I'm thinking about creating some spells, but I'm afraid they may be too similar to official content. Does anyone know if there are standing rules regarding this or is plagiarism determined on a know-it-when-you-see-it basis? Are there explicit consequences for this kind of activity anywhere? It occurs to me that homebrew content allows the option to base content off existing official content, but my intuition tells me it wouldn't be ok to overtly copy a spell from, say, Xanathar's Guide to use as homebrew.
If you're just making them for use in your own campaign, you can make whatever you want without restriction from a copy standpoint. If you want to publish them, the system will tell you if it's too similar.
I'm thinking about creating some spells, but I'm afraid they may be too similar to official content. Does anyone know if there are standing rules regarding this or is plagiarism determined on a know-it-when-you-see-it basis? Are there explicit consequences for this kind of activity anywhere? It occurs to me that homebrew content allows the option to base content off existing official content, but my intuition tells me it wouldn't be ok to overtly copy a spell from, say, Xanathar's Guide to use as homebrew.
If you're just making them for use in your own campaign, you can make whatever you want without restriction from a copy standpoint. If you want to publish them, the system will tell you if it's too similar.
Thanks for the concise answer!