Golems immune to detect magic?

[Mistwell]

Isn't there still a type called Magical Beast? Wouldn't they be just as magical as constructs?

Undead are created using magic too....

 

[Presto2112]

Isn't there still a type called Magical Beast? Wouldn't they be just as magical as constructs?

Not necessarily. There's nothing inherently magical about many of the creatures classified as Magical beasts. The Girallon, for instance, is basically just a slightly more intelligent albino gorilla with an extra set of arms, and the manticore has nothing really "magical" about it.

Undead are created using magic too....

Again, not always. Allips seem to require no magic to be created, just be really nuts when you die. Ghosts require no magic, just an overwhelming desire to accomplish something unfinished or avenge a great injustice, to manifest.

 

[Deset Gled]

As an analogy, think about baking a pie. It's created by heat, but is not thereafter permanently hot.

So maybe golems could radiate magic for a half hour or so after they're created, until they've cooled on the windowsill.

Mmm, there's nothing like a heaping helping of grandma's fresh baked apple golem.

 

[Mistwell]

Not necessarily. There's nothing inherently magical about many of the creatures classified as Magical beasts. The Girallon, for instance, is basically just a slightly more intelligent albino gorilla with an extra set of arms, and the manticore has nothing really "magical" about it.



Again, not always. Allips seem to require no magic to be created, just be really nuts when you die. Ghosts require no magic, just an overwhelming desire to accomplish something unfinished or avenge a great injustice, to manifest.

You are right.

So I guess I am asking if particular undead created using magic, and particular magical beasts created using magic, would also be detectable using detect magic (if golems are).

I don't think it would be unbalancing. However, it might place a burden on the DM to figure out if the source of the creature was magic or something else. That part would worry me.

 

[UltimaGabe]

Another thing to keep notice of (or, possibly, the most important thing to keep notice of) is that Magic Immunity only makes you immune to spells that allow Spell Resistance. This should help you understand how they work in relation to See Invisibility and such- See Invisibility affects you, and you only. If you look at an invisible opponent with Spell Resistance, there's no Caster Level Check to try and see them- since the spell is on you, not on them. Therefore, since it doesn't affect someone with Spell Resistance, it doesn't affect a golem.

Really, all Magic Immunity is is unbeatable Spell Resistance.

 

[pallandrome]

As a point, I tend to let Detect Magic be useful for things like this. The group already suspects the statues to be golems, or they never would have asked in the first place. Go ahead and give it to them for keeping on their toes. Is it really going to hurt the encounter if you don't?

 

[mvincent]

I would use the text from Antimagic Field as a guide:
"The spell has no effect on golems and other constructs that are imbued with magic during their creation process and are thereafter self-supporting (unless they have been summoned, in which case they are treated like any other summoned creatures). Elementals, corporeal undead, and outsiders are likewise unaffected unless summoned. "

So, incorporeal undead should be detected by the spell, but not Golems.

 

[Presto2112]

As a point, I tend to let Detect Magic be useful for things like this. The group already suspects the statues to be golems, or they never would have asked in the first place. Go ahead and give it to them for keeping on their toes. Is it really going to hurt the encounter if you don't?

At the risk of metagaming, in my experience, DMs don't mention statues in rooms unless they're going to jump off the pedestal and step on my PC's head, so it's just as well you smash 'em anyway.