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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arial Black" data-source="post: 7144450" data-attributes="member: 6799649">It's not really 'no information' though.You don't get the information that is gated behind a successful Perception check if you failed that check, but there are still things you do know:-* Alert means you are never surprised (as a game mechanic), and the consequence of that is that the player knows that initiative is being rolled and surprise determined, therefore combat is starting; and the character knows that his danger sense/hair on his neck/bad feeling about this is warning him that combat is starting and he has learned to trust those instincts* knowing that combat is starting does not mean that you know what is starting it or where the danger is coming from, but you do know where you are and have just been, can see the terrain around you, and may be aware of the kind of enemy that is extant. For example, if the party is travelling down a really long tunnel with no side tunnels when Alert pings, then even though you don't know for a fact that the danger comes from in front of you, it's a pretty educated guess. You might go first and try a 'reconnaissance by fireball' ahead in the tunnel. You may be wrong, but it's a good bet.You can combine the things that you already know with the new knowledge that combat is starting, to get an educated guess at what the danger is and where it comes from. It's not really 'no information' at all.</blockquote>