Standard Procedures (Northreach)

From Toosigma

Passive Skill Checks

The Passive Skills Insight and Perception will be judged in the following ways:

• Under "normal circumstances" the PC is expected to be taking adequate precautions and generally paying attention to his surroundings. This represents the base Passive score (10 + Skill Modifier).
• If the PCs express that they are being exceptionally careful, they can move at 1/20th normal speed and gain a +10 bonus to their normal Passive skill (the equivalent of "Taking 20"). Note that this option won't always be available - for instance it would not be possible to use Passive Insight to determine if someone was lying in normal conversation. It would be possible if the subject is forced to comply (i.e. an interrogation) but it will take a good deal of time.
• If the PCs express that they are "throwing caution to the wind" - their Passive bonuses drop by 5 points. This will include any time the PCs move at running speed.
• A PC may choose at any time to make an active perception check - if you're actively expecting something out of the ordinary, or paying particularly close attention. This will almost always be a Standard Action when in combat, and allows the PC to make a d20 roll. If the result is below 10, the Passive Perception score will take precedence, i.e. you can't be penalized for making an active check.

Stand Up Action

I've been doing some re-reading on the Prone condition, Stand Up action, and Opportunity Actions. As near as I can tell, I don't believe standing from prone provokes Opportunity Attacks (as it did in 3.x edition). From now on, when prone, you'll have the following options:

• Act normally without standing up (-2 penalty to all attacks, +2 defense vs ranged, grant combat advantage vs melee, movement reduced to half)
• Stand Up as a move action (no Opportunity Attack)
• Shift 1 square and Stand up (if your current space is occupied, no Opportunity Attack)

Frost Weapon/Wintertouched/Lasting Frost

The standard interpretation by the Character Optimization boards is that a Frost Weapon (PHB p234) grants the Cold keyword to any melee attack powers made with that weapon. As such, a character with the Lasting Frost feat can inflict Vulnerable 5 cold on every target he hits with any melee attack. Assuming the character also has the Wintertouched feat, he gains combat advantage against that foe the following round.

In my opinion, these feats were designed with a cold-based wizard or warlock - a character whose basic powers include the Cold keyword. They were not intended as an easy way for a rogue or other melee character to gain near-permanent combat advantage using a specific magic item. The advantage gained by this combination is significantly more powerful than any other magic item/feat combination. As such, I'm following the interpretation that while the damage inflicted by the weapon may be cold damage, it does not meet the keyword requirements of the Lasting Frost or Wintertouched feats.