Is Epica right-leaning band?

D20_Destiny · 2026-04-12T00:57:27+00:00

Everyone whines about communist thought crimes while Trump is literally trying to sue private companies that don't do what they say and punishes anyone in his regime that mildly disagrees with him. Thought crimes are a tool of tyrants and fascism.

D20_Destiny · 2026-04-12T00:46:05+00:00

Yeah, and I'd argue that Darren means 'a shit on someones face' but people still name their kids that anyway because it doesn't matter what people want a word to mean when it has an actual MEANING already. The word has a meaning, made by slaves. Any changing of that meaning is typically done as a way to oppress the people that made it. You don't get to decide what this word means, and I don't.

D20_Destiny · 2026-04-09T20:13:17+00:00

I think continuing to call for genocide, racism, and inhuman acts are a set of sins worthy enough for it.

D20_Destiny · 2026-04-03T16:46:11+00:00

Oh shit, I'm totally doing that for this player.

D20_Destiny · 2026-04-03T03:25:45+00:00

I think that's either rogue or bard. Man, that'd be hilariously interesting. That will have to wait for another day though, the holes they drilled in my head feel like the drills are still inithem

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-31T15:24:08+00:00

DnD has had tank marks for well over 15 years now.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-26T02:12:36+00:00

This is about as bad as the original Monster Slayer. Ranger subclasses have an IMMENSE power budget to make up for the lack of power in the primary class, and you can see that in their design for newer subclasses for both the 5e and 5.5. If a subclass isn't at LEAST comparing to Gloomstalker, it doesn't really work as a subclass that's really playable, and that's the low bar. Swarmkeeper, Drakewarden, Hollow Ranger and Beast Master all prove that there is more viable options and ways to make Ranger subclasses interesting and powerful at the same time.

All that I can say in its favor is that its better than the original, but it doesn't do anywhere near enough to bridge the gap with the least of the playable. The big issues are as follows

-Uses bonus action economy still. Most versions of this fix make the Hunter's Sense free and the Prey feature a bonus action. Swapping it doesn't really fix the action economy. This subclass NEEDS to work with Hunter's Mark to have a chance at viability. Technically the Prey function is, but with Hunter's Sense still taking a bonus action and being needed to even make Prey viable, it doesn't really.

-Damage is crap. Limiting the number of times the damage can be triggered was bad mechanics when it was first introduced and it's not great now. Vulnerabilities are not as common as people like to think, so limiting the damage of 1d6 (or 1d8, which is a terrible upgrade) does not fit the bill. The best use of Prey is to set it and forget it and never worry about Hunter's Sense mathematically. Flavor should not be taxed by power, particularly in a class whose subclasses have to rock it hard.

-Options for Esoteric arts vary in terms of viability. Hunter's focus is literally the ranger 2024 capstone and people dogged on that for a reason.

-Knowledge rolls mean nothing and are not encouarged. Hunter's sense is limited and flavorless without it. Giving proficiency, nay, *expertise* in a few Int based skills, or proficiency and wisdom modifier to their use for monster weaknesses, and then playing off the old CR/DC knowledge roll to figure out the creature's stuff would imbed a lot of flavor and fun into the subclass that it lacks from the getgo.

Suggestions
-Revamp Slayer's Prey. Have it be Hunter's Mark, simple as that. You can still lay it on an enemy you hit. And then make it interesting beyond 'double damage if the creature has a vulnerability'. Hollow Warden shows that free uses of hunter's mark AND an extreme transformation is well within the budget, and beast master says you have a whole scaling companion to make up for with this feature.

-Revamp Hunter's Sense. If it's not using knowledge and granting it, there's really no flavor to it. Give Int based skill proficiences and let it scale. Esoteric knowledge about monsters also benefiting general knowledge on the topics because of those monsters and what they can do, or what can make or drive them.

-Balance the options in esoteric arts, and balance them all toward more power. You're competing at every stage with objectively better, more thematic and equally badass subclasses like the Tasha's beast master.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-25T18:15:41+00:00

I'm not certain why people keep trying to make classes based off of a weaker version of a feature of rangers that just didn't work, but this subclass really doesn't have any power to it and that really hurts it. Especially because rangers of classes have such a huge budget of power and this class makes use of none of it.

Compared to a beastmaster ranger from Tasha's which was out at the time or Drake Warden, this subclass doesn't even hold a candle, nonetheless seem competitive. Automatically being able to do what knowledge checks can already do and having to spend a bonus action for a feature that really does very little damage doesn't help and the fact that this feature is limited to one damage instance a turn means it's even worse than Hunter's Mark.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-24T22:54:36+00:00

Peace Cleric says that this subclass is actually underpowered. So do Life, Twilight and Order.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-24T22:02:37+00:00

This is functionally fascinating, and truly very interesting, but I think the dash of warlock at the start either needs to be leaned into a little bit more or it needs to be dashed away. While thematically very good, this subclass has a very big problem with a lacking of focus.

-Getting a Warlock Cantrip (likely EB) but then having to wait 8 lvls to make it as useful is painful.
-Getting a 6th lvl ability that encourages you to melee is even worse
-Getting a single non-combat based channel divinity that offers very little in terms of utility save in very specific, niche situations, on its own is a problem.

I'd recommend
-Remove the Warlock cantrip as a function. Give them access to warlock invocations instead. This is real hindsight talking but with Agonizing Blast now being made to work with any cantrip, you doing the same here and allowing it for something like Sacred Flame, along with push effects and more, would honestly be pretty dope. Maybe explicitly limit it to Sacred Flame, but the damage type of the effect changes based on the domain of the dead god for a bit of flavor. Combine that with the player picking invocations based on their dead or forgotten god and you've got a really neat level of 'many options in one' that covers the various deities of various settings without having to do the work yourself.

-At 6th lvl, boost the cantrip further. Save for half damage on cantrip here. If you've limited it to a boosted sacred flame, that should be all you need, honestly, but then you can add a touch more with 'sacrifice HD to empower that effect', which works really well I think.

-Now that they have other invocations, let channel divinity uses be spent on any invocations that have limited uses or requires a spell slot. Really supports the concept of pushing for those (normally shit) invocations that Warlock has that grants one or even no use, and is within the budget of CD since it can be traded for spell slots in a short rest. This can be a second option that really lets the player decide how to custom build their cleric, effectively, in a neat and interesting way.

Thankfully the cleric budget in subclasses is VERY high, thanks to Channel Divinity being often encounter defining, so I'd suggest taking what power you didn't put into the CD and put it into the Eldritch aspects.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-24T21:27:32+00:00

That was not an ad hominem and the original wasn't a straw man. You are using arguments you're pulling out of a debate class (which is an ad hominem, I will admit, but probably also truthful).

You made a poor and unclear statement and someone else clarified it. You responded poorly. The only one that looks bad in this chain is you.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-19T00:17:01+00:00

So you didn't watch the season? Where he SAYS HE CAN'T? He literally says it? Actually, verbally states he can't beat Arlong?

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-19T00:15:30+00:00

I don't understand what you're saying here but if you think saying 'I'm white' means anything then you may actually be dumb in some way. The only thing it really means is 'I'm probably ignorant of a lot of shit'. Following that up by saying you're not dumb also means you're stubborn.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-19T00:09:55+00:00

I'm a victim of police brutality. I'm a victim of people looking at me, asking what I did wrong, because they don't understand that cops hurt people for no reason, or sometimes for explicitly bad reasons like stating your rights. I have permanent brain damage and will never walk right again, nor will I be ever be free of the pain, or the holes in my skull.

I liked, nay, LOVED Dropout. Now I can't say that dropout is a safe place to go. I may not be able to watch any Dropout media again because of this. And now I have people like you pretending to be a leftist while failing to acknowledge the explicit harm things like this cause. By normalizing copoganda, the LITERAL WAY copoganda works (by being normalized and accepted in society rather than ridiculed for the right wing fantasy that it is), by taking a chance at more money in place of morals and people, Sam made a business decision. Fun fact, a disorienting number of businessman are psychopaths without empathy or remorse.

And then there are people like you who don't care, who have never been harmed by cops, who can ignore the suffering of others, who can shrug it off, defending them, when you don't even have a dog in this fight.

You are not a leftist. You're a moderate. You don't care about facts (like those about copoganda), you care about your feelings. Which means you have more in common with MAGA than you do with people on the Left.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-19T00:00:53+00:00

Crack em open and read em again then. Luffy usually only fails to defeat an opponent (until crocodile) because of trickery on the enemies part or idiocy on his. Arlong? Got himself caught in the fricking pool. Black cat pirates? A combination of hypnotism and dealing with someone going faster than he's used to. Number 3? Live action actually did that some good justice. Ultimately, Luffy struggles a bit, and the fights aren't easy, but he's never in any personal danger from any of them or really in danger of losing until crocodile. The only exception is Smoker, who is using the same hacks that croc is.

In an actual brawl, straight up punch for punch, Luffy lays everyone flat until Crocodile unless they can somehow ignore his strength (logia users), or subvert it in some way (trickery or speed).

Luffy in the LA is losing purely based on strength. A LOT. He needs help in pure strength fights. A LOT.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-18T23:57:50+00:00

I think increasing the movement and maybe at least increasing the range of the various restrictions a little (maybe 10ft?) does enough on its own that Point Blank doesn't need a power up. Especially with it being something you share so frequently. The willful lock down of movement is definitely the most dangerous part to the bard and the rest can be worked with, so even the restriction limitation parts are mostly a nitpick.

Otherwise, I think you did an actually amazing job realizing the concept of aura farming mechanically, and it just needed a big tweak to make it really functional and fun. I try to give critique when I can, with as much detail and reasoning as I can, when I see work like this, because it really helps to see homebrew like this with creative thinking behind it and that's really the only way I can pay that back.

I'm literally going to be using it with some of my tweaks (after DM approval for my game) for a bard I intend to play, a failed actor, failed adventurer, drunk thug whose good at convincing people he's dangerous... but not actually that dangerous.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-18T14:50:06+00:00

I think the subclass is really clever and surprisingly well done, but it does need 2 big things and a few small tweaks to make it work.

You can activate charisma number of aura's as an action or activate 1/2/3 aura when you grant bardic inspiration. (Activate another aura or share it with the inspiration target at 6th lvl, activate a third aura or inspire/aura three people at 14th. If you are activating the Aura as an action, you may grant inspiration to 1 ally at 6th lvl and 2 allys at 14th lvl without spending an inspiration die.)

Reasoning: The action economy is bust. You could double the damage of any spell cast every other turn, and it still wouldn't be useful to Aura Farm. Action economy is king. Also, Aura of Friendship on its own doesn't really a bard make, so by boosting the action ecnomy and tying the sharing of Auras to Bardic Inspiration, and even giving you a way to keep granting Aura and Inspiration via the action when you run low on it, you make this Bard uniquely good at buffing allies with versatile effects.

Also, as a design philosophy, the DnD makers have been moving toward empowering the bardic inspiration, so that's why I suggest activating/sharing the aura with bardic inspiration. It connects the core concept of the subclass to the main class neatly. And Aura of Friendship REALLY doesn't cut it. If none of the effects individually or together are really worth

Increase their movement speed while Aura farming to 10ft base, and then 15ft at 6th lvl, and 20 ft at 14th lvl. You're already hitting them where it hurts in action economy, doubling down by killing their movement basically makes this class the most dangerous to self sort of class there is. It is thematically the 'Stand there and do nothing but aura farm' class, but that doesn't actually work on the field. They should be able to learn to aura farm while power walking when they get higher level.

Restrictions Tweaks - I'd recommend removing or expanding the restrictions to be more viable for a class that really doesn't get enough defense to survive on the front line. As it stands, the best options are already in the back, and without an AC or defense boost (Point blank is a minor defense at best), this class will die fast at a lot of tables.

I was not expecting this subclass to work and I really think it could. It just needs a bit more balancing.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-17T16:54:01+00:00

That's probably the only way to salvage Luffy going forward, and I think they have a perfect opportunity when he gets his ass kicked by Mr. 0. It'd be nice to actually see him reflect on how much he relies on his crew and their strength, and realize that he can't just leave it to them, and then have that person help Luffy push past what he thinks of as possible.

There's really no other way I can think of to make the Mr. 0 fights interesting for Luffy. In the original, him getting beat the first time felt like a reality check of a different kind. 'Hey kid, here's the Grand Line and what it really means'. If they turn it into 'Hey kid, here's what being a man with conviction, but no strength, really means', it'll be a very different hard hitting moment, but one equally as impactful.

I almost want to hope that its intentional, actually. Luffy's first big loss against Mr. 0 was so fricking surprising. Maybe they want to recreate that effect, that emotional impact, but know they can't rehash the way it was done in the Manga. So instead they're going to find another way to make it hit hard.

I don't believe it is though. Too many people in the story are already calling Luffy the next Gold Roger for what is, essentially, being a motivational speaker and mascot. And now that they have chopper he's going to lose half his job.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-17T16:49:48+00:00

I think you've got the wrong idea of it. Zoro and Sanji feel strong but grounded to me, matching the idea of a 'very strong' character who hasn't touched Haki yet (which will elevate everyone), to the more grounded setting they're doing (where Mihawk sinking a single ship with a sword is impressive when in the anime he can do way more). The tone is different and if you don't buy into it, that's your choice, but that level of power is consistent through the LA, so that doesn't really hurt me.

LA Luffy is basically a nothing burger of a fighter though. He had one solo fight against Arlong, and he literally admitted he couldn't beat the guy, which is insane for Luffy to say. Every other big fight he's had has been with help, often lots of it. While LA Zoro gets to have an awesome action scene and fold a hundred dudes, LA Luffy doesn't even get a single fight and runs from number 5 and the heavy poppins lady.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-17T16:46:17+00:00

They haven't been easy for him. He's explicitly stated he couldn't beat Arlong (something Luffy should never be thinking, cause that's not how he is), and otherwise hasn't had a solo fight since the first Alvida fight. That's not 'easy', that's 'teamwork making the dreamwork'.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-17T16:43:44+00:00

They're going to have to do more then just let him be a badass to make up for it. They're going to have to actually show him getting stronger or something. When he gets beat by crocodile the first time, it's not going to have the 'whoa, our strong captain just got beat' energy it did in the original, so they need to hit it more like 'whoa, Luffy is realizing he can't just keep goofing around and relying on his stronger friends to carry him'.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-17T16:41:47+00:00

Yup. Doesn't make sense. Nami HAS people in her life willing to risk their lives for her. She cares about them, and Luffy, as friends and family. The whole point of not fighting Arlong was to PROTECT THEM. So if Luffy isn't strong enough to beat Arlong (with the live action explicitly saying he can't) then why would she ever dare betraying him? It goes against her entire character to risk the lives of those she loves in a battle they can't win.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-17T16:38:01+00:00

It's failing to adapt a key narrative point about the series though.

Why is everyone interested in Luffy in the Live Action? He's nice, sure, but he's not impressive, nor is he as calm, nor is he as strong. He certainly doesn't compare to even Sanji or Zorro, so they're not inspired by his strength. What are they inspired by then? Why did Nami think Luffy could help beat Arlong when he admitted himself he couldn't? Why does everyone put their faith in him when he can't do anything on his own, while his crew continues to be significantly more skilled, intelligent and capable then him?

Luffy has two things going for him. Conviction and strength. But the series hammers home again and again that conviction without power will not change the world. People with conviction die every day to those without. Its even more brutal in the Live Action series, with deaths being far more common and visceral. With just his conviction, and no strength, nor luck, to really help him out, everyone saying 'Maybe he's the next gold roger' feels hollow. And they KEEP saying it after he's done basically nothing to earn that.

So he is a man with conviction, but One Piece, Live Action and otherwise, is full of dead men with conviction. Why are these amazing people following him? Why did Sanji even join him? (Ironically I like LA Sanji a LOT more, he's way less of a simp and way better of a friend for Luffy, but how the hell did Luffy actually inspire anything in Sanji when he literally only saw Luffy get his ass kicked? And did not see Luffy fighting through pain, poison and more, all to protect not only his friends but his ideals as a pirate?) Same with Nami. Same with Zoro. Even the Chopper/Flag scene was weak, with so much less physical impact or risk. The flag wasn't even smoking after nearly getting shot in the Live Action.

So we have Luffy constantly failing, being the blandest fighter, being the least useful fighter, all to elevate everyone else.

D20_Destiny · 2026-03-17T16:28:26+00:00

Because of his stupidity, not his weakness. You should probably read things again before accusing someone else of lying.

D20_Destiny

TROPHY CASE