Detective Work

To keep up with the litany of crime in Imperial City the lord mayor of Shajara, Najeeb el-Kaba, has legalized private detective work. They are not affiliated with the Imperial City Police, they do not enforce the law, and their jurisdiction lies squarely in what is directly involved in the case they are assigned. They can be hired by citizens, attorneys, or by the police department.

The boundaries of probable cause, what evidence is required for entering houses without a warrant (for which a detective would be required to work with the Imperial City Police), and other legal restrictions are important. The ICP is by no means a corrupt department and is run strictly.

Detection
Each check may be attempted once per in-game hour. Investing more time gives you a better chance to succeed, but some cases are time-sensitive! Being conservative with time is smart so sometimes you have to make a judgement call without all the facts.

Perception
Perception is the part of detection which examines the entirety of a scene and picks out what is relevant to the problem. These checks inform you about what might be useful. While higher checks lead to harder-to-spot clues, less obvious clues are not always more useful.

Methods of active perception includes reasonable forms of search (going through drawers, looking under furniture, etc). You cannot actively perceive a crime scene inconspicuously.

Investigation
Investigation derives information from clues or observations. The player is required to ask a question about the clue, not just roll to get all relevant information. Common questions would be "What kind of weapon caused the wound?", "How long has this stain been here?", or "Was the window broken from the inside or outside?". Questions that are too general may be denied.

Detectives may be trained in chemical methods of determining if a stain is blood, estimate how long a corpse has been dead, and so on. Since the DM previously determined information that could be discovered from a clue, it is possible to get an answer of "You can't tell", even if the roll is high. Some information is not able to be determined.

A question can be asked once an hour. On the other hand, you can ask the clue multiple questions in the same hour, so long as the questions are different enough. You can also ask the same question of multiple clues. A boot and some footprints might be separately examined for evidence of a person's height.

Players can substitute another skill for investigation, such as medicine skill to determine cause of death or survival to follow footprints.

Deduction
Deduction is the process by which some information is analyzed in such a way that it creates a new clue. Deduction adds information which is necessarily true, but not available until the leap has been made.

Arrest
Arrest is not allowed by a private detective. Detectives can work with the police department to get individuals arrested on any level of probably cause, by which any objective evidence that a suspect committed a crime is enough. This includes: The police may hold a suspect for up to 48 hours, after which they must be released or the police must receive a warrant to hold them longer, or press charges.
 * Possession of stolen or illegal goods
 * Matching description of wanted person
 * Knowing information only the criminal would know

Search & Entry
Detectives must have permission, or be acting on police business who have a warrant, to legally search a suspect or person's residence. Without that authorization, the evidence is inadmissible in court and they may be in legal trouble.

Use of Nonlethal Force
Nonlethal force is only allowed in the case of self defense. This usually includes status effects, such as being blinded, charmed, grappled, or stunned. This also includes nonlethal damage.

Use of Deadly Force
The use of deadly force is only allowed the the suspect is believed to be an immediate danger to people around them (if they have used deadly force or appear to be about to use deadly force).