Does "Magic Weapon, Legion's" affect the monk's unarmed strikes as the normal "Magic Weapon" does?

Question

"Magic Weapon, Legion's", states the following (emphasis mine):

This spell functions like magic weapon (see page 251 of the Player's Handbook), except as noted above and as follows. It affects only weapons held by allies when the spell is cast. It has no effect on ammunition.

and "Magic Weapon" states the following:

You can't cast this spell on a natural weapon, such as an unarmed strike (instead, see magic fang). A monk's unarmed strike is considered a weapon, and thus it can be enhanced by this spell.

Therefore, does the Legion's version also consider the monk's unarmed strikes are weapons held or not?

Answer 1

Yes. Not only does magic weapon refer to a monk’s unarmed strike as a weapon for this purpose, but so does the monk’s unarmed strike ability itself. Ultimately the statement in magic weapon is only a reminder of what the monk itself defines its unarmed strike to be. Legion’s magic weapon should still see a monk’s unarmed strike as a weapon because under the rules, it is a weapon.

As for the “held” verbiage in legion’s magic weapon, we can’t hold the rules text to standards that tight—they clearly made no attempt to keep to them. For instance, are armor spikes “held”? And more immediately, are unarmed strikes? The key thing that legion’s magic weapon is getting at is that these are weapons out and readied for use—the spell doesn’t hit all the back-up weapons in a sack or something. This is similar to the rule about ammunition, and it is no coincidence that they are presented together, in my estimation.