Are Magical Beasts Magical?

[Brown Jenkin]

Last session a question came up as to whether familiars radiated magic for the spell Detect Magic and if so what type (school). This brought up the related question of whether Magical Beasts (Familiars become Magical Beasts when they become familiars) are inherently magical and radiate magic and if so what type (school).

 

[Mordeth]

The MM says that "Magical beast are similiar to beast but have supernatural or extraordinary abilities." So they wouldnt radiate magic. If you were to say they did, then any creature in the MM with EX or SU abilities would as well...

 

[kreynolds]

Actually, that was something I always wondered. DR is almost always a supernatural ability, and supernatural abilities are magical, so technically, they should radiate magic. If they don't, why don't they?

 

[Dimwhit]

My initial reaction is yes, familiars radiate magic. I don't think a creature with only EX abilities would, but spell-like and supernatural would, IMO. In Tome and Blood, there is a spell called Arcane Sight. Among other things in it's description, it describes being able to determine whether a creature/person has spellcasting or spell-like abilities by it's magical aura. This aura can be stronger or weaker depending on how many spells that caster has already used during the day.

I know it's not directly on point, but I think SP, and also SU, abilities would radiate magic. But not EX.