D&D 5E Active perception and the Observant feat

[Ath'kethin]

So it seems my use of the Perception skill was not quite RAW. Oops.

Even so, it seems odd that the feat effectively grants advantage on one application of the skill (the +5 to passive Perception) and not the other. I stand by my ruling and I'll change it if it seems to be a problem.

One of the advantages of playing with a small group (3 PCs) of friends is that we have a continual understanding that various options and alterations we use may change if they end up being problematic.

 

[Horwath]

You could rule that he notices everything up to his passive score and call for a roll only if DC is above his passive.

 

[DEFCON 1]

You could rule that he notices everything up to his passive score and call for a roll only if DC is above his passive.

This is what I always do. I always assume the Passive of each character is going on at all times, and if at some point something is out there to be noticed that has a DC above the highest Passive of one of the PCs (which in fact is a PC with the same Observant feat), I'll call for a Perception check. So players then have a chance to get higher than their Passive number.

For the PC with the Observant feat he'll only ever accomplish it if he rolls a 15+, but there's still a chance. And if he happens to roll less than his Passive number, it doesn't mean he's less skilled at perceiving things when he's paying attention... it just means he didn't succeed in that check. After all, there's no degrees of failure on Perception-- you either notice something or you don't. What the specific number of the roll was doesn't matter.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

"Passive" is a misnomer. If the character isn't actively spending effort on staying alert, they don't get to use their passive perception. This can be seen in the rules that disallow you from using passive perception while performing other exploration tasks, and some other examples in published materials that don't even give NPCs a chance to notice you because they aren't paying attention.

So in order to use your passive perception, you are already on alert and actively trying to keep track of what is going on around you, spot dangers, etc. You are almost always considered to have your passive perception active during combat. Whether it is active at other times is between you and your DM, based on what you are doing at the time and the character's intentions. It does take effort though, so most people are not going to walk around on high alert mode all day long.

If a character is using their passive perception in exploration mode or combat, if they then roll a perception check in addition to that, they won't have their passive perception reduced because they rolled lower. So if a character has the Observant feat, it means that anytime they turn on their passive perception they are very good at it. The only time the mentioned situation would come up would be if they didn't have their passive perception up, and just took a moment to stop whatever else they were doing and make a single discrete perception check. That very well can and does happen, and it demonstrates that that character is really good about spotting things when they are generally paying attention (ie, Observant), but doesn't have any particular talent in fast searches.

 

[discosoc]

"Passive" is a misnomer. If the character isn't actively spending effort on staying alert, they don't get to use their passive perception.

This is not true, unless we're talking about being knocked out or asleep or something, because everyone is actively staying alert.

Example: guards on duty have their passive perception used as the DC for sneaking past them. That doesn't mean they are actively looking out for thieves, either. In fact, most guards are probably bored out of their minds and just kind of staring into space here and there. Now, if the GM decides that a noble has just arrived, and the guard captain went around to each post reminding them of the importance of their duties, then the GM could consider that guard as having advantage to his skill to watch for thieves because he's going above and beyond the normal. So then the passive perception would be increased by 5.

Or, maybe the thief knows the guards rotation for the night, and drugged the next shift a few hours before they start. They aren't passed out, but they're not on the top of their game either, so the GM could rule they have disadvantage to their perception, resulting in a -5 to the passive score.