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Perception vs Investigation
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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6575664" data-attributes="member: 2067"><p>I harken back to the ability scores:</p><p></p><p>Perception, being Wis, is about intuition and instinct. You will notice if something his hidden from you, but that is probably about all you will notice - a movement, a darting figure, a discoloration in the floor, etc.You can "actively" use Perception to basically pay close attention to what you are hearing and seeing in the moment - you shut out distractions and really <em>listen</em> for a moment. It is using a heuristic - is anything unusual about what I'm experiencing right now? </p><p></p><p>Investigation, being Int, is about precision and detail. It is using an algorithm, checking methodically each thing and seeing if it meets certain established criteria. It isn't ever passive (because you need to take time to apply it), and it involves your whole body, prodding with fingers, sniffing the area, walking around and viewing it from other perspectives, etc. It reveals substantial information, because that is its purpose: not "is something weird?" but "what am I actually looking at and how does it compare to how I imagine it should be?"</p><p></p><p>In a room with a trap, there's three characters. The first might find it with Passive Perception - "You notice something odd about the tiles to the north of the room. Not sure what it is from here, though." The second might find it with active Perception - "You take a minute and scan the room. You notice something odd about the tiles in the north of the room - looks like one is slightly discolored." The third might find it with active Investigation - "You canvass the room in detail. When you reach the north side of the room, you gently prod one of the tiles with your feet, one that is slightly discolored, and you hear a mechanical clanking noise in the walls. The tile is clearly linked to a trap, which will go off when enough weight is applied to it."</p><p></p><p>IMC, Investigation tends to be more useful than Perception when searching an area, but it won't save your hide when the goblins are leaping out of the bushes, because it relies too much on methodical, detailed analysis. Perception is your friend there, because that's how you notice the slight sound of a dagger being unsheathed. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I tend to agree - those characters who are especially keen and quick on the uptake could really use some <em>other</em> mechanic to distinguish them. But then I'm skeptical of the idea of skill proficiencies to begin with. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 6575664, member: 2067"] I harken back to the ability scores: Perception, being Wis, is about intuition and instinct. You will notice if something his hidden from you, but that is probably about all you will notice - a movement, a darting figure, a discoloration in the floor, etc.You can "actively" use Perception to basically pay close attention to what you are hearing and seeing in the moment - you shut out distractions and really [I]listen[/I] for a moment. It is using a heuristic - is anything unusual about what I'm experiencing right now? Investigation, being Int, is about precision and detail. It is using an algorithm, checking methodically each thing and seeing if it meets certain established criteria. It isn't ever passive (because you need to take time to apply it), and it involves your whole body, prodding with fingers, sniffing the area, walking around and viewing it from other perspectives, etc. It reveals substantial information, because that is its purpose: not "is something weird?" but "what am I actually looking at and how does it compare to how I imagine it should be?" In a room with a trap, there's three characters. The first might find it with Passive Perception - "You notice something odd about the tiles to the north of the room. Not sure what it is from here, though." The second might find it with active Perception - "You take a minute and scan the room. You notice something odd about the tiles in the north of the room - looks like one is slightly discolored." The third might find it with active Investigation - "You canvass the room in detail. When you reach the north side of the room, you gently prod one of the tiles with your feet, one that is slightly discolored, and you hear a mechanical clanking noise in the walls. The tile is clearly linked to a trap, which will go off when enough weight is applied to it." IMC, Investigation tends to be more useful than Perception when searching an area, but it won't save your hide when the goblins are leaping out of the bushes, because it relies too much on methodical, detailed analysis. Perception is your friend there, because that's how you notice the slight sound of a dagger being unsheathed. I tend to agree - those characters who are especially keen and quick on the uptake could really use some [I]other[/I] mechanic to distinguish them. But then I'm skeptical of the idea of skill proficiencies to begin with. ;) [/QUOTE]
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