Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 6575948" data-attributes="member: 37579">I tend to view active Perception is any time the character is stretching their senses: trying to see in the distance, trying to track down an odd smell, feeling for a trickle of air denoting a secret passage, trying to hear through a door, etc. Any time the limits of the sense comes into play, where the average person might not be able to automatically detect something. Times, when as a DM, I'd use the term "keen senses".Investigation tends to be less about what can or cannot be easily seen, and more noticing what is already visible. The subtle clues. The worn patch of the floor denoting sliding stonework, the absence of a wedding band on a finger, etc. Piecing together the evidence of your senses and making connections and inferences. If a player asks the right questions, I'd generally give them the answers to a successful Investigation check. "Are any patches of the wall unusually smooth?" "Are any of the flagstones loose?" Investigation is just your character doing what the player might not be aware of. But in Perception, the character either sees it or doesn't and no asking questions will reveal the answer. I tend to think of rounds versus minutes. If what you're doing takes longer than an action or two, it shifts from Perception to Investigation. You can glance at a hallway or wall and, if your eyes spot something odd you succeed. But if you stop to actually make a decent check, then it becomes Investigation. A rogue finding traps, to me, seems very much like an Investigation check. You're looking for clues and signs of the trap. It's a slow, methodical process.</blockquote>

Verification