One of my players has Talon, a +1 Longsword that deals slashing damage, found in the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure.
In regards to a creature that has "resistance to damage from non-magical weapons", does Talon deal magical or non-magical damage?
Best Answer
Yes, sort of, but damage works a little differently in this edition of D&D
Magical describes the weapon, and the attack
The magical sword makes a magical attack, it doesn't do magical damage per se since "magical" isn't a damage type of its own. This is a subtle point, but it is worth remembering. (The related case of silvered weapons follows this same rule / logic).
You describe Talon as a longsword, +1. In the DMG, you will find such weapons under Magic Items, in the category of Weapon, +11.
You cited the standard rules block incorrectly.
Unlike some video games and some other RPGs, D&D 5th edition does not specify magical as a type of damage, although Force as a damage type is described as pure magic that does damage.
The rules cite the following kinds of damage. (edited for brevity)
Acid. Bludgeoning. Cold. Fire. Force. Lightning. Necrotic. Piercing. Poison. Psychic. Radiant. Slashing. Thunder.
Note that 'magical' isn't one of the listed damage types. Long swords do slashing damage. (Weapons table, PHB).
Weapons typically do Bludgeoning, Slashing, or Piercing damage. Monster stat blocks often show resistance or immunity to Bludgeoning, Slashing, or Piercing damage from non-magical, or non-silvered, weapons. (Werewolf, magmin, as above). Some also show resistance or immunity to other damage types. A red dragon, for example, is immune to fire damage. (MM; SRD p. 286 also) Fire is a damage type.
How does this work during play?
Ask yourself: is the creature resistant to, or immune from, non-magical attacks?
If yes, then a non-magical weapon does half damage (resistance) or no damage (immunity), but a magical weapon overcomes that resistance or immunity and therefore still does full Bludgeoning (mace), Slashing(sword), or Piercing(spear) damage to the target; it's attack is magical.
What damage does Talon do?
Talon is a magical sword (+1); it makes magical attacks and thus bypasses resistance or immunity to weapon based slashing attacks, doing full slashing damage.
Put another way, the sword isn't doing "magical damage" (type) but is rather doing a type of damage because it is making a magical attack.
Caveat: against Swarms, the slashing coming from a magical attack, or not, won't matter. Swarms have:
Note that it doesn't specify a source, the way a werewolf does.
1 Under "Magic Items" we find.
"Magical Attacks" as a game feature.
A good example of this is the Monk's 6th level ability Ki-Empowered Strikes
The attack is magical, which then applies damage.