| Omegon |
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Omegon wrote:Omegon wrote:So I get that *drow* cant be used anymore, but why not reimagine them?
Call them Dark Elves etc. or make them a society of Nephilim Elves that worship demons. Change their look a bit if you must.
there are many ways to update drow to fit the move away from the OGL and D&D legacy without replacing them with lizards.
Sibelius Eos Owm wrote:The thing with American copyright law is that I'm pretty sure just changing the name and keeping all the details the same, or changing one or two superficial details doesn't grant immunity to copyright claims. Furthermore, it ultimately doesn't matter if WotC would never win the case, if they chose to make themself a problem, Hasbro has more than enough legal team to make it extremely painful for Paizo to toe too close to the line.Okay but this thread is full of examples of things they are just gonna change slightly. Deep Gnomes, Duergar, Neolithids, intellect devourers etc. Why are drow different?While I can't be certain, I can think of two reasons.
A) I don't think all those are just name changes. Looking at comments in other threads, Reddit, and Discord, it sounds like neolithids are also getting axed entirely and replaced with psychic cave worms - seems to have entirely different lore. Intellect devourers are apparently becoming octopus brains, which is rad as hell. Duergar and deep gnomes both have deeper roots in folklore/mythology and are getting their societies revamped.
B) Drizzt.
Not only is the expression of drow in Pathfinder rooted in D&D-isms, drow are also one of THE iconic features of Forgotten Realms and Drizzt is THE iconic protagonist for D&D. That likely means that WotC is going to be much more litigious about them and that they are much more likely to win in court. That's not a winning proposition for Paizo.
I'm not suggesting they keep drow as is and just change the name.
But, like the concept of Elves or elf looking creatures that live deep underground and worship demons is not exactly something WoTC can sue Paizo over. That's what they should keep.