So I just picked up the dexterity tome in BG1 but since I'm playing an elven fighter/mage with 19 dex, it doesn't seem useful to the player char. Will boosting my dex to 20 be useful at all in BG2, or should I just use it on an NPC with low dex instead?

Also I remember reading that tomes don't carry over to the next game if kept in your inventory (not playing BGT currently) but maybe that's incorrect? Thanks.

Ability tables:
http://baldursgate.wikia.com/wiki/Character_Ability_Scores

Increasing DEX from 19 to 20 will only have a beneficial effect on thieving skills. Your F/M will not benefit until you reach the Machine of Lum in Watcher's Keep, when a DEX of 21 will get you increased AC and ranged THAC0 and reaction bonus. If you are not playing BGT, giving it to an NPC will be a complete waste as far as BG2 goes.

Tomes do not exist in BG2. The equivalent stat booster is the Machine of Lum at Watcher's Keep.

There are other opportunities to boost your ability scores in BG2. Most of the permanent boosts are towards the end of the game, however, so it'll take a while before it has an effect. It may allow you to get a better result when you use potions, but for a lot of the game (up until more or less the start of the expansion) that'll be about it. As you're not playing BGT, any stat changes you apply to NPCs won't carry over even if you adventure with that character in BG2, just in case you aren't aware.

And no, stat tomes don't carry over to the next game. The vast majority of items don't, even with BG2: there's a reason for that in the story. Only a few select items carry over:

You may not want to know what the best items to carry over are; it could be considered metagaming. If you don't, stop reading here :P I'd recommend that when you make your final save you make sure your own character is carrying the Helm of Balduran, and the Chainmail +3. Also make sure you aren't carrying the missile attraction studded leather, Fallorain's Plate, the Mail of the Dead or the Protector of the Second, or you'll get those instead.

What pi4t said. Using the tome on your main character will up the threshhold what casing a stat stuff (cat's grace in this case).

Thing is though, At the end of the game, only your main character can be exported so I give all the tomes to my PC whether the character uses the stat or not.

Cat's Grace == 3.5 rules. Doesn't exist in BG.

Guh, that was pretty dumb of me. I thought cat's grace was introduced in the BG:TOB but I was actually thinking of IWD:HOW.

I'll try and be a little more careful in future.

But according to the loading text in BG2, you can import your character to Neverwinter Nights! So then you can use it there!


(to be clear: it says that, it was promised, and then Bioware said they couldn't do it. So no, it won't help there, either.)

No, they couldn't do it because Cat's Grace does not exist in AD&D.

Bringing the Golden Pantaloons will make a later, otherwise-meaningless encounter meaningful, but you will have to carry them all the way to ToB, and that is a very, very long time to carry a useless item to play out that running joke.

Also, unless you're playing an evil character, you will lose 1 DEX at the end of BG2. So it's probably worth getting an extra point in DEX just to keep it.