18 Con 6 / 7 Lvl 5/6 Lvl 4/5 Tome Con 3/4 Ring 2/3 ( better bling I know exists somewhere ) Any Con raising item 1/ 2 to 0/ 1 Something I missed -1 / 0
I just want to point out that you don't get +1 to saves for every additional point in CON, as you seem to be thinking here. See the chart here. At 18 CON your shorty save bonus is as good as it's going to get.
In PnP high level characters book, it is stated that regular characters fail their saving throws if they roll a 1,2 or 3. Lesser deities fail on a roll of 1,2, Intermediate deities fail on a roll of 1, and Greater deities never fail a saving throw.
But this is not implemented in the bg engine, so a saving throw of 0 or -1, -2 will make sure you make almost every saving throw. Unless the saving throw has a huge negative modifier itself, (slow spell forces a save vs spell at -4, for instance) or you are greater malisoned (-4 penalty to all saves) /doomed (-2 to all saves) ofcourse.
Gnomes are the best at save vs spells and rods as they can be illusionists, who have the best base save vs those things, coupled with their CON saving throw bonus, they are good candidates to resist a spell. However, they do not receive a save bonus vs paralsye/poison/death. So a ghoul's touch (paralyse), spider bite (poison), or a wail of the banshee spell (death effect) can still take them out. Dwarves and halflings on the other hand, do get their CON bonus to save vs p/p/death as well.
In BG2, I sent my Gnome Kensai alone against beholders since he was immune to all their status effects with his saves and boosting equipment available at that point in the game. The only worry was elder orbs using imprisonment. As others have said, the save bonuses are really significant.
Comments
But this is not implemented in the bg engine, so a saving throw of 0 or -1, -2 will make sure you make almost every saving throw. Unless the saving throw has a huge negative modifier itself, (slow spell forces a save vs spell at -4, for instance) or you are greater malisoned (-4 penalty to all saves) /doomed (-2 to all saves) ofcourse.
Gnomes are the best at save vs spells and rods as they can be illusionists, who have the best base save vs those things, coupled with their CON saving throw bonus, they are good candidates to resist a spell. However, they do not receive a save bonus vs paralsye/poison/death. So a ghoul's touch (paralyse), spider bite (poison), or a wail of the banshee spell (death effect) can still take them out. Dwarves and halflings on the other hand, do get their CON bonus to save vs p/p/death as well.