I'd appreciate some clarification on how the various saves work, so here's a bunch of questions:

1) Some spells apparently check against con (plague, poison, and the like), does this mean that against them it doesn't matter how much save vs. spell (svs) you have?

2) Does saving vs. neuro disrupt only check save vs. paralysis (svp), i.e. again it doesn't help you if you have -50svs?

3a) What about spells/communes that do mental damage, does svs have any impact or is it only a check against save vs. mental (svm)? Or a combination of the two, average or something?

3b) E.g. PWK, which IIRC does mental damage if it doesn't kill you: is the kill chance against svs, but then against svm to determine if you take full or 50% mental damage?

3c) Generally speaking, is svm mostly just an "anti-bard" save? I take it both affects whether a song malediction lands, and if it does only 50% damage?

4) What if you add spellbane to the mix, does it work better the more svs you have?

Thanks!

>1) Some spells apparently check against con (plague, poison,
>and the like), does this mean that against them it doesn't
>matter how much save vs. spell (svs) you have?

Yes, that's correct.

>2) Does saving vs. neuro disrupt only check save vs. paralysis
>(svp), i.e. again it doesn't help you if you have -50svs?

Correct.

>3a) What about spells/communes that do mental damage, does svs
>have any impact or is it only a check against save vs. mental
>(svm)? Or a combination of the two, average or something?

Depends on the spell, though yeah I would expect most of them are "mental" saves. These care about save vs. mental, INT, and WIS most of all.

Note that for poison/disease/mental saves, the relevant resistance/vuln is a factor (e.g. resist poison helps you make poison saves) and some skills are a factor. For example, being berserked helps with the body saves (poison/disease) but hurts with mental saves.

>3b) E.g. PWK, which IIRC does mental damage if it doesn't kill
>you: is the kill chance against svs, but then against svm to
>determine if you take full or 50% mental damage?

If I remember correctly, PWK is just a spell save. If you make it, you always take the damage. If you fail it, there is a chance you may die, otherwise you take the damage.

>3c) Generally speaking, is svm mostly just an "anti-bard"
>save? I take it both affects whether a song malediction lands,
>and if it does only 50% damage?

It's the relevant save for most songs, although it's also relevant for some other mind-affecting spells and communes as well. Some of the new shaman path communes fall in this category, for example.

>4) What if you add spellbane to the mix, does it work better
>the more svs you have?

Part of the check to see whether spellbane works or not is making a spell save, so generally things that help you make saves (including -spell) are helpful.