Wizards of the Coast releases SRD version 5.2 for Dungeons and Dragons

This week, Wizards of the Coast updated the System Reference Document (SRD) for Dungeons and Dragons to version 5.2, making the game’s 2024 rules available in an open source format. The document includes the basic 2024 ruleset but also includes an expanded amount of content from the previous 5.1 version, which included the rules from the original 2014 edition of D&D 5e.

The SRD isn’t intended to be a replacement for buying D&D books — though you could certainly use them as such — rather, the SRD is significant because it provides third-parties with the framework for creating original Dungeons and Dragons-compatible content that they can build out and publish without needing to pay a licensing fee to Wizards, provided the creator follows certain acknowledgement and referencing guidelines in their content. And while Wizards of the Coast previously promised that the 2024 rules would be released, it’s good to see them follow through.

Here’s what you need to know about the SRD 5.2, and what it might mean for the future of D&D content.

Version 5.2 is only licensed under Creative Commons, not the OGL

The previous SRD, 5.1, has a version published under the Open Game License but after the incredibly unpopular response to Hasbro’s planned changes to the OGL, the company later released a Creative Commons version of 5.1 with the promise of future publications going through Creative Commons. The company followed through and published SRD 5.2 under Creative Commons (CC-BY-04) but the most important takeaway is that 5.2 is only licensed under Creative Commons (CC-BY-04) and does not include the OGL at all. Future updates to the SRD will continue to be published under the CC license.

It’s important to remember that any publication under the Creative Commons license is permanently available and cannot be revoked, altered, or removed from Creative Commons, which now includes SRD 5.2. This shift from the publishing under the Wizards of the Coast-controlled OGL to strictly Creative Commons feels like Hasbro may be abandoning the OGL entirely. The CC license guarantees the community’s creative freedom for Dungeons and Dragons 5e, in both 2014 and 2024 variants.

Version 5.2 updates the rules and includes more useable content than 5.1

Where SRD 5.1 included the 2014 Dungeons and Dragons core rules, SRD 5.2 is consistent with the 2024 Dungeons and Dragons core rules and features changes, such as the updates some of the wording and mechanic changes in the character creation and class information sections. There are notable additions to version 5.2 that offer a wider range of player customization options than what was previously available in 5.1, including:

• Additional Character Origins (3 Backgrounds, 2 Species)
• 16 Feats
• Weapon Masteries, certain firearms, Scribing Spell Scrolls
• 20 Spells
• 15 Magic Items
• 17 Monsters including stat block conversions from the 2014 version to the 2025 version

Some of these additions avoid using protected trademarks (for example, the Deck of Many Things) and have been renamed though they function the same as their branded counterpart. French, Italian, German, and Spanish localizations of SRD 5.2 are planned for release later in 2025.

Dungeons and Dragons has gone through tumultuous, self-inflicted challenges in the recent years and while it’s too soon to say the game is back on track — the recent departure of Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins raises a lot of questions as to who will be shepherding the game into its next decade — this move feels like a step in the right direction.