Wisdom.
Your senses allow you to notice fine details and alert you to danger. Perception covers all five senses, including sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
Check: Perception has a number of uses, the most common of which 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.
Perception is also 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 table gives a number of guidelines.
* Favourable and unfavourable 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 odours might increase the DC of a check involving scent.
** As for unfavourable 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.
Action: Most Perception checks are reactive, made in response to observable stimulus. Intentionally searching for stimulus is a move action.
Try Again: Yes. You can try to sense something you missed the first time, so long as the stimulus is still present.
Special: A character can take 10 or take 20 when making a Perception check. Taking 20 means the character spends 2 minutes attempting to perceive something that may or may not be there to hear.
A character with the
Alertness feat gets a +2 bonus on all Listen checks.
