What monsters couldn't be updated to Pathfinder for copyright reasons, from MMI?

[atemu1234]

That I know of, there's the Kuo-Toa, Mind Flayers, and Yuan-Ti. Are there any others?

[Malimar]

From the d20srd FAQ page (http://www.d20srd.org/faq.htm):

The following monsters are considered "Product Identity" by Wizards of the Coast and are therefore not part of the SRD:


beholder
gauth
carrion crawler
displacer beast
githyanki
githzerai
kuo-toa
mind flayer
slaad
umber hulk
yuan-ti

[Psyren]

There's a couple of others that weren't too, like the Ravid. That one may not have been for PI reasons though.

[Khedrac]

It is also worth noting that TSR (yes I am talking AD&D times here) always used to put a TM symbol next to the Hook Horror and the Dragonne, so I think they didn't even own the trademark (and presumably WotC/Hasbro don't either). That would make these two differently difficult to update to Pathfinder...

[molten_dragon]

From the d20srd FAQ page (http://www.d20srd.org/faq.htm):

Some of the monsters that are Product Identity are kind of weird. Beholders, the Giths, Mind flayers I get all of those. But I don't exactly think of snake people, umber hulks, or gauths as iconic D&D monsters. In fact I'm not even sure what a gauth is.

[Darth Ultron]

Some of the monsters that are Product Identity are kind of weird. Beholders, the Giths, Mind flayers I get all of those. But I don't exactly think of snake people, umber hulks, or gauths as iconic D&D monsters. In fact I'm not even sure what a gauth is.

It's not that they are ''iconic'', it's that they are ''owned''.

I'm sure it has something to do with the monsters listed are really, really old ones from the game. Chances are, someone other then Wizards owns, at least part, of them monsters.

Legalese can get confusing, but I'm sure back in the good old days, some folks were allowed to ''keep'' ownership of the things they created....before people really cared about such things. Not like the more modern ''we own everything you do'' from most modern companies.

[Starbuck_II]

Some of the monsters that are Product Identity are kind of weird. Beholders, the Giths, Mind flayers I get all of those. But I don't exactly think of snake people, umber hulks, or gauths as iconic D&D monsters. In fact I'm not even sure what a gauth is.

A Gauth is a variant Beholder with different spells.

I'm sad Carrion Crawler is trademarked because I love the little guys.

[Afgncaap5]

Some of the monsters that are Product Identity are kind of weird. Beholders, the Giths, Mind flayers I get all of those. But I don't exactly think of snake people, umber hulks, or gauths as iconic D&D monsters. In fact I'm not even sure what a gauth is.

I don't think "snake people" are property of WotC so much as I think that the particular snake people known as the Yuan-Ti are. Basically, if you just want generic snakemen, that's totally doable in another book. But if you try to make snakemen who have all of the curious traits and quirks that Yuan-Ti society is said to have, then you might start to get into issues. I won't pretend to understand everything there is to Yuan-Ti, but between their halfbloods, purebloods, horrors, and such, well... there's a lot of culture going on there.

[Psyren]

Pathfinder in fact has two official races of "snake people" - Vishkanya (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/uncommon-races/arg-vishkanyas/) and Nagaji. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/uncommon-races/arg-nagaji/)

[Florian]

Pathfinder in fact has two official races of "snake people" - Vishkanya (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/uncommon-races/arg-vishkanyas/) and Nagaji. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/uncommon-races/arg-nagaji/)

And Yuan-Ti, aka "Serpentfolk": http://www.archivesofnethys.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Serpentfolk

[Afgncaap5]

And Yuan-Ti, aka "Serpentfolk": http://www.archivesofnethys.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Serpentfolk

What makes those Serpentfolk the same as Yuan-Ti, out of curiosity? Apart from also having spell like abilities and being snake-people, I don't see much to them that makes them the same as Yuan-Ti. (Honestly, as a DM I think I'd prefer the culture I'm seeing here to the Yuan-Ti as the Serpentfolk seem to have a reason for hating humanity while the Yuan-Ti have a more generic "Our demon god wishes to bring about the world's destruction!" thing.)

[Beheld]

You could easily make your own of those monsters and just use the original source names of the creatures that WotC/TSR/Gygax stole from in conceiving them.

IE: Mindflayer -> Starspawn
Kuo-toa -> Deep Ones
Displacer Beast -> Coeurl
Yuan-Ti -> Snake People
Gith -> Gith, literally invented by George R. R. Martin and just copied by D&D.
Slaad -> Chaos Frogs (Lovecraftian origin, Warhammer has Slaan that are also Chaos Frogs)