Magical Beasts VS. Incorporeal creatures

[wickedb84]

I know this is probably a dumb questions- but if thats the case it should be an easy answer.
If a druid summons a magical beast (say an owl bear) to attack an incorporeal creature (say a wraith)- will it do damage? I know the book says that an incorporeal creature will take damage from "creatures that strike as magical weapons", but I have no idea what that's referring to. Does the owlbear's natural attack count as a magical attack since it, itself is magical?
What is the druid only summons a standard animal instead of a magical beast? Is the animal considered magical because it has been summoned magically?

[Quandary]

"creatures that strike as magical weapons" means ´strike like a +1 enhancement bonus (or higher) magical weapon´
if you want to house-rule something otherwise, more power to you, but that`s what it`s referring to
(and neither owlbears, summoned or not, nor summoned animals have attacks that count as magic weapons. it would be something specifically noted in the description of their attacks.)

of course, in the playtest Words of Power system, you could combine a Summons and a Magic Fang effect into one spell, so they are instantly armed with magic weapons, ready to attack incorporeal enemies...

[Starglim]

Quandary wrote:

"creatures that strike as magical weapons" means 'strike like a +1 enhancement bonus (or higher) magical weapon'

Right, which includes:

• creatures that have DR/magic
  
• vampires
  
• dragons
  
• some monks and sorcerers.
  

A lantern archon's light rays (summon monster III) work pretty well.

Mephits (summon monster IV and summon nature's ally IV) have DR 5/magic.

Bralani have magic weapons (as do various creatures at higher levels, which I won't go through) and salamanders have DR 10/magic (summon monster V).

[wickedb84]

Awesome- thanks for all the info :)

[Derwalt]

But what about the smite-attack of the summoned creature? Doesn't smite bypass DR?

[The Wraith]

Derwalt wrote:

But what about the smite-attack of the summoned creature? Doesn't smite bypass DR?

Smite Evil bypasses DR but the resistance of an incorporeal creature is not DR - the creature takes no damage by mundane attacks (and only half damage by magical attacks which are not force-based) because it lacks a physical body, and so only a magical source can damage them somehow.

Moreover, the Smite Evil/ Smite Good ability of Celestial/ Fiendish creatures is not the same as that of a Paladin.

Paladin's Smite Evil:
"Once per day, a paladin can call out to the powers of good to aid her in her struggle against evil. As a swift action, the paladin chooses one target within sight to smite. If this target is evil, the paladin adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack rolls and adds her paladin level to all damage rolls made against the target of her smite. If the target of smite evil is an outsider with the evil subtype, an evil-aligned dragon, or an undead creature, the bonus to damage on the first successful attack increases to 2 points of damage per level the paladin possesses. Regardless of the target, smite evil attacks automatically bypass any DR the creature might possess.
(...)
The smite evil effect remains until the target of the smite is dead or the next time the paladin rests and regains her uses of this ability."

Celestial creature's Smite Evil:
"smite evil 1/day as a swift action (adds Cha bonus to attack rolls and damage bonus equal to HD against evil foes; smite persists until target is dead or the celestial creature rests)."

As you can see, the 'lesser version' lacks the 'bypasses all kind of DR' completely.

Just my 2c.