Elves, Dwarves, and Loopholes; A.K.A 'Summon ALL the NPC's!'

[Inevitability]

The DMG tells us that several of the celestial planes are inhabited by dwarves or elves with the Celestial type.

The Monster Manual says that its NPC statblocks can be used to represent nonhuman NPC's (say, a dwarf).

Using this logic, could one summon a Celestial Dwarf Knight using Conjure Celestial? Technically it is a valid target, being a Celestial below CR 4.


Does this work by RAW? Would you allow it in your games?

[PoeticDwarf]

The DMG tells us that several of the celestial planes are inhabited by dwarves or elves with the Celestial type.

The Monster Manual says that its NPC statblocks can be used to represent nonhuman NPC's (say, a dwarf).

Using this logic, could one summon a Celestial Dwarf Knight using Conjure Celestial? Technically it is a valid target, being a Celestial below CR 4.


Does this work by RAW? Would you allow it in your games?

I would allow it, because it's creative and it's not stronger than the snake celestial.

[pibby]

That's like asking the DM if you could summon an adult dragon with Find Steed. The answer is most likely no from the DM since spells like Planar Binding are the intended spells for 'smarter' targets like humanoids.

It's a but sad that in dnd spells in general, as an intended design, do not have more functions than listed or implied. However if you have a DM that understands the implications of stretching rules or spell usage in the campaign world you are a part of, then I suppose it's fine.

But keep in mind that spellcasters by design have more flexibility than martials like fighters. So giving casters strong damaging potentials through spells such as summons that end up stronger than spells like Spiritual Weapon give casters the ability to overshadow martials and make them obsolete.

TL;DR I wouldn't let it happen on most occasions