Wicht
Hero
That list has several wrong on it.
Orcus, the Tarraque, otyugh, owlbears, drider and drow are all open.
When in doubt, just go to a reliable site like d20pfsrd and enter in the monster name to search. If it comes up, its open.
D&D 5E Non OGL monsters with serial #s filed off
- Thread starter Sacrosanct
- Start date
That list has several wrong on it.
Orcus, the Tarraque, otyugh, owlbears, drider and drow are all open.
When in doubt, just go to a reliable site like d20pfsrd and enter in the monster name to search. If it comes up, its open.
DLIMedia
David Flor, Darklight Interactive
Officially, the only "off limits" creatures that are considered WotC product identity are listed in the 4E GSL:
Balhannoth, Beholder, Carrion Crawler, Displacer Beast, Gauth, Githyanki, Githzerai, Kuo-Toa, Mind Flayer, Illithid, Slaad, Umber Hulk and Yuan-Ti
I would highly... HIGHLY... recommend that you avoid using any of these, even derivative forms with different names, in anything you intend to publish. You really don't want to go against WotC Legal... Trust me on that.
I would highly recommend not using any creatures with proper names (Orcus, Tiamat, etc.). Those fall in to copyright protection and not product identity.
Balhannoth, Beholder, Carrion Crawler, Displacer Beast, Gauth, Githyanki, Githzerai, Kuo-Toa, Mind Flayer, Illithid, Slaad, Umber Hulk and Yuan-Ti
I would highly... HIGHLY... recommend that you avoid using any of these, even derivative forms with different names, in anything you intend to publish. You really don't want to go against WotC Legal... Trust me on that.
I would highly recommend not using any creatures with proper names (Orcus, Tiamat, etc.). Those fall in to copyright protection and not product identity.
Wicht
Hero
No they don't.
You can't copyright (easily) a Roman god (Orcus) or Mesopatamian deity (Tiamat) which predates your product by a couple of thousand years.
Now, if you develop a trademark which incorporates either, that I would guess you can protect to a certain extent.
But the names themselves are pretty much in the public domain.
And Orcus was fully statted up in Tome of Horrors, so you're doubly good to go with him.
Tiamat has been mentioned in OGL product also, specifically in connection with the Orbs of Dragonkind, which are (always surprisingly to me) open-content.
DLIMedia
David Flor, Darklight Interactive
OK, I stand corrected then... thank you.
In any event, I wouldn't use them just as I wouldn't use an existing setting (no Forgotten Realms, Eberron, etc...). The legality of it becomes somewhat of a gray area, and WotC has it within their power to C&D you anyway. And, as someone who has actually received a C&D from them before (for Gamma World content), I'm a little more hesitant to do things that might upset them.
Wicht
Hero
If you are asking for yourself, my advice to you would be to buy as many OGL bestiaries as possible, and learn what is in them, so you can 1) borrow whatever you like, and 2) make sure you're not reinventing the wheel. When in doubt, check one of the srds, such as the aforementioned d20pfsrd.com and see what they have included.
If you are asking on behalf of publishers, most of them have freelancers, I imagine, who are already doing the above.
If you are asking as a thought exercise, carry-on, but the list of closed monsters is really much, much shorter than the list of open monsters. DLIMedia already gave the list of closed monsters. I'll repeat them and offer a few thoughts...
Beholder (and gauth) - As I mentioned once, there are variants of the beholder that are open, most notably the aquatic version, eye of the deep. But beholders are one of those monsters that can be easily done without if you have to.
Carrion Crawler I actually find this one the most annoying to be closed. Again, as mentioned before, the juvenile version and a moth version are both in Tome of Horrors.
Displacer Beast This is one of the more dubious closed monsters, as the displacer beast is a ripoff of the Coeurl. But check out the Pathfinder Kamadan.
Umber Hulk There's a weaker form of this in Nemoren's Vault. You can also use a gray render for a similar feel.
Githyanki & Githzerai These are easily replaced. Try a denizen of leng, or a tiefling.
Slaad (all types) Easily replaced with the Pathfinder protean.
Mind Flayer The intellect devourer and the aboleth are both open and can easily take the place, story-wise, of the illithid. Or use the eldritch spawn template from Book of Monster Templates. (If you do the latter, let me know, as I will be tickled).
Kuo-Toa Use Sahuagin, or deep ones
Yuan-ti (all types) The yaun-ti are a ripoff of serpent-folk. Serpent folk are open. Use the original instead of the imitation.
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Wicht
Hero
OK, I stand corrected then... thank you.
In any event, I wouldn't use them just as I wouldn't use an existing setting (no Forgotten Realms, Eberron, etc...). The legality of it becomes somewhat of a gray area, and WotC has it within their power to C&D you anyway. And, as someone who has actually received a C&D from them before (for Gamma World content), I'm a little more hesitant to do things that might upset them.
Most people who have been around the OGL for a bit, I would guess, don't associate Orcus with any WotC product so much as with Necromancer Games, who used him as their mascot. Most of the demon-lords you are on pretty safe ground using as far as names go. Several were stated up in Tome of Horrors, and Green Ronin did others in their Armies of the Abyss. There's lots and lots of precedent for their use, and any C&D from WotC in regards to using the name of a demon is not going to have a leg to stand on.
What you will want to do, though, is when you use them, try not to rip-off someone else's cosmology for your own published setting. Demon names are good to use. Actual backstory needs to either be generic, or setting specific, as backstory is not covered, in general, by the OGL.
delericho
Legend
It's worth noting that very early d20/OGL materials were published under a "gentleman's agreement" version of the license and SRD. Some of the monsters were included in that version but later not included in the real SRD. Those monsters aren't therefore open - the "gentleman's agreement" version was never official and so didn't actually open anything.
The "Tome of Horrors" got special dispensation to use some stuff. That said, I think everything in that book was opened - but check the declaration at the back of the book to be sure.
Wicht
Hero
delericho
Legend
I thought so, but didn't want to assume. Especially with legality is on the line.
And quite a gift to the OGL community too.
Yep.
Wicht
Hero
You are right about the gentleman's agreement (I was just updating a creature from the Creature Collection I and when I went to update my section 15 work-notes, I noticed the OGL in my copy was not fully proper), but just to be sure, I went back and checked Nemoren's Vault. It has a copy of the OGL v1 on page 28, and the Undrathar (ie. CR 6 umber hulk clone) is a part of Appendix I, the entirety of which is declared to be OGC. So its good to use.
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