Category:Foraging

Foraging enables a character to find various plants, such as herbs and flowers, in the natural environments of Elanthia. Certain plants only grow in certain environments, so in order to find a specific plant, one must ensure they are in the proper climate and terrain. Rangers can determine the climate and terrain of a location by using the SENSE verb. Other professions are hard pressed to determine the climate or terrain, if it isn't indicated within the room description, although there are maps of such information on various websites.^[1][2][3]There are also guides^[4]available to aid in foraging.

Syntax

• FORAGE {adjective} {noun}
• FORAGE FOR {adjective} {noun}

"FOR" is optional.

Note: Foraging will not reveal a character from hiding.

The system is quite particular about the entry of the plant's name, and failing to send the proper syntax will still deplete one usage from the room temporarily. The adjective can be abbreviated, but the noun cannot. For example, if foraging for ephlox moss, the command can be typed FORAGE EPH MOSS, however, FORAGE EPHLOX MOS will not find the ephlox moss, even if successful. Prepositions such as 'of' must be omitted ('a handful of oats' is found via FORAGE HANDFUL OATS). Sometimes an herb may have multiple adjectives; the rule of thumb is if the first adjective is a color, distinguishing it from other differently colored plants, then both adjectives must be used, whereas if the first adjective is not a color, it cannot be used to find the plant of interest.

Resolution

Foraging resolution is an open d100 roll. Each plant has a natural foraging difficulty. If the plant is available in the room and the open roll surpasses the foraging difficulty threshold, then the foraging attempt is successful and the plant will be placed in the forager's hand.

The availability of the various plants depends on an area's terrain and climate. As many areas do not possess certain climates or terrains, many forageable items cannot be found in a given area.

A specific room can only be foraged for five items at a time. When one successfully forages in a room, the "inventory" of the room decreases by one, and the room begins to regenerate its "inventory" at a rate of one per six minutes. If a room is depleted significantly and no foraging occurs in the room in 20 minutes, all five items in the "inventory" are replaced.

The foraging difficulty threshold is modified by many factors:

Profession

Positive factors

• Agility bonus / 2
• Intuition bonus / 5
• Survival ranks / 3
• Perception ranks / 15
• +10 for kneeling
• +10 for Foraging (603), increases with Ranger Base ranks
• Assume Aspect (650), Aspect of the Yierka
• +1 for Light (205)
• +15 for dwarf in subterranean terrain
• Character level (unknown bonus)

Negative factors

• Injuries to hands and eyes (rank 1 hand scars do not confer a penalty)
• -10 for having only one hand open
• -2 for each herb recently foraged in the room (also adds +1 roundtime when finding an herb)

Non-affecting factors

• There is no penalty for foraging in a naturally dark room
• There is no penalty for foraging in a naturally foggy room
• There is no bonus for foraging in a naturally bright room
• There is no bonus from Presence (402) for a highly perceptive (2x) character

Messaging

The foraging resolution check cascades through a series of checks to determine success, so the order of the messages is consistent. The check will only progress until a step in the check fails, or the forage is successful, and then stop. Knowing this order can improve the understanding of climates and terrain that forage-able items can be found in, and extends to all forage-able items. The resulting message displays the line that is not successful, so knowing which order affirms that all preceding checks passed.

The order of the cascading check is as follows:

1. Resolution roll to determine success / failure
2. Plant noun which must be spelled correctly and be valid
3. Region type (this needs a bit more research)
4. Climate type
5. Terrain type
6. Time of day which can affect select forage items
7. Type of Room such as indoors or outdoors
8. Forage item availability which may be zero if someone else has been foraging the area

The resolution roll results can be:

Resources

• Elanthian Flora Guide
• Foraging locations
• Script Narost
• Virilneus' Roomdata
• FORAGE verb documentation on play.net (slightly outdated)