Hussar
Legend
But is it essential to D&D's specific interpretation of the archetype? I would argue it is. Other games may interpret the archetype in other ways, but for D&D, the classic version is Lawful Good and strict behavioral code. I'd prefer it remain that way and leave alternative formulations as sidebar or DMG options which would give us both what we want out of D&D paladins.
But, again, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from playing a paladin as you see fit. If you want to play a classic paladin, how are you being prevented? In what way are you being stopped from achieving your character concept.
Or, is it that you want to play the classic paladin, and also, you want to make sure that anyone else who plays a character that writes paladin in the class line plays it in the way that you personally approve of?
After all, which "strict behavioural code" are you referring to? There are several. There's the 1e PHB restrictions. There's a series of Dragon magazine articles outlining various paladin codes. THere's the 2e paladin and the Dragonlance version as well. There's the Complete Paladin which includes a dozen or more different paladin kits which are all very, very different and focus on all sorts of different elements. There's the 3e paladin which doesn't really have much of a code at all and doesn't even have to follow a church of any kind, nor do you actually need to follow a diety at all in order to be a paladin (just who is stripping your powers away then?). Or perhaps the 4e paladin which is different still and more of a holy warrior dedicated to a specific series of player chosen concepts?
What "essential paladin" are you talking about?
And, again, even if you do choose to play your paladin in a particular way, what gives you the right to tell me how to play my character? How about you keep your hands on your own character and I'll worry about playing mine. There's an awful lot of wrongbadfun being tossed around here. If you have open ended paladins right in the PHB, everyone gets exactly what they want. If you want to play a highly restricted paladin, go right ahead. Absolutely nothing is stopping you. In fact, the rules will probably go out of their way to help you to do so by being very up front that you, the player, are responsible for your own character.
However, what you are not responsible for is how anyone else at the table chooses to play their character. That's their business and quite frankly none of yours. To me, this, more than anything else is why paladins are problematic at the table. Not because of players who want to ignore restrictions but because of busybody players who feel it incumbent upon themselves to protect the sanctity of their own version of something in D&D and cannot stand to let someone else interpret things differently.