What Dungeons & Dragons content has been released under a CC license?
Wizards of the Coast recently announced via D&D Beyond that they are releasing the "SRD 5.1" under a Creative Commons license. Within the announcement itself, they linked to a 403-page PDF that apparently contains that SRD version 5.1, under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Without having to look through several hundred pages of the PDF, what exactly is now under the Creative Commons license? Can I now use...
- the names and descriptions of 5e spells?
- names of characters such as Strahd von Zarovtch or Bruenor Battlehammer?
- names of places such as Barovia or Toril?
- an RPG class called "sorcerer" that has a feature called "metamagic" that allows the player to fiddle with the rules of magic?
What does the "SRD 5.1" contain, and what is now available under the CC BY 4.0 license?
1 answer
Simply put, the answer is the 403 page PDF.
All of it.
In order to list everything you can use under that document I would have to list the entire document.
So here is a link to that document: SRD5.1-CCBY4.0_License_live links.pdf
If you want to know if a specific thing is included in the document without reading the entire thing, I recommend using a search function for the specific thing you're interested in. Usually Ctrl+F or Cmd+F in a pdf reader or browser will help you accomplish that.
In answer to your numerous distinct bulleted questions;
- the name and descriptions of 5e spells?
You can use some, but not all name and descriptions of 5e spells. Some of the spells in the SRD have had their named edited or truncated to remove references to WotC IP. The spell lists and descriptions you can use start on page 105 of the PDF and go through to page 194. I'm not listing them out for you.
- names of characters such as Strahd von Zarovitch or Bruenor Battlehammer?
Again, Ctrl+F is your friend here. You can find the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich referenced on page 30. Bruenor Battlehammer is not referenced in the document.
However the names of aboleths, beholders, mind flayers, and slaadi are mentioned as quintessential aberrations.
Other names of interest may include: the wizard Umara, the gods Arawai, Boldrei, Chauntea, Ilmater, Ioun, Lathander, Mishakal, Moradin and Pelor, and monsters including the ankheg, balor, behir, bulette, chuul, cloaker, darkmantle, dretch, drider, ettercap, gibbering mouther, glabrezu, grick, grimlock, hezrou, magmin, marilith, myconid, nalfeshnee, otyugh, owlbear, quasit, rust monster, shambling mound, stirge, svirfneblin, tarrasque, treant, umber hulk, vrock, xorn, yuan-ti, and yugoloths; many of which include stat blocks.
- names of places such as Barovia or Toril?
Neither Barovia nor Toril are mentioned specifically. However, locations mentioned include ones called the Inner Planes, including the Material Plane; the Shadowfell; the Feywild, also called the Plane of Faerie; the Elemental Planes, specifically the Planes of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water, and the churning Elemental Chaos; the Transitive Planes, including the Astral Plane, and the Ethereal Plane, as well as the Border Ethereal and the Deep Ethereal; and the Outer Planes, particularly the outer planes of Arborea, the Beastlands and Mechanus are mentioned, as wells as the subsets of the Upper Planes, the Lower Planes (including the Nine Hells).
- an RPG class called "sorcerer" that has a feature called "metamagic" that allows the player to fiddle with the rules of magic?
Yes.
Be aware you must comply with the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license when using the licensed material. If you have any question about the legality of using a particular piece of intellectual property you should, as always, consult a legal professional instead of random strangers on the internet.
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