A magical organ called the "levator magnus", located in the center of the body surrounded by the creature's brain, produces an influence that causes the beholder to float in the air. This allows it to move about slowly, up and down, left or right, forward or back at a slow speed, like that of a pacing man. No magical spell or device can negate this levitation, though beholders cannot resist the push of great winds.
This is from "The ecology of the Beholder" from Dragon Magzine #76 from 1983 (by Ed Greenwood, grandfather of the "Forgotten Realms" and Roger E. Moore senior editor of Dragon Magazine and later designer of the revised "Greyhawk" setting)
The Sage Advice Compendium answered a similar question related to a dragon's breath weapon. The game "makes a distinction between two types of magic: the background magic that is part of the D&D multiverse’s physics and the physiology of many D&D creatures, and the concentrated magical energy that is contained in a magic item or channeled to create a spell or other focused magical effect". Only the second type of magic is affected by antimagic field.
According to this source, an effect is magical for the purposes of antimagic field or other effects that mention "magic" if any one of the following conditions is true:
It comes from a magic item.
It is a spell, or the effect mention a spell by name when it describes what it does.
It is a spell attack.
It is fueled by the use of spell slots.
The effect itself says it is magical.
A beholder's hovering ability is none of these things, and the PHB does not mention "hover" as being inherently magical. This means it is not suppressed by an antimagic field. Compare with the solar where it specifically says its greatsword "hovers magically".
If you need a way to think about it, the beholder has an internal organ which was *created* magically. That organ works as a scientifically functional anti-gravity field generator to hold the beast aloft while it is functioning. Thus, the organ "is magic" but simultaneously it does not need magic to function. In the same fashion a dragon has been created steeped in magic. As a result it has functioning wings and a throat organ which emits powerful elemental breath attacks - magical in origin but not magical in actual effect.
Does a Beholder hover with Magic? And if so, does that mean a Beholder would be immobilized in an anti magic area/cone?
A magical organ called the "levator magnus", located in the center of the body surrounded by the creature's brain, produces
an influence that causes the beholder to float in the air. This allows it to move about slowly, up and down, left or right,
forward or back at a slow speed, like that of a pacing man. No magical spell or device can negate this levitation, though beholders cannot resist the push of great winds.
This is from "The ecology of the Beholder" from Dragon Magzine #76 from 1983 (by Ed Greenwood, grandfather of the "Forgotten Realms" and Roger E. Moore senior editor of Dragon Magazine and later designer of the revised "Greyhawk" setting)
The Sage Advice Compendium answered a similar question related to a dragon's breath weapon. The game "makes a distinction between two types of magic: the background magic that is part of the D&D multiverse’s physics and the physiology of many D&D creatures, and the concentrated magical energy that is contained in a magic item or channeled to create a spell or other focused magical effect". Only the second type of magic is affected by antimagic field.
According to this source, an effect is magical for the purposes of antimagic field or other effects that mention "magic" if any one of the following conditions is true:
A beholder's hovering ability is none of these things, and the PHB does not mention "hover" as being inherently magical. This means it is not suppressed by an antimagic field. Compare with the solar where it specifically says its greatsword "hovers magically".
If you need a way to think about it, the beholder has an internal organ which was *created* magically. That organ works as a scientifically functional anti-gravity field generator to hold the beast aloft while it is functioning. Thus, the organ "is magic" but simultaneously it does not need magic to function. In the same fashion a dragon has been created steeped in magic. As a result it has functioning wings and a throat organ which emits powerful elemental breath attacks - magical in origin but not magical in actual effect.
This has all been super helpful. Thanks to all!