How can the characters determine relative health of each other?

[Flambe]

This came up in our game last night. How can one of the PCs determine the relative health of the people in combat? They wanted to determine if a downed foe was dead or merely dying. They also wanted to determine relative damage to their companions (Simon is still standing and fighting but how damaged is he?)

We looked in the heal section and didn't see anything. What are people using as a house rule to cover this? What kind of action would tthis be and I'm assuming it is a heal check but what would be the DC?

[Doggan]

DC 15 Heal check in my games. If it's good enough to stop someone from dying, it's good enough to tell how close to dead they actually are in my book.

[_Cobalt_]

If they are beheaded, they are most likely dead. Just a thought.

[Elven_Blades]

I ask my players to use general terms without giving specific numbers.

Something like...

Healthy
Hurt
Wounded
Critical
Unconscious

Things that could be relatively easy to determine by just looking at how someone is acting. For fluff, such observations could include how bloody some one is, or their clothes. Are they limping, slurring words, appear to not be fully balanced.

I also use the heal check dc 15 to determine between dead or unconscious. Penalties at range increments of 10 feet.

[Troubleshooter]

I let my players use general terms. I use the descriptions for enemies too. We typically use something like Uninjured, Injured (0 < damage), Bloody (50%+ damage), or Unconscious. It's a really vague scale, but if they want more than that, they can cast status.

[ElyasRavenwood]

Well here is one helpful spell Status.

[Artanthos]

Deathwatch can also help, to a certain degree.

[Tiny Coffee Golem]

Based on the size of the pool of their own blood they're standing in.

[Artanthos]

Tiny Coffee Golem wrote:

Based on the size of the pool of their own blood they're standing in.

Aye.

They could also check for sucking chest wounds. Always a sign healing is needed.