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Message: <blockquote data-quote="epithet" data-source="post: 7267736" data-attributes="member: 6796566">You may very well be correct in your suspicion, although the sales numbers for 5e suggest that a whole lot of people have bought (and continue to buy) the books. I don't think the OrcPub site comes anywhere near serving as a replacement for a PHB, though, so I'm not certain how much that would sway my opinion. If someone who doesn't own a PHB makes a character using an online tool like that (one which doesn't give you the rest of the PHB content) then to play you'll need either the basic rules pdf and maybe the SRD or Unearthed Arcana pdfs, or (and I'm not trying to say this is ok) a pirate scan. The thing is, that person playing without a (legitimate) PHB has made that choice already, and their access to a free character generator tool (whether licensed, piratical, or in some in-between grey area of maybe-fair use) probably isn't going to change their mind. Actually playing D&D, though, might.I think as a community, the RPG crowd is pretty fair minded. Since playing the game is a social activity, I think there will be a fair amount of peer pressure on a player to go ahead and pick up the book and stop being a freeloader. For that matter, if someone in your group can't afford the PHB and is trying to make do with the basic pdf, there's a decent chance you or someone else in your group will buy one for him or her, right? I mean, you're probably already feeding him/her on game night. My point is that stuff like a free and complete character creation tool will ultimately grow the paying customer base - that's why I think it would be a good business decision. Disregarding the demand for that tool and simply deploying a flock of my colleagues to shut down the ones the crop up... that's going to have the opposite effect, in my opinion.On my shelf, I have a little statue that a friend gave me when I graduated from law school. It has a little slogan on the base: "For friends, everything. For strangers, nothing. For enemies, the law." It's a silly thing, but it makes a point... if you hire me to go after someone who isn't your enemy, they probably will be once the courts and I are done with them. I really think WotC should keep in mind that the people who make and use these online tools are, when it comes down to it, D&D fans and (I believe) customers, future and repeat customers, and potential customers. There is no doubt that they've got to protect their IP, and no doubt that they should come down vigorously upon anyone who tries to make money off their IP without licensing it. I think they should also be paying attention for opportunities to improve the services they offer to promote product sales, is all I'm sayin'.</blockquote>

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