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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Iosue" data-source="post: 6361506" data-attributes="member: 6680772">Passive is passive, active is active.  But it's Perception all the same.  People are hiding in a room.  You walk into the room.  Right off the bat, their Dexterity (Stealth) check has to beat your Passive Perception in order to remain hidden.  That's right there on p. 60 of Basic v2.0, p. 6 of the Starter Set Rulebook, and p. 177 of the Players Handbook.  Let's say they beat it.  Now you search the room, give it more attention.  You roll.  Now it doesn't matter if you roll low or not, because they've already beaten your Passive Perception.  You'll only discover them if your active Wisdom (Perception) roll beats their Dexterity (Stealth) roll.The key is that Passive Perception is always on.  That's why it has it's own place on the character sheet.  As it notes under "Passive Checks", the rules of hiding and exploration "rely" on passive checks.  It's distinct from, say, taking 10 on Dexterity (Thieves' Tools) check to pick a lock because it's not a distinct action that players are taking a lot of time on, it's something always in effect.  The example originally in question, the goblin ambush in the Starter Set, is an excellent example.  Each character is only surprised if the goblins' stealth beats that character's Passive Perception.  The players don't have to "take 10" to use their character's passive perception; it's always in effect whenever the DM feels there is something they might notice without looking for it.  The players never even have to reference it.  If a player decides to use their active perception, that represents attention paid above and beyond their normal degree of alertness.Otherwise, you get the bizarre situation asked about: a character actively searching rolls low and fails the check, while their passive perception score would have been enough to beat the Stealth check.  That would not be in the spirit (or letter) of the rules -- it'd be an artifact of mechanical resolution systems, divorced from the in-game reality.tl;dr: Making an active Wisdom (Perception) check doesn't "turn off" Passive Perception.  At the very least, the character's Passive Perception is in effect right up to the point they make the contest, and if it beats the Stealth check, the character notices the hidden character, making the active check superfluous.</blockquote>

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