I have an interesting conundrum that im not entirely sure about.
Scenario
DM has a paladin player has a sorceror.
Sorceror blasts paladin for 5d6 points of damage, paladin uses lay on hands, not metagaming how would the sorceror know that the paladin used his extraordinary ability and healed himself are these a knowledge check? mere perception? does he have to be 5ft away to do the standard heal check? what do you use to be able to identify a monster ability without metagaming to gather the information you need to properly combat the opponent?
Any input is appreciated!
Cheers!
After all the paladin is just another monster with class levels :) So I'd say allow the sorceror to roll a knowledge(local) check DC 5 + the minimum CL of said ability to recognize it.
This is roughly according to the rules for a common monster's abilities detailed here.
On the other hand I would only do this if the sorcerer has never ever seen a paladin do such a thing before.
There are no rules for this. Some GM's assume class abilities are common knowledge. If they are not common knowledge than a knowledge check should be used, but that is not a rule. It is how I would do it if I felt like a certain class ability was not well known.
The example of using player classes may have been poor but one time, rare but still its nice to know how to handle things ;) Im referring to any abilities that arent easily identifiable with say spellcraft for an opposing spellcaster. things such as extraordinary abilities or special attacks or abilities. things to that extreme. in other words not your day to day orc that you have fought a dozen times before. :)
cheers!
Monster abilities are covered under knowledge checks by the rules. It is still up to the GM to reveal which DC's reveal which abilities though.
Spells can be covered by spellcraft and/or knowledge(arcana) depending on the situation.
Thanks for all the input! Pretty much leaving it as a grey area of ridiculous high DC knowledge checks, and calling it a day unless there any other views out there thanks again mates!
Back to sleep! :)
Most supernatural class abilities i'd think would be fairly common knowledge.
A cleric's channeling, a Barbarian's rage, a monk's ki abbilities.
they'd all be fairly obvious if not from past experiance but from word of mouth.
That sorcerer would probably know
"okay that paladin has an ability called lay on hands, and that movement probably just healed him"
what they would probably not know is how much they healed or how many he has per day.
The ones that would be harder to I.D. on sight would be weapon training and favored enemy, possibly sneak attack because characters do not know actual damage taken.
For a Pal class ability it should really be KN(Religion) or KN(Nobility) at the least, but otherwise I agree. The DC should be 10+min level needed to get the ability. So for Lay on Hands it should be no higher than 11. You could use a second check to determine the relative level of the Paladin in question. No "He's level 10", but more like detect magic, which gives you a relative aura strength.
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I would say a relevant knowledge check of DC 10 + minimum class level to acquire would be a fair check. For abilities that several classes possess (like Evasion or Uncanny Dodge), a DC of 5+ would be fine. For abilities only one class possesses, and only if they take a special feat or pick a particular sub-ability (like a particular hex or arcana) I would up it to 15+level unless that ability was VERY commonly chosen.
However, I would only allow this if the check had some obvious component that could be detected (even getting a "really intense" look with rage would count, though).
Note that the really common ones would fall under common knowledge since they are less than DC10 for lower abilities. Uncanny dodge would only be a DC7ish ability to identify, as would evasion. Spellcasting is DC6 (you'd have to be daft to misidentify it, though you might confuse it with a spell-ish Su ability or something I guess). However, the Prehensile Hair hex would be DC16 (rare + level 1). A particular rage power would be DC17 (or more, if it has a level requirement. identifying Come and Get Me would be DC27).