Dungeons & Dragonswill release its System Reference Document (SRD) for its revised 5th edition ruleset next week, providing third-party creators with the frameworks for building out their ownD&D-compatible content. For over 20 years, third-party creators have used the SRD as a framework for what official Dungeons & Dragons content can and can’t be used within their own material.D&Dpromised that the game’s new ruleset found in themost recent Core Rulebookswould have its own SRD, and now we know when it will be released.
Thenew SRD will officially be released on April 22, per an announcement onD&D Beyond. The new SRD will be released under a Creative Commons license, meaning that anyone can use the rules provided to make their own compatible material.This new SRD sets up third-party creators for making new subclasses, spells, and other player-facing content,as well as content like adventures and monsters for DMs. As part of the SRD release, a new Basic Rules set will also be released, containing free rules that can be used by anyone.
The Importance Of The SRD Explained
SRD Allows The Use of Some D&D Rules In Third-Party Material
The SRD has long provided third-party creators with a set of rules that they can freely use and reference in their ownD&D-compatible material. The original SRD, released under the Open Gaming License, led to the creation of countless “D20” systems that were functionally versions ofDungeons & Dragons3.5 Edition.A new SRD was released for the Fifth Edition and helped to grow the popularity of that version ofD&Dand allow creators to make their own compatible material that they could sell without paying any kind of fee.
In 2023, the SRD became caught up in a major controversy when Wizards of the Coast attempted torevoke the Open Gaming Licenseand replace it with a more restrictive agreement. Wizards claimed this was being done to protect the game from bad actors and large companies profiting off the game. However, after mass reprisals from members of the community,Wizards agreed to release the SRD 5.1 under a Creative Commons license,ensuring that the SRD could be used by creators in perpetuity. The new SRD is also being released under the same license.
Our Take: Excited To See The D&D Community Tackle The New Ruleset
Prepare To See Tons Of Material Compatible With The New Version Of D&D
Given the changes made to character creation rules, I’m excited to see the new SRD in the hands of third-party content creators. Not only will we see popular third-party classes and subclasses get conversions for the new rules,we’ll likely see an explosion of new backgrounds, feats, and species as well.I’m also interested to see what systems are included inDungeons & Dragons' new SRD. It appears that weapon mastery will appear in the new SRD, but the bastion system will not. What new subsystems appear inD&D’s SRD will determine what gets supported by the community as a whole.
