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<blockquote data-quote="weldon" data-source="post: 7660135" data-attributes="member: 18817">Those generators had all kinds of references to WotC trademarks. PHB, DMG, book names, monster and character names. They were a mess in terms of compliance. They also had all of the options available from all of the books. Something that you couldn't do just by using the SRD.I still think it's hard to imagine a character tool that isn't licensed. If you go out on your own without a license, you have a range of choices.On one extreme, you could make a tool that has the same number of attributes and number ranges but uses different names for everything. That would appear safe from copyright infringement, but would be difficult to use.On the other extreme, you lift everything straight from the PHB and DMG, including descriptions. You've clearly violated copyright here.In between (which is what I think MoonSong is trying to explore), you can make a tool that uses all the same mechanics (# of attributes, ranges of values, etc.) but uses all the exact same terms without the descriptions. I think this is going to be murky water in court. You've not lifted passages of text, but you have copied all the same terms and presented them as options in the same order that the PHB presents character options. In my mind, if the tool says that the &quot;rogue class&quot; can take &quot;thief, arcane trickster, or assassin&quot; at &quot;3rd level&quot; you are walking that line pretty close. I realize others may see it differently, but this combination of terms, presentation order, limited choices, etc. all lean towards recognizing that the tool is derivative of the PHB, even if it doesn't copy passages of text directly.Another approach would be to wait for the OGL/SRD for 5e. The OGL/SRD is helpful, but we'd just end up in the situation we had with 3.5SRD where not all of the player options were made open content.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="weldon, post: 7660135, member: 18817"] Those generators had all kinds of references to WotC trademarks. PHB, DMG, book names, monster and character names. They were a mess in terms of compliance. They also had all of the options available from all of the books. Something that you couldn't do just by using the SRD. I still think it's hard to imagine a character tool that isn't licensed. If you go out on your own without a license, you have a range of choices. On one extreme, you could make a tool that has the same number of attributes and number ranges but uses different names for everything. That would appear safe from copyright infringement, but would be difficult to use. On the other extreme, you lift everything straight from the PHB and DMG, including descriptions. You've clearly violated copyright here. In between (which is what I think MoonSong is trying to explore), you can make a tool that uses all the same mechanics (# of attributes, ranges of values, etc.) but uses all the exact same terms without the descriptions. I think this is going to be murky water in court. You've not lifted passages of text, but you have copied all the same terms and presented them as options in the same order that the PHB presents character options. In my mind, if the tool says that the "rogue class" can take "thief, arcane trickster, or assassin" at "3rd level" you are walking that line pretty close. I realize others may see it differently, but this combination of terms, presentation order, limited choices, etc. all lean towards recognizing that the tool is derivative of the PHB, even if it doesn't copy passages of text directly. Another approach would be to wait for the OGL/SRD for 5e. The OGL/SRD is helpful, but we'd just end up in the situation we had with 3.5SRD where not all of the player options were made open content. [/QUOTE]

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