Oddly...his rulings is how i have always done it. Maybe its a carry over from 3.5 but i just assumed they weren't magical unless casting a spell.
I'd say most of JC's rullings are just what's already written in the books or common sense, but common sense isn't as common as it should be, and few of the rulings are weird.
It's Eberron, not ebberon.
It's not high magic, it's wide magic.
And it's definitely not steampunk. The only time steam gets involved is when the fire and water elementals break loose.