Clarification on Demon shapes (are they evil?)

[Bulldog241]

Hello! I need some clarification on people who shift into demon or nightwalker forms.

Are these considered to be inherently evil acts? I thought they where along the lines of summoning undead. Where regardless of your intentions, the act itself is evil. But recently I've had several run-ins with people who swear (both ICly and OOCly) that this is NOT an evil act. The spell is merely an illusion, so no actual evil is taking place. Once was a warlock in demon form, and the other was a mage using the 9th lvl spell Shapechange to become a nightwalker.

Now I play a druid, and my initial reaction was about the same as if I saw someone practicing necromancy: It's pure evil and must be destroyed. But a fair number of people contradicted me and have said that no, it's different. Soooooo, I'm now asking you guys to see how my druid should respond to such a situation.

If I see someone shifted into a demon/nightwalker form should I view it as an inherently evil act regardless of their intent, or just something that's a bit disturbing to watch but nothing really good or bad about it?

Thanks!

[Charraj]

A summoning spell is different from a shapeshifting spell when it comes to determining alignment.

Note: When you use a calling spell such as gate to call an air, chaotic, earth, evil, fire, good, lawful, or water creature, it is a spell of that type.

So summoning an evil creature IS an "inherently" evil act.

But when using Shapechange (which is basically super Alter Self),

Your class and level, hit points, alignment, base attack bonus, and base save bonuses all remain the same.

So shifting into a devil is not "inherently" evil.

HOWEVER. On this server, a shapeshifted character consents to PvP because he can be perceived as what he has become. You can attack him on sight, unless he reverts back to his natural form or otherwise RPs that he is not a threat.
So someone walking around publicly in an evil form is asking for trouble. You can assume the character IS a devil or whatever, and open fire (he'd probably have to RP a LOT to show that he's not a threat).

But if you see him in the act of shifting into a devil or nightwalker, and you know it's only a spell, then your character would know the act itself is not "inherently" evil.
But it sure would be be opposed to your druidic code. Devils are evil outsiders. A nightwalker is an undead. And one thing about druids, they're all

. . . harboring a deep hate for that which twists or violates the laws of the natural world, such as aberrations or undead.

And if it's a warlock, well... you can ICly assume that a warlock who shifts into a devil probably made a pact with an evil outsider. To a druid, that is totally not cool, man.