D&D 5E "....as if you were concentrating on a spell"

[Flamestrike]

That's not the relevant bit, though. I asked about in the rules. You gave me Sage Advice.

Which is literally the guys that designed and wrote the rules, telling you what the rules say.

If a rule, effect, item or ability expressly states the rule, ability, effect or item is magical (using the words magic or magical or magically) then the rule. effect or ability or item is magical. If it doesn't have those words (and its not a spell, doesnt replicate a spell, or isnt a magical item), its not magical for game rules purposes.

The writers are consistent in this when designing abilities. If your ability, effect or feature is designed to be magical, it will expressly state it in the description of the ability, effect or feature.

Look at abilities like:

Wild shape: Starting at 2nd Level, you can use your action to magically assume the shape of a beast that you have seen before.​

​

Eldritch Invocations: In your study of occult lore, you have unearthed Eldritch Invocations, fragments of forbidden knowledge that imbue you with an abiding magical ability.​

None of those work in an AMF and they can both be detected with Detect Magic.

Compare to abilities like:

Hurl through Hell: Starting at 14th level, when you hit a creature with an Attack, you can use this feature to instantly transport the target through the lower planes. The creature disappears and hurtles through a Nightmare landscape.​

​

At the end of your next turn, the target returns to the space it previously occupied, or the nearest unoccupied space. If the target is not a fiend, it takes 10d10 psychic damage as it reels from its horrific experience.​

Hurl through Hell is NOT 'magical'. It cannot be detected or dispelled as such, and works fine in an Anti Magic Field (barring the prohibition on extradimensional travel in an AMF which blocks it for other reasons).

Ditto features like:

Dragon Wings: At 14th level, you gain the ability to sprout a pair of Dragon Wings from your back, gaining a flying speed equal to your current speed. You can create these wings as a Bonus Action on Your Turn. They last until you dismiss them as a Bonus Action on Your Turn.​

​

You can’t manifest your wings while wearing armor unless the armor is made to accommodate them, and clothing not made to accommodate your wings might be destroyed when you manifest them.​

Doesn't say its magical, so its not magical. A Dragon Sorcerer can instantly sprout full blown Dragon Wings in the middle of an AMF and simply fly away.

The difference is whether you should state it as Teh Trvth! or as what seems to you to be a really good way to work with it, given the ambiguity in the rules.

The rules are not ambiguous. Only things that are expressly described as magical, are magical.

Ghosts, Dragons, Gremlins, Golems and Demons are magical/ enchanted/ clearly supernatural creatures, but are not magical creatures for the purpose of the rules.

What you've laid out is a reasonably consistent way for a GM to call it, which is great. But I see nothing compelling about it that suggests that a GM would be unreasonable to decide differently, and nothing about calling it differently that breaks the system.

I'm simply stating the Rules as Written (and as intended to be read and used by the guys that wrote them).

Its super important if you want to write homebrew stuff (abilities, archetypes, class features, feats etc). If the ability is magical, you need to state it in the actual ability description.

As an example from my own homebrew Battlemaster manoeuvres (converts of three ToB manouvers for 5E):

Sudden Leap: As a bonus action, you expend a superiority dice and leap up to 20’. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity. If you make a melee weapon attack immediately after this movement, it has advantage, and you may add the superiority dice to the attacks damage if it hits. You cannot use this maneuver if your speed is 0 or you are otherwise unable to move.​

​

Holocaust Cloak: You cloak yourself in magical flame as a bonus action, expending a superiority die. Until the start of your next turn, any creature that strikes you with a melee attack takes fire damage equal to a roll of your superiority die. A creature can only take this fire damage once per turn.​

​

Crusaders Strike: When you hit a hostile creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend a superiority die and magically heal an allied creature. When you do so, choose a friendly creature who can see or hear you within 30'. That creature regains hit points equal to the superiority die roll.​

​

One of those manouvers can be used in an AMF and detects as magical. The other two, cant.

Can you tell which two dont work (and are magical), and why?

 

[Flamestrike]

Summoned objects disappear in an antimagic field

Creatures and Objects: A creature or object summoned or created by magic temporarily winks out of existence in the sphere. Such a creature instantly reappears once the space the creature occupied is no longer within the sphere.

The Pact weapon is not summoned or created by 'magic'.

It would say it in the Pact Weapon class feature if it was.

Its supernatural in nature for sure, but not 'magical' for the purposes of the game rules (it sticks around in an AMF).

 

[Argyle King]

The Pact weapon is not summoned or created by 'magic'.

It would say it in the Pact Weapon class feature if it was.

Its supernatural in nature for sure, but not 'magical' for the purposes of the game rules (it sticks around in an AMF).

I thought this too. Though, Charlaquin brought up a good point about interdimensional travel not working in an AMF. I believe that's the part which prevents the pact weapon from working.

I'm somewhat inclined to say that carrying the pact weapon into the field is still fine, as it would be cut off from interdimensional travel and unable to return to the extradimensional space. Though, if you are already in an AMF, it would seem the weapon cannot be retrieved.

I now have a few ideas concerning how two bags of holding might be weaponized in an AMF, but that's a different topic.

 

[billd91]

The Pact weapon is not summoned or created by 'magic'.

It would say it in the Pact Weapon class feature if it was.

Its supernatural in nature for sure, but not 'magical' for the purposes of the game rules (it sticks around in an AMF).

The issue of converting a magical weapon into a warlock's pact weapon does rather complicate this. Since that's defined as being in an extra dimensional space, that particular version of a pact weapon would not be accessible in an antimagic field even if a DM were to agree to your interpretation. Moreover, if you had performed the ritual to convert that magic weapon, pact blade would be unusable at all for that warlock in the antimagic field because that bond is only broken by the warlock's death or a ritual breaking or replacing that bond.
If we're nitpicking terms, that is.

 

[Flamestrike]

My 14th level Fiend Pact Warlock(Thirsting blade, Improved Pact weapon, Lifedrinker) can literally stand in the middle of an Anti Magic Field and:

1) Draw my Pact Weapon great sword. It loses its +1 and ceases being a Magical weapon (from Improved pact weapon) in the AMF.
2) Attack once with my Pact Greatsword. I cant use Thirsting blade because its an Invocation (and they're magical) but I do ignore my targets immunities and resistance to non magic weapons.
3) Use Dark ones own Luck to add +1d10 to an attack roll.
4) Deal no extra Necrotic damage via Lifedrinker (as an invocation, its unavailable to me in the AMF)
5) Plunder 18 Temp HP if I kill my foe from Dark Ones Blessing
6) All while resistant to my Foes attacks, thanks to Fiendish Resilience.

That's how it works, and how it was intended to work.

As noted below I cant summon my weapon or hurl my target through hell in an AMF as both rely on extradimensonal travel, which is prohibited in an AMF.

 

[Flamestrike]

I thought this too. Though, Charlaquin brought up a good point about interdimensional travel not working in an AMF.

Good catch. That would shut down summoning the weapon in an AMF, and hurling your target through Hell if you hit it (both rely on extradimensional travel).

 

[Flamestrike]

The issue of converting a magical weapon into a warlock's pact weapon does rather complicate this. Since that's defined as being in an extra dimensional space, that particular version of a pact weapon would not be accessible in an antimagic field even if a DM were to agree to your interpretation.

Agree. Extra-dimensional spaces (and travel) are inaccessible in an AMF, magical or otherwise.

Moreover, if you had performed the ritual to convert that magic weapon, pact blade would be unusable at all for that warlock in the antimagic field because that bond is only broken by the warlock's death or a ritual breaking or replacing that bond.
If we're nitpicking terms, that is.

Disagree. The ritual to convert the weapon is not magical. It doesnt say it is.

So (presuming you had the magical weapon in your hand) the weapon loses its magical properties in the AMF, but retains the bond (but cannot be shunted or summoned in the AMF, due to the extradimensional space prohibition).

Just because its magic is suppressed in the AMF, that doesn't render (say) a bound+2 Great sword no longer a magical weapon in that AMF. Its magic is suppressed, but its still a magical weapon.

Interestingly invocations are (all) shut down in an AMF (they're expressly described as 'magical').

No Thirsting blade (extra attack), Life drinker, Improved Pact weapon and so forth in an AMF for a Blade-lock. Eldritch Smite doesnt work either (although as thats powered by spell slots, it would work for that reason also).

 

[Charlaquin]

It appears that my initial thought was wrong, and (I think) items inside of a bag of holding would not be accessible. The bag would function like a normal bag, but the magical opening to the extradimensional space couldn't be used.

That’s my interpretation as well. The bag doesn’t open into an extradimensional space inside an AMF, but it does still work as a normal bag.

 

[billd91]

Disagree. The ritual to convert the weapon is not magical. It doesnt say it is.

So (presuming you had the magical weapon in your hand) the weapon loses its magical properties in the AMF, but retains the bond (but cannot be shunted or summoned in the AMF, due to the extradimensional space prohibition).

Just because its magic is suppressed in the AMF, that doesn't render (say) a bound+2 Great sword no longer a magical weapon in that AMF. Its magic is suppressed, but its still a magical weapon.

Interestingly invocations are (all) shut down in an AMF (they're expressly described as 'magical').

No Thirsting blade (extra attack), Life drinker, Improved Pact weapon and so forth in an AMF for a Blade-lock. Eldritch Smite doesnt work either (although as thats powered by spell slots, it would work for that reason also).

You're not getting my meaning. If the warlock can't summon the magic weapon he converted into his pact weapon, he can't create an alternative one when that extra dimensional connection is suppressed. He's now bonded to that magic weapon and it would appear whenever he generates the pact blade... and now in the antimagic field, he can't get to it. He'd have to unbond it in 1 of 3 ways - death, breaking the bond, or replacing it and the latter two take an hour to do.
Presumably, you're saying that if he brought out his pact blade before the field went up or before he entered it, he'd still be able to use it. That may be, but if he's already in the field, pact blade for a warlock who converted a magic weapon is completely unavailable.

 

[Charlaquin]

I guess I'm thinking of the summoned object being a physical thing that existed elsewhere and has been brought to the hand of the warlock rather than something created specifically by magic. If it was something they had to concentrate on then I might say it winks out of existence but I wouldn't say it does in the case of a pact magic weapon. In this instance, I consider it something like the bonded weapon of the eldritch knight, it's just that the armoury the warlock is drawing upon might be on another plane of existence.

I believe the warlock’s pact weapon does exist in an extradimensional space, and the warlock summons it. That’s certainly how it works if they do the ritual to make a magic weapon their pact weapon, so I would assume it works consistently when they create their own pact weapon.