On BGTSCC, it is possible to interact with gatherable resource nodes to obtain a variety of materials. Presently (2024/03/08), it is possible to gather water from wells, milk from cows, fruits, wheat, herbs and barks.
Interaction
These nodes can be recognized by holding down the "Inspection" key (set under Game Options -> Keymapping -> Misc.), causing them to be highlighted in blue. Upon interaction, the appropriate skill is rolled against a set DC and one of four outcomes may happen:
- Failure - Your roll failed to match or exceed the target DC. This seems to count against your per-reset cap.
- Success - Your roll had matched or exceeded the target DC by some. You normally gather one batch of the target resource with one batch of experience.
- Bountiful Harvest - You rolled a natural 20, thus obtaining two batches while still only getting XP for one. Your per-reset quota for that resource types is only decremented by only ONE. This overrides Exceptional Harvest.
- Exceptional Harvest - You rolled at least twice the DC (minimum 30). This results in two batches of resource AND two batches of experience. This also decrements your per-reset quota by TWO.
Per-Reset Quota Per Player
There is a cap on how many times per reset you can interact with a resource type. This is tracked separately for each resource type, and each resource has its own unique limit. Some rare herbs can only be obtained once or twice, while water can be drawn nearly a dozen times!
As of presently (2024/03/08), the two servers (Baldurs Gate South & Baldurs Gate North) have separate quotas.
Although due to the global cooldown, other players do not affect your per-reset cooldown. The per-reset quota has a unique message indicating you cannot gather from ANY nodes after reaching it.
Global Cooldown
When a player interacts with a specific gathering node, it enters a global cooldown for ALL players, preventing repeat harvests. You must wait some time for the node to be usable again. You may gather from another node freely, however, provided your quota is not yet exceeded.
As with the quota, this too has a unique message encouraging you to go and try elsewhere.
Storage
Within certain shops, such as the Sorcerous Sundries in the Heaps District, Baldur's Gate, you can purchase special items to store your many, many herbs conveniently. These are called herb bags (not to be confused with herb pouches, which are used for crafting), and may be used on yourself with the appropriate ability (through right click menu) to either gather a SPECIFIC item in your inventory, or all loose items. You can also target containers for gathering all appropriate herbs.
It is conversely possible to dump the herb bags' contents indiscriminately into your inventory or some container.
Finally, you can set a herb bag as "ACTIVE" for purposes of crafting without needing to dump it into your inventory. Do note, in such cases only one herb bag is viewed for crafting purposes. It is advisable to dump all your herb bags into a safe container then gather tham back into your bags to try and match herb types when you got multiple.
Skills
As of presently (2024/03/08), Survival and Profession (Agriculture) appear to be the only skills used for gathering, with survival being much more widely used. Lore (Nature) can offer synergy bonuses to survival (as described in the Skill Synergies feat), but it is not used directly.