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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Xetheral" data-source="post: 8206137" data-attributes="member: 6802765">I think it largely has to do with DM's wanting to give players at their table more certainty regarding how Perception and Investigation will be adjudicated. Doing so makes it easier for players to make informed choices at character creation. If, when asked ahead of time, the DM simply says that the boundary between the skills is context-dependent, or that Perception is observation and Investigation is deduction, that doesn't help the player much until they learn that DM's style, since the boundary between observation and deduction can itself be fuzzy when applied to in-game situations.This particularly affects players of Rogues or Bards who intend for their character to be trapmonkeys, because they need to decide not only how to allocate their proficiencies, but also their choices for Expertise. If Investigation is going to have a role in protecting the party from traps (or even completely obviate Perception), then putting Expertise into Investigation to help make up for a low Int may be crucial to mechanically realizing the character concept. Conversely, if Perception is all that is needed at a particular table to spot traps (combined with Thieves Tools to disarm them) and Investigation is only needed if one wants to make deductions about traps, then putting Expertise in Perception is a lot more attractive, particularly since that skill has so many other uses even when not trap-finding.</blockquote>

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