Shorty races bonus saving throw calculation

Gelsomino

Greetings,

please help me understand shorty races bonus saving throw calculation.
why do they get only 3 5 5 bonuses when they should get 7 7 7 ?

jmerry

First, that table is the total bonus, including the "base" 2. It's not "2 plus the table entry". And the shorty races have minimum CON requirements at character creation; the lowest any of them can normally go is 8 for gnomes. You can't get into the lower reaches there normally; only permanent CON penalties such as repeatedly losing familiars can ever make the bottom two categories of that table matter. (The shorty save bonus is recalculated whenever you level up, using your base CON)

Second, base saving throws in these games can't go below zero, ever. That includes the shorty bonus. Equipment and spell effects can push your saves below zero, but that's it. Once you hit a base save of zero, you stop improving with levels. A human cleric has a base death save of 6 at level 10, 5 at level 13, 4 at level 16, and 2 at level 19. A dwarf cleric with 18+ CON has a base death save of 1 at level 10, 0 at level 13, 0 at level 16, and 0 at level 19.

Gelsomino

thank you for such complete explanation.