So I'm a bit confused about just how perception works to find traps.
Here's a few examples to illustrate my confusion;
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The PCs enter a room and all roll perception checks just to search the room. Maybe they find some coins, etc. Assuming they get a high enough roll, would they find a trap with this kind of check, or would they have to do a separate Perception check to "find traps?" My confusion with this point comes from skills like survival which actually have a different use and you have to specify what use you are going to roll. Does perception just notice anything at all that is within the roll or are there also different uses?
The same for secret doors, do they pop all out of the same perception check?
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Do they have to be within a certain proximity? Does the trap have to be within a certain range for them to find it?
Best Answer
Actively looking for a trap or secret door is a separate actively requested move action and not part of the general reactive Perception check you get for just looking around.
Please note as proof the Trap Spotter rogue talent, which specifically allows you to notice traps using Perception without actively looking. Without the talent, that doesn't happen. Note also that the section on secret doors says you have to be examining to find them. The Perception skill makes a somewhat-hazy distinction between just looking around and specifically examining - "Most Perception checks are reactive, made in response to observable stimulus. Intentionally searching for stimulus is a move action." Some of the understanding of this is from 3e, which had Spot and Search as separate skills, and it was Search that found secret doors and traps. They combined them in Pathfinder for simplicity but with the expectation that "passive perception" and "actively looking" were two different things.
It doesn't specify "how close to the trap" you have to be to find and/or disable it, but the general understanding is "not so close you're setting it off, but adjacent to that."