Deathwatch Question

[Hypersmurf]

Deathwatch gives information about creatures "near death" within the spell area.

It lets you know whether something is dead, fragile, fighting off death, undead, or "neither alive nor dead (as a construct)".

"Fighting off death" is defined as "alive with 4 or more hit points".

What is the definition of a "creature near death"? A kobold in perfect health has 2 hit points. Would it register as "Fragile"? A 4th level fighter might have 40 hit points. Would he register as "fighting off death"?

Would undead and constructs register whether or not they'd taken any damage? Or only if they were close-to-destruction (the equivalent of "near death", I suppose...)?

Would the spell only give information about creatures the caster can see and is aware of, or does it act as a bio-sensor (giving him the condition of invisible, hiding, or concealed creatures as well as those he knows about)?

Unlike the Detect spells, Deathwatch makes no mention of the spell being blocked by earth, stone, lead, etc. Implied? Omitted accidentally? Omitted deliberately?

-Hyp.

 

[bret]

The way I read it is this:

Undead always show as undead. It does not give useful status information.

Constructs always show as neither dead nor alive. Once again, the spell isn't much help.

Near dead is a GM decision. I think that a creature at 25% or less of total hit points would be a good benchmark here.

 

[Gromm]

The spell as written isn't very useful or clear on how it works.
Using percentages is probably better (though it makes the spell much more useful).
Otherwise low hit point creatures just always show up as fighting off death or fragile, showing how easily they can be offed by nearly anyone whereas a fighter with 40 hit points is more than just a lucky sword stroke away from death.
All depends on how you or your DM want to take it and how good you want the spell to be.

 

[hong]

Would the spell only give information about creatures the caster can see and is aware of, or does it act as a bio-sensor (giving him the condition of invisible, hiding, or concealed creatures as well as those he knows about)?

Unlike the Detect spells, Deathwatch makes no mention of the spell being blocked by earth, stone, lead, etc. Implied? Omitted accidentally? Omitted deliberately?

See the rules for "Line of Effect" on p.150 of the PHB. You need an unblocked line of effect (basically no solid barriers) from the point of origin of the spell to the creature(s) to be affected. And yes, it would act as a bio-sensor; the spell should really be called "detect vitality" or something like that.