Hitpoints at level up
When playing Baldur's Gate 2 on Normal or Novice the amount of hitpoints received at level up will always be the maximum allowed for that class. Playing on Core Rules, Hard or Insane will result in a die roll lower than or equal to the maximum of hitpoints you can get in Normal or Novice difficulty.
Warriors, priests, rogues and wizards form the 4 basic groups of occupation. Each of the classes within these groups share the same hitdice with the other classes in the same group, the only exception to this rule being the Barbarian who has a D12 instead of a D10.
The hitdie represents a die with n sides, where n is determined by the character's class (we will use group from now on, because there are only 4 basic groups whereas there are several classes. Do note however that the Barbarian is the only class that has a different hitdie, but the rules for warriors apply to this class as well).
The "independant" levels are the levels where you only get a small amount of hitpoints (1, 2 or 3 which only depends on the group, not on the character's constitution. The independant levels start at a specific level (10 for warriors and priests, 11 for wizards and rogues), however since this creates some confusion we will also be using the term "breakpoint". This is the point (between 2 levels) where a character stops gaining the normal set of hitpoints, but receives the smaller amount of HP (1, 2 or 3).
Example: the breakpoint for a (single classed) ranger character (group of warriors) is the point where he's going to level 10, meaning he was level 9 and has just received enough experience points to go to level 10. He will gain 3 HP at this level up and every level up thereafter.
- Single class characters
The hitpoints of single class characters are quite easy to calculate, it is in fact the only type of character where nothing abnormal happens.
All groups of characters (warrior, priest, rogue, wizard) will gain hitpoints based on their respective hitdie.- Warriors have a D10 and their independant levels start at level 10 (which means the breakpoint occurs when going from L9 to L10). After the breakpoint they will only gain 3HP/level regardless of constitution.
- Priests have a D8 and their independant levels also start at level 10, they will gain 2HP/level from then on regardless of constitution.
- Rogues have a D6 and their independant levels start at level 11. After the breakpoint they will also gain 2HP/level regardless of constitution.
- Wizards have a D4 and -just like rogues- their breakpoint occurs when going to level 11. After the breakpoint they will always gain 1HP/level regardless of constitution.
Now how does constitution fit into this? Well, constitution adds (or substracts) a small amount of HP to the total sum of hitpoints each level up. To make it less confusing (and usable for later), think of the bonus to the hitpoints as a bonus to your hitdie.
Example: a fighter with a constitution of 18 will gain another 4HP each level up to the breakpoint. By leveling up from L8 to L9 this fighter will gain 10 hitpoints (from his D10 (warrior-group)) and another 4HP due to his 18 CON. So he will get a total amount of 14HP.
Note that at the next level up this fighter will only get 3HP, because the independant levels of a fighter start at L10.A constitution of 15 will result in a +1 modifier for all classes. A constitution of 16 and above will result in a +2 modifier for all classes, except for warrior-classes. Only warriors benefit from a CON above 16. With a constitution of 17 they will gain 3HP each level up plus the hitpoints they receive from their die roll. A constitution of 18 for warriors will result in a +4 modifier. This table can be found in the manual.
- Dual-classed characters
Dual-classed characters follow the basic rules (written above) for each class. However they will not gain any hitpoints when their new class is not one level higher than their original class regardless of constitution modifiers. Once they regain their inactive class they will follow the basic rules for their new class only.
Example: we will dual a mage (level 8 ) with a constitution of 17 into a fighter. When the mage has finally reached L8 he will have 48 hitpoints (8D4 + 8*2) or less (depending on the game difficulty). At that time we dual him to a fighter. The fighter gains new levels but will not gain any hitpoints until his level is higher than level 8. When the fighter finally receives enough experience points to go to level 9, he will regain the abilities from his inactive class and will also start gaining HP. When he levels from L8 to L9, he will receive a total amount of 13HP (1D10 from his warrior die roll and a bonus of 3HP from his constitution). At the next level up, he will only receive 3HP, because the HP breakpoint for warriors is before L10.
- Multi-classed characters
They are in fact the most difficult characters to calculate the hitpoints for. With no constitution modifiers the amount of HP is pretty normal (it differs by 1 sometimes), however once constitution modifiers enter the calculation, it gets pretty screwed up. Sometimes one of the classes will gain 6HP at one level up and 7 HP at the next. A certain logic I haven't discovered yet.
- Two classes
Multi-classed characters with two classes get (at level up) the hitpoints of the class that levels up divided by two and rounded down to the nearest digit (integer) unless the result would be zero (in that case it will be 1).
Example: we create a cleric-mage with a constitution of 13. Right at the beginning of SoA this character has 36 hitpoints. Why? Well, each time the cleric gains a level, he gains 1D8. This number is then divided by two, because the character has 2 classes. On normal or novice this character would get 4HP every level until the breakpoint (from then on he will gain only 1HP (2HP because of the priest-group which is then divided by two (for the number of classes))). The mage part will get 1D4 each level. This number is also divided by two, so the mage class will get 2HP each level. At the start of SoA this character's levels are 6|6. 6 Levels of cleric result in 24HP (6 * 4). 6 Levels of mage result in another 12HP (6 * 2) for a toal sum of 36HP. The mage part will reach his breakpoint first. He will get 1HP (1HP (from the wizard-group)/2 = 0.5 which we have to round down, but this will result in 0HP, so we give 1HP) when he's leveling up from L10 to L11. The cleric part reaches the breakpoint a bit later (check the experience point progression tables in your manual) and will then get 1HP (2HP (from the priest-group) /2 = 1HP) per level up.
I didn't take this example (cleric-mage) for no apparent reason. I took it because now you can easily calculate the number of hitpoints Aerie should have. This brings me to another point: these "rules" apply for all characters, but NPCs start out with a set amount of hitpoints.
- Three classes
Just like multi-classed characters with two classes, these characters get the hitpoints of the class that levels up, but this amount is divided by three (for the number of classes) first.
Example: we create a fighter-cleric-mage with a constitution of 16. For each level the fighter gets, he gets 4HP (1D10 + 2(from the constitution) and then we divide it by three). For every level of the cleric, 3HP (1D8 +2 = 10 (max), now we divide by 3 and round down) and for every level of the mage 2HP (1D4 + 2 = 6 (max), divided by 3 and rounded down is 2) up until the breakpoint! Once every class reaches his breakpoint, each class will get 1HP/level (fighters normally get 3HP after the breakpoint, but we divide this by 3 (because of the number of classes). The other classes are analogue).
- Two classes
I hope this clears up most of the questions concerning the amount of hitpoints received each level up.
P.S. I would like to stress one more time that I have seen several "illogical" level up results. Bare this in mind, especially for multi-classed characters.
