I’d like to see 6th edition D&D do away with the Perception and Insight skills and instead make them entirely passive. Then to complement that, give certain classes (rogues, rangers), backgrounds, etc the ability to make active checks in certain terrain/circumstances. ( As a DM, I really dislike how Perception and Insight are conducive to metagaming: The pile-on effect of "Oh, you rolled low, let me make a check" or "Oh, that's a good idea to do Insight, I'll do one, too."
— Greg Bilsland (@gregbilsland) September 8, 2020
By making the skill a passive thing that DMs use to reveal information, it would inform adventure design. Room descriptions and features could be tied to the passive scores. I'm on the fence about investigation. I've essentially shorthanded Perception to be "looking around" and "Investigation" to be looking at something. I like players to essentially have a button to press to "Find out more," so I'm not totally sold that it needs to go.
— Greg Bilsland (@gregbilsland) September 8, 2020
As more games move to virtual tabletops and tools, it also becomes more feasible for these tools to show info accordingly. Imagine if @DnDBeyond looked at the characters playing through an adventure and then highlighted the relevant info in the adventure accordingly.
— Greg Bilsland (@gregbilsland) September 8, 2020
Also, as a birder, I can confirm that "active and passive perception" aren't really a thing when you're attuned/skilled at looking for something. I'm always birding, even when I'm not actively doing it.
— Greg Bilsland (@gregbilsland) September 8, 2020