Avoiding Mod's wrath

[Renen]

If I were to write a handbook, what are things I cannot mention in it?
Main one im concerned with is if I can paraphrase spells/powers.

[RunicLGB]

Paraphrasing is fine. Such as:

Invisibility: Makes you invisible giving you massive boosts to Hide. But dispelled if you attack something. Good duration makes this valuable for scouting, but the no attack thing makes it a poor combat spell. If you just want invisible combat fun, wait for greater.

Just don't directly copy and paste numbers and specifics from the books.

[Larkas]

AFAIK, citing small passages of a book falls under fair use of its content, and as such, as long as you don't copy the whole book in a thread, it should be okay. However, I also think it would be best to paraphrase instead of copying. Anyways, don't be afraid to ask a moderator directly. In my experience, they are very helpful and friendly. :smallsmile:

[Renen]

So I am not allowed to give durations?

[Larkas]

Of course you are. Again, fair use. Duration is more or less a standard thing, though, so if you want to paraphrase everything, you might define stuff before hand (i.e.: very brief = 1 round, brief = 1 rd/level, short = 1 min, medium = 1 min/level, etc.) and just evoke that when explaining the spell. It isn't what I'd do, however.

[Renen]

So as long as its not word for word, im fine?

[RFLS]

Out of curiosity, what handbook?

[danzibr]

Out of curiosity, what handbook?
Yes... I'm curious.

I've considered making a mini-handbook or two.

[Renen]

I wanna make a list (kind of) of different Psionic powers.
Looking in different handbooks, they are always missing one source book or the other.
Would also try to color code them, to know which are good, and which suck

[Renen]

I would actually appreciate anyone's help with my project, as I don't trust myself to be a good judge of what is good and what's crap.

Like:Mortal why do people say mind affecting spells are bad? Cuz most everything has good will save?

[Gazzien]

I would actually appreciate anyone's help with my project, as I don't trust myself to be a good judge of what is good and what's crap.

Like:Mortal why do people say mind affecting spells are bad? Cuz most everything has good will save?

It's usually because (after a point), everything has Mind Blank (or some other means of immunity, such as Undead, Construct, Plant, or Vermin... or Mindless).

Or that seems to be the opinion. I can't speak to its truth.

[rot42]

(not a mod or a lawyer) If someone could use your handbook to play the game without buying the actual products we all know and love, that is definitely over the line. If someone who already has access to the relevant sources is simply reminded of what the powers do, you are probably fine. The Fair Use Doctrine is much more limited than is claimed by many people on The Internet. If you spend a page or two reviewing a book and include a short passage for illustrative purposes, Fair Use probably applies. If a reasonable person examining the work would think that the whole point is to reproduce the copyrighted sections, you should probably rework. Read the OGL before reproducing a bunch of SRD content. RunicLGB's Invisibility example looks good to me.