Perception

Perception is one of the seven Primary Statistics in the SPECIAL system.

Fallout
Perception determines Sequence, ranged combat distance modifiers and the starting level of First Aid, Doctor, Lockpick, and Traps. It may also open new dialogue options and the player character placement in random encounters.

Related perks

 * Awareness
 * Better Criticals
 * Bonus Rate of Fire
 * Earlier Sequence
 * Empathy
 * Friendly Foe
 * Healer
 * Night Vision
 * Ranger
 * Scout
 * Sharpshooter
 * Sniper

Ways to increase

 * Lost Hills surgery (permanent +1)
 * Mentats (temporary +1)

Fallout 2
Perception determines Sequence, ranged combat distance modifiers and the starting level of First Aid, Doctor, Lockpick, and Traps. It may also open new dialogue options and the player character placement in random encounters.

Related perks

 * Awareness
 * Better Criticals
 * Bonus Rate of Fire
 * Cautious Nature
 * Earlier Sequence
 * Empathy
 * Healer
 * Night Vision
 * Ranger
 * Scout
 * Sharpshooter
 * Sniper

Ways to increase

 * Gain Perception (permanent +1)
 * Green memory module surgery in San Francisco (permanent +1)
 * Mentats (temporary +1)

Fallout Tactics
Perception determines Sequence, ranged combat distance modifiers, the starting level of First Aid, Doctor, Lockpick, Pilot, and Traps and the distance at which sneaking characters get detected. A combination of Perception and the Traps skill is used to detect traps placed on the ground.

Related perks

 * Awareness
 * Bonus Rate of Fire
 * Death Sense
 * Healer
 * Night Vision
 * Ranger
 * Scout
 * Sniper

Ways to increase

 * Gain Perception (permanent +1)
 * Mentats (temporary +1)

Fallout 3
Perception determines the initial level of Explosives, Lockpick and Energy Weapons. It also determines the detection radius, i.e. how close you need to be to a hostile creature or character for them to show up on the compass.

Perception can also provide additional dialog options with some NPCs, such as Moira Brown, Mel and Machete.

Related perks
The benefit of the Survival Expert perk is affected by what you say to Moira Brown after each portion of The Wasteland Survival Guide quest. Having a perception of 7 yields relevant "smart" dialog options at the end of the Contract Radiation Sickness and Traversing a Mine Field objectives.

Ways to increase

 * Perception Bobblehead, Museum of Dave (permanent +1)
 * Ant Sight special perk (permanent +1)
 * Intense Training (permanent +1)
 * Night Person (permanent +1 during nighttime)
 * Mentats (temporary +5)
 * Orange Mentats (temporary +5)
 * Various armor, including Maple's Garb, Vance's Longcoat Outfit, and various pieces of headwear (temporary +1)

Fallout: New Vegas
Perception determines the initial level of Explosives, Lockpick and Energy Weapons. It also determines the detection radius, i.e. how close you need to be to a hostile creature or character for them to show up on the compass.

It also factors into several Speech checks.

Ways to increase

 * Intense Training (permanent +1)
 * Optics Enhancer, New Vegas Medical Clinic (permanent +1)
 * Four Eyes (permanent +1 with glasses)
 * Night Person (permanent +1 during nighttime)
 * Party Time Mentats (temporary +2)
 * Absinthe (temporary +1)
 * Mentats (temporary +1)
 * Coyote Tobacco Chew (temporary +1)
 * Stealth suit Mk II (temporary +1)
 * Hat-like headgear (e.g. Pre-war Ball Cap) or the 1st Recon beret (temporary +1)

Fallout 4
With the absence of skills, Perception now directly affects accuracy in V.A.T.S., as well as base pickpocketing and lockpicking skills. Enemies no longer appear on the player's compass unless they're aware of their presence ([CAUTION] alert while in Stealth) or actively trying to attack the player ([DANGER] in Stealth). Friendly NPCs never appear on the player's compass.

Ways to increase Perception

 * Permanent
 * Night Person perk rank 2 (+3, but only between 6PM and 6AM)
 * Night Person perk rank 1 (+2, but only between 6PM and 6AM)
 * V.A.N.S rank 2 (+2)
 * Perception bobblehead (+1)
 * Perception Training (+1)
 * You're SPECIAL! book (+1)
 * Temporary
 * Armor and clothing
 * Faded trenchcoat (+2)
 * Eyeglasses (+1)
 * Nuka-World jumpsuit (+1)
 * Military cap (+1)
 * Patrolman sunglasses (+1)
 * Sunglasses (+1)
 * Worn fedora (+1)
 * Chems
 * Orange Mentats (+5)
 * Bufftats (+3)
 * Psychotats (+3)
 * Mentats (+2)
 * Power armor modifications
 * Sensor array helmet mod (+2)

Lionheart
This is the ability to perceive the environment and notice things that others might miss. It is a combination of the individual’s senses, including touch, sight, taste, smell and hearing. This attribute factors strongly into a character’s ability to notice unusual things about the environment. Magic Wielders use this ability to understand their spirit, so Mana is partially determined by this attribute.