PERCEPTION (WIS) AND INVESTIGATION (INT) IN THIS GAME
A perception roll (WIS) has to do with the character's senses. What do they see, hear, smell, taste, touch or otherwise sense from their environment. A investigation roll (INT) has to do with logical reasoning or how you interpret the information provided by your senses. Either can be used to find hidden things depending on the circumstances and it is up to the DM to decide which is applicable.
Here are some examples:
Finding doors or traps via perception checks:
- noticing a hair thin line that defines the edge of a hidden door would likely be a perception check.
- feeling a slight breeze around the edge of a hidden or secret door might be a perception check.
- hearing the faint sound of running water from behind a hidden door might be a perception check.
- looking into a lock and noticing that there appears to be an unexpected sharp object at the top of the lock might be a perception check.
- examining a lock and smelling a faint acrid smell associated with poison might be a perception check.
- noticing a concealed hair thin wire running across the floor might be a perception check.
In the above cases, the challenge is noticing something associated with what is hidden but once noticed it is usually pretty obvious that you are dealing with a door or a trap or something hidden. However, sometimes the clues are pretty obvious but what they MEAN is not and that requires an investigation check.
Finding doors or traps via investigation:
- examining a desk drawer. The drawer is perhaps oddly shallow. Investigation check to find the hidden compartment at the back of the drawer.
- there are some scrapes on the floor. These are pretty obvious but it might require an investigation check to determine that they are caused by a hidden door opening into the room.
- a lock contains an odd black substance. Investigation check to determine that the substance is flammable and will likely explode if the chest is opened.
- a chest has three key holes. Investigation check to examine the mechanism and deduce the proper order to insert the keys.
- a book on a bookshelf protrudes about 1/2" farther than the others. Investigation check might determine that this is attached to a release mechanism for a secret door.
- Carpet isn't lying perfectly flat. Investigation check to determine that this is caused by something specific under the carpet... perhaps a hidden trap door.
So from my perspective... perception is used for things that are difficult to detect but usually fairly easy to figure out when found while investigation is used for things that are fairly easily found but harder to figure out what they mean. Investigation uses logical reasoning to deduce the existence or location of something hidden while perception is related to directly sensing something related to the hidden object.
There are cases where both a perception check and investigation check might be required to figure something out.
Perception checks are obviously required because a player can never know what a character can sense... it is all abstract. However, investigation is a "hybrid" skill in that some players are good at deductive reasoning and when the DM gives them what the character sees they immediately start looking for the hidden item. However, the player is not the character and not all players are the same... so making an investigation check allows for the characters ability to reason logically and figure out puzzles and clues to be taken into account when resolving an in-game task.
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