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Message: <blockquote data-quote="On Puget Sound" data-source="post: 4410931" data-attributes="member: 68988">I'm not aware of any rule that decrees when you may make an insight or perception check, as long as you are willing to spend an action to do it.  However, I can think of a few reasons that your DM might have chosen not to allow it:1.  If his plot absolutely depended on the NPC's duplicity going undetected.  If so, this is bad DMing in my opinion; characters have skills for a reason and should get to use them; your plot should be able to withstand successful skill use and even be enhanced by it.2.  If you were metagaming; that is, deciding to make an insight roll only because you heard the ominous sound of a d20 behind the screen, or because you had read this adventure.3.  If the DM simply wanted to avoid the precedent of rolling insight every time you order a beer or buy 20 arrows, and this was essentially a meaningless encounter.Generally, passive insight/ perception is a way to give the PCs a chance to notice something that the players weren't paying attention to, because the PCs are "on the ground" and have every detail available to them while the players are forced to rely on a two-sentence description.  I don't think it should ever preclude a player stopping to pay attention.  In older editions you could spend a turn actively "disbelieving" to see if something was an illusion, even if you had no reason to suspect it.  Doing so cost you your turn, which was usually enough penalty to keep it from being a problem.</blockquote>

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