What is MISSING from the SRD?

[hamishspence]

orcus

I thought it was actually Latin version of Hades, so a plane, not a creature, in first version.

The guy with the skull wand: they can copyright that I think, unless there is something that says otherwise.

Did Mongoose do a version, Necromancer, or both? And did they have to licence it, if they were doing a souped up version of the Vile Darkness Orcus?

 

[CleverNickName]

How many games will need to use Orcus, anyway? That sounds like a very specific "boss" monster, who would exist in the game for a very specific purpose. Would anybody really notice if it was the official SRD/WotC version of Orcus, or a homebrewed monster with the same name?

 

[hamishspence]

the name

I don't think they can copyright the name, but i think they can the interpretation.

So, if a book has a skull wand wielding, goat headed, ram horned winged demon ruling the icy plane of Thanatos, the fact that its power set is very different from 4th ed orcus won't matter.

But if something that looks different, with a different backstory, is called orcus, I don't think there will be much grounds to complain.

It would be different were it to be something truly made up for D&D: Yeenoghu, Zugetemoy, etc.

 

[SSquirrel]

Clark would just talk to WotC about a special permission to use the 4E Orcus if he really felt it was needed for a product

 

[Klaus]

The absent monsters are:

Aberration, Tarrasque
Beholder
Cambion
Demon, Balor to Vrock
Devil, Bearded Devil to War Devil
Displacer Beast
Dracolich
Dragonspawn
Drider
Drow
Flameskull
Githyanki
Githzerai
Hook Horror
Kruthik
Kuo-Toa
Mind Flayer
Orcus
Otyugh
Owlbear
Sahuagin
Shadar-Kai
Shifter
Slaad
Spider, Demonweb Terror
Umber Hulk
Warforged
Yuan-Ti