Hi All, A while ago I made a "Life Drinker" model based on a diagram in the Dungeon Masters Guide. The original illustration is shown on the left with my model on the right. Now, after almost two weeks of bugging "Wizards of the Coast" - the company who published the book, they have finally responded that I may not make my illustration (?) available as it too closely resembles their illustration, and if I want to make it available I need to change it *sigh* Anyway, not wanting to just throw out all the work I put into it (especially the skulls and the texturing) - I would like suggestions on how to make the axe look different from the illustration, yet still retain it's "feel". I also obviously need a new name for it. Any comments or suggestions are very welcome.

It is super, love the engravings. Sharen

Hmmm...maybe if you made the skulls into dragon heads instead and made engrving look like flames and put a spike on the bottom of it instead of a rounded cap?

Well, not sure what they exactly want you to change..... maybe change the blade style or edges and the spike at the top ... change it to four spikes or more in a circle. The skulls seem to be the most common thing between the two. Maybe alter it enough to be different. I don't know anything about 3Ding objects so if my suggestions are out of context I apologize! And gee........ I was waiting for it too!!

Make it a single bladed axe and englarge the blade a bit accordingly. Change the detailing near the top of the handle. Add spikes around that section, perhaps. There is a "lifedrinker" in EverQuest.. not sure if such a generic name is really "protectable" BUT you could just call it the Souldrinker and be done with it. ;)

one other thing you could do is take the handle, texture it like the skull and at the bottom add the two skulls in a smaller version... LOL, don't pay any attention to me, I keep staring at it and coming up with different things.

Just a thought

Wow!! That's looks good!!

just one word , WOW ! excellent work i must say its a shame you cant go with the original. I like the mod'd one wicked blades and the bone spines are a really nice touch. excellect eye for detail the etching on the blade is nice. I would just recommend a new texture tor the leather grip and mute the leathers highlight so as to not liik like pleather. why not put a "magic jewl" at the handle base , something blood red perhaps. just a thought : ) happy rendering, jeff

A second thought.

Somewhere I believe that I have read that according to the law, you only have to change about 35% of a drawing or figure before you use it as your own. For example, if you take the Panama Jack figure and just reverse it, you can call it Jamica Jack and sell it. (I knew someone who did it and sold them as t-shirts. I had one of the first and only ones, as the guy ran out of money before he could market them. But he was free and clear as far as the law was concern. Check with a lawyer.

1. A simple percentage change isn't enough difference under the law. It shouldn't be recognized as the original. 2) The modified axe will do more damage to the wielder than the defender. The proper way to fight with an axe is to have one hand on the handle and the other higher on the haft and do a chopping motion. This allows you to parry with it, too. If you do a full swing like in the movies you go off balance AND leave yourself defenceless. Not good. (And making 4 blades will ruin any swing or chop, as well as being beastly heavy.) 3) The wrapped handle and knob end is common enough that no lawyer can fight it. The curved shape of the blades is also standard from Greece to Scandinavia (form follows function). The point at the top is common to pole arms as well as hand arms. The identifiers to THIS axe are the skulls and the engravings. Your engravings are different, and perhaps different enough... but I suggest making the blades black with inlaid silverwire (like the wonderful Mammon axe). Lawyers can't argue against something which is a thousand years old. (Well, they can, but...) That leaves us with the skulls. Can you find a model of a wolf or bear skull and morph yours to match something more animalistic? That way you still have the concept of something dead draining life from the living. Carolly

Attached Link: http://www.loc.gov/copyright/title17/92chap1.html#107

I am not offering legal advice, BUT: Check out his link. As I mentioned in a thread about a month ago, I was a copyright specialist at Kinko's, and things like this come up every day there. Most copyright infringement cases that get taken seriously revolve around proving (financial) damage to the copyright holder. Unless WOTC is selling 3d models of this thing, I don't see a case here. Were you going to sell the thing, give it away, or just use in in your own art? You don't have to change that much. Personally, I like the first blade shape and wouldn't change that part. It's way cool. I'd do like Daio suggested and do the dragon heads, or maybe make the top spike a trident or something. It's a real shame. You totally nailed that design. :| sigh

You're asking to make it different, but keep the things that make it the same. I can understand the frustration when hours of work are involved BUT My tuppence worth is forget it. Put it down to experience, try to use what you've learned in the process and do something of your own. You obviously can, so I would say; have a bit more faith in your own abilities, and don't think you need to copy someone elses design. One suggestion: how about flattening the skull sideways, and using it as the blade? regards peejay

You should probably lose the paired skulls, although I understand your reluctance, given how much work you've put into them. They're the single most identifiable part of the D&D illustration.

You can still keep a skeleton/skull motif, however. Perhaps a shaft of bone, rather than wood, with skeletal carvings along its length. Two to four skulls would make a great pommel (see illustration above). For a sinister touch, you could say that the hilt is wrapped in human sinew. Instead of paired skulls to bind the axeblades, use outstretched skeletal fingers or claws. Even the axeblades could be scapulae (shoulder blades), but it would be best to leave them as metal.

HI Just an idea but how about if you left it as it was and just credited its original with belonging to tsr/woc i.e something like based on an image by..... in ...... copyright woc? Would they take that and let you keep it as is? Dave

Hi all, Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions. TheWanderer: I did suggest what you said to WOC in the beginning, but they seemed a bit "dense". They didn't even understand what it was I wanted to sell(!) I have made a couple of changes, and the item is now in testing so it should be available soon... Here's a pic, you'll notice the change of name too.

That kicks ass. Great work

Really nice.. I like the changed one... but its a shame you can't use the original.. NICELY done... You could probably give that one away as a freebie with minor modifications.. but you couldn't sell it. Anz