I've heard a couple people, friends mainly, say something about there being non-magical elements and magical elements (e.g. fire barrel is non magical, firebolt is magical) and also I've had people try to say something like catapult is a magical attack therefore it should bypass bludgeoning resistance. I personally think against both of these but maybe I'm misunderstanding the rules or something, can anyone give me a hand with understanding this better?
From the Monster Manual: "Particular creatures are even resistant or immune to damage from non-magical attacks (a magical attack is an attack delivered by a spell, a magic item, or another magical source)."
So just as a mundane arrow fired from a magic bow is treated as magical for the purposes of overcoming DR, any damaging effect delivered by a spell like catapult is as well. Secondary effects, if there are any, would not be. For example, take the spell Create Bonfire. The 5ft cube the bonfire is in its considered magical fire. But if it is cast in a flammable area, and creates a fire in the squares around it, those are just regular non-magical fire.
I've heard a couple people, friends mainly, say something about there being non-magical elements and magical elements (e.g. fire barrel is non magical, firebolt is magical) and also I've had people try to say something like catapult is a magical attack therefore it should bypass bludgeoning resistance. I personally think against both of these but maybe I'm misunderstanding the rules or something, can anyone give me a hand with understanding this better?
Fireball I would assume is magical. Catapult I would say is not magical damage because you are flinging a non magical object at the target.
From the Monster Manual: "Particular creatures are even resistant or immune to damage from non-magical attacks (a magical attack is an attack delivered by a spell, a magic item, or another magical source)."
So just as a mundane arrow fired from a magic bow is treated as magical for the purposes of overcoming DR, any damaging effect delivered by a spell like catapult is as well. Secondary effects, if there are any, would not be. For example, take the spell Create Bonfire. The 5ft cube the bonfire is in its considered magical fire. But if it is cast in a flammable area, and creates a fire in the squares around it, those are just regular non-magical fire.
Makes sense.