Since WotC no longer has a forum I dunno where else to post this.
Recently there was a collaboration between Goodman Games and WotC
http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3977-WotC-Goodman-Games-Partner-To -Reprint-Classic-Modules-for-5E
That got me thinking, we are already in 2017, 4e is no longer the latest D&D edition, the pathfinder vs 4e war is part of history. So I was thinking if Paizo could ask permission out of WotC to print a book with conversions of classes, monsters and whatnot that were not part of the 3rd edition OGL and could never be officially converted to Pathfinder. It could be called "The Lost Handbook".
I suppose profits could be distributed evenly or be donated to some worthy cause. In the end players and DMs would benefit from all that cool material that was out of reach for pathfinder campaigns.
Of course, if atm Paizo and WotC are still fierce opponents and not frenemies, maybe a 3pp could negotiate such a deal.
Not going to happen.
WotC allowing a 3rd-party to update classic material to <system they sell> is different from WotC allowing a 3rd-party to update classic material to <system that competes with the one they sell>.
Regardless of it WotC's D&D is 4th edition, 5th edition, or 17th edition, Pathfinder is a competitor. They're not going to green-light something that supports a competitor, even if they might get some licensing profit.
It'd be like Pepsi asking Coke in 1985 for the formula to Coke Classic so they could bottle it while Coke made New Coke.
The only way that "Lost Handbook" could become a reality would be if WotC fouls up so badly that Hasbro is willing to sell them to Paizo for a really cheap price.
So I was thinking if Paizo could ask permission out of WotC to print a book with conversions of classes, monsters and whatnot that were not part of the 3rd edition OGL and could never be officially converted to Pathfinder.
The closest thing to this that I'm aware of is Tome of Horrors, where Necromancer Games got Wizards' permission to convert a lot of monsters that had not yet been officially updated to 3E. But that book supported the then-current edition of D&D, and was pretty much a one-time deal (though once those creatures were covered by the OGL, they could later be updated to v.3.5 and even converted to PF, which they were).
Paizo has a long-standing policy of not treading on Wizards' "closed content"/IP, to the point of avoiding anything that even smacks of "X in all but name," which is why there are no PF monsters that could remotely be mistaken for beholders, mind flayers, or slaadi. I don't see them changing that policy anytime soon, even if Wizards would go consider it. After all, Paizo has its own distinctive brand to protect now.