The Prospector is not a miner. Miners work the vein the Prospector found. The Prospector reads a planetary survey -- the same data the corp geologists saw -- and knows where they stopped looking. This is not geology. This is a gut-level sense for what a world is hiding: the ore body the seismic survey skipped, the rare-earth deposit under the basalt layer the corp drones classified as bedrock, the Derelict half-buried in a landslide that reads as "anomalous ferrous mass" on the corp report.
Asset Realisation books the Prospector as "survey capital -- portable." The corp issues the Prospector a sensor kit, a claim-staking tablet, and a contract that grants the corp right of first refusal on any claim filed. Most Prospectors work this arrangement: find the deposit, sell the claim to the corp for rek, move to the next rock. The ones who do not sell are the ones who found something the corp actually wants -- at which point the contract becomes a liability and the Prospector becomes a target.
Connected jurisdictions record registered claims through local Kadiss ledgers, and the accessible history becomes part of a Prospector's reputation. Rim clans, warlords, cooperatives, and off-grid settlements keep different records and recognise different rights. Whoever files first owns the ground only where an authority powerful enough to enforce that rule agrees.
Operating on the Edge chassis (d6 HD, 3/4 BAB, Ref good, Fort/Will poor, 8 SP). Light armour and practical frontier weapons -- rifles for distance, pistol for close, knife for everything else. Prime requisites: WIS (reading the land) and INT (reading the survey data everyone else misread).
Rules Reference
Field
Value
Armor Allowance
Light
Bab Tier
three-quarters
Base Skill Points
8
Hd
d6
Hd Sides
6
Max Level
20
Multiclass Notes
Prospectors can multiclass with Salvager and Survivalist archetypes. Non-humans use simultaneous multiclassing rules.
Primary Abilities
WIS, INT
Prime Requisites
WIS, INT
Save Tiers / Fortitude
poor
Save Tiers / Reflex
good
Save Tiers / Will
poor
Weapon Allowance
Pistol, Knife, All rifles
Notes
Archetype Niche: The Prospector is the party's wealth engine and exploration key. Motherlode finds resource deposits other classes walk past, generating passive income and campaign objectives -- the legendary deposit worth risking everything for. Claim Staking provides legal ownership, turning found resources into protected assets the Nine must recognise. Surveyor's Eye makes the Prospector the terrain-reading specialist -- subsurface sight, hazard detection, buried-structure location. The Prospector's niche is the resource game: find the fortune, claim it, defend it, sell it or keep it.
Level Table
Panner
Field
Value
bab
0
fortitude
0
level
1
reflex
2
skillPoints
32
title
Panner
will
0
xp
0
Claim-Jumper
Field
Value
bab
1
fortitude
0
level
2
reflex
3
skillPoints
8
title
Claim-Jumper
will
0
xp
1250
Prospector
Field
Value
bab
2
fortitude
1
level
3
reflex
3
skillPoints
8
title
Prospector
will
1
xp
2500
Rock-Hound
Field
Value
bab
3
fortitude
1
level
4
reflex
4
skillPoints
8
title
Rock-Hound
will
1
xp
5000
Master Prospector
Field
Value
bab
3
fortitude
1
level
5
reflex
4
skillPoints
8
title
Master Prospector
will
1
xp
10000
Grand Prospector
Field
Value
bab
4
fortitude
2
level
6
reflex
5
skillPoints
8
title
Grand Prospector
will
2
xp
20000
Survey Master
Field
Value
bab
5
fortitude
2
level
7
reflex
5
skillPoints
8
title
Survey Master
will
2
xp
40000
Void Prospector
Field
Value
bab
6
fortitude
2
level
8
reflex
6
skillPoints
8
title
Void Prospector
will
2
xp
70000
High Void Prospector
Field
Value
bab
6
fortitude
3
level
9
reflex
6
skillPoints
8
title
High Void Prospector
will
3
xp
110000
World-Claimer
Field
Value
bab
7
fortitude
3
level
10
reflex
7
skillPoints
8
title
World-Claimer
will
3
xp
160000
High World-Claimer
Field
Value
bab
8
fortitude
3
level
11
reflex
7
skillPoints
8
title
High World-Claimer
will
3
xp
220000
Strike Master
Field
Value
bab
9
fortitude
4
level
12
reflex
8
skillPoints
8
title
Strike Master
will
4
xp
280000
High Strike Master
Field
Value
bab
9
fortitude
4
level
13
reflex
8
skillPoints
8
title
High Strike Master
will
4
xp
340000
Planet-Breaker
Field
Value
bab
10
fortitude
4
level
14
reflex
9
skillPoints
8
title
Planet-Breaker
will
4
xp
400000
High Planet-Breaker
Field
Value
bab
11
fortitude
5
level
15
reflex
9
skillPoints
8
title
High Planet-Breaker
will
5
xp
460000
Sector Prospector
Field
Value
bab
12
fortitude
5
level
16
reflex
10
skillPoints
8
title
Sector Prospector
will
5
xp
520000
High Sector Prospector
Field
Value
bab
12
fortitude
5
level
17
reflex
10
skillPoints
8
title
High Sector Prospector
will
5
xp
580000
The Motherlode
Field
Value
bab
13
fortitude
6
level
18
reflex
11
skillPoints
8
title
The Motherlode
will
6
xp
640000
High Motherlode
Field
Value
bab
14
fortitude
6
level
19
reflex
11
skillPoints
8
title
High Motherlode
will
6
xp
700000
Supreme Prospector
Field
Value
bab
15
fortitude
6
level
20
reflex
12
skillPoints
8
title
Supreme Prospector
will
6
xp
760000
Special Abilities
Motherlode
Field
Value
level
1
name
Motherlode
description: The Prospector reads the ground and knows where the corps stopped looking. With 1 hour of surveying and a Survival or Perception check (DC by deposit quality: common DC 12, uncommon DC 18, rare DC 24, legendary DC 30), the Prospector locates a deposit worth 50 rek per Prospector level per day of extraction. This is the Prospector's gut -- the instinct that makes them worth more than a survey drone. At level 5, the Prospector can assess a planet or asteroid from orbit (scan data + INT check, DC 20) to determine if the body contains minerals worth landing for -- the corps call this a 'preliminary asset valuation' and charge 200 rek for it. At level 10, deposit value doubles (100 rek/level/day). At level 15, the Prospector locates common and uncommon deposits without a check -- the gut has become reflex.
Claim Staking
Field
Value
level
3
name
Claim Staking
description: The Prospector knows the claim system better than the lawyers who wrote it. Filing a claim requires a Bureaucracy check (DC by system tier: Core DC 15 -- the Nine's legal apparatus is dense; Inner DC 20; Rim DC 10; uncharted DC 5 -- no authority to dispute). A properly staked claim grants legal ownership of the deposit and 1 square kilometre around it under Confederation mining law. This is the Rim's only functional property right. At level 7, the Prospector can stake claims on behalf of the party -- the crew owns the ground together. At level 13, the Prospector's claims are given priority over corporate claims in disputed territories on a successful Bureaucracy check (DC 20) -- the Prospector has learned to beat the Nine with their own legal code.
Surveyor's Eye
Field
Value
level
5
name
Surveyor's Eye
description: The Prospector's perception has been sharpened by years of staring at terrain other people dismissed. +4 to Perception and Survival checks related to terrain analysis. Darkvision 30 feet (or extends existing Darkvision by 30 feet) -- the Prospector's eyes have adapted to cave gloom, asteroid shadow, the permanent twilight of a Rim mining colony. The Prospector detects unstable ground, cave-ins, and sinkholes before they trigger -- the gut again, the sense that something is wrong with the rock. At level 10, the Prospector can map a 1-square-kilometre area in 1 hour, producing a detailed topographical and resource map. At level 15, Darkvision extends to 90 feet and sees through 1 foot of solid rock or metal -- the Prospector has become the survey instrument.