Do paladin's require a god?

[Lanefan]

Just like Spoony Bard said.

Divine spells or abilities require a deity to grant 'em.

Someone who wants to be a "paladin" to a cause or liege lord rather than a deity would be best off playing a knightly Fighter, perhaps with a paladinic (read: insufferably noble) personality...but its class would be Fighter; without a deity it can't get the spells and abilities of a paladin. Interesting idea, though...

Lanefan

 

[Mycanid]

I voted number one as well. Same logic as Spooney.

 

[Aeric]

A holy warrior that is bound to a specific god is called a cleric.

Paladins are champions of the weak, defenders of the oppressed, and the enemies of evil everywhere. That is a philosophy, and their strength comes from a combination of their conviction (which is why a paladin's code is so much harder to follow than, say, a cleric's) and the blessing of all the gods of good. There may be a god in your pantheon who embodies all of these things, and if this is the case, more likely than not the paladins will choose him as their patron god. But I don't see it as a requirement for the class.

 

[Gentlegamer]

Paladins serve the cause of lawful good, and in this cause are joined by clerics, deities, and so on.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I consider paladins to serve, and be empowered by, a cosmologically real force of good. If they also seek guidence from a particular diety or pantheon in this service, that's fine.

 

[DaveyJones]

always doing lawful deeds...for any chaotic act will immediately revoke the status...in his continual seeking for good.

no mention of a god for the paladin in Supplement I Greyhawk (1975)

 

[Xyanthon]

I can support paladins that fight for an ideal of lawful good and not necessarily a specific god or pantheon in my campaign. I'd like to work out the details of a paladin's code, ethos, ideals, etc at the outset of the campaign so that it is a little more clear how to resolve any situations that may arise but other than that, I have no problems with a paladin not being attached to a specific church/god/pantheon.

 

[howandwhy99]

I chose Other -> play however you want.

Like Spoony above, the game I run requires divine casters to worship a God.

 

[Michael Morris]

I will point out though that Paladins operate a little differently in my campaign. I have an alignment system, but the alignements are white, blue, black, red and green (Magic: The Gathering). Paladins must be white aligned. Their smite affects anything red or black aligned (which makes it significantly more powerful) and their divine grace only applies to red and black spells (which makes it noticably weaker) -- those changes tend to cancel out but it does mean the paladin doesn't get a divine grace bonus to his saves against most illusions (which are blue) for example.

 

[pawsplay]

This is same for my campaigns as well. The idea of gaining spells/channeling divine energy due to following a philosophy just seems odd to me.

That concept is already present in the monk and spellcasting dragons with access to clerical magic. Alignment in D&D is a palpable thing; a character who is Good has a goodness that can be sensed, and in turn can affect the world. A supernatural ability that comes from the goodness of a paladin's soul makes sense to me, considering that souls can already create ghosts, ascend to the Outer Places, be forged into fiendish creations, or instill a mighty curse.