Mites and Perception

[Mark Hoover 330]

The standard mite has 120' Darkvision, Low Light Vision, Scent, and Perception +5. They also possess Light Sensitivity which applies the Dazzled condition if the mite is in areas of bright sunlight or in the area of effect of a Daylight spell.

The scenario: the environment is natural caverns; walls are DC 15 Climb checks, the floors are uneven, and there are squares of Cover from Low Obstacles or "trees" in the form of stalagmites, stalactites, columns and flowstone, ledges extending off the walls or other surfaces, etc. The PCs' party consists of a grippili Ranger 1 moving under a DC 18 Stealth check, using Cover and Concealment to justify Stealth; a half-elf wizard 1 with an Owl familiar; the Owl familiar moving with a DC 25 Stealth while the master has taken 1 rank in Stealth and is moving with a DC 14 Stealth; a Halfling Warpriest 1 riding a Wolf mount while holding her slingstaff with a Light spell on it; a Human Fighter 1 beside the mounted Warpriest.

Now the Ranger and Wizard are in the first rank of the party; the owl is flying 10' ahead using a tiny candle-flame like radiance to see out 10' from it. The mites start 120' from the party's front rank, meaning that the owl is 110' from them and the Warpriest/Fighter combo in the back are 130' away.

Each round the party advances 30'; they are double moving but the Stealth rank in front can only move half speed on each Move action. Assume that each round the PCs are able to find adequate Cover or Concealment to move from/to at the beginning/end of their turn to maintain their stealth.

At what point do the mites become aware of the party?

As I understand it, the mites make a Perception check versus the Stealth of the first rank PCs and owl. Said check gains a +5 from the mites abilities/skills, but then suffers a -12 penalty due to distance. Darkvision is not spoiled by any of the PCs' light sources, nor is there any special bonus to being detected while holding a light source by RAW. Concealment from normal darkness is broken by Darkvision, but since the stealth rank of PCs are also finding Cover their Stealth remains intact.

Assuming all of this and a roll of 10 on a D20, the mites have a 15 Perception check modified by distance. The DC to notice a visible creature is 0 meaning that at the starting distance the mites spot the Warpriest and Fighter right off the bat. The Stealth rank of PCs however would only be detected when that rank gets to within 30' of the mites correct?

Scent means that starting at 30' the mites gain a +8 to detect foes by smell under the Perception rules. This immediately cranks their Perception to 23, high enough to detect the Ranger and Wizard, but not the owl. In point of fact, based on all of the above, until the owl breaks Stealth it is never detected by the mites right?

So... the mites spot the back rank with their Light spell at 120', watch them slowly advance, and make preparations to attack the PCs from their own positions of Stealth. Over the next 3 rounds however they notice that the party is moving slowly, almost painstakingly so. Once the PCs get to within 30' if they haven't noticed the mites yet, the fey note 2 new scents entering the area they hadn't counted on.

At this point they can take a Move action to attempt to note the direction of the smell's source, but they still can't actually pinpoint anyone by smell alone. At 10' they can now see the Wizard, and at 5' they can use Smell to actually locate the square of the Ranger.

Sorry for the wall o' text, but do I have all of the above right? Are there bonuses or other rules of detection I'm missing?

[Dasrak]

Mark Hoover 330 wrote:

At what point do the mites become aware of the party?

You mostly have it right, but you've made a few errors with regards to illumination levels.

First, since the back rank is illuminated by their own light spell the Mites can spot them outside of their own darkvision range. As soon as they have line of sight to the back rank, they're spotted, which could be substantially before 120 feet.

Second is the owl; its stealth check only applies to itself, and does not conceal the dim illumination of its candle-like radiance. As a result, the Mites can see that there's some dim light source that's moving ahead of the party even if they do not spot the owl itself.

[Zarius]

It's a +8 to perception under a Scent senario, so 23 on that take-ten. They'll never be aware of the owl.

They'll become aware of the Ranger at 60 feet, because it's a +1 to the DC per 10 feet past the first 10(or a -1 to the check, depending on how you read it, but it works out the same), so at 60 it becomes 23, same as their take-ten.

The Wizard WOULD become noticeable at 100 feet, but no circumstances can cause a Scent to be wafted that far, so 60 feet. They'd be able to SEE him at 20 feet without a problem. (First 10 feet are a gimme, first ten feet after is the first +1, so up to 20 feet of visual.)

The reason I point this out this way is that wind/draft conditions can change the distance of Scent, up to 60 feet out if the air is favorable or down to 15 feet if it's not.

Other than these two minor details, yes. All of your information IS correct.

[Zarius]

Point of order, Dasrak is ENTIRELY correct. Light sources, especially torches and other sources that can count as Normal lighting, are visible from pretty much any distance in darkness.

[Mark Hoover 330]

Does anyone have a rules citation on the spotting a light in darkness from any distance statement? Common sense agrees with you of course but looking under Light and Vision, Environment and other sections as well as under Darkvision and Blindness, I don't see where you can just spot a light. In fact...

Mites have Low Light Vision. It would follow then that the light radius of any light entering their non-magical darkness would appear double the radius from them. Therefore the back rank's Light spell would shine out to a 40' radius of Normal Light, with Dim Light out between 40' to 80' from the mites' perspective, right?

[Dasrak]

Mark Hoover 330 wrote:

Does anyone have a rules citation on the spotting a light in darkness from any distance statement?

You don't see lighting levels, lighting levels affect how you can see. Anyone looking at that area would get visual feedback based on that level of lighting. Implicitly, this means you are automatically aware of the lighting level of an area you can perceive.

Mark Hoover 330 wrote:

Mites have Low Light Vision. It would follow then that the light radius of any light entering their non-magical darkness would appear double the radius from them. Therefore the back rank's Light spell would shine out to a 40' radius of Normal Light, with Dim Light out between 40' to 80' from the mites' perspective, right?

IIRC there's an alternate interpretation of the Low Light Vision rules, but that's how I've always understood them yes.