Miner and Performer Professions

As usual, I want to link back to Secondary Professions and Skill Checks and Training and Improving Secondary Skills.

The Miner is a useful profession for a Blacksmith or a Jeweler to pick up (and vise versa) since they make use of the metals and gems that the Miner might uncover or be able to acquire. It can also be useful for creating a small tunnel and for determining the safety of a tunnel if the party is ever trapped underground. One of the limitations of the profession is that the digging alone is very time consuming, since non-miners dig at half the rate, and that Labyrinth Lord doesn’t possess any system for prospecting. This means that the DM has a responsibility to place veins and raw gems inside a dungeon for the Miner to exploit or come up with a system to locate them on his own time.

In the coming weeks, I plan on refining and publishing a Prospecting system usable by the Miner. The Miner is also a very useful profession for hireable NPCs to have if the PCs plan on creating their own underground dungeon or stronghold. Expert Dwarf Miners aren’t cheap.

The Performer is much more accessible and familiar to D&D players as a Bard. Of course, if your system and setting makes use of a Bard class, this profession may be redundant. However, I leave it to you to decide if that is truly the case. The usefulness of the Performer comes from its ability to enthrall his audience. While not very useful in a dungeon or against monsters, a little social engineering makes suburban adventures and befriending allies much easier.