D&D 5E Aspect of the Eagle and Observant

[Byakugan]

It is pretty much common sense that lip reading in general is very hard for normal people...so hard in fact that it takes a specialized feat to be able to do it.

In real life, specialized birds of prey can see fish underwater from hundreds of yards away when a normal human's eye can't see the same fish when they are standing right next to it.

I don't penalize drow for having 120 ft darkvision by making it disadvantage or intentionally trying to chop out information for them...That they have especially keen sight is a feature, not a bug.

I see the barbarian ability more like scrying than actual visual acuity....like it was a wizard seeing through an Arcane Eye. You already have to deal with the fact that there is no such thing as 'facing' in 5e...except there are things which make you figure out facing.

 

[Iry]

I just measured 100 feet and gave it a try. With my glasses on, I could clearly see the lip movements of someone 100 feet away. I definitely do not have anywhere close to 15+ passive perception.

I don't see a problem with it. It's a nice way for the Barbarian to showcase his non-combat class features.

 

[AnonDraugr]

The way i read it is that you can see details at 1 mile as if 100ft, which would mean the character could see details at 1320ft(1/4 of mile) as if they are 25ft away.

That would definatley be within the guidlines stated above and is still a massive distance to utilise.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Depends how you use lip reading. Lip reading is actually really hard but being able to hear parts of the conversation makes it easier. In fact, reading lips helps you 'hear' a conversation.

In a game, if a PC is trying to overhear a conversation in a noisy tavern, you'd have them do a perception check with the difficulty based on how noisy it is. If they have Observant, you might skip the ability check all together because they can read lips which fills in the bits that they can't hear. Between being able to make out some of the sounds and read lips, it makes it pretty easy to 'overhear' the conversation.

So, if a person is 100 feet away, it's unlikely the Observant person can hear any of the conversation. If they are a mile away, hearing the conversation is impossible. So, if I were a DM, I wouldn't make reading lips impossible but, instead of making 'hearing' the conversation automatic (like in the first example), I'd make them do a perception check at a difficulty to 'see' the conversation from that distance. So, it's no longer automatic but it's still an advantage to have.

 

[J-H]

RAW yes
Rule of Cool yes
Doylist yes: It gives the barbarian some actual use in a campaign where spying and being stealthy and gathering info without beating people up is worth doing.

 

[el-remmen]

I don't know about a mile, but this necro-thread has let me see back 8 years and know what you all are saying.