If a dragon under my control uses Change Shape to turn into an Evoker, can I choose the Evoker's race, and benefit from its racial traits?

Question

Nuanced questions about True Polymorph and spellcasting:

I have a wizard who has a simulacrum. Wizard TP's the sim into an adult bronze dragon, which can then Change Shape into a humanoid or beast of its CR or below. TP says the sim retains personality and alignment, so it still holds loyalty to me. I have it transform into, say, an Evoker (CR 9 humanoid wizard with spellcasting prepared).

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If my dragon-sim changes shape into said Evoker, which has no default race, am I able to choose the race of the Evoker and grant it those racial traits (ex. Halfling Luck, Warforged Resilience, etc.)?

Answer 1

Yes, you can choose the race.

Per the description of the Change Shape Action, you can choose any humanoid or beast, and therefore "Halfling Evoker" or "Warforged Evoker" are certainly eligible options.

No, you cannot grant it those racial traits.

Belonging to a race does not inherently attribute features. For example, not all Yuan-ti have Magic Resistance. While common features are present on many members of a race, a creature only has the features included on its stat block, as per the Change Shape description:

Its statistics and capabilities are otherwise replaced by those of the new form, except any class features or legendary actions of that form.

In this case, the relevant stat block is that of the Evoker. The only features included are Spellcasting and Sculpt Spells regardles of which race you chose for your change shape.

Well, that just sounds like slavery with extra steps

For clarification, there is little difference between Change Shape and directly Polymorphing your Simulacrum into the Evoker, though I do understand the reusable benefit of TPing the Sim into a dragon. In both cases, the new stat block becomes prevalent except where specified otherwise.

Answer 2

An 'Evoker' is just a wizard (Medium humanoid (any race), any alignment) trained in the arcane arts via their class.

The spell specifically states that you can't gain class features. As for proof that this is in fact a class feature it actually says they're wizard spells.

The evoker is a 12th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with spell attacks). The evoker has the following wizard spells prepared:

You can't gain class features, any class features, which definitely includes the class features of being a wizard.

Just because it's labled as a specific thing in the monster manual doesn't mean it's a creature you can polymorph into. An Evoker is not a creature. It's a description of a person with class features. You're quite literally trying to gain class features. This is exploitative and unacceptable. It goes against the intent of the spell and the rules as written.