Paizo was (and remains) extremely supportive of Open Gaming and are kind of an outlier in that regard.
I meant everyone
else who made a Pathfinder product.
we seem to have a different understanding of what the point of making something Product Identity is. To me it simply means others cannot use it as Open Game Content and if they want to use an Orc Overlord, then they will have to come up with their own stats rather than copying mine.
The stats aren't yours, though. They're existing OGC that you're remixing and repurposing. They were OGC before you came along and fiddled with them, but they're game rules from the SRD.
If I wanted no one to be able to have an Orc Overlord, then I would need a trademark, which is something else entirely.
And because it's something else entirely, it's not really germane to this discussion. There's more to a trademark than just a name anyway (hence things like "trade dress").
it does when you want to stop others from using the name
Which isn't an issue when it comes to game mechanics, which are Open Game Content under the OGL.
well, you clearly are reading this very differently then because it says the opposite of what you claim, it says OGC can at most be what I do not tag as PI (I actually have to declare it as OGC in addition)
The "have" part of "you have to declare it OGC" is referring to something you're compelled to do when you use the OGL. As in, you're not in compliance with the license if you don't declare what's OGC and what's PI. And if it's game mechanics, then it has to be OGC, since those were already OGC before you used them (even if you tweak the mechanics in the stat block so that they're not like an existing stat block).
none of which I am using here, so.... as I said, you basically have to claim that I cannot use the 6 attributes for my monster without it becoming derivative, good luck with that
If you present a stat block, then you are using game mechanics. It's really that simple. And yes, using the six attributes of "Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma" (in that order), each with a numerical rating after them,
probably means that you're using WotC's copyright (though if that's
all that you're using, that's nebulous enough that you
might be able to win in court on that alone...but if you're also using all the other aspects of an OGC stat block, then there's no ambiguity).
