become very apparent in play.

[KorvinStarmast]

1. Out of curiosity, do any of the saving throws seem to matter more, or come up more often?
2. Are their any particular skills that are more or less useful than others?
3. Also is there anyway to be able to concentrate on more than one Concentration spell at a time? A feat Perhaps?

1. Dexterity, Wisdom, and Constitution. Then Str, Cha, Int. (Lots of things that try to grab or grapple you induce a Str save)
2. Perception, Athletics, Insight, Persuasion.
3. No. Stacking Concentration is explicitly not desired in this edition

Core 3, Xanathars Guide to Everything and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

And obligatory ‘welcome to 5e’

I'd recommed the PHB, Monster Manual, and DMG, and Xanathar's Guide to Everything. FWIW, I'd recommend against Tasha's starting out - the sub classes therein are as a whole not well balanced. There is a feature that I like a lot in it that, if your DM uses it, you get to respect a few things at levels 4, 8, 12, etc, and you can change cantrips.

But, if your DM uses it, check out the features.

[Yogibear41]

I know people have suggested not multiclassing, but I think I am going to take 1 or two levels of hexblade, then rest into paladin for the super charisma synergy.

[Greywander]

Out of curiosity, do any of the saving throws seem to matter more, or come up more often? For example in 3.5 Fort and Will saves were generally considered more important to make than reflex saves, is there a trend like this in 5th? or is it all about the same. Reading through the rules Constitution seems important, if only to maintain concentration on spells.

As others have said, it's generally accepted that the three "strong" saves are DEX, CON, and WIS. However, even these aren't all equal: DEX saves are usually just damage (think Fireball, dragon breath), whereas WIS saves include things like fear, charm, or mind control. CON saves are also important, covering everything from poison and concentration to paralysis and petrification. INT saves are rare, but they're usually very nasty when they do come up (see the Intellect Devourer). CHA saves come up with things like possession and teleportation (both being teleported against your will, e.g. Plane Shift, and teleporting through a barrier, e.g. Force Cage).

Are their any particular skills that are more or less useful than others?

Perception, Athletics, Stealth. Take a look at the grappling rules, they're a lot more streamlined and actually pretty useful. Don't sweat Stealth if you're in heavy armor, but it's a good pick for anyone else.

Also is there anyway to be able to concentrate on more than one Concentration spell at a time? A feat Perhaps?

No, it is intentional that concentration constrains which spells you can have active at the same time. No more infinitely buffing yourself into oblivion.

Was leaning toward paladin for Wisdom/Charisma, then taking the resilient feat for Constitution. Then the paladin ability to add +cha to saves for the icing on the cake.

Paladin is a strong option, and has some of the strongest defenses. I would prioritize getting CHA to 20 before picking up Resilient, and you might consider if a different feat would give you more value than Resilient. Mobile, Lucky, Magic Initiate, Ritual Caster, Inspiring Leader, there are a lot of great options out there. You might also consider Warcaster as an alternative to Resilient.

I know people have suggested not multiclassing, but I think I am going to take 1 or two levels of hexblade, then rest into paladin for the super charisma synergy.

Two levels allows you to pick up the Agonizing Blast invocation, making Eldritch Blast a solid ranged option. You can't smite with it, but it's an excellent backup option if you're facing flying enemies. You'll need Warcaster to cast it with your hands full, since it has a somatic component.

And again, make sure you carefully read the multiclass section of the rules. You'll need to start as a paladin if you want heavy armor. Make sure you understand how your spell slots combine, as well as which spells you know/can prepare. Also note that proficiency bonus scales with your character level, not your class level, despite proficiency bonus being listed on every class table, so multiclassing has no effect on proficiency bonus progression. Cantrips (like EB) also scale with character level, not class level.

[borg286]

You might consider looking into Green Flame Blade and Booming Blade. These cantrips are spells that make you do a melee weapon attack then have either extra fire damage to your primary target with more to a secondary target for Green Flame Blade, or Extra Thunder damage to your primary target and even more damage if they dare move for Booming Blade.
These are the main go-to cantrips for gishes and are available to
Classes: Artificer, Sorcerer, Warlock, WizardSubclasses: Arcana Cleric, Arcane Trickster Rogue, Eldritch Knight Fighter
Even the Elf can select this.

A common approach is to mix in Hexblade 1 so you can use your charisma for the attack and damage rolls rather than str/dex. This lets you be SAD when you mix it with Sorcerer/Bard/Paladin. Each of these classes give you a solid primary attack you can do round to round, while still giving you good spell access.

A word of note about the Paladin, don't be fooled by his large spell list. All of those smites were poorly designed to require concentration, which is no longer needed when you make your hit and the spell is used up. Since this claims your concentration you won't be able to concentrate on anything else, most notably the Bless Spell. 5e has so few bonuses to attacks and saves that a measly d4 extra carries lots of umph. Thus if someone has Bless there are strong reasons to have him always have it up in battle. Thus a paladin's optimal use of spell slots is for bless and doing smites.

Spells and spell slots are shared between your multiclasses. Thus 2 levels of Paladin gives you Smite (the class feature which doesn't require concentration, rather than the X Smite spells). 7 levels of Sorcerer gives you tons of spell slots and blast spells. You are just fine with a plan to use up these spell slots you got from sorcerer to fuel doing a smite on every hit. This turns out to be a brain-dead way to get effecient use out of your spell slots. Normally a spell takes up your action, has a chance to fail. But by holding onto these slots till you've hit, or better yet when you've crit, then your spell slots are put to good use knowing that they're being expended given you know you've already hit.

Like in 3.5 you only have 1 opportunity attack you can make, but unlike in 3.5, there is no way to get more. Thus a fighter needs to look to other ways to be "sticky." Many DMs just play a gentlemen's game and leave monsters you've engaged with in melee even if you've used up your Reaction, but technically they are free to wander away.

In 3.5 each martial class got numerous ways to get more attacks. But in 5e most martial classes top out on getting a 2nd attack at level 5/6, with only the fighter getting a 3rd attack at level 11, and 4th at level 17. Everybody else are scrambling for ways to get more attacks in. There are a few ways to use one's bonus action to get an attack. Haste is a staple. And lastly there is trying to force an opportunity attack. This is a bit of an arms race with monster's HP which keeps getting higher but your access to attacks plateauing.

[kingcheesepants]

Also is there anyway to be able to concentrate on more than one Concentration spell at a time? A feat Perhaps?

If you have access to simulacrum you can have both yourself and your simulacrum concentrating on something. Also some items (ring of spell storing, some sentient weapons) can cast spells and maintain the concentration for you. So essentially there is no way for you to maintain multiple concentration spells but there are ways for you to control items/creatures that can cast a concentration spell in addition to your own. Also there is an NPC in the Ravnica book that can concentrate on multiple things at once but that's a CR 28 monster's unique ability so good luck getting your GM to sign off on copying it for yourself.

[WaroftheCrans]

Spoiler: SNIP

Show

Core 3, Xanathars Guide to Everything and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

And obligatory ‘welcome to 5e’

- Proficiency bonus is used for skill/ability checks, attacks and saving throws instead of BAB, save progressions and skill points. It's all based off Stat + Proficiency, and the numbers are lower and scale slower. HP and abilities/options are the primary differentiation between low and high levels.
- Due to reduced scaling of basic numbers (skills, attacks, damage, AC) it is expected that low CR creatures remain a threat to higher level parties in significant numbers. This is intended.
- You have a saving throw type for each attribute.
- You can't have a stat higher than 20 by normal means, nor a stat higher than 30 by any means.
- Movement is not an action, and actions can happen between movement. Bonus actions are like swifts, reactions are like immediates. No action can be traded for another type. You can also make one interaction (grab a weapon, open a door, etc) per turn for free.
- Attacks are classified oddly but they all boil down to a combination of [melee or ranged] and [weapon or spell]
- You cannot delay, only ready an action.
- Only one thing provokes an AoO: Moving out of a creatures reach.
- Learn the advantage / disadvantage mechanic, it replaces 90% of fiddly +1s and -2s.
- Dying works differently. You only die outright when you take damage equal to your max HP in one hit after reaching 0. When reduced to 0 you make saving throws, three successes stabilizes you and 3 failures you die. Taking damage while making death saves counts as one failure.
- Damage resistance, reduction and vulnerability is simplified. It's half damage, doesn't exist (as such) and double damage respectively.
- There are two kinds of rest: short and long. There is expected to be two short rests for every long on average, which is important to maintain balance short rest classes (monk, warlock) against long rest classes (paladin, sorcerer).
- Everybody can heal via hit die, which are spent during short rests.
- Concentration is a thing you need to know well. Most buff, debuff and control spells need concentration, and you can concentrate on one thing at a time. You have a chance to lose concentration each time you take damage.
- All casting is 'spontaneous', as in you don’t put individual spells into slots, you just have a collection of spells available to you and spell slots to fuel them with. Your spells will either be prepared or known based on class.
- High casting stat doesn’t give you additional spell slots, but does affect your spell attack bonus and spell DC (which is the same across all spell levels).
- Cantrips are notable now, offering viable damage output based on PC level not caster level
- Levels 1-3 are supposed to go by very quickly, and 4-5 fairly quickly. The majority of PC time is angled to be spent in the level 6-11 range.
- Encounter design and challenge rating is also different. A CR 6 enemy is an easy (little resource expenditure & low chance of falling) challenge for a level 6 party of 4, not an easy challenge for a single level 6 character. You are expected to deal with half a dozen or so medium encounters during an adventuring day, not one or two hard ones.
- Don't use any optional rules to start with. This includes multiclassing and feats.
- The core math of the game does not expect you to get magic items by default. You can play through levels 1 to 20 without seeing a magic item at all, anything you get/give is a bonus.
Golden Rule: Thou shalt not assume to know that which shares a name
Sneak attack works differently. Protection from Evil works differently. Critical hits work differently. Do not skim over things that look familiar because they are almost all different in subtle ways that become very apparent in play.

To add on to this:
-You always have your full range of actions available to you. Making 4 attacks at lvl 20 does not mean that you can only then make a 5 foot step. You always have your movement, action, bonus action and reaction, unless it's explicitly disabled.
-Attacks can be interspersed with movement in between. You can attack, move 10 feet, attack again, move 10 more feet, attack again and still move.
-The number of permanent bonuses in 5th edition are severely limited. Almost every good buff has a duration, and that duration tends to be concentration.
- Wealth by level does not exist. Buying magic items doesn't exist. Buying expensive mundane objects mostly don't exist.
-Optimization floor and ceiling are both low. So long as you don't go way out of your way in one direction or the other, you will perform generally on par with everyone else.
-Spellcasters are considered to generally be more powerful than martial characters, but nowhere in the realm of 3e, and more from the versatility point of view.


Just to modify two of Kane's statements -

- Attacks are classified oddly but they all boil down to a combination of [melee or ranged] and [weapon or spell]

A few weird things with unarmed attacks and other miscellaneous interactions fall outside of this, for example, the beast barbarian's claws.

- Only one thing provokes an AoO: Moving out of a creatures reach.

Feats and other abilities can modify this, but for the most part this is true. You also can only get one opportunity attack per round.

Also is there anyway to be able to concentrate on more than one Concentration spell at a time? A feat Perhaps?

Most of the ways to concentrate on more than one Concentration spell boil down to passing off Concentration to another creature or object. Notably, you can use a Ring of Spell Storing, an Artificers Spell Storing Item (SSI), a Chronurgist Wizard's Arcane Abeyance, and a Glyph of Warding.

[Yogibear41]

Do saving throws automatically fail on a natural 1, I looked through the PHB, and see no mention of this? Theoretically if I have high saves bonuses I could auto succeed vs some things?

Also, I know if I am a multi-class character I can use slots from either class to prepare spells that I know, but for say I am a low level paladin, and a high level warlock, could I use 5th level paladin spells in my warlock slots, or would I only be able to use the lower level paladin spells I had access too.

[anthon]

it depends on what you like to create, but xanathars contains a lot of material. the stuff in Tasha's can be critical expansions to variant rules during creation, but its class list is pretty quirky. A book that introduces new races certainly. Since much material was issued in tiny little free bundles, i would recommend those too.

[kingcheesepants]

Do saving throws automatically fail on a natural 1, I looked through the PHB, and see no mention of this? Theoretically if I have high saves bonuses I could auto succeed vs some things?
Also, I know if I am a multi-class character I can use slots from either class to prepare spells that I know, but for say I am a low level paladin, and a high level warlock, could I use 5th level paladin spells in my warlock slots, or would I only be able to use the lower level paladin spells I had access too.

Many tables employ house rules where 1s are always failures (and also fumble tables) but RAW you just have to meet the target number and if you can do so even when rolling a 1 you succeed. This also applies to skill checks.

If you have higher level slots you can use them on any spells you know. But if for example you're a Paladin 3/Warlock 12 you would not be able to cast find greater steed even though you have 5th level slots and it's on the Paladin list. You can however cast any of the Paladin spells you know (cure wounds for example) using a 5th level slot.

[Greywander]

Do saving throws automatically fail on a natural 1, I looked through the PHB, and see no mention of this? Theoretically if I have high saves bonuses I could auto succeed vs some things?

Attack rolls are the only thing that auto-fail on a 1 and auto-succeed on a 20. Ability checks and saving throws can still fail on a 20 if your bonus is too low, or still succeed on a 1 if your bonus is too high.

Also, I know if I am a multi-class character I can use slots from either class to prepare spells that I know, but for say I am a low level paladin, and a high level warlock, could I use 5th level paladin spells in my warlock slots, or would I only be able to use the lower level paladin spells I had access too.

The short version is that spells you know or can prepare are considered individually for each class, while all your caster levels are pooled together to determine how many spell slots you have. For example, a wizard 5/cleric 9 can prepare the spells that a 5th level wizard can, and also that a 9th level cleric can. Each set of spells is prepared separately. But, you have the spell slots of a 14th level caster. Even though you can only prepare up to 3rd level wizard spells and 5th level cleric spells, you actually have a 7th level slot. While you can't prepare any 7th level spells, you can upcast your lower level spells using the 7th level slot.

Warlocks are a bit different, since pact magic slots are considered separate from regular spell slots. Basically, as a paladin/warlock multiclass, you treat both as completely separate. You have your paladin slots and your warlock slots. Your paladin slots recharge on a long rest, while your warlock slots recharge on a short rest. You can cast your warlock spells using your paladin slots, and smite or cast paladin spells using warlock slots.

Also, in case you haven't noticed it yet, all classes are spontaneous caster now. You no longer prepare spells into individual slots anymore. Once a spell is prepared, you can cast it as many times as you like as long as you have spell slots left to cast it with.

[Ortho]

Do saving throws automatically fail on a natural 1, I looked through the PHB, and see no mention of this? Theoretically if I have high saves bonuses I could auto succeed vs some things?

In theory, yes. Critical successes and failures are only applied to attack rolls in 5e.

Also, I know if I am a multi-class character I can use slots from either class to prepare spells that I know, but for say I am a low level paladin, and a high level warlock, could I use 5th level paladin spells in my warlock slots, or would I only be able to use the lower level paladin spells I had access too.

No, prepared spells are calculated as though you are single-classed.

As an example, let's assume you have ten levels of Wizard and ten levels of Sorcerer. You would gain 9th-level spell slots through this multiclass, but you would not be able to prepare 9th-level spells - just as neither a 10th-level Wizard nor 10th-level Sorcerer can prepare 9th-level spells. You are limited to the spell selection that a 10th-level Wizard and a 10th-level Sorcerer would be able to prepare.

[WaroftheCrans]

Do saving throws automatically fail on a natural 1, I looked through the PHB, and see no mention of this? Theoretically if I have high saves bonuses I could auto succeed vs some things?

Attack rolls are the only thing that auto-fail on a 1 and auto-succeed on a 20. Ability checks and saving throws can still fail on a 20 if your bonus is too low, or still succeed on a 1 if your bonus is too high.

Death saves are the other exception, but in a broader sense. Anything below a 10 is a failure, and a 1 is a critical failure, counting as a second failure. Anything 10 or above is a success, and a 20 is a critical success, resulting in you being restored to consciousness with 1 hitpoint.

Concentration saves are a good example of a save that spellcasters make that they can often autosucceed on (particularly NPCs). Taking less than 20 damage while concentrating on a spell results in a DC 10 Con save, and with Con proficiency and good Con, a +9 bonus is achievable.

Autofailures can also happen, for instance with an ancient red dragon's DC 24 Fire Breath. If you have only middling dex, for instance for Medium Armor and no save proficiency, you'll autofail it.