Today’s comic is near and dear to my withered black heart. That’s because a paladin just joined one of my groups. In that particular game, I’m the party necromancer. The two of us decided to try and make it work though. The only question was how we could both continue to do our mechanical thing without breaking the fiction of the game. I went to the Paizo forums for advice, and you can still read the full thread over there if you like. If you’d rather save some time, I’ll paraphrase a few of my favorite ideas from the brainstorm:

Lie to the Paladin. What he don’t know can’t hurt him.

Ask the GM to declare that necromancy isn’t evil in the setting.

Get the paladin to play a similar class with a less restrictive code of conduct.

Fall back on the loophole built into the rules: “Under exceptional circumstances, a paladin can ally with evil associates, but only to defeat what she believes to be a greater evil.”

Have the paladin take the necromancer on as a long-term redemption project.

For those of you who made your Perception check, you might have noticed that this is comic 1/3 in a short series. We’ll have a chance to see which one of these methods Paladin and Necromancer choose over the next week. However, there is one method that deserves special attention:

It’s impossible! A paladin would never willingly travel with a necromancer. YOU’RE HAVING BAD WRONG FUN!

In case the all-caps didn’t give it away, I take issue with this last stance. It’s clearly possible to invent a satisfying justification within the game world. It just requires a little flexibility and imagination. What do you say we wait until “Mean Girls, Part 2/3” to tackle this thorny subject head on? Let’s shall. See you then, kids!

THIS COMIC SUCKS! IT NEEDS MORE [INSERT OPINION HERE] Is your favorite class missing from the Handbook of Heroes? Maybe you want to see more dragonborn or aarakocra? Then check out the “Quest Giver” reward level over on the The Handbook of Heroes Patreon. You’ll become part of the monthly vote to see which elements get featured in the comic next!