D&D General A paladin just joined the group. I'm a necromancer.

[iserith]

It's on the player to figure out how to incorporate the paladin into the party in a way that does not cause unnecessary conflicts. Failure to do so is a refusal to play the game and should be treated as such in my view.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

The way I see it, a little verbal sparring and RP friction can work well in a game, provided both players are on-board with it. But it is on both players to make sure that their characters still work together and don't create a headache for the DM and other players. The moment it starts draining the fun out of the game, that's a situation.

The paladin doesn't have to like the necromancer, but they can't go smiting away at the first casting of Chill Touch.

 

[Umbran]

What's the best way to make the two play nice in the same party? Is there a mechanical solution to the problem? Alternatively, how can I circumnavigate his ire?

Stop. Go back, and discuss the issue with the GM and the other player before play begins.

 

[Umbran]

By default in 5e, raising undead is an Evil act.

By default, in 5e, "evil" has no mechanical meaning.

The paladin cannot detect "evil". The paladin can detect undead. But, the paladin can also detect celestials - so being able to detect them is nto the same as wanting to kill them, and their makers on sight, or the like.

 

[Tonguez]

Quote: The School of Necromancy explores the cosmic forces of life, death, and undeath. As you focus your studies in this tradition, you learn to manipulate the energy that animates all living things. As you progress, you learn to sap the life force from a creature as your magic destroys its body, transforming that vital energy into magical power you can manipulate.

Most people see necromancers as menacing, or even villainous, due to the close association with death. Not all necromancers are evil, but the forces they manipulate are considered taboo by many societies.


In Forgotten Realms there is also Jergal The Lord of the End of Everything, Seneschal of the god of death, who keeps records accounting for every death and their final destination. Jergal is Lawful Neutral, cold and inhumane and cares only to record the death of everything.

Jergal also sanctions the use and creation of undead by his followers, provided they serve the cause of advancing death in the world. Some of his clerics multiclass as necromancers to command crews of skeleton and zombie workers while others seek church-sponsored undeath to allow them to continue their service.

Maybe the new guy could be a Paladin of Jergal

 

[Dausuul]

Wait - there might be conflict between main characters in a story based game? Well, we can't have conflict in a story.

The point of D&D is to be fun. A D&D game that is a miserable experience for the people playing it is a failed game. If it produces an incredible story, it is still a failed game. Conversely, a game that everyone enjoys is successful, even if the story is nothing but "And then we went here and fought a monster and got loot," repeated several dozen times.

Conflict between PCs can be fun, but it requires that all players and the DM are on the same page as to the level of conflict they find enjoyable. Some groups are totally cool with PvP combat to the death on a regular basis. However, I infer from the OP that this is not the case here. So everyone needs to get on the same page, and as a general rule, it is the new person joining the group who should expect to do most of the adapting.

 

[Quartz]

This thread may help. Or at least make you laugh.

 

[Quartz]

Oh yes, there was a story hour where one of the PCs channelled negative energy. The Doomed Bastards, maybe?

 

[Todd Roybark]

That said, skeletons and zombies themselves are evil, driven by a hunger to kill the living;

To be frank, a hunger to kill the living is a feature of most creatures’ sustenance practices. Outside of symbiotic relations, thing A tends to kill thing B and sometimes eat it.

Cats and Killer Whales kill for fun, for example.

Elementals can go berserk, and elementals do not need sustenance. Angels can smite entire cities.

Jelly Fish just float around waiting to bump into something, and eat it
Like Homer Simpson

Animate Dead is just an efficient recycling system.

 

[Marandahir]

Here's a look in a particular game setting for hints of how this could be handled:

In The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, undead spirits are used to guard family tombs from would-be graverobbers, fuel the sacred Ghostfence which holds back the worst of the evil demons and diseases of the Ash Blight of Dagoth Ur on Red Mountain, and serve as living memory in the necropolis city of Necrom (where the ghost of the legendary hero Indoril Nerevar still haunts – despite blasphemous rumours of his reincarnation).

While Necromancy is still legal in the Septim Empire at large in 3E 427, it has been banned by the Imperial Guild of Mages and is illegal within the independent Province of Morrowind. But the native Dunmer seem to practice their own form of ancestor worship and manipulation that looks a LOT like Necromancy. Their translation of the word Necromancy instead refers to acts seeking to defile the dead and summon them for nefarious purposes. And the Dunmer Wizards of House Telvanni don't care at all about the law or religious mores: amongst many abominations, they actively engage in necromantic experiments. To them, you're either strong enough to enforce your authority, or you never were worthy of that power to begin with.

So a Dunmer House Redoran (warrior clan) Bouyant Armiger (Paladin Oath of Heroism) devoted to the Tribunal Temple may be publicly and personally opposed to acts of Necromancy, and yet enlist the services of a Telvanni Wizard who practices Necromancy (Wizard, School of Necromancy) to face a much greater evil, such as the Blight of Dagoth Ur, or outlander raiders, or House Hlaalu (thief clan) or even Sixth House smugglers defiling her family crypt. Maybe she needs the Necromancer to speak with her dead ancestors to gain insight into her enemies, or to awaken the spirits of her dead ancestors to rout out the smugglers defiling her family crypt.

This is just one setting idea, but the possibilities are endless if you both work together and with your DM to make sure this party, their purposes, and the setting details align.