Rules baseline
SRD 5.1
Use this baseline when a release is designed around the earlier fifth-edition rules and actually incorporates material licensed from SRD 5.1.
Rules & publishing reference
Unknown Shores and the D&D System Reference Documents
Unknown Shores is an original setting. Some adventures, game material, and development notes use or reference fifth-edition Dungeons & Dragons rules. This page explains the boundary between openly licensed SRD material and ordinary references to official books.
The short version
Use the SRD for reusable rules content.
Wizards of the Coast publishes System Reference Documents for third-party creators. The current D&D Beyond SRD page provides SRD 5.1 for the 2014-era fifth-edition rules and SRD 5.2.1 for the updated 2024-era rules. Both are available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
Rules baseline
SRD 5.2.1
Use this baseline when a release is designed around the updated rules represented by SRD 5.2.1 and actually incorporates material from that document.
Not the same thing
Official rulebooks
A citation or table reference to an official D&D book does not make the full book open content. Non-SRD material must be handled under the rights that actually apply to it.
Unknown Shores release rule
Every release should identify what it is built against.
- state the rules baseline when mechanics materially depend on one;
- identify the exact SRD version when licensed SRD material is incorporated;
- include the attribution required by that SRD in the actual release;
- keep original Unknown Shores setting identity separate from licensed rules material;
- treat references to non-SRD books as references, not blanket permission to reproduce them;
- record the licensing and attribution evidence in the Studio release and rights systems.
Primary sources
Read the current documents before publishing.
Important boundary
This page is a project reference, not legal advice.
A product-specific attribution or licensing notice must be based on the exact material actually used in that product. This general page does not replace release-level rights review.