(Note, this comment is also up on the 2014 Elf page, but I wanted to repost it here on a forum to give it some extra chance of being seen. And yes, I do realize that plenty of people on Beyond have made customs with similar presence to what I'm talking about here, but my main concern is having the right to publish what I've came up with should I ever want to, and the hypocrisy inherent in the specific element of the SRD that I am discussing here.)
As a homebrew creator, this page bothers me when I look at the SRD. The Wood Elf would be so insanely useful to have. Unlike the High Elf, whose traits are extremely generic and so easy to replicate it would be impossible to copyright claim, the Wood Elf has actually unique traits in the form of Fleet of Foot and, more important towards my case, Mask of the Wild. Having this be in the SRD 5.1 would so much more beneficial. Both of these traits have a lot of uses that would be beneficial to have, and while the former is also pretty generic, all things considered; that isn't the case with the latter.
The case I'd like to make is my Snow Elf subrace for my homebrew setting. Overall, the two are pretty are pretty distinct. You have your generic ability score increase, your resistance to cold damage (as would be expected of a Snow Elf), there's a mobility-focused trait that feels very on-brand for a subspecies based on the essence of winter. But then to complete the set, we find the similarity. It's impossible to imagine making the Snow Elf without the Mask of the Wild trait. That sort of ability fits what they should be capable of extremely well. But I can't just tinker with the description and name while the premise remains the same as it would violate copyright law since the base trait isn't in the SRD. Sure, I don't intend on publishing it anytime in the near future, and yes, I realize that free use law is a thing. But let's say I do, as I have other winter-themed stuff that I would like to publish someday. My custom Snow Elf would not be able to be included because it would break copyright law with that one specific trait. And while it could be done separately, it wouldn't be able to be on the same level as my other things because I wouldn't be able to produce it in the same way.
Granted, I am new to the scene and have yet to start my publishing journey, so maybe there are loopholes I'm missing, but I'd rather stay clearly within the realm of legality.
And before you say, "but the Wood Elf is free even for people without subscriptions on D&D Beyond, so it should be in the SRD, too." It isn't. I've checked and double checked. You would effectively be restating my exact argument with the above question.
And just for reference... Ability Score Increase: Everything has this, it's nothing crazy. Elven Weapon Training: Like Dwarven Weapon training but elves, the exact same trait for Wood Elves as it is for High Elves, also any culture could train with weapons reasonably and the weapons themselves are SRD safe. Cantrip: This effectively just Innate Spellcasting but with options from the Wizard Cantrip list; Tiefling is SRD and has innate spells, and creatures being able to replicate the effects of spells by nature isn't too far-fetched, also most spells are SRD. Extra Language: You get an extra language; this can't even be disputed as infringement as it's so insanely generic. Whereas... Fleet Footed: makes you move slightly faster (which is admittedly rather generic and just has a fancy name, "So What?"). Mask of the Wild: Slightly more specific and effectively means you can try to hide anywhere under certain, easy to occur conditions (The problem is that it is specific enough to where remaking it with slight changes wouldn't have the same loopholes).
If you want to fact-check me, just go find SRD_CC_v5.1 and compare it with this page, you'll see what I mean.
1) publish in DMsGuild - DMsGuild allows you to publish using stuff that isn't covered under SRD and it gives you a bit more market exposure than randomly publishing it yourself at the cost of 50% of the profits going to WotC - you almost certainly won't make significant profit on your first published work regardless so that shouldn't be a big deal.
2) rework the trait so it is mechanically similar but distinct: e.g. Snowy Camouflage - you can hide when only lightly obscured by snow or other winter weather/terrain.
3) "publish" it for free - while technically violating copy-right if you aren't making any profit from it, then it almost certainly isn't worth WotC's time to prosecute / try to enforce their copyright and the negative PR from suing a random creator for copyright over 1-2 sentences would probably cost them more in the long term. This is unless your hypothetical future publication promotes hate or other messages that WotC doesn't want to be associated with.
I like that second option, actually. That makes a lot of sense and would be easy to implement. I might just try and roll with that. Thanks.
I still stand firm on the fact that having Wood Elf in SRD would still be helpful in other cases - especially with fey/animal-focused character options - but this is a solid workaround. I appreciate it!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
(Note, this comment is also up on the 2014 Elf page, but I wanted to repost it here on a forum to give it some extra chance of being seen. And yes, I do realize that plenty of people on Beyond have made customs with similar presence to what I'm talking about here, but my main concern is having the right to publish what I've came up with should I ever want to, and the hypocrisy inherent in the specific element of the SRD that I am discussing here.)
As a homebrew creator, this page bothers me when I look at the SRD. The Wood Elf would be so insanely useful to have. Unlike the High Elf, whose traits are extremely generic and so easy to replicate it would be impossible to copyright claim, the Wood Elf has actually unique traits in the form of Fleet of Foot and, more important towards my case, Mask of the Wild. Having this be in the SRD 5.1 would so much more beneficial. Both of these traits have a lot of uses that would be beneficial to have, and while the former is also pretty generic, all things considered; that isn't the case with the latter.
The case I'd like to make is my Snow Elf subrace for my homebrew setting. Overall, the two are pretty are pretty distinct. You have your generic ability score increase, your resistance to cold damage (as would be expected of a Snow Elf), there's a mobility-focused trait that feels very on-brand for a subspecies based on the essence of winter. But then to complete the set, we find the similarity. It's impossible to imagine making the Snow Elf without the Mask of the Wild trait. That sort of ability fits what they should be capable of extremely well. But I can't just tinker with the description and name while the premise remains the same as it would violate copyright law since the base trait isn't in the SRD. Sure, I don't intend on publishing it anytime in the near future, and yes, I realize that free use law is a thing. But let's say I do, as I have other winter-themed stuff that I would like to publish someday. My custom Snow Elf would not be able to be included because it would break copyright law with that one specific trait. And while it could be done separately, it wouldn't be able to be on the same level as my other things because I wouldn't be able to produce it in the same way.
Granted, I am new to the scene and have yet to start my publishing journey, so maybe there are loopholes I'm missing, but I'd rather stay clearly within the realm of legality.
And before you say, "but the Wood Elf is free even for people without subscriptions on D&D Beyond, so it should be in the SRD, too." It isn't. I've checked and double checked. You would effectively be restating my exact argument with the above question.
And just for reference... Ability Score Increase: Everything has this, it's nothing crazy. Elven Weapon Training: Like Dwarven Weapon training but elves, the exact same trait for Wood Elves as it is for High Elves, also any culture could train with weapons reasonably and the weapons themselves are SRD safe. Cantrip: This effectively just Innate Spellcasting but with options from the Wizard Cantrip list; Tiefling is SRD and has innate spells, and creatures being able to replicate the effects of spells by nature isn't too far-fetched, also most spells are SRD. Extra Language: You get an extra language; this can't even be disputed as infringement as it's so insanely generic. Whereas... Fleet Footed: makes you move slightly faster (which is admittedly rather generic and just has a fancy name, "So What?"). Mask of the Wild: Slightly more specific and effectively means you can try to hide anywhere under certain, easy to occur conditions (The problem is that it is specific enough to where remaking it with slight changes wouldn't have the same loopholes).
If you want to fact-check me, just go find SRD_CC_v5.1 and compare it with this page, you'll see what I mean.
Link to 2014 Elf Page: The Elf Species for Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) Fifth Edition (5e) - D&D Beyond
Link to SRD 5.1 Download on D&D Beyond: Systems Reference Document (SRD) - Resources - D&D Beyond
You have plenty of options:
1) publish in DMsGuild - DMsGuild allows you to publish using stuff that isn't covered under SRD and it gives you a bit more market exposure than randomly publishing it yourself at the cost of 50% of the profits going to WotC - you almost certainly won't make significant profit on your first published work regardless so that shouldn't be a big deal.
2) rework the trait so it is mechanically similar but distinct: e.g. Snowy Camouflage - you can hide when only lightly obscured by snow or other winter weather/terrain.
3) "publish" it for free - while technically violating copy-right if you aren't making any profit from it, then it almost certainly isn't worth WotC's time to prosecute / try to enforce their copyright and the negative PR from suing a random creator for copyright over 1-2 sentences would probably cost them more in the long term. This is unless your hypothetical future publication promotes hate or other messages that WotC doesn't want to be associated with.
I like that second option, actually. That makes a lot of sense and would be easy to implement. I might just try and roll with that. Thanks.
I still stand firm on the fact that having Wood Elf in SRD would still be helpful in other cases - especially with fey/animal-focused character options - but this is a solid workaround. I appreciate it!