Dungeons & Dragons SRD 5.2 Is Officially Live

The new System Reference Document (SRD) for Dungeons & Dragons' revised 5th Edition is officially live. The new SRD was officially released and is available for download on D&D Beyond. A FAQ detailing changes from the previous SRD was also released.

The SRD provides a version of D&D's rules that can be used and referenced in third-party material and form a framework for publishing material compatible for D&D's latest edition. The newest version of the SRD contains a mix of species, backgrounds, subclasses, and feats from the 2024 Player's Handbook, along with statblocks from the 2025 Monster Manual.

One other interesting note is that the new SRD purges references to creatures and characters classified as D&D IP. The previous SRD released under a Creative Commons license contained reference to Strahd and Orcus, both of which were removed in the new SRD. Additionally, the SRD renames the Deck of Many Things as "Mysterious Deck" and the Orb of Dragonkind as "Dragon Orb" to allow for both to be used in third-party material while not infringing upon D&D IP.

 

[Remathilis]

OMG! LOL.

Smh.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

I keep seeing posts and video thumbnails implying as if there is a controversy with the SRD, anyone knows what it may about?

 

[Sacrosanct]

Dang it, I was typing too fast and meant to put SRD instead of OGL. Too many acronyms.

Don't join the military.

"Get your E4 butt to KP PDQ or AR15 ASAP.

 

[Thommy H-H]

I keep seeing posts and video thumbnails implying as if there is a controversy with the SRD, anyone knows what it may about?

Yes: the online content-creation economy is driven solely by traffic because YouTubers and the like are paid based on the number of views they get, and clickthroughs to their sponsors. They are therefore incentivised to create the impression of controversy (on which they, naturally, have the most interesting Hot Takes™) even if little or no actual controversy exists, because videos where people just tell you everything is fine aren't interesting. The content mill is fueled by outrage, and we live in an increasingly polarised society as a result.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I guess anything is possible, but I have my doubts WotC determined that the Bastion rules were the secret sauce driving DMG sales

They are not the only thing exclusive to the DMG. But you want several exclusives not just one.

 

[Morrus]

Now that I have seen the question of trademarked/copyrighted IP mentioned here quite a few times, I have a question :
What if I chose to use the 5.2 SRD to create new IP, would that make it my IP, or WotC's IP ?
For example, if I chose to use the 5.2 SRD to publish new material, but included an entirely new god called quote/unquote 'EntirelyNewGod', would that make it my IP, or WotC's ?

Creative Commons is not the "make it WotC's property" license. Never fear! Your content is safe.

 

[Reynard]

Smh.

IYKYK

 

[overgeeked]

SRDs are not for divulging your corporate intellectual property into the public either. I'm not a Hasbro bootlicker or anything but you can't expect WotC to just release their flagship product entirely for free. I think WotC is fully aware that playing with the SRD 5.2 is not the same as buying their 120$ set of books and it is intentional. The SRD 5.2 exists so you can build your own content and games around it, not to give the game to the community.

Exactly. The CC SRDs exist to make WotC money same as the OGL SRDs before them. The more widely the systems are used the more people are pointed back to WotC products. This is literally why the OGL was created. It was never an act of largess, it was always commercial. D&D has been so dominant since 3E because of this. That was literally the plan.

 

[SkidAce]

This is literally why the OGL was created. It was never an act of largess, it was always commercial. D&D has been so dominant since 3E because of this. That was literally the plan.

I think Ryan Dancy may disagree.

 

[Chaltab]

I think Ryan Dancy may disagree.

It was Dancey's idea