My main character has a Perception of 16, which while not maxed out, seems pretty decent. However, he was unable to detect the secret described here. I've also read that there's a Gleaming Silver Key on the first floor of the Temple of Ethos, but despite using scout mode and standing on top of where it should be (and wiggling around… and speeding up the game and just waiting) I can't seem to detect any secrets.
Part of the reason I raised perception so high was so that I'd have a good chance of finding secrets, but perhaps I read too much into the Perception tooltip to assume it helps with that. Does mechanics come in to play when it comes to finding secrets? It's tooltip doesn't mention anything, but the answer linked above makes me wonder if that's what I'm missing.
What, exactly, governs whether or not I find secret doors and hidden compartments?
Best Answer
Finding secrets and traps seems to rely entirely on the Mechanics skill, not Perception. My main character has a terrible perception (3) but high mechanics skill (7) and has no problem finding secrets.
As you mentioned, you will need to be in scouting mode and walk near the secret. If you detect it, the secret will turn purple (as in the below screenshot) and your character will mention spotting something hidden.
Waiting around and speeding up/slowing down game time does not seem to have any effect, you either find it immediately or need to come back with a character with better Mechanics skill.