Insight
Full rules text, use cases, and edge-case handling for this skill.
Description
Insight reflects your ability to read people — detecting lies, sensing hidden motives, gauging emotional states, and intuiting what someone is not saying. It is the interpersonal counterpart to Perception: where Perception notices things in the environment, Insight notices things in people.
Check
Insight checks are most often contested by the target's Deception check when they are actively lying. Against someone not deliberately deceiving you, the GM sets a flat DC.
| Difficulty | DC |
|---|---|
| Easy | 10 |
| Medium | 15 |
| Hard | 20 |
| Very Hard | 25 |
| Nearly Impossible | 30 |
Common Uses
- Detecting whether an NPC is lying (contested by Deception)
- Sensing that someone is concealing their true emotional state
- Reading the mood of a crowd or group
- Determining whether an offer or agreement is made in good faith
- Intuiting an NPC's motivations or allegiances
Contested Checks
Your Wisdom (Insight) is contested by the liar's Charisma (Deception). Note that Insight does not tell you the truth — it tells you something is off. The GM may describe a feeling of unease or inconsistency rather than confirming that a specific statement is false.
Passive Score
Passive Insight (10 + modifier) is used by the GM to determine whether a character automatically senses that something is wrong in a social interaction — useful for keeping the game moving without calling for a roll every time an NPC tells a small lie.
Proficiency
Insight proficiency is common among Clerics, Druids, Rangers, and characters with backgrounds involving close observation of people (Criminal, Spy, Acolyte). It is a valuable social skill for any character who participates in negotiation or interrogation.
Special
- Detect Thoughts (spell): Reading surface thoughts grants advantage on Insight checks against a creature, and deep probing reveals actual thoughts rather than just suspicion.
- Paladin (Divine Sense): Detects celestials, fiends, and undead nearby — a targeted supernatural version of Insight for certain creature types.
- Empathic (optional feat, Tasha's): Proficiency in Insight; once per day use Insight as a bonus action to read a creature's emotional state.
- Zone of Truth (spell): Removes the need for Insight checks regarding truthfulness within the area — but subjects know they are affected.
- Inquisitive Rogue: This subclass builds heavily on Insight, allowing it to spot weaknesses in combat and read creatures with Insightful Fighting to gain Sneak Attack.