Wizards publish SRD 5.2 under CC-BY-4.0 for creators

Wizards of the Coast has published the System Reference Document 5.2 under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, a move that permanently broadens what third-party creators can legally build on the Dungeons & Dragons ruleset. The CC-BY-4.0 license allows creators to use, adapt, and sell material based on the SRD so long as they provide the required attribution, and the permission cannot be revoked.

The new SRD 5.2 aligns to the 2024 core rules and increases the range of mechanical options available for publishers, streamers, toolmakers, and homebrew designers. Compared with earlier SRDs, it exposes more feats, spells, and magic items, and adds species rules for entries such as goliath and orc. It also includes a larger set of monsters consistent with the latest core rules. That expanded toolkit removes many of the roadblocks that once forced creators to reinvent mechanics or sanitize content.

The license does not make everything open for reuse. Trademarked material remains excluded, including brand-identity monsters and certain named character elements. Those exclusions mean designers must still avoid using protected names and iconography tied to Wizards of the Coast intellectual property. Review the SRD text closely to separate freely usable mechanics from trademarked flavor and names.

For practical use, download the SRD PDF and consult the creator resources and conversion guides hosted on D&D Beyond to migrate material from older SRD versions. Verify the attribution language in CC-BY-4.0 and include it in product pages, PDFs, and metadata to meet the license requirement. If you maintain or sell older modules, check conversion guides to port mechanics and stat blocks to SRD 5.2 form rather than recreating them from scratch.

The change matters beyond paperwork. A permanent, permissive license lowers legal friction and reduces duplication of effort across the hobby. Expect smaller presses and indie creators to iterate faster on adventures, subclasses, campaign tools, and virtual tabletop content that plug directly into the 5e ecosystem. Tool developers gain clearer paths to add character builders, encounter editors, and compendia without licensing uncertainty.

Download the SRD, read the license, and plan upgrades for ongoing products. With clear rules and a bigger mechanical palette, creators can focus on design and playtesting rather than legalese, and the community should see a steady flow of new third-party options that build on the 5.2 foundation.