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The cantrip magic stone from the Elemental Evil Player's Companion (p. 20) says:

You touch one to three pebbles and imbue them with magic. You or someone else can make a ranged spell attack with one of the pebbles by throwing it or hurling it with a sling. [...] On a hit, the target takes bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your spellcasting ability modifier.

Is the damage dealt from the enchanted missile considered magic for purposes of overcoming damage resistances and immunities?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Did you compare this cantrip to shillelagh? \$\endgroup\$ Commented May 20, 2017 at 22:20

2 Answers 2

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Source is a spell, so yes

Monster Manual page 8:

Vulnerabilities, Resistances, and Immunities: Some creatures have vulnerability, resistance, or immunity to certain types of damage. Particular creatures are even resistant or immune to damage from nonmagical attacks (a magical attack is an attack delivered by a spell, a magic item, or another magical source). In addition, some creatures are immune to certain conditions.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Did you compare this cantrip to shillelagh? \$\endgroup\$ Commented May 20, 2017 at 22:20
  • \$\begingroup\$ No, but I did find cloud of daggers which could have a similar question. \$\endgroup\$ Commented May 20, 2017 at 22:52
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Yes.

As the spell states that the target takes bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your spellcasting ability modifier rather than the stone does extra damage equal to 1d6 + your spellcasting ability modifier you can assume that the spell itself is causing the extra damage and not the stone.

Also note that you are using the stone as a ranged spell attack by throwing it or hurling it with a sling, so even with a sling, it's still a ranged spell attack.

This is important because most monster nonmagical immunities are worded something like the following two examples:

bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered (Ice Devil, pg. 75 MM)

or

bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren't adamantine (Iron Golem, pg. 170 MM)

As spells are NOT weapons unless stated, these two nonmagical immunities wouldn't protect against the extra damage caused by the spell.

Obviously, if the stone is used as a sling bullet, the normal damage from that attack probably shouldn't be considered magical.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Spells simply can't be weapons. They might affect weapons, but there is the ever-present distinction between weapon attacks and spell attacks. That is basically an axis, the other being melee vs ranged. \$\endgroup\$
    – Javelin
    Commented May 20, 2017 at 14:29
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Javelin I agree with you on that point, but I swear I read a spell somewhere that stated that it counts as a weapon attack. I'll have to see if I can fish it out. \$\endgroup\$
    – Matthew
    Commented May 20, 2017 at 14:31
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Makyen at least as I read it, assuming the stone was given to a character who could sling a regular stone for 1d4 damage, it'd be a bit odd to loose that 1d4. The text indicates the spell causes damage, but doesn't say anything about replacing the regular attack damage. In this example, the attack would do 1d4 normal damage from getting hit by a rock, and 1d6 + modifier magical bludgeoning damage from the cantrip. \$\endgroup\$
    – Morgen
    Commented May 20, 2017 at 22:46
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Morgen, The spell is quite clear what damage happens on a hit (specific over general). In addition, the 5e version explicitly makes it is a ranged spell attack, not a ranged attack (as it was with older versions of D&D). Thus, I would not expect any damage to be dealt other than that specified by the spell. If it was still a ranged attack, it could be argued, but as it is a ranged spell attack, I really don't see any reason that it would in addition be a ranged attack and also have the damage normally dealt from a thrown attack, or sling. \$\endgroup\$
    – Makyen
    Commented May 21, 2017 at 0:02
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    \$\begingroup\$ It's worth noting that per the MM errata: "Throughout the book, instances of “nonmagical weapons” in Damage Resistances/Immunities entries have been replaced with “nonmagical attacks.”" Example: dndbeyond.com/monsters/iron-golem \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Sep 2, 2018 at 18:11

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