I'm curious about the practical limit on svs vs spell, etc.. Once you get to divine saves (-50), is there a reason to keep stacking saves or are there diminishing returns?

I've never really paid attention to the mechanics of how saves work except the usual frustration when they don't seem to do squat. :)

A related thought -- does the Lucky edge affect saves behind the scenes?

There are absolutely diminishing returns on saving throws, and there is indeed a point at which more saves would legitimately be totally useless to you -- however due to the partially random nature of spellcraft and other bonuses, it is hard to pinpoint exactly when that point of total uselessness is reached. I can safely say that few if any characters ever reach it.

Luck has a small effect on saves, and Lucky has a small effect on luck, so compounding those things yes it has an affect but it's not a big affect. It's an edge I rarely pick for myself, but if saves are something you typically struggle with it is a decent choice.

Typically, I will try to gear a hero with very high mental stats (elf/d-elf/gnome) with at least -60 spell gear, very dumb characters with more like -100 spell gear, and characters in between in between. Understand that A) this is my aspiration with a very high end set of gear, which I will not always reach and B) this assumes a typical PK range with higher-end-skill enemies where I care about my saves. My last hero, for example, carried a fair bit less -spell than this and instead stacked damroll to a degree that I normally would not because I had a PK range that would let me get away with it (casterish characters and malediction characters were relatively out of vogue).

Didn't you see the no text in the subject? :P

In terms of the trade-off between saves and damroll?

It is quite understandable if you are somewhat vague, but some idea would be welcome.

Thank you!

That's a good question. It depends on a couple things:

1) Being that Calming impiles I'm a warrior, what is the role of berserk (and to a lesser extent possibly, mostly in the case of Cry warriors, warcry) to my character? I've played warriors for whom berserk was mostly a way to heal, and I've played warriors who kept berserk up pretty much for life as an extra buff. The latter can get away with less -spell in most cases although there are obviously trade-offs.

2) It depends a lot on my range. Picking Calming (for me) probably implies that there are a bunch of really hard to deal with casters in it often, and in that case, I might not ease off the saves pedal that much -- if I'm burning a legacy to be obnoxious to cast/commune on, I might as well just be really obnoxious to cast/commune on. With a more balanced range, I might ease back to something more like -40 spell since (depending on other factors, my mental stats, etc.) that might still result in saving better than any other character can achieve with any realistic amount of -spell.

n/t

Seems to have mostly flavor without a lot of solid information. Certainly these two posts have a lot more of that than it does.

I think that second paragraph is taken directly from player's handbook in the old school Basic D&D rule set box.

For shame!