If a character with a soul passes through an Antimagic Field their soul doesn't disappear right, but their ki does? In the monk's details section "The magic of Ki" it states that Ki is "an element of the magic that suffuses the multiverse—specifically, the element that flows through living bodies." So if all living bodies have ki what function does Ki have if it's not the soul? Is Ki actually an intrinsic part of all living physical beings and what are the consequences if Ki is entirely removed from a character?
Think of ki as the ability to manipulate energy. While in an anti-magic field, you've still got the energy but you can't manipulate it. Sort of like how a Beholder in an anti-magic field doesn't spontaneously die. As far as what are the consequences of something losing all its ki? Well there aren't any rules for ki beyond the Monk's class abilities. So who can say?
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
From the strict standpoint of RAW mechanics, ki is ki. It is not something other than ki. That means it is not magic and is not affected by effects that cancel or otherwise interact with magic. The phrasing The magic of ki" is descriptive flavor that sounds cool. Antimagic field has zero bearing on ki and ki based abilities. Ki has zero effect on anything other than the specific effects described in rules entries including the word "ki."
From a creative standpoint it's the mystical mojo that allows highly skilled martial artists to do the kind of stuff that requires a wire team or other special effects to portray in movies. Unless it's something that Bruce Lee did. He talked about ki a lot and that guy was borderline superhuman, no special effects needed. Because he knew how to use his ki.
The first sentence in the Monk section about Ki says "Monks make careful study of a magical energy that most monastic traditions call ki."
The SAC clarifies how to tell if something is magical:
Determining whether a game feature is magical is straightforward. Ask yourself these questions about the feature:
• Is it a spell? Or does it let you create the effects of a spell that’s mentioned in its description? • Is it a spell attack? • Is it fueled by the use of spell slots? • Does its description say it’s magical?
Think of ki as the ability to manipulate energy. While in an anti-magic field, you've still got the energy but you can't manipulate it. Sort of like how a Beholder in an anti-magic field doesn't spontaneously die. As far as what are the consequences of something losing all its ki? Well there aren't any rules for ki beyond the Monk's class abilities. So who can say?
If you can't manipulate ki while in an antimagic field because it's magic, then it shouldn't be possible to enter the field with your ki; but if ki isn't magic, then ki shouldn't be affected by the field.
"An element of the magic that suffuses the multiverse—specifically, the element that flows through living bodies." though this sentence doesn't define ki, it points out two descriptions of what it is: it doesn't directly state that ki is magic, but rather an element of a type of magic, and that it is the only element that flows through living bodies.
By inductive reasoning if their were one thing that flows through living bodies more than anything else it would be blood, therefore the magic that suffuses the multiverse is composed of blood, which makes it blood magic.
The first sentence in the Monk section about Ki says "Monks make careful study of a magical energy that most monastic traditions call ki."
The SAC clarifies how to tell if something is magical:
Determining whether a game feature is magical is straightforward. Ask yourself these questions about the feature:
• Is it a spell? Or does it let you create the effects of a spell that’s mentioned in its description? • Is it a spell attack? • Is it fueled by the use of spell slots? • Does its description say it’s magical?
Thus Ki is magical for RAW purposes.
Nope. You're quoting from flavor and lore description, not rules text.
Per Jeremy Crawford: "Neither the Ki feature nor the Stunning Strike feature (PH, 78 & 79) is defined as magical for game purposes."
In the same twitter thread Dan Dillon (another WotC D&D dev) adds, "For clarity's sake, the confusion comes from the lore section on Ki from pg 76: "The Magic of Ki."" Further, JCraw adds "That is an example of the background magic I talked about in Sage Advice. Look for "Is the breath weapon of a dragon magical?"" From the referenced question, his response is "The breath weapon of a typical dragon is not magical."
So per the designers of the game, no, ki is not magic.
Magic, ki or otherwise, isn't a physical thing. If ki was blood, it would say so in its description.
If blood doesn't flow through a person's body, they die. The rules in D&D are different than those in real life so fictionally speaking characters with living bodies in D&D could have magic flowing through their veins instead of blood, but if that were the case then the moment characters entered an antimagic field their hearts would stop circulating as the magic ceases to function.
Well it's been played on a Twitch stream on the official D&D channel promoting the upcoming Spelljammer release, so I think it's safe to assume it's going to be in there when we can actually buy that book.
Reborn and Warforged lack blood but can use ki just fine.
So can the Autognome if it makes it to print.
Do they explicitly not have blood and can they be considered to have living bodies? Because they could harbor blood and souls inside of themselves like some FNAF monster?
Hosted a battle between the Cult of Sedge and the Forum Countershere(Done now). I_Love_Tarrasques has won the fight, scoring a victory for the fiendish Moderators.
It is one of the areas down to the DM. Twitter posts are not part of the rules so while a DM can choose to follow them RAW is only the published material including SAC.
A DM can decide "ki is magical" is flavor text and therefore they are completely unaffected by an anti magic field. This includes ki empower strikes for while the strikes count as magical they are not actually magical.
At the other end of the scale the dm can decide the whole monk class is built around the mastery of ki and as this is magical they lose all the class features inside an anti magic field with the possible exception of martial arts (which it says comes from practise of martial arts)
Some features like unarmoured defence do not say whether this comes from ki or not. Other features like tongue of sun and moon and the passive part of diamond soul use ki even though they do not use ki points.
Running up walls can be regarded as clearly magical but running a bit faster could be down to training but they are part of the same feature.
Having the monk lose all class features would be no fun for the monk a high level monk having an AC of 15 and able to do 1 quarterstaff attack for 1d8+5 per turn is no fun for the monk and their best strategy is probably to hide around the corner if they can not avoid the anti magic. The DM might want to hamper them somewhat, especially if the other martials are reliant on magical weapons and armor. A monk losing bracers of defence and other magic from items might be considered enough or the dm might decide to say the monk can not do anything that requires ki points. A DM following RAW can do any of these because the rules do not specify what actually happens.
I don't know if anyone else came to this conclusion, but isn't ki basically just the Star Wars force?
No. The Force is an all-pervasive energy field that exists throughout the universe that can be sensed and manipulated by some living creatures. In short, the Force is magic. Because the Jedi, Sith, and any other Force wielding people in Star Wars are just space wizards with some variety of knight/monk/priest/sage flavoring. Ki in D&D is a spiritual mystic force that originates in the soul of an individual and each individual has distinct and separate pools of it rather than tapping into a universal source. Or it's a by product of the soul. Or maybe it's actually generated by some sort of biological function. Because to my knowledge it is absolutely not specifically defined in any clear manner. But it isn't magic, at least not from a rules perspective because it's something else that's called "Ki," bears some vague similarities to something from Hong Kong action movies because wo-pa!
I don't know if anyone else came to this conclusion, but isn't ki basically just the Star Wars force?
No. The Force is an all-pervasive energy field that exists throughout the universe that can be sensed and manipulated by some living creatures. In short, the Force is magic. Because the Jedi, Sith, and any other Force wielding people in Star Wars are just space wizards with some variety of knight/monk/priest/sage flavoring. Ki in D&D is a spiritual mystic force that originates in the soul of an individual and each individual has distinct and separate pools of it rather than tapping into a universal source. Or it's a by product of the soul. Or maybe it's actually generated by some sort of biological function. Because to my knowledge it is absolutely not specifically defined in any clear manner. But it isn't magic, at least not from a rules perspective because it's something else that's called "Ki," bears some vague similarities to something from Hong Kong action movies because wo-pa!
In my personal opinion, the Force in Star Wars is not magic, it is psionics.
Even if Ki 'did' count as magic I think you'd have no problem stepping into an antimagic field, just as you have no problem carrying a magic item into one. You just wouldn't be able to use any abilities relying on ki while in said field.
The force is effectively a magic system as far as I'm concerned.
I don't know if anyone else came to this conclusion, but isn't ki basically just the Star Wars force?
No. The Force is an all-pervasive energy field that exists throughout the universe that can be sensed and manipulated by some living creatures. In short, the Force is magic. Because the Jedi, Sith, and any other Force wielding people in Star Wars are just space wizards with some variety of knight/monk/priest/sage flavoring. Ki in D&D is a spiritual mystic force that originates in the soul of an individual and each individual has distinct and separate pools of it rather than tapping into a universal source. Or it's a by product of the soul. Or maybe it's actually generated by some sort of biological function. Because to my knowledge it is absolutely not specifically defined in any clear manner. But it isn't magic, at least not from a rules perspective because it's something else that's called "Ki," bears some vague similarities to something from Hong Kong action movies because wo-pa!
The first sentence in the Monk section about Ki says "Monks make careful study of a magical energy that most monastic traditions call ki."
The SAC clarifies how to tell if something is magical:
Determining whether a game feature is magical is straightforward. Ask yourself these questions about the feature:
• Is it a spell? Or does it let you create the effects of a spell that’s mentioned in its description? • Is it a spell attack? • Is it fueled by the use of spell slots? • Does its description say it’s magical?
Thus Ki is magical for RAW purposes.
Nope. You're quoting from flavor and lore description, not rules text.
Per Jeremy Crawford: "Neither the Ki feature nor the Stunning Strike feature (PH, 78 & 79) is defined as magical for game purposes."
In the same twitter thread Dan Dillon (another WotC D&D dev) adds, "For clarity's sake, the confusion comes from the lore section on Ki from pg 76: "The Magic of Ki."" Further, JCraw adds "That is an example of the background magic I talked about in Sage Advice. Look for "Is the breath weapon of a dragon magical?"" From the referenced question, his response is "The breath weapon of a typical dragon is not magical."
So per the designers of the game, no, ki is not magic.
This is one of those times where Crawford seems to have not bothered to actually read the rules before making a ruling on them. The idea that a dragon's breath weapon is completely nonmagical is honestly ridiculous. Are we to believe that white dragons somehow produce liquid nitrogen as part of their metabolism? Or the fact that monks use ki points to cast spells yet ki isn't magic?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I see Ki as a counter. You click it to advance the countdown until there are none left, resetting or winding it up as necessary. Because none of my Monks are monastic, Ki is unnamed in the reflavoring.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
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If a character with a soul passes through an Antimagic Field their soul doesn't disappear right, but their ki does? In the monk's details section "The magic of Ki" it states that Ki is "an element of the magic that suffuses the multiverse—specifically, the element that flows through living bodies." So if all living bodies have ki what function does Ki have if it's not the soul? Is Ki actually an intrinsic part of all living physical beings and what are the consequences if Ki is entirely removed from a character?
Think of ki as the ability to manipulate energy. While in an anti-magic field, you've still got the energy but you can't manipulate it. Sort of like how a Beholder in an anti-magic field doesn't spontaneously die. As far as what are the consequences of something losing all its ki? Well there aren't any rules for ki beyond the Monk's class abilities. So who can say?
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
From the strict standpoint of RAW mechanics, ki is ki. It is not something other than ki. That means it is not magic and is not affected by effects that cancel or otherwise interact with magic. The phrasing The magic of ki" is descriptive flavor that sounds cool. Antimagic field has zero bearing on ki and ki based abilities. Ki has zero effect on anything other than the specific effects described in rules entries including the word "ki."
From a creative standpoint it's the mystical mojo that allows highly skilled martial artists to do the kind of stuff that requires a wire team or other special effects to portray in movies. Unless it's something that Bruce Lee did. He talked about ki a lot and that guy was borderline superhuman, no special effects needed. Because he knew how to use his ki.
For D&D 5E, Flushmaster is wrong.
The first sentence in the Monk section about Ki says "Monks make careful study of a magical energy that most monastic traditions call ki."
The SAC clarifies how to tell if something is magical:
Thus Ki is magical for RAW purposes.
If you can't manipulate ki while in an antimagic field because it's magic, then it shouldn't be possible to enter the field with your ki; but if ki isn't magic, then ki shouldn't be affected by the field.
"An element of the magic that suffuses the multiverse—specifically, the element that flows through living bodies." though this sentence doesn't define ki, it points out two descriptions of what it is: it doesn't directly state that ki is magic, but rather an element of a type of magic, and that it is the only element that flows through living bodies.
By inductive reasoning if their were one thing that flows through living bodies more than anything else it would be blood, therefore the magic that suffuses the multiverse is composed of blood, which makes it blood magic.
Magic, ki or otherwise, isn't a physical thing. If ki was blood, it would say so in its description.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Nope. You're quoting from flavor and lore description, not rules text.
Per Jeremy Crawford: "Neither the Ki feature nor the Stunning Strike feature (PH, 78 & 79) is defined as magical for game purposes."
https://twitter.com/jeremyecrawford/status/702205711011328000?lang=en
In the same twitter thread Dan Dillon (another WotC D&D dev) adds, "For clarity's sake, the confusion comes from the lore section on Ki from pg 76: "The Magic of Ki."" Further, JCraw adds "That is an example of the background magic I talked about in Sage Advice. Look for "Is the breath weapon of a dragon magical?"" From the referenced question, his response is "The breath weapon of a typical dragon is not magical."
So per the designers of the game, no, ki is not magic.
If blood doesn't flow through a person's body, they die. The rules in D&D are different than those in real life so fictionally speaking characters with living bodies in D&D could have magic flowing through their veins instead of blood, but if that were the case then the moment characters entered an antimagic field their hearts would stop circulating as the magic ceases to function.
Reborn and Warforged lack blood but can use ki just fine.
So can the Autognome if it makes it to print.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Well it's been played on a Twitch stream on the official D&D channel promoting the upcoming Spelljammer release, so I think it's safe to assume it's going to be in there when we can actually buy that book.
Do they explicitly not have blood and can they be considered to have living bodies? Because they could harbor blood and souls inside of themselves like some FNAF monster?
I don't know if anyone else came to this conclusion, but isn't ki basically just the Star Wars force?
Subclass Evaluations So Far:
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Warlock
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Hosted a battle between the Cult of Sedge and the Forum Counters here(Done now). I_Love_Tarrasques has won the fight, scoring a victory for the fiendish Moderators.
It's the same principle, at least.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
It is one of the areas down to the DM. Twitter posts are not part of the rules so while a DM can choose to follow them RAW is only the published material including SAC.
A DM can decide "ki is magical" is flavor text and therefore they are completely unaffected by an anti magic field. This includes ki empower strikes for while the strikes count as magical they are not actually magical.
At the other end of the scale the dm can decide the whole monk class is built around the mastery of ki and as this is magical they lose all the class features inside an anti magic field with the possible exception of martial arts (which it says comes from practise of martial arts)
Some features like unarmoured defence do not say whether this comes from ki or not. Other features like tongue of sun and moon and the passive part of diamond soul use ki even though they do not use ki points.
Running up walls can be regarded as clearly magical but running a bit faster could be down to training but they are part of the same feature.
Having the monk lose all class features would be no fun for the monk a high level monk having an AC of 15 and able to do 1 quarterstaff attack for 1d8+5 per turn is no fun for the monk and their best strategy is probably to hide around the corner if they can not avoid the anti magic. The DM might want to hamper them somewhat, especially if the other martials are reliant on magical weapons and armor. A monk losing bracers of defence and other magic from items might be considered enough or the dm might decide to say the monk can not do anything that requires ki points. A DM following RAW can do any of these because the rules do not specify what actually happens.
No. The Force is an all-pervasive energy field that exists throughout the universe that can be sensed and manipulated by some living creatures. In short, the Force is magic. Because the Jedi, Sith, and any other Force wielding people in Star Wars are just space wizards with some variety of knight/monk/priest/sage flavoring. Ki in D&D is a spiritual mystic force that originates in the soul of an individual and each individual has distinct and separate pools of it rather than tapping into a universal source. Or it's a by product of the soul. Or maybe it's actually generated by some sort of biological function. Because to my knowledge it is absolutely not specifically defined in any clear manner. But it isn't magic, at least not from a rules perspective because it's something else that's called "Ki," bears some vague similarities to something from Hong Kong action movies because wo-pa!
In my personal opinion, the Force in Star Wars is not magic, it is psionics.
Even if Ki 'did' count as magic I think you'd have no problem stepping into an antimagic field, just as you have no problem carrying a magic item into one. You just wouldn't be able to use any abilities relying on ki while in said field.
The force is effectively a magic system as far as I'm concerned.
Probably the best explanation for what ki is yet
This is one of those times where Crawford seems to have not bothered to actually read the rules before making a ruling on them. The idea that a dragon's breath weapon is completely nonmagical is honestly ridiculous. Are we to believe that white dragons somehow produce liquid nitrogen as part of their metabolism? Or the fact that monks use ki points to cast spells yet ki isn't magic?
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I see Ki as a counter. You click it to advance the countdown until there are none left, resetting or winding it up as necessary. Because none of my Monks are monastic, Ki is unnamed in the reflavoring.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.