Learn How It Works and Little Ways to Make It Better in Your D&D 5e Campaigns

By Riley Rath

Title Image by Viko Menezes © WOTC

Table of Contents

© Wizards of the Coast

Encumbrance rules, mounted combat, and passive perception (PP)... 

What do these three things have in common? 

NO ONE KNOWS HOW THEY WORK. 

Case and point... you wouldn't be reading this post if you already knew the rules :)

Thankfully, this blog post answers every single passive perception 5e related question you can imagine. It also includes some alternatives, with homebrew solutions ranging from simple to complex! 

What is Perception in the Dungeons and Dragons RPG? 

Perception is one of the skills in Dungeons and Dragon's 5th edition. Skills are used when players want to accomplish something and there is a chance they may succeed or fail. In these situations, the DM will have them roll a 20-sided die (d20) and add the modifiers associated with that skill. If they tie or roll higher than the Difficulty Class (DC), then they succeed the skill check. 

Perception is the DnD 5e skill associated with "noticing." In the game, characters often encounter situations where they need to be aware of their surroundings, whether it be detecting hidden enemies, spotting traps, or noticing important details in the environment. When a player wants to do any of that detecting, searching, looking, perceiving... etc... the DM might ask them to make a Perception skill check. 

© Janonna-Art

What is Passive Perception 5e? 

However, there are situations where the player characters would notice things that players would not. This is where passive perception comes into play. Passive perception is how DnD 5e represents a character's ability to notice things when they are not necessarily looking or searching... kind of like a "6th sense" or their unconscious gut feeling. These are powers of observation that require immediate context, which is obviously present to player characters in the game world but unobservable to your friends in a damp basement or in their fun gaming chair on zoom. 

What Does Passive Perception Do? 

With a normal "active perception" check, the player rolls a d20 and adds the appropriate ability modifier and, if they are proficient, their proficiency modifier too. But PP involves no rolling and, as a result, no variety. Instead, a passive perception score is automatically with another roll or DC. 

So, technically, passive perception 5e does nothing... it's passive! That said... what does DnD 5e PP DO... like, what does this mean for you?! It means your player character is less likely to be surprised or ambushed by things that character isn't aware of. Translation: it keeps you from dying!

How to Use DnD 5e Passive Perception

As stated above, you do not "use" it... because it is passive, not active. Your DM will instead ask you what your PP is and compare it with his own roll or the DC he set. However, players can attempt to put themselves in situations where the DM will be forced to ask about passive perception more often. 

How to Calculate Passive Perception 5e

Calculating passive perception in Dungeons & Dragons 5e is... well, frankly it's very easy. The rules state it is "10 + all modifiers that normally apply to that check." That is, 10 + the number next to the word "Perception" in the skills column of your character sheet. Easy peazy, but let me clear it up real quick. 

Here are pictures of the relevant details: 

Wisdom Ability Modifier

Proficiency Bonus

Here are all the different versions of passive perception calculation:

• If you are PROFICIENT in the perception skill: 10 + WIS modifier + Proficiency Bonus
• If you are NOT PROFICIENT in the perception skill: 10 + WIS modifier
• If you have EXPERTISE in the perception skill: 10 + WIS modifier + (Proficiency Bonus x2)

If you remember your order of operations from Jr. High, you should have no problems calculating DnD 5e PP! Just be sure to update your PP score as your character levels up; leveling up sometimes increases your proficiency modifier (proficiency bonus) and a higher, even-numbered Wisdom score will increase all your Perception checks. 

How to Determine Passive Perception

DETERMINING PP in Dungeons and Dragons is... well, frankly it's very easy. The rules state it is "10 + all modifiers that normally apply to that check." That is, 10 + the number next to the word "Perception" in the skills column of your character sheet.

Yes, that is the EXACT same answer as above... but some of you search a lil' bit different... and Google can be finicky... 

How Does Advantage/Disadvantage Impact Passive Perception 5e? 

In DnD 5e, advantage means you roll twice and take the higher result; disadvantage is the same, but you take the lower. Since passive perception 5e has no rolls, any character with disadvantage takes a temporary -5 to their PP, while any character with advantage takes a +5. 

How Does Proficiency Affect Passive Perception 5e?

As stated above, if your character is proficient in the skill, then they add their proficiency bonus to their PP score. For those characters, their passive perception is 10 + WIS modifier + proficiency bonus. If you have expertise in the skull, then your proficiency bonus is doubled. 

Once again... this answer here is specifically for Mr. Google and those that search differently...

© Felicia Cano

Why Does DnD Have Passive Perception? 

Short answer... I can think of three reasons: 

1. Play testers didn't want to roll every freakin' second to check for traps.
2. Game developers knew they needed SOMETHING to protect players from ambushes and traps (avoid those "gotchya!" moments)
3. Game developers still wanted surprise and suspense in the game.

Long answer?

1) Protecting Player Agency

This ethos is around the borderline sacred "player agency." The idea is that it is the PLAYERS that write the story; the characters THEY create and the actions THEY take determines the plot. A DM-driven campaign where the players are just along for the ride... also known as "railroading"... is the antithesis of this ethos. 

For this to work, players should always bear some responsibility for the events of the campaign. When something happens, they need to feel like it's the consequences of their character creation and in-game decisions. Consequences and rewards alike must be EARNED. 

So when players are just walking along, and the DM suddenly says "oops... you just stepped on a hidden land mine... you blew up... roll a new character," players not only feel cheated, but like some social contract was broken, especially if there are no signs or clues that landmines are in the area. 

© Patricia Pria

2) Players Are Silly Geese

It also just makes sense. A lot of the player characters are seasoned adventurers. Think regional or national heroes who have fought more battles than they can remember. They of all people know what dangers lurk out there in the wild tombs of liches and guarded vaults of lords. 

But those are PLAYER CHARACTERS, not the PLAYERS. The PLAYERS are Mike, Gloria, James, Ariel, and Travis... and none of them know jack sh*t about noticing traps in the real world (great video on traps here!) 

So when sitting in a tavern talking with a kooky goblin cook that the party wants to adopt, the players would have no reason to assume that the goblin's human friend is pick pocketing each and every one of them. But the seasoned adventurer would know to ALWAYS have one hand on their purse. Passive perception 5e covers this general character know-how. 

© Gabriel Teixeria

3) Helping Dungeon Masters

In D&D, the Dungeon Master (DM) is responsible for creating and narrating the game world. They control the non-player characters (NPCs), describe the environments, and determine the outcomes of the players' actions. But here's the "bad news": 

99% of Dungeon Masters out there... including myself... are amateurs. 

And I mean that in the most literal way: most DMs do not get paid to lead their games. DMing is a career for few and a hobby for many. 

Which means that most Dungeon Master's are not truly MASTERS... we are learning! The adage is that it takes 10,000 hours to truly master something. But another adage claims that only "perfect practice makes perfect," and I doubt most DMs have had perfect practice for 10,000 hours. 

Now don't be discouraged! This isn't a big deal because DnD and any good TTRPG can still be A TON of fun with amateur or new DMs. You don't HAVE to be a perfect DM for DnD to "work"! 

That said... because so many Dungeon Masters out there are amateurs, a lot of Dungeon Masters make mistakes or forget stuff, especially on the more subtle details. Sure, lots can create a great combat encounter, but how many can: 

• Describe an area...
• Evocatively so players can imagine it as if they were there...
• While also leaving room for player imagination to fill in the blanks...
• But also including the important details to guide their exploration...
• But also not including so much detail that it gives away all surprise and suspense...

A bit harder innit?

That is how passive perception 5e helps the hordes of amateur DMs out there. It is REALLY easy to leave out an important detail that would indicate to players that they need to succeed the check or face dire consequences. 

Problems (and Fixes) With Passive Perception

Although PP is a useful skill in Dungeons & Dragons, it does have a few limitations and potential problems. 

Overpowered

Perception is already one of the most overused and OP skills in the game. Most tables use it as a catch all for noticing AND understanding ANYTHING out of the ordinary. It doesn't matter if the rogue knows nothing about magic... his high perception check will indicate that there is an orb missing in the cult liar! And at high levels, this skill can reach INSANE heights. 

My suggested fix is to have more varied perception checks. When it comes to noticing magic, maybe make it an arcana check to get the wizard more involved? Or if the check requires hearing music, maybe the bard should be able to use one of their charisma-based skills... or heck, use the "Variant: Skills with Different Abilities" and let them roll Perception with the Charisma ability rather than the Wisdom ability! 

Takes the Fun Out of Traps

I kinda touched on this earlier in the "Helping Dungeon Masters" section, but passive perception 5e can absolutely RUIN fun traps and puzzles. Especially at higher levels when some players will have insanely high PP. And even if you set a crazy high DC, players will only need to roll a bit higher than a 10 to notice it normally. Which means they will discover every secret door... every swinging blade.. every fireballed sigil... ALL THE TIME. 

A way around this problem is to approach traps from a different point of view: traps should NEVER be noticed! If you could search for them, then they wouldn't be very good traps! Instead, players should notice signs that a trap might be nearby, and only when they begin to ask the right questions do they discover the trap. Or, alternatively, you can offer players the opportunity to avoid the rap rather than ways to discover the trap. 

Few Tables Use a Stealth Floor

So this is important for when players are sneaking around trying NOT to get noticed by an enemy NPC with PP. Now most NPCs are going to have a PP, which means they can NEVER be lower than that. Doesn't matter if that particular NPC had a fight with their favorite wench or didn't get enough sleep or is a big scaredy-cat that doesn't like being out at night... if their passive perception is 13, then it is ALWAYS 13. 

Meanwhile, the player characters are seasoned adventurers that are HYPER focused on staying stealthy. And yet, they do NOT have a stealth floor. At any moment they could roll a 1 and the stealth mission becomes a "kill everyone as fast as possible" mission... or be killed themselves (Zee Bashew covers this really well). 

One solution? Have more passive skills! Page 175 of the PHB (get yours on Amazon here) isn't the "passive perception" section... it's the "Passive SKILLS" section! Yes, only the PP has a space on your character sheet, but RAW does not bar you from adding a baseline to all sorts of active checks.

Then again, this might just create a DIFFERENT problem by making even more skills overpowered. 

© Andis Reinbergs

All These passive Skill Check Issues are Why I Created New Rules Specifically for Stealth Check Heavy Encounters

Read It Here Now

Viko Menezes © Wizards of the Coast

The Passive Check Assumes Comprehension

Perception just means you NOTICE something... something stands out. But in my opinion, many tables add an additional ability to it: players not only notice but also UNDERSTAND. This is similar to tables treating an insight check like a 100% accurate lie-detector test, and probably why it feels so overpowered at so many tables. 

For example, let's assume there is a hidden monster in the desert a party is traveling through. Sure, the barbarian may have a high passive perception and see some sand "shuddering" against the wind. But then again, this barbarian is from the far north... how the hell would he know the sand moving is dangerous? 

Most tables would benefit from players needing to succeed TWO rolls before the speak out and warn their party: one roll to NOTICE (perceive) and one to PROCESS the information (some form of intelligence roll). Should they fail the second roll, they chuckle to themselves and think nothing of it! Could lead to some really interesting role-playing opportunities as high WIS characters talk about their day and suddenly mention something that sets of alarm bells for a high INT or CHA character!

Group Checks

When facing challenges as a group in Dungeons and Dragons, group checks become crucial. Rather than relying on individual abilities, the collective effort of the party determines success. All party members contribute, and if the majority pass, the group succeeds. However, if most fail, the group fails. Since passive perception does not require a roll, this means that the party will ALWAYS fail certain DCs. 

I have no solution for this... PP just doesn't work here.

© Stephanie Brown

The Impact of Equipment and Abilities

The primary way to increase your character's passive perception is by improving their Wisdom ability scores. By increasing your character's Wisdom score, you can increase their Wisdom bonus, which directly affects their passive perception score. Other magic items, such as the Cloak of Elven Kind, impose disadvantage/advantage on perception checks, which will lower/raise their PP score by 5. 

Most of the other ways characters get good passive perception 5e is just by finding ways to boost your perception ability check in general. So any and all racial traits, feats, magic items, and class abilities that boost your Wisdom or make you proficient (or an expert!) in the skill are going to boost your PP as well. The Observant Feat is by far the best insta-boost. One of its benefits is that you automatically gain +5 to all PP checks.

© Wizards of the Coast

Conclusion - Hope This Helps Players and DMs Alike!

In summary, passive perception in 5e is an essential mechanic in Dungeons & Dragons that allows characters to passively notice things in the game world. It adds suspense, surprise, and realism to the game, and it allows the DM to control the flow of information and provide subtle hints to the players. However, be mindful of potential pitfalls like overlooking details or relying too heavily on NPCs for outcomes.

By Riley Rath - Freelance DnD Copywriter