Metagaming Feats/Spells?

[Domigorgon]

Are there any feats or spells that might, well, sort of allow the players to gauge/divine their enemies' strengths and weaknesses - to see how many HP they have, or HD, or anything about their stats (including things like DR and abilities, maybe) or even what their CR might be? Not necessarily all in one.

Because I'm thinking there probably should be a Divination spell of some kind, telling the caster "better not go against that guy; he may look like a peasant, yes, but he's actually well versed in hand-to-hand combat and could kick your posterior any day of the week. Unless you wait for next Friday, when you will level up and stand a much better chance." sort of thing?

[Boci]

To a certain extent sense motive could help. Maybe spot checks to notice the peasant has an unusually attentive gaze and whipcord muscle.

[Cyclocone]

Know Vulnerabilities/Opponent/Greatest Enemy in the SpC.

[balistafreak]

"Vegeta! What does the Scanner say about his power level?"

Sorry, couldn't resist.

I think there's a Sense Motive system that allows you to roughly gauge an enemy's CR, anything from "trash" to "he will end you". It has the amusing add-on of having a penalty for failing, namely getting a completely incorrect impression.

However, seeing as the CR system is pretty broke in the first place, this may or may not be helpful in the long run.

[JeenLeen]

I think there's a Sense Motive system that allows you to roughly gauge an enemy's CR, anything from "trash" to "he will end you". It has the amusing add-on of having a penalty for failing, namely getting a completely incorrect impression.
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I'm not completely sure, but I think that's Complete Warrior or maybe Complete Adventurer, a use of Sense Motive. It only gives you their power level comparative to your own, and if it is based on CR, it's possibly not that useful.

[PersonMan]

"Vegeta! What does the Scanner say about his power level?"

"It's....1006."

I love how you can roll a natural one and end up running from what was supposed to be an easy encounter. Happened a little while ago to my PCs. It was hard not to laugh as they tried to make sure they weren't being followed...

[Prime32]

Combat Awareness (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Combat_Awareness) tells you their hp, Mindsight (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Mindsight) tells you a few other things.

[Amphetryon]

"It's....1006."

I love how you can roll a natural one and end up running from what was supposed to be an easy encounter. Happened a little while ago to my PCs. It was hard not to laugh as they tried to make sure they weren't being followed...
"RUN, you fool! It's not just a rabbit, it's That Rabbit From That Movie!" :smallbiggrin:

[Domigorgon]

So far, none of these are quite what I had in mind. Would homebrewing do the trick? If so, how to go about it?

[QuantumSteve]

I was looking through my old 2nd ed Tome of Magic, and found a spell called: Idea

It's a 2nd level Cleric spell that lets you ask your DM for a hint. Seriously. It's "Metagame: The Spell"

[2xMachina]

Augury.

Fight?

Weal: CR=Ok
Woe: OK, you're not meant to fight this.

[Ingus]

Arcane Sight and its greater version both give you a good guess of arcane/divine power of your encounters.

Know protections tells you SR and (I guess) energy resistences/immunities.

Other means were already said