There are four types of resources which can be discovered in a High Quality (HQ) form:
- Foodstuffs
- Lumber
- Stone
- Iron
In-game narratives they might be called, Exquisite meats, Blackwood, Feldspar, Mithril, and Gems.
What they do:
HQ Foodstuffs: These 'count as' two foodstuffs, except that they only occupy one slot. If 'one' Foodstuff is consumed from an HQ foodstuff, it reverts to being a normal Foodstuff. This essentially makes it easier to store HQ foodstuffs.
HQ Lumber, Stone, and Iron: These function similarly to their standard counterparts, except when your Construction, Crafting, and/or Renovation check rolls at least a Success: you automatically increase by one success category for purposes of determining the number of resources saved, and amount of XP gained. This will not turn an Epic success into a Legendary. This does not inherently increase the quality of the item produced.
When crafting with HQ Materials: if a legendary success is rolled; you are capable of achieving one-level higher of item Quality. For further information see: Superior Crafting
How to find HQ Resources.
Once you have Renovated a Workshop to Renovation Level 3, you become capable of finding HQ Nodes. You must roll at least a 101 on a Scout Check.
For each Node rolled - there is a 50% chance that it will be an HQ Node.
Druid Lore increases this chance.
HQ Gold or Gems are handled a bit differently.
First - they are not directly used in Crafting.
Second - Unlike regular Gold, Gems actually occupy space in your Storage Room (one slot per Gem.) When you receive a Gem - you will be told its basic value.
Third - Gold does not count as a resource (L/S/I are the resources.)
You can acquire HQ Gold as "Gems". These Gems are worth exactly as much as normal Gold. So - you Harvest from an HQ Gold Node - and you get an HQ Gem worth the amounted harvested. You can use it at any time just like Gold.. or you can take it to a CP and try to sell it.
Diplomacy success determines a percentage bonus of value its worth when sold. Gems can be sold to ANY CP (and it counts towards trade value).
Alternatively - HQ Gems can be used to augment certain spells. - See individual spell descriptions for what they can augment.
HQ Gems are stored in the Storage Rooms. You can stack like-gems with like-gems (so, you can stack all "10 GP Gems" in the same storage slot.)