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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 7684551" data-attributes="member: 463">I'm not sure why you couldn't use the words Advantage/Disadvantage, they are not claimed as Product Identity or Trade Marks by WoTC as far as I know.&nbsp;Paizo's 3e OGL products (eg Curse of the Crimson Throne, which I just finished running) did use references to WoTC books, of the kind &quot;MM pg 27&quot;. Note that they did not use 'Monster Manual', which is a registered trade mark of WoTC. &quot;See 5e MM pg 27&quot; ought to be fine, no copyright, TM or OGL breach there.You certainly can use words like Orcus and Tiamat, many 3pps do. I would recommend not using words made up by WoTC, even if they are not claimed by WotC as Product Identity. This is not itself a violation of the OGL, but regular copyright law applies - single words are never copyright protected (at least in UK, eg the Exxon case - I think USA is the same) so technically you would be ok, but if you use the word to represent a 'thing' WotC created/owns* (eg Lolth to represent the demon goddess created by Gygax) there is at least the possibility of copyright liability as a derivative work (US) or non-literal copying (UK), and the OGL won't necessarily protect you. You might get a C&amp;D, and most likely won't want to spend money defending it, so best not to do it.Likewise don't use &quot;Mordenkainen's Sword&quot; - you'll note that proper names like Mordenkainen are not in the SRD.*Technically in UK law you cannot 'own' - have copyright in - 'the concept of Lolth', only in the literary, artistic etc works in which she appears, but US law is more liberal and it's an easy shorthand.(I teach copyright law in the UK. I'm not a practicing lawyer, and am only generally familiar with the US law.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 7684551, member: 463"] I'm not sure why you couldn't use the words Advantage/Disadvantage, they are not claimed as Product Identity or Trade Marks by WoTC as far as I know. Paizo's 3e OGL products (eg Curse of the Crimson Throne, which I just finished running) did use references to WoTC books, of the kind "MM pg 27". Note that they did not use 'Monster Manual', which is a registered trade mark of WoTC. "See 5e MM pg 27" ought to be fine, no copyright, TM or OGL breach there. You certainly can use words like Orcus and Tiamat, many 3pps do. I would recommend not using words made up by WoTC, even if they are not claimed by WotC as Product Identity. This is not itself a violation of the OGL, but regular copyright law applies - single words are never copyright protected (at least in UK, eg the Exxon case - I think USA is the same) so technically you would be ok, but if you use the word to represent a 'thing' WotC created/owns* (eg Lolth to represent the demon goddess created by Gygax) there is at least the possibility of copyright liability as a derivative work (US) or non-literal copying (UK), and the OGL won't necessarily protect you. You might get a C&D, and most likely won't want to spend money defending it, so best not to do it. Likewise don't use "Mordenkainen's Sword" - you'll note that proper names like Mordenkainen are not in the SRD. *Technically in UK law you cannot 'own' - have copyright in - 'the concept of Lolth', only in the literary, artistic etc works in which she appears, but US law is more liberal and it's an easy shorthand. (I teach copyright law in the UK. I'm not a practicing lawyer, and am only generally familiar with the US law.) [/QUOTE]

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