Yora
Legend
Paladins are controversial enough with their whole always lawful good gpoing on, but that aside, I think there's a bigger problem with them.
Why do we have such a class in the first place?
Any way you want to do a paladin, you need to answer that question first. The question whether or not to have paladins at all is probably moot, as D&D had paladins in the PHB for over 20 years, and so there will be paladins in this one as well.
This leave the question, what a paladin actually is and how the class is different from a fighter/cleric multiclass character. I don't have any answer to that.
Anyone can have a horse and a cleric can buff his horse. But since most combat does not take place on horseback, a special mount is not actually special. Very fluffy, but unlikely to come up in play. Lay on Hands is nice, but why not cast cure spells instead? More powerful cure spells and more per day! Detect evil at will isn't that great, especially when the announcements are followed through and such magic does not actually detect the mundan evil in normal mortal people. Smite Evil? Depends on how you handle it, but in 3rd Edition clerics have all kinds of very similar spells that are much more impressive.
Why is a paladin different from a fighter/cleric that has vowed to follow the paladin code of conduct?
Sure, paladins have fluff written into the class, but that fluff also fits a fighter/cleric just as well.
Why do we have such a class in the first place?
Any way you want to do a paladin, you need to answer that question first. The question whether or not to have paladins at all is probably moot, as D&D had paladins in the PHB for over 20 years, and so there will be paladins in this one as well.
This leave the question, what a paladin actually is and how the class is different from a fighter/cleric multiclass character. I don't have any answer to that.
Anyone can have a horse and a cleric can buff his horse. But since most combat does not take place on horseback, a special mount is not actually special. Very fluffy, but unlikely to come up in play. Lay on Hands is nice, but why not cast cure spells instead? More powerful cure spells and more per day! Detect evil at will isn't that great, especially when the announcements are followed through and such magic does not actually detect the mundan evil in normal mortal people. Smite Evil? Depends on how you handle it, but in 3rd Edition clerics have all kinds of very similar spells that are much more impressive.
Why is a paladin different from a fighter/cleric that has vowed to follow the paladin code of conduct?
Sure, paladins have fluff written into the class, but that fluff also fits a fighter/cleric just as well.