Shorty saves calculated on level up?

Wowo

So I read that the shorty saving throw bonus is calculated on level up. If I boost my con to 18 before I level via items and spells and then level up will I get +1 saves until I next level up?

Tresset

Lol... shorty saves...

Edit: How do those work anyway? In game text isn't very descriptive.

Jalily

Shorty save bonuses are based on your natural Constitution, so items and spells will have no effect.

@Tresset Shorties get a one-time bonus to their saves based on this table: http://www.playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Races_and_Stats#.22Shorty.22_Saving_Throws

Dwarves and halflings get the bonuses to Saves vs. Death, Wand, and Spell while gnomes only get the bonuses to Saves vs. Wand and Spell.

Nifft

If I use the Tome of +1 Con, that's a permanent improvement, so if that took me from 17 to 18, an extra +1 to my saves would be factored in at level-up, right?

Wanderon

Nifft said:

If I use the Tome of +1 Con, that's a permanent improvement, so if that took me from 17 to 18, an extra +1 to my saves would be factored in at level-up, right?

Yes - not as soon as you use the tome but on your next level up.

IkMarc

Gnomes are being discriminated against here

Tyranus

@Jalily got it right.

One thing I never understood. Dwarves get a bonus to their constitution, Halflings and Gnomes do not. Yet, Gnomes are the class who only gain 2/3rds of the savings the others do? Is a gnome being able to roll Illusionist/x really worth not getting the extra save vs. Death? I know there's no difference 18-25, but there could have been!

Nifft

Tyranus said:

One thing I never understood. Dwarves get a bonus to their constitution, Halflings and Gnomes do not. Yet, Gnomes are the class who only gain 2/3rds of the savings the others do? Is a gnome being able to roll Illusionist/x really worth not getting the extra save vs. Death? I know there's no difference 18-25, but there could have been!

There's nothing to understand. The people who wrote the 2e rules were forced to apologize for the quality of their work.

2e was basically a bunch of people who didn't fully understand 1e trying to write a set of rule books.

Instead of the nuanced tables of 1e which implemented bell curves in attack distribution, 2e gave you THAC0.

Instead of ambidextrous Drow and ruthlessly pragmatic Rangers, 2e gave you ambidextrous rangers (because this one famous Drow was also a Ranger).

Schneidend

Tyranus said:

@Jalily got it right.

One thing I never understood. Dwarves get a bonus to their constitution, Halflings and Gnomes do not. Yet, Gnomes are the class who only gain 2/3rds of the savings the others do? Is a gnome being able to roll Illusionist/x really worth not getting the extra save vs. Death? I know there's no difference 18-25, but there could have been!

Dwarves and Halflings can't be an overpowered Fighter/Mage or Thief/Mage. They needed a boost.

Wowo

Tyranus said:

@Jalily got it right.

One thing I never understood. Dwarves get a bonus to their constitution, Halflings and Gnomes do not. Yet, Gnomes are the class who only gain 2/3rds of the savings the others do? Is a gnome being able to roll Illusionist/x really worth not getting the extra save vs. Death? I know there's no difference 18-25, but there could have been!

Ahh yeah, Gnome is the master race. If I had to choose a race to make a party of 6 out of it would either be human or gnome hands down.

Oxford_Guy

Gnomes are potentially the most powerful race - they get thieving bonuses, are the only class that can be a specialist mage *and* multi-class, they get shorty-based bonuses to saves vs. spell, can pick the cleric/thief multiclass (halflings and dwarves can't, only half-orcs, who don't get the thieving bonuses nor shorty save bonuses) and the only downside is -1 to Wis (but +1 to Int). What's not to like? About the only I can think of is their limited romance options (in BG2 they can only romance Aerie), and their inability to cast necromancy spells (but their extra spells make up for this over an elf multiclass mage, as well as the potential extra Con and Int, though they do lose out on the +1THAC0 for swords and bows)

They used to have a truly terrible avatar and paperdoll, which usually prevented me from playing them, but the ones in BGEE are fine (for both sexes).