Larian Studios Forums Divine Divinity (English) Technical Problems Elixir Potions not doing what they are supposed to

When I lost vitality due to fighting the vampire in his cave, I thought using the elixirs restored your viality stats. But they don't. Nothing does - I have tried all types of potions, right up to super Restoration and Super Elixir.

What the elixir potions are doing is increasing my resistance stats.

How do I get my vitality back? I hadn't noticed the vitality drain until just now, anmd thought I remembered that it was just anelixir potion I needed. Now I find that is not the case. I have played for several hours and completed many, many quests and don't want to backtrack. Added to the fact that the key to Nericon's Garden has vanished, this is a game killer for me. And I would have thought that since the Nericon's key and other vanishing items were common, that a patch would have been created to deal with issues like these by now!

Sacrificing yourself to the vampire results in a permanent lost of 1 to 4 stat points (randomly). It sounds like you lost one or more constitution points. There are several items in the game that give you a stat bonus, and a couple that can boost you up a level, so the loss is not that serious.

Elixers are suppose to boost resistances.

The key to Nericon's garden also fits the castle graveyard, so entering there first will use the key. There is another key in the potion seller's house in Ars Magicana; see here and here.
You can lockpick Nericon's garden gate (level 5, IIRC); I think this was added in the patch.

Alternately, you can download the inventory files to get another key;
Lost Items - guide and directory of inventory files

or bypass the gate (don't recall if you get experience for actually opening the gate, though)
Teleporting Anywhere, via hex editor

Thanks. Actually, I realized that what I though was a vitality drain was actually the green strip that indicates how close you are to the next level. Silly me. But there was a loss of constitution as well. Not a problem as I am playing a mage/thief and have no need to get into close combat.