using a derv in prophecies

ok simple question and i'll probably figure it out this week when i actually buy the game, but can i use a dervish in prophecies? and if so can i do it from presearing?

Not exactly, and no. Your dervish will start out in the Nightfall campaign on Istan. To play in Prophecies, you'll have to earn boat travel, which normally only happens at around level 15ish or so. This will take you to Lion's Arch, which is about 1/3rd of the game through prophecies, where you can continue along. You can run back through post-sear Ascalon but you won't get many quests, nor any skill points/experience for those early missions in normal mode. (Although they still contribute to titles.) In any case you cannot access pre-searing at all.

If you want to shortcut, you can look in Kamadan for someone willing to "ferry to docks", they party with you and can take a low-level character to Consulate Docks, opening up boat travel. You'll still have to deal with Kryta at your lower character level though.

I think it's technically possible to take a fresh dervish char, ferry it to Docks, then run it all the way to Ascalon City and let it work its way up the Prophecies storyline from there. Obviously, you'd need someone to help you with this.

Problems:
* You will only be allowed to do the missions, not the secondary quests.
* You won't get many scythes to drop so no upgrades for your starter scythe.
* Armorers won't have dervish armor upgrades.
* You already will know the map and the path to take, at least partly, due to the run. At least I think so. If you stay put and party members discover the map, does it also get unfogged for you? Also, dunno if it's possible to make it from LA to Ascalon without entering any outpost.
* The run will make you gain XP so you won't exactly be level 1-2 when you get to Ascalon City. LE: Scratch this; it's possible to stay out of XP range for most of the run.

Pre sear in prophs actually takes part a few years in the past so any prophs chrs start there , factions and nf chrs have their own starter area in their campaigns but they only take place in present time.You as other stated can get to post ascalon and slowly work backwards to la but again prophs only caters for non natives around la and upwards for storyline - factions and nf have similar changes for non natives.
Urcscumug sums the rest up nicely

The map does not get unfogged for you until your character covers the territory. Someone running through the territory while you wait at a portal will not advance your cartography title. You can get from LA to AC without entering any outposts. (But I don't see why any of this would matter to the OP.)

Runs do not make you gain XP by themselves. A pro runner never fights anything. Ever. His bar is strictly speed and defense. If you ever find that your "runner" is stopping to fight, you are not getting what you're paying for. (However, if the OP has just bought the game, it's going to be very difficult to pay a runner, and good free runs are hard to find.) In any case, there is no particular reason I can see to avoid some XP. Many players do not take their characters out of Pre-Searing until around level 7-9.

The biggest disadvantage in taking a dervish to Prophecies at a low level is that there is no dervish armor available anywhere, from any crafter or collector. It would be impossible for a player new to the game to play an entire campaign in starter armor, and I don't think many experienced players would want to try it either.

I just found out there's no Dervish skills being offered by skill trainers outside of Elona and EotN, so that would be another big problem.

Of course you can, however as previously alluded to the only reasons to do so are personal enjoyment and the Protector/Guardian/Vanquisher titles.

1) You cannot start a non prophecies character in pre searing
2) Non prophecies professions (Rit, Sin, Para, Derv) cannot get any skills from their respective professions in prophecies
3) You can get quests in prophecies with a non prophecies character, just not as many, especially the areas prior to Lions
4) NO Scythes/Spears/Daggers/Ritualist wands or staves will drop in prophecies
5) There is no armor available to non prophecies professions in prophecies (FoW armor is core)

Most of the mobs in prophecies are not balanced around the Rit/Sin/Para/Derv so you can especially take advantage of some of their abilities there.

If you're getting a ferry to Consulate Docks to travel to Prophecies earlier, max armor is not a concern. Consulate Docks has an armor crafter. In fact, any NF character can get a ferry to docks solely to craft max armor immediately, provided they have the gold and materials.