Your Perception allows you to notice fine details and alert you to danger. Perception covers all five senses, including sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
Most Perception checks are reactive, made in response to observable stimulus. Intentionally searching for something is a move action.
Creatures with the scent special quality have a +8 bonus on Perception checks made to detect a scent. Creatures with the tremorsense special quality have a +8 bonus on Perception checks against creatures touching the ground and automatically make any such checks within their range.
| Perception task | Requires | Time | Retry | DC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notice opponent | — | — | No | Opposed by Stealth |
| Notice details | — | — | No | Varies |
| Search area | — | 1 move action or more | No | Varies |
| Read aura, once per day | occult skill unlock | 10 minutes | Next day | Varies |
Notice Opponent: Noticing an opponent is an opposed check versus an opponent’s Stealth check to notice the opponent and avoid being surprised. If you are successful, you notice the opponent and can react accordingly. If you fail, your opponent can take a variety of actions, including sneaking past you and attacking you.
Since Perception covers all senses, it is important to distinguish which of those senses count as observing a creature that is using Stealth. Some senses are more precise than others. Imprecise senses allow a creature to pinpoint the location of another creature, but they don’t allow for the use of targeted effects, and attacks against those creatures are subject to miss chances from concealment. A few examples of imprecise senses are hearing, scent, blindsense, and tremorsense. A sense is precise if it allows the creature to use targeted effects on creatures and objects it senses, and to attack enemies without suffering a miss chance from concealment. This includes vision, touch, blindsight, and lifesense. Precise senses allow the creature to pinpoint an enemy’s location. When a creature uses a precise sense to observe an enemy, that enemy is unable to use Stealth against the observer unless it creates a distraction first, or has a special ability allowing it to do so. Senses other than the listed ones count as precise or imprecise at the GM’s discretion. A creature might have a limited form of a sense that makes it too weak to count as precise, such as a beast with primitive eyes that has difficulty seeing a creature that isn’t moving.
Notice Details: Perception is used to notice fine details in the environment. The DC to notice such details varies depending upon distance, the environment, and how noticeable the detail is. The following tables give a number of guidelines.
| Detail | DC |
|---|---|
| Hear the sound of battle | –10 |
| Notice the stench of rotting garbage | –10 |
| Detect the smell of smoke | 0 |
| Hear the details of a conversation | 0 |
| Notice a visible creature | 0 |
| Determine if food is spoiled | 5 |
| Hear the sound of a creature walking | 10 |
| Hear the details of a whispered conversation | 15 |
| Find the average concealed door | 15 |
| Hear the sound of a key being turned in a lock | 20 |
| Find the average secret door | 20 |
| Hear a bow being drawn | 25 |
| Sense a burrowing creature underneath you | 25 |
| Notice a pickpocket | Opposed by Sleight of Hand |
| Notice a creature using Stealth | Opposed by Stealth |
| Find a hidden trap | Varies by trap |
| Identify the powers of a potion through taste | 15 + the potion’s caster level |
| Perception Modifiers | DC Modifier |
|---|---|
| Distance to the source, object, or creature | +1 per 10 feet |
| Through a closed door | +5 |
| Through a wall | +10 per foot of thickness |
| Favorable conditions | –2 |
| Unfavorable conditions | +2 |
| Terrible conditions | +5 |
| Creature making the check is distracted | +5 |
| Creature making the check is asleep | +10 |
| Creature or object is invisible | +20 |
Favorable and unfavorable conditions depend upon the sense being used to make the check. For example, bright light might decrease the DC of checks involving sight, while torchlight or moonlight might increase the DC. Background noise might increase a DC involving hearing, while competing odors might increase the DC of a check involving scent.
Terrible conditions are as for unfavorable conditions, but more extreme. For example, candlelight for DCs involving sight, a roaring dragon for DCs involving hearing, and an overpowering stench covering the area for DCs involving scent.
Search Area: Intentionally searching for something works like noticing details, but always takes at least a move action and often takes significantly longer. For a given Perception check it should be no larger than a 10-foot-by-10-foot area, and often a smaller space if that area is cluttered. For instance, one might look through a filing cabinet full of files. Though the cabinet itself might fill only a 5-foot-by-5-foot area, the number of files present could cause a search to take a particularly long time.
Read Aura: You must be trained in Perception and be capable of casting psychic spells or who have the Psychic Sensitivity feat to use this functionality of the skill. Once per day, you can examine the natural aura of a creature or object to discern the subject’s alignment, emotions, health, or magic. This requires 10 minutes of concentration, after which you attempt a Perception check. Each time, you must pick one of four auras to read: alignment, emotion, health, or magic. The result of the check applies only to the selected aura. You must be within 30 feet of the subject at all times during the reading. Objects typically have only magic auras, though some also have alignment auras (and intelligent items have emotion auras). You can still attempt to detect a type of aura an object doesn’t have, but you get no results. The DC varies depending on the aura, as shown on the table.
Read Alignment Aura: You attempt to read the alignment aura, learning the alignment and its strength. An alignment aura’s strength depends on the creature’s Hit Dice or item’s caster level, as noted in the description of the detect evil spell.
Read Emotion Aura: The colors within the target’s aura reveal its emotional state. If successful, you learn the target’s disposition and its attitude toward any creatures within 30 feet of it. For a number of rounds equal to the amount by which you exceeded the skill check’s DC, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive checks against the target.
Read Health Aura: Viewing the flow of vital force, you assess a creature’s physical condition. You learn if the creature is unharmed or wounded, if it is poisoned or diseased, and whether it is affected by any of the following conditions: confused, disabled, dying, nauseated, panicked, staggered, stunned, and unconscious. You also learn the total number of points available in its ki pool, grit pool, or similar resource.
Read Magic Aura: You attempt to determine the number and power of all magical auras on a target creature or object (see detect magic to determine a magic aura’s power). If the check is successful, you can attempt Knowledge (arcana) or Spellcraft checks to determine the school or identify properties of a magic item, as normal. If the item is affected by magic aura or a similar spell, you can realize this and determine the actual properties of the item if your check result exceeds the DC by 5 or more. If the spell is of a higher level (such as aura alteration), increase this threshold DC by 2 for every spell level beyond 1st.
| Read aura task | DC |
|---|---|
| Read alignment aura | 15 + creature’s HD or item’s caster level |
| Read emotion aura | 20 + creature’s HD or item’s caster level (intelligent items only) |
| Read health aura | 15 + creature’s HD |
| Read magic aura | 20 + creature’s HD or item’s caster level |
You can read a creature or object’s aura more than once, whether you read the same aura or a different one.
If you have the Signature Skill feat, the rogue’s edge ability, or another ability that grants you the skill unlocks for this skill, you gain access to the following abilities when you have sufficient ranks.
5 Ranks: You remain alert to sounds even in your sleep, and the normal DC increase to Perception checks when you are sleeping is halved. The distance modifier on the DC of Perception checks you attempt is reduced to +1 per 20 feet.
10 Ranks: The distance modifier on the DC of Perception checks you attempt is reduced to +1 per 30 feet. In addition, you gain a +5 bonus on Perception checks to notice or locate an invisible creature or object.
15 Ranks: You remain alert to sounds even in your sleep, and the normal DC increase to Perception checks when you are sleeping doesn’t apply to you. The distance modifier on the DC of your Perception checks is reduced to +1 per 40 feet.
20 Ranks: You gain a +10 bonus on Perception checks to notice invisible creatures or objects. The distance modifier on the DC of Perception checks you attempt is reduced to +1 per 60 feet.
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SECTION 15