Supernatural abilities vs. Detect Magic

[Dark Dragon]

Hi,

a short question: Can a caster detect an ongoing supernatural effect with Detect Magic? Is it somewhere in the PHB/DMG? Can't find it...

 

[isoChron]

Supernatural Abilities (Su): Supernatural abilities are magical but not spell-like. Supernatural abilities are not subject to spell resistance and do not function in areas where magic is suppressed or negated (such as an antimagic field). A supernatural ability’s effect cannot be dispelled and is not subject to counterspells.

Detect Magic
Divination
....
You detect magical auras. The amount of information revealed depends on how long you study a particular area or subject.

1st Round: Presence or absence of magical auras.

2nd Round: Number of different magical auras and the power of the most potent aura.

3rd Round: The strength and location of each aura. If the items or creatures bearing the auras are in line of sight, you can make Spellcraft skill checks to determine the school of magic involved in each. (Make one check per aura; DC 15 + spell level, or 15 + half caster level for a nonspell effect.)

Magical areas, multiple types of magic, or strong local magical emanations may distort or conceal weaker auras.
... snip ...

So, yes I think so. I don't know about aura strength or school of some abilities like gaze attacks but it should detect as magical in my book.

EDIT: (Su) doesn't work in an antimagic field so it's clearly magical. The fact that you can't dispel it seems a little odd in that light.

 

[Corsair]

Detect Magic only ever explicitly references spells and magic items however.

Aura Strength: An aura’s power depends on a spell’s functioning spell level or an item’s caster level. If an aura falls into more than one category, detect magic indicates the stronger of the two.

 

[pawsplay]

No, you cannot. And if you could, you'd have to assign caster levels to any such supernatural abilities.

 

[isoChron]

It's already done:

Unless otherwise noted, a supernatural ability has an effective caster level equal to the creature’s Hit Dice.

 

[isoChron]

On the other side ... a paladin would always detect as magic because of divine grace et al.

Hm, maybe I'm wrong but I can't say why

 

[isoChron]

For those who care, this is what the FAQ says:

Can you use detect magic to detect supernatural effects?
For example, can it detect a wildshaped druid?

Supernatural abilities are magical, and thus their effects
would produce magical auras. Although the detect magic spell
doesn’t have a line entry for supernatural effect, you can use
the same line as “Magic item (caster level)”—a supernatural
effect’s caster level is equal to the creature’s Hit Dice unless
noted otherwise (Monster Manual, page 315).

 

[Dark Dragon]

Ah well, that's pretty clear to me. Ok, thanks for the input!

 

[lukelightning]

It's not "canon" but Keith Baker said something to the effect that a changeling's supernatural minor shapechange ability doesn't radiate magic except when the actual change is taking place.

 

[accipiter]

Now that's good to know! My players use Detect Magic a lot, and I have a changeling rogue accompanying them incognito. Honestly, I hadn't even thought about it!

"Hey, nondescript human rogue-type guy, why do you light up like a torch every time I detect magic?"
"Um... no reason."