Can a paladin worship a non-good god?

[dcollins]

Can a paladin worship a non-good god?

No.

This answer assumes that you're talking about a core D&D Paladin, not a UA or Dragon Paladin variant, and not an ex-Paladin (Blackguard, et. al.). It can't happen because:

(a) A Paladin who "willfully commits an evil act" immediately becomes an ex-Paladin. Worship of an evil deity is an evil act.

(b) A Paladin "will never knowingly associate with evil characters". Of course, deities are characters, too.

The example in the PHB allows for Paladins to worship Heironeous (LG) or Pelor (NG). This clearly implies that the standard divine caster restriction of one-alignment-step is in effect. I'd bet a good sum that this is how (for example) the Sage would reply if asked.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Wouldn't the paladin need to stay within 1 step of the god's alignment, if he wants to cast spells?

AR

By the exact rules, nope. Paladins really aren't REQUIRED to even worship a God.

 

[Emirikol]

(a) A Paladin who "willfully commits an evil act" immediately becomes an ex-Paladin. Worship of an evil deity is an evil act.

What if worship of an evil god is not an evil act? How about reverence? Fear? Placation to save a town?

jh

 

[Thanee]

dcollins, the question was about non-good, not about evil.

It's really quite obvious, that a paladin should not worship an evil deity.

But what about a CN one (like Tempus in FR).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Nightingale 7]

I'd say neutral Paladin-compatible deities should be judged on a case-by-case basis.Tempus' portfolio for example,exalts battle and conflict above all else.A Paladin,although a warrior,is more a protector than a berserker,so I'd say nn the other side I'd definitely allow Red Knight,Tempus' protegee and demigodess of tactics,since her portfolio espouses tactics and planning,which mesh well with a Paladin's priorities.
Helm fits like a glove,since his portfolio focuses on protection and guardians,ideal for Paladins.Hoar...Eh,he seems a bit too heavy handed in the vengeance department to have Paladins.And so on.It depends on the god's portfolio mostly,IMHO

 

[Brother MacLaren]

To be realistic yes there should be divine warriors, aka paladins, for every deity... but it’s not “written” out as such. If you read the core books enough there is talk of this and the backguard is proof of it. (Sort of)

I've heard this many times, but IMO the cleric is the divine warrior. The cleric is the holy champion of a cause. Not the paladin.

The paladin is... something unique. The paladin is the epitome of the hero, Superman or Galahad. He's also the unique advantage that the forces of good have - the universe is not symmetrical. Evil has a large number of very powerful agents, many of which do *not* have good equivalents, but Evil does not have an equivalent to the paladin.

 

[wujenta]

I never thought about that, but In my group I was playing a Paladin 2/Cleric 11 of the Red Knight and never had a problem with it. The Red Knight is LN and allows for LG, LN and LE. I simply thought that if a God allows a LG cleric, he would allow for a paladin.

 

[Oscar carramiñana]

The paladin has no required workship to any god. He can cast divine spells but in PHB no says nothing about his faith.

 

[Zappo]

It was more of a joke than anything else, but I recall someone once posted saying that he played a paladin of Vecna. He was raised by a cleric of Vecna, and was taught that Vecna is good. He would get very angry at anyone who suggested otherwise ("He's the god of knowledge, not of lies!"). Apparently (at least in this guy's campaign), worshiping an evil deity isn't an evil act if you don't know that the deity is evil.

...if enough people start believing that a deity is good, would it actually turn good?

 

[Treebore]

Yes, technically, since a paladin can woship a toadstool and still get his powers, they can worship whomever or whatever they want and still be a paladin. So as long as they themselves stay Lawful Good, they are good to go.

I have house ruled that they must worship deities and that they (the deitiy) must be a deity within one step of LG.