You could do this :
add_action('publish_post', 'wpse_107434_title_max_char');
function wpse_107434_title_max_char() {
global $post;
$title = $post->post_title;
if (strlen($title) >= 100 )
wp_die( "the title must be 100 characters at most" );
}
You can replace strlen()
with str_word_count()
if you want to set a word limit instead.
EDIT: ok with new details you added it seems you could add some jQuery to do the same (strlen)