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<blockquote data-quote="Rabulias" data-source="post: 8415208" data-attributes="member: 16651">I believe we can infer from other aspects of the rules that you cannot counterspell magical abilities.I think there is a reason why creature abilities are named &quot;Spellcasting&quot; or &quot;Innate Spellcasting,&quot; namely to indicate they are casting a spell. If a creature is not casting a spell, you cannot use counterspell against it.Notably, let's look at a creature like the arcanaloth (MM p.313). The arcanaloth has both Innate Spellcasting and Spellcasting traits, with a number of spells listed. One of its at-will innate spells is invisibility, but it is noted that it is (self only). In the arcanaloth's Actions, there is Teleport, which says &quot;The arcanaloth magically teleports, along with any equipment it is wearing or carrying, up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space it can see.&quot;So why is Teleport an action and not an at-will innate spell? They could have added &quot;teleport (self-only, 60 feet)&quot; to the Innate Spellcasting list and saved some space.Also, if it was intended that you could counterspell magical abilities, some of them do not clearly match up to spells, so the DM would be left to assign the spell level. What level counterspell do I need to cast to counter a demi-lich's LIfe Drain?And if I can counterspell a beholder's eye rays, could an enemy spellcaster counterspell a Light Domain cleric's Channel Divinity: Radiance of the Dawn? A paladin's Lay on Hands? A way of shadow monk's Shadow Step? A druid's Wildshape? What level counterspell do they need to cast to counter them?How about magical Legendary Actions or Lair Actions? Can they be countered? What level are they? WotC can make mistakes, but I think this would have come up in errata and they would have assigned effective spell levels to these abilities by now if it was intended that they were subject to counterspell.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Rabulias, post: 8415208, member: 16651"] I believe we can infer from other aspects of the rules that you cannot [I]counterspell [/I]magical abilities. I think there is a reason why creature abilities are named "Spellcasting" or "Innate Spellcasting," namely to indicate they are [I]casting a spell. [/I]If a creature is not casting a spell, you cannot use [I]counterspell [/I]against it. Notably, let's look at a creature like the arcanaloth (MM p.313). The arcanaloth has both Innate Spellcasting and Spellcasting traits, with a number of spells listed. One of its at-will innate spells is [I]invisibility[/I], but it is noted that it is (self only). In the arcanaloth's Actions, there is Teleport, which says "The arcanaloth magically teleports, along with any equipment it is wearing or carrying, up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space it can see." So why is Teleport an action and not an at-will innate spell? They could have added "[I]teleport [/I](self-only, 60 feet)" to the Innate Spellcasting list and saved some space. Also, if it was intended that you could [I]counterspell [/I]magical abilities, some of them do not clearly match up to spells, so the DM would be left to assign the spell level. What level [I]counterspell [/I]do I need to cast to counter a demi-lich's LIfe Drain? And if I can [I]counterspell [/I]a beholder's eye rays, could an enemy spellcaster [I]counterspell[/I] a Light Domain cleric's Channel Divinity: Radiance of the Dawn? A paladin's Lay on Hands? A way of shadow monk's Shadow Step? A druid's Wildshape? What level [I]counterspell [/I]do they need to cast to counter them? How about magical Legendary Actions or Lair Actions? Can they be countered? What level are they? WotC can make mistakes, but I think this would have come up in errata and they would have assigned effective spell levels to these abilities by now if it was intended that they were subject to [I]counterspell[/I]. [/QUOTE]

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