Base Requirements

• Races: Any
• Sub-Classes: Any Warrior
• Ability Requirements: Muscle 15, Health 13, Balance 11, Knowledge 11
• Alignments: Any
• Starting Cash: By class

Weapon Proficiencies

• Weapon Slots: By class
• Bonus Weapon Proficiencies: none
• Required Weapon Proficiencies: Footman’s Pick, Warhammer
• Allowed Weapons: By class
• Allowed Armors: By class

Non-Weapon Proficiencies:

• Non-weapon Slots: By class
• Available Categories: By class, plus Detection
• Bonus Non-weapon Proficiencies: Appraising, Excavations, Intimidation, Mountaineering
• Required Proficiencies: Mining
• Recommended Proficiencies: Alertness, Ancient History, Ancient Languages, Blacksmithing, Blind-Fighting, Chanting, Close-quarters Fighting, Danger Sense, Direction Sense, Endurance, Engineering, Fire-building, Gaming, Gem Cutting, Local History, Relic Dating, Rope Use, Singing, Slow Respiration, Smelting, Stonemasonry, Survival (underground), Wild Fighting
• Forbidden Proficiencies: All Pastoral Proficiencies

Overview: Mining is an extremely important occupation anywhere in the Realms, though most miners are not the adventuring type. Prospectors, however, must wander widely and rely heavily on their wits and good luck to find a worthwhile lode for their home strongholds to exploit. This combination makes prospectors reasonably good adventurers, especially if they believe an adventure will make them rich. Some prospectors receive bonuses and fame for discovering huge strikes, but some become heroes in ways they had never imagined when they set out.

As adventurers, prospectors often turn their skill at mining and excavations to the exploration of ancient ruins. Some even develop a love of archaeology, adventuring in the hopes of discovering artifacts that can illuminate mysteries of the past. Some prospectors are more sinister, seeking the riches that the ages have buried away. Others, cecause of their combat talents, are hired as overseers, using their strength, intimidation, and geological expertise to keep mine workers productive and focused. These prospectors are responsible to oversee and protect that portion of a mine placed in their care.

Description: A prospector has likely done mining before but now travels frequently on the surface world, looking for new sources of mineral wealth. He often wears a wide-brimmed hat to prevent sunburn on his face, but his skin is sure to be dark from sun exposure. The prospector also carries an assortment of hammers, chisels, and picks, with some equipment (perhaps even alchemical supplies) to test mined samples, to determine their type, quality, purity, and other characteristics. A prospector is always dirty, has callused hands and a weather-worn look, and wears old, durable clothing, A mule, goat, or other short pack animal is often used to carry tools and samples in its saddlebags. The prospector is also well armed in case he is attacked by thieves or bandits.

Role-Playing: The prospector is a solitary type who loves his work and loves wandering wherever his job takes him. This is very much the attitude that any prospector takes. Because his work is so important to the economics of many nations and races, he is in great demand; a skilled prospector can find numerous offers of employment, temporary and permanent, without trying very hard.

A prospector is most likely to go adventuring in Underdark, hilly, or mountainous regions. He functions very well as a fighter, though the temptation to examine local geology during rest periods is very strong.

Special Abilities:

• Picks and hammers are as often used as digging tools as weapons. Their constant employment grants the prospector a +1 bonus to attack rolls with these weapons. This stacks with any bonuses granted by specialization.
• Prospectors are renowned for their tempers and are often the leading fist in any bar fight. Prospectors receive a +1 bonus on all die rolls (attack, damage, strength checks, and chart rolls) when punching, wrestling, or overbearing.
• A prospector knows far more about mining than the average miner. He receives a +2 bonus on all Mining proficiency checks, representing an enormous knowledge of mining, geology, and related topics. A successful check should allow the player to receive any information the DM has on the geology in an area studied (evidence of volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, oil or coal reserves, valuable metals or gems, etc.) or on valuable gems and metal ores (adamantite, mithral, etc.). He can also tell who dug out an existing mine (dwarves, orcs, humans, etc.), if beings from the Elemental Plane of Earth are or have been present, and which monsters bored tunnels in solid rock (osquips, thoqqua, purple worms, etc.).
• In order to help him identify metals, gems, ores, and minerals, the prospector can buy a testing kit from an alchemist or miners’ group for about 75 gp. The mining samples testing kit consists of items like pieces of glass and ceramic tile, small vials of acid, several small tools (pliers, hammer, chisel, or hand vice), glass or crystal magnifying lenses, a sharp diamond fragment mounted on a metal rod, candles, flint and tinder, copper wire, etc., forming a fairly complete if primitive geology laboratory. Use of this kit grants another +1 bonus to mining proficiency checks. The kit weighs only 10 lbs. and comes in a leather bag.
• Moreover, the prospector has exceptionally acute senses for detecting underground phenomena. The prospector gains a +2 bonus on checks with any Detection proficiencies.
• A prospector’s skill at Appraisal is such that he can see through most attempts at fakery. A successful Appraising check allows him to see through a fool’s gold spell, and to identify monstrous creatures that imitate coins or jewels (such as Lock Lurker). He need only look at the object one round and make his roll, without handling the object.

Special Disadvantages:

• The knowledge a prospector has about the location of potentially vast strikes of valuable metals, minerals, and gemstones makes him the target of numerous potential foes: brigands, claim jumpers, orcs, gem thieves, other miners, and more. The Zhentarim, Shadow Thieves, and Red Wizards of Thay think nothing of kidnapping a prospector, torturing him, and questioning him with magic and truth drugs for his secrets. A wise prospector never goes out without being heavily armed (and ideally with a heavily armed escort). If he plans to prospect a dangerous area, he may consider ways to disguise or hide what he is actually doing.
• A prospector tends to be very absorbed in his work. Among more nature-loving races (elves, satyrs, fey creatures, etc.) he suffers a -2 penalty on NPC reaction rolls, as he is regarded with grave suspicion: Is he planning to have more delvers show up and dig a huge mine right in the middle of the forest? Elves often drive off prospectors they find near their beloved realms.
• Because of all the time spent underground, prospectors have problems in wide open spaces, such as under an open sky. They suffer a -1 attack penalty when forced to fight in such locations. When not in an underground or enclosed area, they make all proficiency checks at a -1 penalty.

---

Return to Universal Kits