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Message: <blockquote data-quote="discosoc" data-source="post: 6838865" data-attributes="member: 6801554">This is how I read that:  Perception is to determine if your character notices something (secret door, hidden goblin, trap, etc) while you're searching around or when you enter a room or whatever.  With a high enough perception, maybe a character can actually figure out that there's a secret door because they felt a slight breeze from the base of one of the walls or noticed a hallow sound when they walked over part of a rug.  That works.Which is why passive perception works so well.  They enter a room and you can immediately know who notices anything unusual.  If they state that they are going to search for traps or secret doors or something, have them roll investigation.  If they just say they want to do a quick search for "anything valuable" or something generic like that, let them make a perception check and, depending on what they find, perhaps a follow up investigation check (such as figuring out where the switch for the newly-found secret door is located).More importantly than anything, IMO, is to make sure you communicate up front to the players on exactly how and when you plan on using perception and investigation before they start rolling characters.  You could totally do what the Death House writers seem to have done, and simply ignore investigation and roll it up into perception.  Just make sure players understand that so they aren't wasting skill slots.</blockquote>

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