Verb:FORAGE

The FORAGE verb is used to find plants in the wild, such as healing herbs, alchemical ingredients, and requisitioned resources for the Adventurer's Guild.

Usage

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

"FOR" is optional.

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, however, 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, where as 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 with many modifiers. Each plant has a natural foraging difficulty, and some are harder to find than others. If the plant is available in the room and the modified 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

Profession	Bonus
Ranger, Empath	30
Warrior	20
Cleric, Monk	15
Rogue, Paladin, Bard	10
Wizard, Sorcerer	0

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)

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:

Check	Message
Roll not high enough	You forage around but find nothing of interest.
Roll indicates failure (negative roll)	You begin to forage around when suddenly you feel a burning sensation in your hand.
Roll indicates failure (negative roll)	As you forage around you suddenly feel a sharp pain in your left/right hand!
Plant does not exist, or the plant noun is misspelled (but the resolution roll was successful)	As you carefully forage around you can find no hint of what you are looking for. You are not even positive where it may be found.
The region is not the right one for the forage attempt (but the resolution roll was successful)	As you carefully forage around you can find no hint of what you are looking for. You are not even sure it could be found here.
The climate is not the correct one for the forage attempt (but the resolution roll and region pass the check)	As you carefully forage around you find no trace of what you are looking for. You are not even sure it could be found in this type of climate.
The terrain is not the correct one for the forage attempt (but the resolution roll, plant, region and climate are good)	As you carefully forage around you find no trace of what you are looking for. You wonder if it could even be found in this terrain.
The time of day isn't correct for the forage attempt (but the resolution roll, plant, region, climate and terrain are good)	As you carefully forage around you can find no hint of what you are looking for right now, though you are fairly certain this is where it can be found.
The room / area is not correct for the forage attempt (but all preceding checks are passed)	As you carefully forage around you can find no trace of what you are looking for. You briefly wonder if it could even thrive in this place.
This room has been foraged until completely depleted	As you forage around, you notice that someone has been foraging here recently and you are unable to find anything useful.
Success	You carefully forage around and manage to find (herb)!

References

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