Assume I have a LVL 20 druid who just cast shapechange on themself and wants to turn into a pit fiend. Now, the pit fiend has a variant of equal CR that allows it to summon other devils. I have looked at the rules and have seen nothing RAW that resricted me into using the summoner variant, but I am still unsure if this is allowed.
Technically I don't think it's against RAW (though do remember that the caster has to have seen the creature they want to turn into at least once so if they've never seen a summoner variant pit fiend it's not something they're allowed to turn into), but my inclination is to either say no or rule that as the druid isn't actually a pit fiend, if they did use the Summon Devil action the resulting summons instantly realize that the druid isn't a real pit fiend and will consequently be hostile.
I see your point, but on the "not realizing the druid is not a pit fiend" part, it says that the summoned devils "acts as an ally of its summoner." This means that they are inclined to be your ally no matter what.
It says that, but the writer was almost certainly not anticipating this very narrow combination of effects. Summoned devils are loyal to pit fiends because pit fiends outrank them and devils are extremely hierarchical. Since the druid isn't a real pit fiend and didn't summon the devils via the usual spells and their safeguards, that loyalty shouldn't apply.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Shapechange allows a caster to transform into "an average example of that creature." I would argue that the summoner variant is not an average example of a creature, it's identical to a normal pit fiend in every way except for one extra action in its stat block.
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Assume I have a LVL 20 druid who just cast shapechange on themself and wants to turn into a pit fiend. Now, the pit fiend has a variant of equal CR that allows it to summon other devils. I have looked at the rules and have seen nothing RAW that resricted me into using the summoner variant, but I am still unsure if this is allowed.
Technically I don't think it's against RAW (though do remember that the caster has to have seen the creature they want to turn into at least once so if they've never seen a summoner variant pit fiend it's not something they're allowed to turn into), but my inclination is to either say no or rule that as the druid isn't actually a pit fiend, if they did use the Summon Devil action the resulting summons instantly realize that the druid isn't a real pit fiend and will consequently be hostile.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I see your point, but on the "not realizing the druid is not a pit fiend" part, it says that the summoned devils "acts as an ally of its summoner." This means that they are inclined to be your ally no matter what.
It says that, but the writer was almost certainly not anticipating this very narrow combination of effects. Summoned devils are loyal to pit fiends because pit fiends outrank them and devils are extremely hierarchical. Since the druid isn't a real pit fiend and didn't summon the devils via the usual spells and their safeguards, that loyalty shouldn't apply.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Shapechange allows a caster to transform into "an average example of that creature." I would argue that the summoner variant is not an average example of a creature, it's identical to a normal pit fiend in every way except for one extra action in its stat block.