Let's take the example from In an area covered with Caltrops and Ball Bearings, If you're falling because of Ball Bearings, do you automatically land on the Caltrops too?
In an area covered with ball bearings and caltrops, a character is moving at full speed. She is, then, required to make a save against ball bearings and again caltrops. It does matter, because:
- If caltrops save is first, and fails, it makes character stop moving and conditions no longer force ball bearings save.
- If ball bearings save is first, and fails, it may give disadvantage to caltrops save (this is a topic of question linked, not this one).
As you see, there may be a situation where at least two saves are required, but no "natural" indication which one is made first. Is there a general rule about saving throws order? If there is, please use example above as example how to apply it.
Best Answer
For simultaneous saves, there is an optional rule
Generally, when one is making a saving throw you are making them one at a time in the order they occur. That is the rule that saving throws operate under normally. However, if the saves somehow end up happening at the same time with no logical way to separate them, we do have an optional rule that will help.
In Xanathar's Guide to Everything there is an optional rule that a DM can use to adjudicate cases where multiple things happen at the same time:
So, in this case, the player who is making the saves gets to choose the order of the saves they make assuming it is their turn. In the weirder case of the player moving through the caltrops/bearings on another person's turn, that person will decide the order.