It was a close one, but the votes have been tallied and our latest Patreon poll has a winner. I hope you will all join me in welcoming Vigilante, the latest never before seen and definitely new character to inhabit Handbook-World! (Better luck next time, Artificer!)

Writing today’s comic was actually a bit of a head-scratcher. If you’re familiar with Pathfinder’s vigilante class, then you know it’s all about playing with secret identities. You’ve got your social identity and your vigilante identity, and never the twain shall meet. If you’re familiar with this comic, then you also know all of our characters are already named after their respective classes. You begin to see my problem.

I knew I wanted to reveal that one of our characters had been a vigilante all along, but you can’t just take a bard or a barbarian and claim that they were the social identity of another class. How were they raging then? How was my courage getting inspired? Happily, there was one character waiting in the wings without ties to another class. Enter Lumberjack Explosion.

Amusingly, the decision makes sense from an in-game perspective. Animal companions running around with non-companion classes are famously squishy. Sure your fighter can make pals with a noble steed at low level, but you’ve got to find some way to keep them relevant as the party grows in power. While a CR 3 unicorn is a handy thing to have for a great many levels, at some point you’ve got to give it a template or some hit dice or something. It just so happens that, in this case, the “or something” was a secret superhero identity.

You laugh now, but I cannot tell you how excited I am to run an evil game where the party’s familiars and animal companions are actually an all-vigilante anti-party (though I think it might be more fun to play as the familiars).

Question of the day then: Have you ever dealt with a secret identity in-game? Did you unmask a villain Scooby-Doo style? Perhaps your hat of disguise launched your career as an untraceable criminal? Or maybe you’ve adopted the cape and mask yourself and played as a vigilante? Let’s hear your tales of intrigue in the comments!

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!