Any way for a PC to determine enemy health at range? (d&d 3.5)

[soulsabre345]

I'm attempting to make a Sorcerer/dracolexi, and take a couple of the more potent power words, so my question is is there any decent way to see a enemy character's hp via feats or spells or such? And I don't mean via metagaming, as far as i know the PCs are not supposed to know enemy HP

[SurlySeraph]

The only way I know to determine an enemy's HP is with Combat Focus + Blindfight + Combat Awareness, which is impossible unless you're doing a gish build since Combat Awareness has a high BAB prereq, and only works within 5 feet anyway. In other words, definitely not worth it.

[PId6]

Finger of Death? If they fail the Fort save, you should be able to get a pretty good idea of their HP.

[Alejandro]

The spell Deathwatch might help. Eyes of Doom bestow it.

[Glimbur]

Complete Adventurer has rules for determining something's HD relative to yours using Sense Motive. But a standard action and Sense Motive v Bluff means that it's unreliable. You can blow a feat to make it a free action, but feats are expensive. HD don't exactly tell you how many hp people have what with sizes ranging from d4 to d12 and con bonuses being variable as well. In short, this doesn't seem feasible.

[BooNL]

Or you can ask the DM how damaged/exhausted the enemies look. Maybe make a Spot or Sense Motive roll.

The DM shouldn't be that evil to withold those kinds of indicators from you, knowing full well your character's most powerful abilities depend on it.

[CapnVan]

I'm attempting to make a Sorcerer/dracolexi, and take a couple of the more potent power words, so my question is is there any decent way to see a enemy character's hp via feats or spells or such? And I don't mean via metagaming, as far as i know the PCs are not supposed to know enemy HP

There's always deathwatch (Cleric 1, PHB), which gives you a place to start, at least.

[Serpentine]

I'd make it a fairly high Heal check, possibly opposed by a Bluff if the other person wants to hide or exaggerate it. I wouldn't give flat HP, though. Something more like "he could probably take a couple more hits like you've been giving him" or "he's barely winded" or "he's gushing blood and wavering on his feet".

[Scarey Nerd]

Knowledge (Metagaming).

In terms of the D&D world, HP etc are abstract, and used to quantify certain aspects of a person, in this case how wounded they are. A Spot and Sense motive check would be required, or possibly a fairly high Heal check.