19 Senses
19.0.1 Blindsight
A creature with blindsight perceives its environment without sight, using senses like hearing, smell, or vibrations. It can detect creatures and objects within a specified range, ignoring invisibility and darkness, but must have a clear line of effect. Blindsight does not allow color perception and is ineffective against gaze attacks.
19.0.2 Darkvision
Creatures with darkvision see in darkness as if in dim light, typically in shades of gray. It functions in total darkness but does not penetrate magical darkness, with a typical range of 30 or 60 feet.
19.0.3 Detect Undead
This ability allows creatures or classes, like Clerics, to sense undead within a certain range, identifying their presence and often providing insights into their nature.
19.0.4 Echolocation
By emitting sound waves and interpreting the echoes, creatures with echolocation navigate in complete darkness and can detect nearby unseen creatures.
19.0.5 Magic Awareness
This ability enables a creature to sense magic within a specified range, including active spells and magical items, though it does not reveal the nature of the magic.
19.0.6 Scent
A creature with the scent ability detects and identifies creatures or objects by smell, recognizing familiar odors and tracking within a specified distance.
19.0.7 Telepathy
Telepathy allows a creature to communicate mentally with others within a certain range, often requiring shared languages but sometimes enabling understanding without spoken words.
19.0.8 Tremorsense
Creatures with tremorsense detect vibrations through the ground, pinpointing the location of creatures or objects in contact with it within a specific radius. This sense does not work for flying or incorporeal creatures.
19.0.9 Truesight
A creature with truesight sees things as they truly are, including invisible creatures, illusions, and can perceive into the Ethereal Plane. It also allows seeing through both magical and nonmagical darkness.
19.0.10 Blindsight
Using nonvisual senses, such as sensitivity to vibrations, keen smell, acute hearing, or echolocation, a creature with blindsight maneuvers and fights as well as a sighted creature. Invisibility, darkness, and most kinds of concealment are irrelevant, though the creature must have line of effect to a creature or object to discern that creature or object. The ability’s range is specified in the creature’s descriptive text.
The creature usually does not need to make Spot or Listen checks to notice creatures within range of its blindsight ability. Unless noted otherwise, blindsight is continuous, and the creature need do nothing to use it. Some forms of blindsight, however, must be triggered as a free action. If so, this is noted in the creature’s description. If a creature must trigger its blindsight ability, the creature gains the benefits of blindsight only during its turn.
Blindsight never allows a creature to distinguish color or visual contrast.
A creature cannot read with blindsight.
Blindsight does not subject a creature to gaze attacks (even though darkvision does).
Blinding attacks do not penalize creatures using blindsight.
Deafening attacks thwart blindsight if it relies on hearing.
Blindsight negates displacement and blur effects.
19.0.11 Darkvision
Darkvision lets some races and monsters see in total darkness as if it were black-and-white normal vision, usually up to 30 or 60 feet (assume 60 feet if unspecified). It doesn’t work in magical darkness or in light brighter than moonlight.
19.0.12 ESP
ESP detects the surface thoughts of any thinking creature in range. The caster can probe one creature per turn, getting simple thoughts, and probes can continue from round to round to see if the thoughts change. ESP is blocked by 2 or more feet of rock, 2 inches of any metal other than lead, or a thin sheet of lead foil.
19.0.13 Scent
The creature with the Scent sense can detect approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes, and track by sense of smell. Creatures with the scent sense can identify familiar odors just as humans do familiar sights.
19.0.14 Tremorsense
A creature with tremorsense can detect and pinpoint the origin of vibrations within a specific radius, provided that the monster and the source of the vibrations are in contact with the ground. Tremorsense can’t be used to detect flying or incorporeal creatures. Many burrowing creatures, such as ankhegs and umber hulks, have this special sense.
19.0.15 Truesight
A creature with truesight can see in normal and magical darkness, see invisible creatures and objects, and automatically detect visual illusions. A creature using Truesight also perceives the original form of a shapechanger or a creature that is transformed by magic. Furthermore, the creature with Truesight can see into the Ethereal Plane within the same range.