LordGorbag: I know Perception helps you find things in Skull piles or Trash Heaps, but how about corpses?
Perception helps you avoid traps and the dodging graphic is kinda cool,,,Luck helps avoid trap damage, I think. Logically, Luck or party luck, could help in finding treasure. But I never been able to verify it.
Anyway, should I beef up Luck for my Thief or Perceptionist?
Thanks!
This applies to MM6, 7, and 8:
I believe that Perception does NOT actually help you find things in Skull piles or Trash Heaps, it helps you avoid being poisoned or diseased when you rummage through them while looking for loot. A character without it can still find stuff, but the character will be adversely affected.
If your perception is high enough, then certain (hidden) doors, levers, and other objects will flash to make them easier to spot. It also gives you a chance of dodging a trap on a chest if your disarm attempt fails, and (as above) it lets you avoid being poisoned/diseased when looking through trash heaps.
Looting corpses is just random. Neither Perception nor Luck affect what you find. Chests have random loot tables, and some chests always have specific objects. Either way, the treasure is generally determined when you enter the map where the treasure chest is located.
I'm not entirely sure what Luck does affect. I know it plays into the damage reduction provided by your resistances, and it might help lower trap damage(?), but I seem to recall that it is a fairly limited stat in this game.
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As for your Thief: Having higher Luck is a good thing, and having higher Perception can be useful, but whether they are worth the cost will depend on a lot of factors. Chief among them is which game you are playing (presumably MM7, since there are no Thieves in 6 or 8?), and the second biggest factor is the composition of your party.