The bonus for a 20+ perception score, according to the manual, is the ability to detect things that are invisible. Does this apply to traps? It would seem ridiculous if that were the case, as it would pretty much obviate the need for the Spot Traps skill altogether. On the other hand, traps are the only thing I can think of that are invisible (aside from enemies if you plant that one cursed ring on them), so if the bonus doesn't apply to them, what good is it?

And on a related note, what kind of skill/training level would I need in Spot Traps to get through the Black Mountain Clan Mines without totally obliterating my party's gear? I'm assuming scrolls of Sense Invisible aren't going to do me a lot of good as a technologically inclined character.

Much obliged. Looks like the 20 perception bonus is yet another of those things that Troika threw in without actually giving it any utility.

I tried to see what level of Spot Traps I would need to get through the mine unscathed. With 17 perception, 4 points in the skill, plus a +1 from my thieves' leather, plus apprentice training to negate lighting penalties, I was able to detect the traps in the first few trapped chests and set them off safely with Magnus's trap springers. Then a few minutes later I got zapped by an electrical trap in another chest. Elixir of Awareness, eye gear, and nine character points spent, and I detected a grand total of two or three traps. Apparently nothing short of maxing the skill will stop them from being an issue, and I'm guessing even that isn't a sure thing.

Sometimes I just have to laugh at how obtuse and infuriating this game can be. I guess I'll keep leaving town and sleeping to force merchants to restock, and hope I can find a decent number of Sense Hidden scrolls that way. My only fear is that they'll have a short duration because I'm a tech character, and I'll have to burn through a zillion of them.

Yea some of the max-stats bonuses are rather weak, just poison immunity for 20 Constitution for example.

with the stats you describe I would've expected >90% detections. its unfortunate some investments in the game aren't well rewarded. You can reallocate points with a savegame editor though, like i did :P use sparingly!

If you're at BMC mine there should find be some detection scrolls there. When I did my run I relied on Health and Restore Fatigue salves.

If you're into crafting you can build a Flow Spectrometer which will do trap detections for you when equipped but it consumes one battery unit per detection.