I was just wondering whether the following is considered copyright infringement for the purpose of submitting homebrew monsters:
1) Making a style of monster similar to an existing monster. I made two beholder-kin monsters, and both include eye rays. But I made my own custom eye rays, and the monsters themselves had pretty distinct characteristics that set them apart from other beholders.
2) Including names of existing monsters. In the description of my beholder-kin monsters, I had, for obvious reasons, included the names "beholder" and "beholder-kin". I also included names of some monsters like "vine blight" and "bullywug" in another one of my monster's stat block.
3) Including an aspect of existing monsters that is already established by DnD. I mentioned within my beholder-kin monsters' descriptions that they were born from beholders' dreams, which is how many beholder-kin are actually born according to DnD.
4) Having a monster be able to summon existing monsters. For one of my other monsters, I gave it the ability to roll a dice and summon a random creature, including ones like vine blights and bullywugs.
I would just like to point out that I was browsing through a lot of approved homebrew content that included some of these situations, but I just wanted to make sure.
I was just wondering whether the following is considered copyright infringement for the purpose of submitting homebrew monsters:
1) Making a style of monster similar to an existing monster. I made two beholder-kin monsters, and both include eye rays. But I made my own custom eye rays, and the monsters themselves had pretty distinct characteristics that set them apart from other beholders.
2) Including names of existing monsters. In the description of my beholder-kin monsters, I had, for obvious reasons, included the names "beholder" and "beholder-kin". I also included names of some monsters like "vine blight" and "bullywug" in another one of my monster's stat block.
3) Including an aspect of existing monsters that is already established by DnD. I mentioned within my beholder-kin monsters' descriptions that they were born from beholders' dreams, which is how many beholder-kin are actually born according to DnD.
4) Having a monster be able to summon existing monsters. For one of my other monsters, I gave it the ability to roll a dice and summon a random creature, including ones like vine blights and bullywugs.
I would just like to point out that I was browsing through a lot of approved homebrew content that included some of these situations, but I just wanted to make sure.
Hi, please find here below my answers:
1) It is OK to submit beholder-kin creatures, provided that it is very distinct from the published one.
2) It is OK to name other monsters in the stats block or description, even published ones.
3) You can mention any aspect of the monster in the description, provided that it is not a copy/paste from a published book.
4) It is OK to grant the ability to summon other monsters, even published ones.
Thank you for answering my question!
What about WotC IP that hasn't been published in 5e yet? Like, for instance, a firbolg...
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
― Oscar Wilde.
A Firbolg NPC? You are good to go, just avoid copy/pasting from Volo's Guide to Monsters.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
― Oscar Wilde.
Re-work from the previous editions are fine.