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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 6348854" data-attributes="member: 7006">I know personally... I'm *only* going to be using Perception in passive form.  Any active "looking around" is going to be Investigation.  To me... Perception is a "Danger Sense".  That's it.  You get an itch in the back of your head that something's up and that happens automatically through no action.  You automatically get that number against anything potentially dangerous out there that you can notice or spot.  But in addition, if you use your action to actually search for potentially dangerous things out there-- either saying you're looking for trouble or a trap or are "on guard"... you also get to make an INT or WIS (Investigation) check if your passive WIS (Perception) check did not find the trouble first.So a creature is sneaking up on you while you're doing something (and thus you aren't using your action to be "on guard".)  It makes a DEX (Stealth) check.  If that check is lower than your passive WIS (Perception), then you notice the creature automatically through no effort on your own, even while you were doing something else.  That creature was just really bad at sneaking.  But if the DEX (Stealth) check was higher than your passive (Perception) number... then the creature does surprise you because you had your mind on the other activity.Now though, if you said you were using your action to look for trouble or be "on guard"... then if your passive WIS (Perception) was lower than the creature's DEX (Stealth) check and you didn't notice the threat automatically... you would then get to follow that up with an active WIS (Investigation) check and hopefully roll high enough to find the sneaking creature.When it comes to traps or secret doors... it's the same thing.  Because to me... the DC of said trap or secret door is not a "static number" per se, but rather what I always visualized as the INT (Deception) check of the person or creature who designed or build the trap or secret door in the first place.  So I don't mind if a trap or door in some published adventure will be found automatically with any of the party's passive (WIS) Perception.  Because to me... it just means the person who built that trap or door just didn't do a very good job.  But like in the case above... if the DC of the trap/door is high enough that it isn't found automatically through passive WIS (Perception)... anyone who states they are actively looking for traps/secret doors will get to make an INT (Investigation) check too (provided of course they are okay with moving much slower, or they make specific statements on where they are looking or what they are looking through.)Finally... in terms of which ability check to use for active checks, it's going to come down to whether the person who is looking is making a general sweep of an area for general non-specific threats (which would use WIS) or is specifically looking for someone they know is out there or at or through a specific area/object (and thus use INT.)Someone "on guard" or who is "searching for traps" while walking down a dungeon corridor... is looking for threats but doesn't know where/when/what those threats are.  This would use WIS (Investigation) for the active but non-specific search.  For someone who is looking at a specific section of dungeon wall for a secret door, or a locked chest for a dart trap, or for a person they know is out there but is currently hidden from view (because the creature used its action to make a DEX (Stealth) check)... that person uses INT (Investigation) for a specific search with known parameters.This is how I intend to run things, even if it goes against the rules a bit (where the rules use Perception in active cases as well as passive), but I put much more stock in really splitting up when and where Perception and Investigation should be used.  And the passive/active split to me makes the absolute most sense.</blockquote>

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