Trade Prospector

Advanced, Crafting
Strength
Acolytes with the Trade (Prospector) skill can survey an area to determine if it contains potentially valuable resources. Note that they will only be able to determine if those materials might be present and not their exact quantity, nor will they discover things far removed from the subject of their search.
When the Acolyte and GM look at Step One: Define the Task of the Crafting Rules, they should carefully delineate the search, ensuring it is not too broad in scope. Thus, searching ten square kilometres for evidence of underground Promethium is perfectly acceptable, while prospecting “the plains” for “any valuable ores” would only be satisfactory if the Acolyte were armed with extensive testing apparatus and an army of assistants. Simply searching for “any resource” is right out.
However, because the search for one material may very well give evidence of another, additional degrees of success may provide additional discoveries. Keep in mind Acolytes receive this additional information regardless of the existence of the material for which they originally searched.

Degrees of Success	Information Gained
Standard Success	No additional information.
One Degree	If present at the location, the Acolyte discovers evidence of related resources, though not their exact nature. For example, a search for platinum ore would reveal the existence of another valuable ore in the area, but not its type.
Two Degrees	The Acolyte finds one other material related to the search or incomplete information on one find only partially related to it. Thus, prospecting for industrial crystal formations might reveal evidence of emeralds or the possible existence of promethium pockets.
Three or more Degrees	In addition to the results of the original search, the Acolyte discovers facts about another resource in the area. So, for example, while positively verifying that an area contains no water, the Acolyte also discovers sounding echoes from a system of oddly regular subterranean caverns.