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In the comments for another question, I was asked to pose a question on how to achieve a passive Perception of 28, while having a Perception modifier significantly lower than 18, which is impossible to achieve.

So, here's the question:
How do you achieve a passive Perception of 28, with a bonus to active Perception of less than 10?

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Using a combination of feats and magic items, it is possible to achieve a passive perception that is incredibly high. I will use the build my player of a dwarven cleric made as my example.

First off, he had a wisdom score of 20, giving a +5 to both active and passive perception.

Secondly, he was proficient in perception, and was level 5, giving a further +3 to both active and passive perception, for a total of +8.

Thirdly, he had the Observant feat, which grants a +5 bonus to passive perception and investigation rolls, totalling a +13 to passive perception, which would be a passive perception of 23.

Fourthly, he had a magic item, namely the Sentinel Shield, which gives you advantage on initiative rolls and perception checks. Having advantage on passive checks confers a +5 to the passive score, bringing it up to a total of 28.

The only way his active perception could ever match his passive is if he rolled a natural 20, or had disadvantage on the roll, cancelling out the advantage, and requiring he roll a 15 or higher.

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    \$\begingroup\$ So your character is better at finding things when he's not looking for them? \$\endgroup\$
    – Oblivious Sage ♦
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 12:27
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    \$\begingroup\$ Pretty much, yeah. That's how it works, RAW. In effect, this meant that he always saw traps before he activated them (and gave other people advantage on their checks by warning them before they activated the traps) and almost always saw people sneaking around (or the rogue stealing stuff), but he had to actively search for secret doors and stuff like that. Active and Passive was usually used for different things, but for the ones they weren't, he never asked for a check, relying on his passive score \$\endgroup\$
    – xanderh
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 12:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ @ObliviousSage It's not that unusual if you consider that, with no bonuses, half of the time someone is worse at finding things when looking for them. It makes sense that you have to perform worse than average some of the time. \$\endgroup\$
    – user-63873687
    Commented Jul 9, 2020 at 4:04
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Observant + Advantage

The observant feat gives +5 to passive perception checks, and advantage gives another +5. This means your passive perception bonus is +10, for a total of 20, with a perception bonus of +0.

I believe this is the maximum difference attainable between passive and active perception.

Perception of 28, with a bonus to active Perception of 8

If you gain +8 through other means (eg proficiency in perception with +3 proficiency bonus and +5 from wisdom) you will have 28 passive perception and +8 perception bonus.

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When utilizing Customized Ability Scores (point buy, standard array, etc) the earliest level you could get a 28 to your passive perception is 6:

Customized rules make it so that you can only put 15 in a starting stat before racial abilities, so the most you can have in Wisdom is 16 at level 1 (no races give a +2).

Human variant, Fighter level 1 - This allows for a starting stat of 16 in Wisdom, as well as picking up the Observant feat right off the bat to increase passive perception by +5. You obviously take Perception as your skill for the proficiency bonus.

Level 1 Current passive perception: 10 + Prof + Wis + Observant = 10 + 2 + 3 + 5 = 20

Now you need to wait until level 6 to get both ASI's to move your Wisdom up to the required 20 to get the +5 from Wisdom.

Level 6 Current passive perception: 10 + Prof + Wis + Observant = 10 + 3 + 5 + 5 = 23

Then, if your DM permits the wording on Sentinel Shield to grant you +5 passive perception bonus, you add that as well. This item is of relatively low level and shouldn't be too hard to obtain.

If using rolls for stats, you can reach this goal slightly faster.

A roll of 18 will get you the +4 right away, and taking human variant will get you Observant as well. Take whatever class you like, and the first ASI level gets your Wisdom up to 20 to maximize the passive perception your character can have without magical assistance. Add in the Sentinel Shield and proficiency bonus again, and your character is set at 28 before level 5.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Also, a Hill Dwarf with a roll of 18 can achieve 20 wisdom at level 4 as well. \$\endgroup\$
    – xanderh
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 16:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ Not if you roll an 18. With rolled scores, you could achieve it with 18 (rolled), +1 (hill dwarf), +1 (feat). \$\endgroup\$
    – xanderh
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 17:57
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    \$\begingroup\$ Also, Sentinel Shield grants advantage on initiative rolls and perception CHECKS, indicating that passive checks would count as well. A passive check is still a check. I'd argue that this is pretty unambiguously in favour of granting advantage on passive perception checks as well. \$\endgroup\$
    – xanderh
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 18:02
  • \$\begingroup\$ This doesn't meet OP's criteria, which specifically asks about achieving a higher passive Perception than [the character's Perception mod + 10]. You may want to more clearly point out that you're challenging OP's assumption that a Perception modifier of +18 is impossible and thus showing that it's not necessary to "achieve a significantly higher total passive Perception than the sum of your Perception bonus + 10" to have that high a passive Perception. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Apr 13, 2019 at 6:55
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Using point buy put 15 into Wisdom, take Human Variant to get Wis +1, starting is Wisdom 16 (+3), take proficiency in Perception and then a class that gives Expertise, such as 1 level of Rogue or 3 levels of Bard (giving starting proficiency of +4). Your active perception modifier is +7.

To get a higher passive perception, for your Human Variant feat take Observant, which gives +5 passive.

Next get advantage, either by having someone cast Enhance Ability - Owl's Wisdom on you or get your hands on a magic item such as Sentinel Shield, Eyes of the Eagle, Robe of Eyes, or Candle of Invocation. The highest you can roll as an active check is still 27, but you get two chances. Having advantage grants another +5 passive.

It is the combination of the Observant feat and Advantage that give the +10 boost to passive perception.

At first level a Rogue can have a passive perception of 27.

To get to 28 passive you need a +8 active modifier, which at first level will require a Wisdom of 18 either through a magic item boost such as a Tome of Understanding, or an Ioun Stone of Insight (or, if rolling ability scores a rolled 18 would give this), or wait until you can get an ability increase at level 4.

If you increase Wisdom to 18, so your active is +8, then you can get a passive of 28.

Note that a Human Variant Bard can achieve passive perception of 28 at level 4 without any magic items, as they get Expertise at level 3, and can also cast Enhance Ability on themselves.

At 5th level, your proficiency (doubled by Expertise) increases, adding another +2 to both.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This doesn't meet OP's criteria, which specifically asks about achieving a higher passive Perception than [the character's Perception mod + 10]. You may want to more clearly point out that you're challenging OP's assumption that a Perception modifier of +18 is impossible and thus showing that it's not necessary to "achieve a significantly higher total passive Perception than the sum of your Perception bonus + 10" to have that high a passive Perception. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Apr 13, 2019 at 6:55
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I know this thread is quite old but I just wanted to post that this number can be upped by a good bit not including items sense no items upgrade passive perception as most people in this thread keep over looking the specific text of ability “check” passive perception is not an ability check of any kind Nor does advantage = a +5. Percentage yes I suppose it is a 5 but that’s not how the item functions. However i will also leave a number for if we did count “checks” and advantage.

  1. be variant human get the observant feat.
  2. At level 4 take the prodigy feat to get expertise in perception.
  3. Be level 20 for the sweet +6 proficiency bonus and thanks to the prodigy feat that’s now a sweet +12
  4. At level 16 max out wisdom for a +5 bonus

Total result 10 base +5 wisdom +5 observant +6 proficiency +6 prodigy

Total= 32

If we count “checks” and advantages we repeat the previous steps but add some.

  1. Be a Druid circle of dreams at level 6 they get there hearth or moonlight and shadow giving them another +5 to perception checks while resting.
  2. Get the sentinel shield adding a technical +5 from advantage
  3. Get the luck stone adding a plus +1 from the stone

Total result 10 base +5 wisdom +5 observant +6 proficiency +6 prodigy +5 from hearth of moonlight and shadow +5 from sentinel shield +1 from luck stone

For a grand total of: 43

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  • \$\begingroup\$ these are some good ideas but this doesn't really work with the restrictions in the question to keep active perception bonus <10 \$\endgroup\$
    – AnnaAG
    Commented Nov 18, 2022 at 9:36
  • \$\begingroup\$ Passive checks are described in the chapter on Ability Scores. The first sentence says it's a "special kind of ability check that doesn't involve any die rolls". It also says "If the character has advantage on the check, add 5. For disadvantage, subtract 5." You can check for yourself here: roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Ability%20Scores#toc_8 \$\endgroup\$
    – xanderh
    Commented Nov 24, 2022 at 9:25
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For this, I actually figured this out.

  • Human variant (any class), level 16 (which has a proficiency bonus of +6)
  • Have your Wisdom score be a 20.
  • Have the feats Prodigy and Observant. Make Perception your expertise for the Prodigy feat.
  • Find a Tome of Understanding, which gives you a +2 to Wisdom, making your Wisdom score a 22 now.
  • Have a Sentinel Shield. Advantage grants a plus 5 to passive skills.
  • A Luckstone grants a plus 1 to ability checks.

All total, the formula will look like this:

10 (base)
+ 12 (proficiency bonus)
+ 6 (Wisdom modifier)
+ 5 (Observant)
+ 5 (advantage)
+ 1 (Luckstone)
= 39

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This doesn't meet OP's criteria, which specifically asks about achieving a higher passive Perception than [the character's Perception mod + 10]. That said, it might be possible to reword it to more clearly answer it by challenging OP's assumption that a Perception modifier of +18 is impossible and thus showing that it's not necessary to "achieve a significantly higher total passive Perception than the sum of your Perception bonus + 10" to have that high a passive Perception. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Apr 13, 2019 at 6:47
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Okay so I'm building a character around max Passive perception and here is what I've come up with.

  • Variant Human with observant feet skill perception obviously.
  • I was allowed to roll stats and ended up with +4 and +3 for charisma and wisdom.
  • Level 1 take rogue and expetise in perception. Level 1 score 3+4(expertise)+5(feat)+10=22
  • Take your next level in Warlock with the UA subclass Ravenqueen for the Sentinel Raven which adds your charisma to your perception modifier. That's 26 at level 2.
  • get magic item for advantage on perception or start elf and get observant feat later.
  • At level 5 with an asi your passive perception will be:9+5+5+5(cha,feat,adv)+10= 34
  • at level 20 your Passive perception is 5+5+5+5(cha,wis,feat,adv)+12(expertise)+10=42

DC 30 checks are considered nearly impossible,42 must be supernatural. Nothing can hide from you.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Advantage is being considered a flat +5 for this calculation? \$\endgroup\$
    – GcL
    Commented Jul 8, 2020 at 21:10
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    \$\begingroup\$ This doesn't actually mean the question's criteria, does it? It asks for a high passive Perception but with a bonus to active perception less than 10. Please edit this to correct for that \$\endgroup\$
    – Someone_Evil ♦
    Commented Jul 8, 2020 at 21:10
  • \$\begingroup\$ Also, Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already and see the help center or ask us here in the comments (use @ to ping someone) if you need more guidance. Good Luck and Happy Gaming! \$\endgroup\$
    – Someone_Evil ♦
    Commented Jul 8, 2020 at 21:10

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