I'm on my first playthrough of the game and am still learning how things work. I'm trying to make the vivifier. I have the schematics and the 2 ingredients from the Vendigroth ruins. What I don't have is any skill in chemistry and therapeutics. I've read several walkthroughs and I thought I could pick up tech manuals in Tarant to boost my skills high enough to make the vivifier.

My character is level 50 with a slight leaning towards magic (using the basic healing spell when Virgil can't/won't heal) and built up as a melee fighter. Her intelligence is only 9 and no skill in any tech. Is it possible or am I out of luck?

You sir/madam, are a godsend. Thanks!

Sadly, my intelligence was 8, not 9. I couldn't get it boosted high enough to use the Therapeutics to make the vivifier. I'll be sure to up my intelligence to 10 ASAP on my next character.

Even 8 IN plus enough potions of IN should suffice. Just buy that fifth book in Therapeutics; 5 x 18 = 90, which is higher than both the 78 needed in Therapeutics and the 85 in Chemistry.

At what point did you appear to fail? Did you miscount the number of books needed, or try to use them without quaffing another IN potion? Were you missing one of the components after all? Did you verify that you were able to learn the schematic correctly (by doing step 5 of the original instructions)?

My best guess is that you continued buying manuals after that first potion of IN wore off. If you see the sparkles that indicate the end of the spell:

1) Stop buying manuals.
2) Use another potion.
3) Buy the rest of what you need.

Which means that for a decent margin of error, you may want to approach the bookseller with at least 3 potions in your inventory, so you don't have to worry about going too fast and making a mistake. Gypsies (including the one just outside Tarant) spawn a new potion of IN every day; and so does the small magic shop right next to the magic smith, I believe.

Also, IIRC the UAP fixes a bug with the tech manuals, wherein you can buy them without using any potions and simply drink one when it comes time to use them. (In the unpatched game, the manuals' potential is set by what your IN is when you buy them, as well as when you use them.)

Of course, old saves won't work with the patch; so be sure to do so before you start your next playthrough.

I'm curious about this because I've always had high INT characters and haven't used potions of Intelligence before: Do you have to use the potion BEFORE buying the manuals? Can't you just buy them all, then quaff the potion, then craft?

If you're patched, then that shouldn't be a problem. In the prepatched game, the manual's potential was determined by your IN at time of purchase rather than time of use; a PITA if you wanted to craft something early on, and didn't know about (or about the need for) boosting your stats.

Yep.

I reloaded the save before buying the manuals. I do have the schematic learned and both components in my inventory. I bought 5 of each book. I think the potion was still working when I bought them all; I never noticed a sparkle effect until after I drank a second potion to combine everything. The therapeutics area is red/pink and chemistry is white with the books, components, and 18 Int.

It's possible the potion wore off while buying. I'll try again with more potions. Does the boost last longer if I drink a second before the first wears off?

I'm not sure if my game is patched. It's whatever GOG gave me in the download. I didn't even think about looking for patches, though I should know better.

Okay, I went and verified a couple of things. I'm so used to the process that I can do everything (purchase and combine) on a single draught. Apparently, there's an unexpected glitch if you need to do it separately.

1) First, each potion lasts one full minute of real time.

2) If you run out of time and have to use one or more additional potions, follow this intermediate step:

a) Remove all the tech manuals from your inventory. (Drop them, store them or give them to a follower.)
b) Drink the potion, then take the manuals back.
c) Continue as outlined in step 5 of my OP above.

Apparently the problem is that you don't get the extra IN bonus for manuals that are already in your inventory when you quaff another potion. This is true in the patched version (which is what I run) and is therefore probably true in the original as well.

I just checked this as well: no it doesn't. If you drink a second potion while the first is still in effect, you lose the full value of the second potion as soon as the first one wears off.

However — and this is something I wasn't aware of till now — you retain the full skill value of the technical manuals in your possession, even once the potion wears off, until you actually remove them from your inventory. (This doesn't make a huge difference for a one-shot item like this; but if you were trying to create an arsenal of time bombs, for instance, you wouldn't be forced to stop just because your time was up.)

I'm not sure whether this is true for the original version as well, but it's something to consider. There's an easy way to check: go to the Character Editor screen, click on the gear icon there (to get to the tech colleges) and then click on the Chemistry and Therapeutics icons. For each, there will be a small blue number in a box in the upper right hand corner; which represents your current skill level for that college. If either of those numbers is below what it needs to be, then we're one step closer to figuring out where the trouble lies.

The UAP (unofficial Arcanum patch) is most definitely worth it, in so many ways: it fixes broken dialogues, items, schematics, sprites and quests. And I believe it makes using a potion to BUY the manuals a moot point, though you'll still have to take the books out of your inventory, drink the potion and then re-add the books to get the proper effect.

It's the first link in the first post of the stickied thread at the top of this board. (The second link is worthwhile as well, while the last one IMO isn't necessary, and can cause more trouble than it's worth.)

I made such a newb mistake. I spent half an hour staring at the picture of the elixir of prowess before realizing it looks nothing like the accelerated healing I had. That was the big mistake. I went back to Vendigroth and got the elixir, stopping in Ashbury to buy more intellect potions. I checked the numbers on Chemistry and Therapeutics - that was a huge help btw - and played around with buying more manuals to get myself up to the correct numbers for each skill. I did make the vivifier.

Protip - make sure you have all your ingredients for making things. Rookie mistake on my part. :P

I'm glad I was able to help out.