On the D&D Beyond character sheet, it lists passive perception, passive investigation and passive insight. I can readily see when the passive perception and passive insight come into play, but I cannot think of any reason why passive investigation would be a thing. Am I missing something obvious?
To detect if something is illusion or not you use your Investigation against the Illusion/Spellcaster's DC. If your Passive Investigation is higher than the DC you automatically see through the illusion.
My group uses Perception to detect anything alive/animate/ambulatory and Investigation for anything mechanical/inanimate. So if we enter a situation where someone is hiding from us, it’s passive perception to notice them but if there is a trap, it’s investigation to notice that. It’s not infallible as sometimes it’s hard to define which category a situation falls into but it is a handy rule of thumb that simplifies most cases.
On the D&D Beyond character sheet, it lists passive perception, passive investigation and passive insight. I can readily see when the passive perception and passive insight come into play, but I cannot think of any reason why passive investigation would be a thing. Am I missing something obvious?
Passive checks can represent the average result for a task done repeatedly, such as searching for secret doors over and over again, or can be used when the DM wants to secretly determine whether the characters succeed at something without rolling dice...
An Intelligence check comes into play when you need to draw on logic, education, memory, or deductive reasoning. Exemple of Intelligence (Investigation) check includes when you look around for clues and make deductions based on those clues, such as the location of a hidden object, discern from the appearance of a wound what kind of weapon dealt it, or determine the weakest point in a tunnel that could cause it to collapse. Poring through ancient scrolls in search of a hidden fragment of knowledge might also call for an Intelligence (Investigation) check. Some adventures often have them tie to dicerning secret passages.
DMs usually ask for a active check on most Intelligence (Investigation) check but Passive is always an option, especially in secret when asking wether a creature can figure or deduce something or not, and also to prevent metagaming when a player see another rolling poorly to attempt itself despite the character shouldn't have a clue wether it's a failure or there's just nothing to be found.
On the D&D Beyond character sheet, it lists passive perception, passive investigation and passive insight. I can readily see when the passive perception and passive insight come into play, but I cannot think of any reason why passive investigation would be a thing. Am I missing something obvious?
Passive checks can represent the average result for a task done repeatedly, such as searching for secret doors over and over again, or can be used when the DM wants to secretly determine whether the characters succeed at something without rolling dice...
I do this often. Sometimes the players don't ask or say they are taking a special look at things when their PC could possibly notice it in passing.
In addition, when you ask players to make a roll, then they know something is up. Passive scores lets you do a check without giving anything away.
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"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
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On the D&D Beyond character sheet, it lists passive perception, passive investigation and passive insight. I can readily see when the passive perception and passive insight come into play, but I cannot think of any reason why passive investigation would be a thing. Am I missing something obvious?
To detect if something is illusion or not you use your Investigation against the Illusion/Spellcaster's DC. If your Passive Investigation is higher than the DC you automatically see through the illusion.
Or if the party is searching a room, you might skip a roll and give a player with good passive investigation some info.
My group uses Perception to detect anything alive/animate/ambulatory and Investigation for anything mechanical/inanimate. So if we enter a situation where someone is hiding from us, it’s passive perception to notice them but if there is a trap, it’s investigation to notice that. It’s not infallible as sometimes it’s hard to define which category a situation falls into but it is a handy rule of thumb that simplifies most cases.
Passive checks can represent the average result for a task done repeatedly, such as searching for secret doors over and over again, or can be used when the DM wants to secretly determine whether the characters succeed at something without rolling dice...
An Intelligence check comes into play when you need to draw on logic, education, memory, or deductive reasoning. Exemple of Intelligence (Investigation) check includes when you look around for clues and make deductions based on those clues, such as the location of a hidden object, discern from the appearance of a wound what kind of weapon dealt it, or determine the weakest point in a tunnel that could cause it to collapse. Poring through ancient scrolls in search of a hidden fragment of knowledge might also call for an Intelligence (Investigation) check. Some adventures often have them tie to dicerning secret passages.
DMs usually ask for a active check on most Intelligence (Investigation) check but Passive is always an option, especially in secret when asking wether a creature can figure or deduce something or not, and also to prevent metagaming when a player see another rolling poorly to attempt itself despite the character shouldn't have a clue wether it's a failure or there's just nothing to be found.
I do this often. Sometimes the players don't ask or say they are taking a special look at things when their PC could possibly notice it in passing.
In addition, when you ask players to make a roll, then they know something is up. Passive scores lets you do a check without giving anything away.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale