Whereas researching monsters that may form change to mess with my gamers there are just a few that even have innate spellcasting. I am attempting to determine RAW if every of the examples can use their spellcasting whereas utilizing their potential to alter their look. The wording of every’s potential are all barely totally different however with sufficient similarity that I feel it may be fairly coated in the identical query.

I discovered the next checklist of creatures with each Innate Spellcasting and the Form Change potential:

• Evening Hag
• Oni
• Deva
• Some Historic Dragons
• Smiling One Cloud Large

Word: I am conscious not all Historic Dragons have the Form Change potential and that Historic Dragons do not technically have spellcasting usually however we’ll go off the idea of utilizing the variant guidelines for them on this occasion as that is when it is related.

Evening Hag

Wording of the Evening Hag’s Change Form potential:

Change Form: The hag magically polymorphs right into a Small or Medium feminine Humanoid, or again into her true kind. Her Statistics are the identical in every kind. Any Gear she is sporting or carrying is not reworked. She reverts to her true kind if she dies.

Oni

The Oni has the very same wording for his or her potential with the related pronouns swapped, clarifying what they will flip into, and a bit of additional wording to make clear that their glaive transforms with them:

Change Form. The oni magically polymorphs right into a Small or Medium humanoid, right into a Massive large, or again into its true kind. Aside from its dimension, its statistics are the identical in every kind. The one gear that’s reworked is its glaive, which shrinks in order that it may be wielded in humanoid kind. If the oni dies, it reverts to its true kind, and its glaive reverts to its regular dimension.

Smiling One

The Smiling One Cloud Large has very related wording with the addition of with the ability to rework right into a beast it has seen:

Change Form. The large magically polymorphs right into a beast or humanoid it has seen, or again into its true kind. Any gear the large is sporting or carrying is absorbed by the brand new kind. Its statistics, aside from its dimension, are the identical in every kind. It reverts to its true kind if it dies.

Devas and Dragons

Devas and Dragons appear to have further decisions on high of the fundamental “… magically polymorph right into a …” wordings however in the end I feel the related parts that I will be speaking about for the wordings are all the identical as above and thus for brevity I am going to not copy the precise textual content right here.

Innate Spellcasting Specifics

Virtually the entire aforementioned creatures share a particularly related Innate Spellcasting characteristic which incorporates *”…can innately forged the next spells, requiring no materials elements…”. The one exceptions to this are the Deva which as an alternative says it simply has Verbal elements for its spells (and particularly mentions retaining its potential to talk whereas reworked) and the Smiling One has each Innate Spellcasting characteristic and Spellcasting characteristic the place it *”…has the next spells ready…”

Widespread Wording Concerns

• “…magically polymorphs into…”: polymorph being lowercase and not one of the creatures mentioning having the Polymorph spell inside their talents makes me assume that is simply an innate potential of the given creature. The one actual sticking level I am uncertain of for this potential is that if it requires focus or not, like when you’d forged the spell to get the impact.
• Innate Spellcasting: is properly… innate. It is a property of the creature itself and never a spell being forged by it to supply the impact (although they do all embody the wording “magically”)
• “Statistics are the identical in every kind”: The Evening Hag, Oni, and Smiling One share this actual wording which makes me assume that, so long as the shape they took may nonetheless full the required elements of the spell (VSM), they’d nonetheless have the aptitude to forged the spell. Deva and Historic dragons go even past this in that they preserve a few of their extra highly effective points even whereas transfigured and most particularly their potential to talk (speaking rabbit anybody?)
• “…requiring no materials elements.”: going off the earlier assertion about potential to forged the spells in query all of them permit ignoring the fabric part. The one slight exception to this are for the spells ready by the Smiling One that will nonetheless require their common elements (its innate spells would nonetheless ignore the fabric part like the remaining).

Associated Questions Discovered

• Can a Shapechanger use Innate Spellcasting whereas of their animal kind?: reply given was sure, they will although it is a little totally different as its particularly concerning the Shapechanger creature subtype (Imps and Dopplegangers being frequent examples), so not fairly the identical factor because the Form Change potential although with related wordings

• Does innate spellcasting by creatures have verbal or somatic elements?: Reply given was primarily “requires VSM until it explicitly says in any other case”. Materials is ignored for the entire innate casting however this could indicate that verbal and somatic are nonetheless a requirement for every of the spells

• RAW, can innate spellcaster dragons forged spells with somatic elements?: reply appears to be sure with just a few different examples of creatures with out “arms” nonetheless seemingly with the ability to innately forged spells: Faerie Dragon (tiny dragon with hand like claws), Ki-Rin (unicorn-esque creature with hooves), and Morkoth (fish creature with tentacles). That is maybe one of many extra fascinating rulings because it considerably leaves the reply as much as DM interpretation however, if taken in the identical context as the reply right here, mainly any limb doubtless counts for somatic elements.

• Does the Shapechange spell permit one to make use of Innate Spellcasting of the creature they changed into?: reply appears to be Sure. The talents described above are not the Shapechange spell however have moderately related interpretations based mostly on how Innate Spellcasting is taken into account a Statistic and Particular Trait and thus inherited until specified in any other case

• Is there a solution to counterspell a stage 20 druid?: reply appears to be No. That is maybe the least associated however I assumed it fascinating sufficient to incorporate. The druid’s capstone characteristic Archdruid let’s them ignore the verbal, somatic, and non-consumed materials value of spells whereas wild formed. There’s clearly various causes that is totally different however it’s an fascinating meals for thought query of if a personality would acknowledge the somatic motion of a spell if delivered by a Ki-Rin?

My Conclusion

tl;dr: I imagine the reply is Sure with some limitation based mostly on the shape chosen.

I am unable to discover any cause, so long as the shape taken can carry out the required verbal or somatic elements of the spell, {that a} creature utilizing its Form Change potential could not forged its Innate Spells. The one doable exception to this appears to be if this potential someway required focus although I might count on then it might be listed explicitly within the description of the power like how the Imp’s potential to show invisible explicitly mentions focus. So, with that, humanoid transformations actually may forged any innate spell and Devas and Historic Dragons, as they preserve their potential to talk, ought to be capable to innately forged spells whereas reworked into… mainly something. Maybe so long as it had a limb? So perhaps not a worm although argument may very well be made for a sure type of wriggling accounting for the somatic part. Word: You’d have to be further aware of which spells have been being forged by a Smiling One for in the event that they have been innate or ready.

Actually DM can regulate a bit to make extra fascinating conditions however the above seems to be RAW greatest I can inform.

So, did I miss something?