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<blockquote data-quote="wingsandsword" data-source="post: 8913308" data-attributes="member: 14159"><p>I'm sure that with enough research, the vast majority of D&D races, classes, and creatures can be shown to be derived from literature, folklore, mythology, and elements of popular culture that aren't Hasbro IP.</p><p></p><p>Even for things that WotC considers their own IP, there's probably ways to make them legally distinct while being similar enough for most gaming purposes. Illithid are something WotC has always counted as "product identity" and their own creation, but a vaguely aquatic humanoid with a squid-like face and telepathic powers that seems like something out of a Lovecraftian story isn't a concept they own, the basic concept appears in a number of other works under different names. I remember when HeroForge had to remove it's squid-head option for designing miniatures because of a legal complaint from WotC. . .it wasn't that it was just a squid-headed miniature design option, it was that it specifically had four tentacles in a diamond-shaped ring around a central mouth, had large raised bulbs on the side of the head, and had a number of other design similarities to how illithid had been depicted by WotC consistently since the late 1990's that made WotC take legal action.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="wingsandsword, post: 8913308, member: 14159"] I'm sure that with enough research, the vast majority of D&D races, classes, and creatures can be shown to be derived from literature, folklore, mythology, and elements of popular culture that aren't Hasbro IP. Even for things that WotC considers their own IP, there's probably ways to make them legally distinct while being similar enough for most gaming purposes. Illithid are something WotC has always counted as "product identity" and their own creation, but a vaguely aquatic humanoid with a squid-like face and telepathic powers that seems like something out of a Lovecraftian story isn't a concept they own, the basic concept appears in a number of other works under different names. I remember when HeroForge had to remove it's squid-head option for designing miniatures because of a legal complaint from WotC. . .it wasn't that it was just a squid-headed miniature design option, it was that it specifically had four tentacles in a diamond-shaped ring around a central mouth, had large raised bulbs on the side of the head, and had a number of other design similarities to how illithid had been depicted by WotC consistently since the late 1990's that made WotC take legal action. [/QUOTE]
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