Spot

Key Ability: Wisdom | Trained Only: No | Armor Check Penalty: No

You have keen intuition and you notice things without even trying. Your sharp senses -- especially sight, sound, smell -- alert you to danger and the unexpected.

Check: Spot has a number of uses, the most common of which is to detect characters or creatures who are approaching you, especially if they are trying to be sneaky. Typically, your Spot check is opposed by the Stealth check of the creature trying not to be seen. Sometimes a creature isn’t intentionally hiding but is still difficult to see, so a successful Spot check is necessary to notice it.

Note that you cannot choose to make a Spot check. Spot is used for things you sense intuitively, by instinct. If you are actively trying to find something, use the Search skill.

A Spot check result higher than 20 generally lets you become aware of an invisible creature near you, though you can’t actually see it.

Spot is also used to detect someone in disguise (see the Disguise skill), or to realize that someone is drawing a weapon or cheating at cards or picking your pocket. Spot checks may be called for to determine the distance at which an encounter begins.

The following table gives a number of guidelines.

Detail	Spot DC
Hear the sound of battle	–10
Notice the stench of rotting garbage	–10
Detect the smell of smoke	0
Notice a visible creature	0
Realize that food is spoiled	5
Hear the sound of a creature walking	10
Hear the sound of a key being turned in a lock	20
Hear a bow being drawn	25
Sense a burrowing creature underneath you	25
Notice a pickpocket	Opposed by Sleight of Hand
Notice a creature using Stealth	Opposed by Stealth
Special Conditions	Spot Check Modifier
Distance to the source, object, or creature	-1/10 feet
Through a closed door	-5
Through a wall	-10/foot of thickness
Favorable conditions¹	+2
Unfavorable conditions¹	-2
Terrible conditions²	-5
Creature making the check is tired	-2
Creature making the check is fatigued	-4
Creature making the check is exhausted	-6
Creature making the check is fascinated	-4
Creature making the check is asleep	-10
Creature or object is unseen due to invisibility, blindness, etc.	-20 (for vision-based checks)
1 Favorable and unfavorable conditions depend upon the sense being used to make the check. For example, bright light might give a bonus on checks involving sight, while torchlight or moonlight might give a penalty. Background noise might make checks involving hearing more difficult, while competing odors might penalize any check involving scent.
2 As for unfavorable conditions, but more extreme. For example, dim lighting for DCs involving sight (with normal vision), a roaring dragon for DCs involving hearing, and an overpowering stench covering the area for DCs involving scent.

Action: Never. Every time you have a chance to perceive something in a reactive manner you can make a Spot check without using an action.

Try Again: At the game master's discretion. If you want to try to sense something, make a Search check.

Special: Creatures with the scent special quality have a +8 racial bonus on Spot checks involving a scent. Creatures with the tremorsense special quality have a +8 racial bonus on Spot checks against creatures touching the ground. For more on special qualities, see Special Abilities.

Note on invisibility, total concealment, blindness, etc: Some places in the rules grant invisible creatures a +20 on Stealth checks (+40 if they are standing still). This is the same rule as that cited above, giving a -20 on Spot checks to sense a creature you cannot see. Game masters, do not apply both of these modifiers! If you grant an invisible creature +20 on Stealth, do not also impose a penalty on Spot or Search!

Gnomes gain a +3 racial bonus on Spot checks.