Heal and appraising the wounds of foes

[Elephant]

IMC, the DM allows me to make Heal checks to get an idea of just how badly a foe is damaged. If I make it, I'll get information like "You can tell he's at about 50% of his HP." or "He has less than 10 HP left."

How do you all handle this type of action in your campaigns? I tried to look up the DC for such Heal-appraisal checks last night, but I couldn't actually find it in the PHB (I looked under the Heal skill).

Is this something that I should actually be able to do, or is the DM just being extra nice in allowing me to get some use out of my Heal ranks? Thanks in advance for your thoughts

 

[Thanee]

Seems like a reasonable use of the skill, tho with anything non-humanoid you should probably also have some knowledge about the creature.

I'd set the DC to 15 base, modified to factor in how different the other species is, probably somewhat dependant on your applicable knowledge skill.

Bye
Thanee

 

[IceBear]

IMC, the DM allows me to make Heal checks to get an idea of just how badly a foe is damaged. If I make it, I'll get information like "You can tell he's at about 50% of his HP." or "He has less than 10 HP left."

How do you all handle this type of action in your campaigns? I tried to look up the DC for such Heal-appraisal checks last night, but I couldn't actually find it in the PHB (I looked under the Heal skill).

Is this something that I should actually be able to do, or is the DM just being extra nice in allowing me to get some use out of my Heal ranks? Thanks in advance for your thoughts

Remember, there is no such thing as hitpoints other than a game abstraction, just like levels. So, you won't hear two fighters in character say "I'm 9th level so I could easily defeat you you 1st level twerp".

Anyway, it sounds like your DM is being nice. The Heal skill is the skill that would allow you to assess how bad a wound is, so it seems like a fine houserule. Thanee's ideas above seem perfect to me.

Personally I just describe the blows that the character land and the monster's appearance appropriately. When the monster is at 100hp, a 10 hp blow might just strike it in the arm, but when it's down to 20hp it is "bleeding from many wounds and appears to stumble" and 10hp of damage becomes "a massive blow to the torso causing the creature to scream in pain"

 

[dren]

I allow it. Players can make a Heal Skill Check (DC 15) to determine the extent of injuries. Unlike your DM, I avoid game talk, so players don't learn that someone is at 25% of their maximum, I'll use descriptive words. They might be: scratched up, walking with a limp or have their liver half-hanging out...

 

[dcollins]

Like most DMs, I'm more than happy to describe the appearance of an enemy's wounds or apparent health, but I don't predicate it on the Heal skill, nor would I ever tell someone what percentage or number of hit points they have.

 

[Majere]

Our group plays this very simply:

PS: How bad does he look, do wee seem to be hurting it ?

1)
DM: He looks really bad, he has been badly beaten
PC: Thank goodnnness

2)
DM: You seem to be getthing something through be he doesnt seem to hurt just yet
PC: Gah, this could be bad

3)
DM: He seems to be shruggin off your blow with ease, you arent sure you are even affecting
PC : Eh.. guys ... anyone got a plan other than run away ?

We dont tend to use heal check and we let people say things like, I could use a heal Im pretty beat up.

Maj

 

[DragonShadow]

I agree that Heal is the skill that would let you check up on how badly somebody is injured...but like any doctor, you would need a working knowledge of the creatures anatomy.

So, essentially, humanoids would fall under the normal rules, since I'm assuming anybody trained in Heal would be trained to specifically heal themselves and creatures like themselves. Anything other than that should take a -2 or even a -4 penalty, unless you have an appropriate Knowledge skill. Ex: Knowledge (planes) to Heal/assess the wounds of a Slaad.



Okay, so I'm basically saying exactly what Thanee said, but I said it my own way. =)

 

[Thanee]

Just for the record, I think that visual description should provide a general clue already, without any skill use (adventurers should be experienced enough in terms of wounds to assess those).

Heal could maybe be used for a more exact information, actually deriving game information, that is, like the various knowledge skills.

Bye
Thanee

 

[shilsen]

Our group plays this very simply:

PS: How bad does he look, do wee seem to be hurting it ?

1)
DM: He looks really bad, he has been badly beaten
PC: Thank goodnnness

2)
DM: You seem to be getthing something through be he doesnt seem to hurt just yet
PC: Gah, this could be bad

3)
DM: He seems to be shruggin off your blow with ease, you arent sure you are even affecting
PC : Eh.. guys ... anyone got a plan other than run away ?

We dont tend to use heal check and we let people say things like, I could use a heal Im pretty beat up.

Maj

Pretty much exactly the same here. Description becomes even more relevant IMC since I track hp for the PCs.