Investigation vs Perception in DnD 5e

recently I posted a video on perception I got a question from Robert Duckworth 1490 about using perception and when to use investigation there's a really good question so I did some investigation and I learned why there is a lot of confusion how would the player's handbook Define the two both are lengthy definitions so we can see investigation and perception there's a lot written and there's a little bit of overlap the biggest difference is that investigation does not rely on senses but on thinking you can investigate with your eyes closed or you can investigate when you're not even present with the object you're investigating there's also the word clue in investigation meaning that the characters could put things together and figure out where a clue would be in the room the player handbook makes things more convoluted by including location of a hidden object in investigation and then having a little box on how to find an Hidden Object right next to it that describes perception so there is built-in overlap I used candle keep Mysteries to investigate the difference I looked up all the instances of a DC and looked mainly at the ones relating to intelligence checks or wisdom checks uh excluded animal handling because that's pretty obvious and I found that perception was the most common followed right after by investigation I looked through the uses and again there's a lot of overlap specifically when it comes to finding hidden objects so how do you play the difference first the classes have minimal overlap barbarians and Fighters have Proficiency in perception but not investigation the what Hunters warlocks and wizards are proficient in investigation but not perception artificers Rogues and Rangers are proficient in both and bards can be proficient in whatever they want to be it's notable that neither wisdom Caster the cleric of the Druid gives Proficiency in perception requiring a bit of a diversifying of your skill portfolio and in the player's handbook only sailor gives first efficiency for perception no other background gives proficiency for that and no background gives proficiency for investigation so unless you're playing a wizard sailor you're unlikely to have a high score in both wisdom and intelligence and a Proficiency in both perception and investigation it would be a pretty awesome character though second most classes will not benefit from having both wisdom and intelligence scores so chances are your character is not using both skills with both proficiency and high ability as a player be specific as to how your character is looking for a hidden object think of it like looking for your glasses you can either look around the room probably with disadvantage and perception but that would be a perception check or you can just sit there and try to remember where you put them and track your steps back and that's an investigation check finding a hidden room was a real tight spot on some of the DND Beyond chats and I think that could probably be done both ways just happy exact about how you're doing it are you looking at the dust looking for scrapes in the floor looking for light coming from behind walls those are all really described right there in perception or are you creating a mental map of the building and thinking where you might have a hallway that's just a little too thick or you might have a missing spot where there should be a room that's an investigation check plenty of your character's strength and be very communicative with your DM and of course use a library when in doubt that's an investigation check where your DM can maybe hand you a few Clues uh maybe even give you a little bit of lore or just tell you straight out nobody knows this and nobody would which might be a dead end now how do we DM the difference there are differences between investigation and perception where things are evident searching for Clues checking wounds admiring architecture before destroying it or using the local library are all firmly investigation situational awareness hearing conversations or stealthy goblins and hearing smelling things are all firmly perception either being strongly clear and consistent with how players look for hidden objects or allowing them to play to their character's strength will keep things rolling smoothly at the table and minimize the well last time you said I could candle keep Mysteries again this is built for a team with both High wisdom and high perception given that perception is used in literally every chapter I'm not surprised that Wizards of the Coast put finding objects mostly under investigation it creates a bit of a balance for the high perception characters or your high investigation characters and allows both members of an investigatory party to do their jobs to their strengths there's at least one spot where either skill can be used they just say they're interchangeable on page 73. the mystery also uses a game Dynamic where a high passive perception automatically notices books notices night light before boards or hears Whispering be clear with your players if you're going to give them Clues if they have a high passive perception because that could mean one player is getting all the clues and other players are kind of left in the dust or it could mean you're rewarding the one player who actually is perceptive I like the balance that candle keep tries to bring to this whole perception investigation question but I would actually want more consistency or open flexibility my current party has between a plus one to a plus three in their intelligence scores or a zero to one in wisdom I want to throw more investigations their way to play to their strengths as well of course giving them wisdom saving throws and stealthy foes to play against their weaknesses and give a bit of that balance in game hopefully this helped I investigated this using candle keep Mysteries the player's handbook d d Beyond forums and the Third Edition player's handbook which wasn't much clearer if you're still in doubt talk to your DM or players and sndm don't make your players do an Insight check to know what ability scores you want rolled

Channel: Robert Bode

Views: 336

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Id: LcWzFY0EsMY

Length: 6min 21sec (381 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 22 2023