Types of Senses
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Types of Senses
This page details how the senses work in combat and how they interact with stealth and invisibility.
There are many types of senses. For game purposes, all that we worry about are the 'useful' ones. We don't really need to worry about your sense of balance, or proprioception, or a monster's ability to know that it needs to take a poop. For our purposes, we just need to concern ourselves with the senses useful for playing.
In general, these senses fall into four main categories:
- Sight
- Sound
- Smell
- Exotic
Table: Visual Senses
| Sense | Range | Line of Sight? | Line of Effect? | Combat Targeting | vs. Stealth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Vision | Varies | Yes | No | Yes | Perception check |
| Low-Light Vision | Varies | Yes | No | Yes | Perception check |
| Weak Darkvision | 20 feet | Yes | No | Yes | Perception check |
| Standard Darkvision | 60 feet | Yes | No | Yes | Perception check |
| Superior Darkvision | 120 feet | Yes | No | Yes | Perception check |
| Perfect Darkvision | 300 feet | Yes | No | Yes | Perception check |
Table: Audio Senses
| Sense | Range | Line of Sight? | Line of Effect? | Combat Targeting | vs. Stealth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Hearing | 20 feet | No | Yes | Perception check, 50% miss chance | Perception check, 50% miss chance, ignores invisibility |
| Keen Hearing | 60 feet | No | Yes | Perception check, 50% miss chance | Perception check, 50% miss chance, ignores invisibility |
| Precise Hearing | 20 feet | No | Yes | Adjacent creatures | Perception check, ignores invisibility |
| Echolocation | 30 feet | No | Yes | Yes | Perception check, ignores invisibility |
Table: Olefactory Senses
| Sense | Range | Line of Sight? | Line of Effect? | Combat Targeting | vs. Stealth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Scent | 10 feet | No | Yes | Survival check, 50% miss chance | Survival check -20, 50% miss chance, ignores invisibility |
| Scent | 30 feet | No | Yes | Survival check, 50% miss chance | Survival check, 50% miss chance, ignores invisibility |
| Keen Scent | 60 feet | No | Yes | 20% miss chance | Survival check +4, 20% miss chance, ignores invisibility |
| Perfect Scent | 120 feet | No | Yes | Yes | Survival check with bonus equal to hit dice, ignores invisibility |
Table: Tremorsense (Exotic)
| Sense | Range | Line of Sight? | Line of Effect? | Combat Targeting | vs. Stealth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weak Tremorsense | 30 feet | No | Yes | Yes | Perception check with bonus equal to hit dice, ignores invisibility |
| Standard Tremorsense | 60 feet | No | Yes | Yes | Perception check with bonus equal to hit dice, ignores invisibility |
| Superior Tremorsense | 120 feet | No | Yes | Yes | Perception check with bonus equal to hit dice, ignores invisibility |
| Perfect Tremorsense | 300 feet | No | Yes | Yes | Perception check with bonus equal to hit dice, ignores invisibility |
Table: Blindsense (Exotic)
| Sense | Range | Line of Sight? | Line of Effect? | Combat Targeting | vs. Stealth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weak Blindsense | 30 feet | No | No | Yes | Perception check with bonus equal to hit dice, ignores invisibility |
| Standard Blindsense | 60 feet | No | No | Yes | Perception check with bonus equal to hit dice, ignores invisibility |
| Superior Blindsense | 120 feet | No | No | Yes | Perception check with bonus equal to hit dice, ignores invisibility |
| Perfect Blindsense | 300 feet | No | No | Yes | Perception check with bonus equal to hit dice, ignores invisibility |
Table: Lifesense (Exotic)
| Sense | Range | Line of Sight? | Line of Effect? | Combat Targeting | vs. Stealth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weak Lifesense | 30 feet | No | No | 20% miss chance | Perception check with bonus equal to hit dice, 20% miss chance, ignores invisibility |
| Standard Lifesense | 60 feet | No | No | 20% miss chance | Perception check with bonus equal to hit dice, 20% miss chance, ignores invisibility |
| Superior Lifesense | 120 feet | No | No | 20% miss chance | Perception check with bonus equal to hit dice, 20% miss chance, ignores invisibility |
| Perfect Lifesense | 300 feet | No | No | 20% miss chance | Perception check with bonus equal to hit dice, 20% miss chance, ignores invisibility |
Table: Heartsense (Exotic)
| Sense | Range | Line of Sight? | Line of Effect? | Combat Targeting | vs. Stealth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weak Heartsense | 20 feet | Yes | No | Yes | Provides a 10' radius of Heartlight (as Darkvision) emanating from each humanoid in range |
| Standard Heartsense | 30 feet | Yes | No | Yes | Provides a 10' radius of Heartlight (as Darkvision) emanating from each humanoid in range |
| Superior Heartsense | 40 feet | Yes | No | Yes | Provides a 10' radius of Heartlight (as Darkvision) emanating from each humanoid in range |
| Perfect Heartsense | 60 feet | Yes | No | Yes | Provides a 10' radius of Heartlight (as Darkvision) emanating from each humanoid in range |
Light and Darkness
The visual senses use light of various spectrums to allow the creature using it to see. Light is divided into bright light, dim light, darkness, and true darkness (as with the Deeper Darkness spell).
Bright Light
Any creature with a visual sensory organ can see an unlimited distance in bright light, assuming that no object blocks line of sight (which can include the curvature of the planet). The visual horizon is the critical determinant for distance of vision in bright light when viewing distant objects in vast, open spaces:
- For an observer standing on the ground with average height, the horizon is at a distance of 2.9 miles.
- For an observer standing on the second story of a building or a ship's deck (10 feet), the horizon is at a distance of 3.8 miles.
- For an observer standing on a hill or tower (100 feet), the horizon is at a distance of 12.2 miles.
- For an observer standing at the top of an average mountain (13,000 ft), the horizon is at a distance of 139 miles.
- For an observer atop the tallest of mountains (30,000 ft), the horizon is at a distance of 211 miles.
Normal Light
This has been removed from the game. Spells or abilities which reference normal light should be amended to state 'bright light'.
Dim Light
Standard visual sensory organs function poorly in dim light, and creatures in dim light gain concealment against creatures with standard vision. Concealment grants the concealed creature a 20% chance to be missed by attacks in combat.
Typically, a bright source of light, such as a torch, provides dim light an equal distance to its bright light radius, beginning at the edge of that bright light radius. Thus, a torch provides bright light to 30 feet, and dim light beyond 30 feet out to 60 feet. Moonlight and starlight are the most common sources of dim light that do not provide a commensurate amount of bright light. Some magic items are also capable of producing dim light without bright light.
Darkness
The area outside of any light source, beyond the reach of dim light, is considered darkness. Darkness grants total concealment to creatures within it, when perceived by creatures with standard vision. Total concealment grants the concealed creature a 50% chance to be missed by attacks in combat.
Darkness can also be created by magical spells, such as the Darkness spell. In this case, unless the spell specifically states otherwise, Darkvision still functions within the darkness.
True Darkness
- This is magical or elemental darkness, and cannot be penetrated by visual senses. It goes beyond the absence of all spectrums of light, to the point of being anathema to light, actively absorbing or destroying it. All creatures in True Darkness gain total concealment (50% miss chance) against any visual senses.