While I absolutely agree with Faustus that the necessary "game-mechanical" 
content is Open to make the creature technically useful, it comes back to my 
having to rename the creature to use it in my own works.  I would prefer to 
use the accepted name - so people can know just where it came from.  This is 
why I dislike removing the names of the monsters from the pool of OGC.  I 
understand pulling a few limited names for PI purposes - as a previous 
poster pointed out, the Mithril Golem really should be PI, but the Wood 
Golem probably shouldn't.

I again point out that if you make it neither PI nor OGC, it is plain old 
vanilla Normal Copyrighted Material.  If you really don't want to open it 
up, leave it as Normal Copyrighted Material instead of PI unless it is 
somehow truly integral to your campaign setting (Mithril Golem is, Wood 
Golem isn't).  Either way, nobody else can touch it without your permission, 
and it makes the designation of PI actually mean something.

This is perhaps a matter of my own personal taste, but in my mind, 
designating all copyrighted material as PI is pretty much the same as 
posting a message to a message board in all caps.  When you selectively use 
caps in a message, you get emphasis.  But, WHEN ALL YOU DO IS USE CAPS, THE 
EFFECT OF EMPHASIS IS QUICKLY LOST AND REPLACED BY ANNOYANCE ON THE PART OF 
THE READER (I will stop now because I think the point is made).  In the same 
way, when you save the PI designation for the truly important and unique 
parts, it calls attention to them in a positve fashion.  When you call ALL 
of your Normal Copyrighted Material "PI," it loses the effect of calling 
extra attention to it and ALSO annoys, hence calling attention to your 
material in a negative fashion.

--The Sigil

P.S. - Please read through all 6 of my posts before replying.  Thanks.

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