My party (level 7; Rogue, Cleric, Fighter, Paladin, and Warlock) is investigating a demon portal, and we're trying to obtain as much info as possible before entering it. We learned that it is being kept open by the magical force of something or someone, and it will probably close when we destroy that person or object. We've come to believe that the object might be the heart of a particular NPC.
To make a long story short, the NPC was cursed to do stuff for an evil God, and probably summoned some demons right before we broke the curse. Those demons opened the gate, but the NPC doesn't remember specifics of the time she was cursed, probably to repress all the horrible things she did with undead and stuff.
We felt for her pulse, and she has none. But still, my party is in doubt – it might be because she has no heart, or it might be that she has a heart but it is just not beating.
In my original question (Can the Locate Object spell be used to determine if an NPC has a heart?), an interesting discussion started regarding the use of Locate Object, with the conclusion that officially it is probably not allowed, but the rule of cool might apply.
This left me to wonder:
What other methods would be available to a 7th-level party to determine whether a (human) creature has his/her heart in the right place (literally), without killing/doing permanent damage to the creature?
Best Answer
There are options that might work:
A Wisdom (Medicine) check – it allows diagnosing illness. If you can diagnose heart illness with it, diagnosing heart presence should be possible as well. Of course, this is DM-dependent, and magical reasons may render it impossible.
The Divination spell (as mentioned in enkryptor's answer)
The Detect Magic spell – if it's human and there is no magic, then she has a working heart, so at the very least it can prove the existence of a heart, even if it can't prove the nonexistence of one. Of course, you will also have to be sure she is human.
The Commune spell – similar to Divination. Would require magic item (scroll looks easiest) to use as you probably don't have access yet.
The Legend Lore spell – in a very, very specific case: if it all happened before and there was a legend about it.
Cutting someone open, and using the Regenerate spell to close the wound – again, DM-dependent because there simply are no rules about such surgeries. Looks reasonable, given that severed limbs reattach immediately under this spell, and all you need is to take one little peek.
In previous editions, there also used to be spells specifically targeting the heart of a target creature, but it looks like they are gone now.