D&D 5E (2014) Is Bardic Inspiration Magic?

[Hriston]

I’d say no, inspiring others “through stirring words or music” doesn’t sound particularly magical. Also, it sounds like the intent of the Code Legal is to ban enchantment, which is a different sort of thing IMO.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I count is as "background magic" as discussed in the Sage Advice pdf under "Is the breath weapon of a dragon magical?" due to the fluff in the class description. So it is magical, but it isn't formatted in such a way to count as magical for purposes of stuff that detects or affects magic.

It works for our lore(master) bard who fluffs it as invoking words of mystical power, rather than intelligible speech.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Um, ok, where, exactly, am I supposed to look? I mean, I could just as easily say, "Look at how often a DM says it doesn't work." You seem to be trying to conjure evidence from nothing.

That is my point. I have NEVER seen anyone ever ask if an anti-magic zone would block bardic inspiration. Until this question was asked no one ever thought even for a second that inspiration was magic.