Classes that get Perception

[Gadwin]

The classes that have Perception as a class skill are:

Bard, Barbarian, Rogue, Hexblade, Monk, Ranger, Scout, and All Prestige Classes except Bladesinger and Dragon Devotee

The only real theme I notice here is that by and large, heavy-magic classes do not get perception. Barbarians and Battleragers are angry primitive fighters, but they can see things where fighters can't. Swashbucklers are essentially rogueish fighters, and they don't get perception whereas the prestige class with equal emphasis of using weapons with finesse, Weapon Master, does get the skill. Without any insight on the design enacted, it seems a bit arbitrary.

I am biased in that I feel few classes should truly be restricted from this skill, but I feel the noted examples of fighters and swashbucklers have more grounds to be given the skill than most. At the very least I think it would be worth giving another pass over what classes gain the skill.

 

[Khaine]

Barbarian, rogue, monk and ranger are classes that get perception skills in the base game. Barbarians are generally depicted as primal/tribal warriors who live away from civilisation, fending for themselves. A similar principle of living off the land and fending for themselves applies to rangers. Rogues live off of their wits, and the same logic was applied to bards who are generally depicted as very rogue-ish.

Monks are disciplined warriors who and spend a lot of time focusing their mind, and weapon masters are treated similarly - it's nothing to do with them potentially using finesse weapons.

I won't break down the reasoning for all of the prestige classes, but if anything I'd be more inclined to remove perception from some of them - like battlerager and divine champion - rather than add it to fighter and swashbuckler as honestly stealth will be nigh meaningless if everyone has perception. I think you can pretty much justify a skill for any class, to some degree there's a game-y element of balance that needs to be taken into consideration.

 

[Gadwin]

Gotcha. Being more selective with who gets it also works for me.