Paladins have no Deity

[chriseggroll]

Unless I missed it, during character creation Paladins don't have the Deity selection option. Seems like especially for a Devotion Paladin this would be important. It would be nice to have armor or shield based on your deity as well and or your oath.

[Haven]

Honestly, we just need a deity selection option for every character. Even if it's "tiered" so cleric's selection grant more opportunities than everyone else, faith is such a fundamental part of D&D that it's a real shame it's not included. My first playthrough will be as my lifelong character, a half-elf fighter (with cleric multiclass if they include that) that worships Moradin the Allfather. The dichotomy of his being to his faith is a core part of the character that I won't be able to represent in any way except for wishes and dreams.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Publicado originalmente por Haven923:

Honestly, we just need a deity selection option for every character. Even if it's "tiered" so cleric's selection grant more opportunities than everyone else, faith is such a fundamental part of D&D that it's a real shame it's not included. My first playthrough will be as my lifelong character, a half-elf fighter (with cleric multiclass if they include that) that worships Moradin the Allfather. The dichotomy of his being to his faith is a core part of the character that I won't be able to represent in any way except for wishes and dreams.

This is the correctest answer.

People are reading too far into the literal class descriptions here.

The mechanics for Paladin Oaths are written they way they are for flexibility and nothing else. If you run a game where all Paladins derive their power from divine worship, that's fine - those Paladins swear sn Oath to their god (and the PHB gives us examples of this).

However, there are other examples of supernaturally super charged knights that don't include devotion to a specific god, or derive their power from multiple gods at once (for example, the powers of a good Paladin might be granted by the entirety of the good pantheon, not just one god).

It's up to each DM to interpret this for their game - there is no single correct answer. Golden Rule and all that.

For BG3, I hope we get deity selection for all characters.

[chrstnmonks]

My understanding of paladins is that they are warriors granted powers from their deities and they cast cleric spells. And that certain paladins where better at different things like undead hunter was better at killing undead and Inquisitor dealt with magic and Cavaleir where better at dealing with dragons/demons. But it was typically tied to Helm, Kelmvor, tyr or Mystra

[Calanora]

they clearly intended to have paladins with deity selection considering theres dialogue in the game files for it so maybe when full release well get deity selection along with background location on where your from (for example when talking with nettie theres a paladin of selune option you can take)

[Ironside]

The first thing I said to myself while making a paladin was where is the deity option? Honestly, the people saying religion was not added because of gender identity, etc, is not true. It's literally a skill and clerics have a deity. This may have been oversight or an intended patch. If not, Devs failed the Paladin test.

[lunasmeow]

Publicado originalmente por dulany67:

TBH, I find the lack of a deity selection jarring. Perhaps I'm old and stuck in my ways, but the oath inspiring powers just doesn't get it for me.

It should be noted that Solasta does allow for deity selection, and the disconnect is much less because you can select a deity in keeping with the oath you select. Mechanically, it doesn't change anything but it does make for better head canon.

The problem, I guess, is that Solasta let's you choose a deity for all characters while BG3 does not. If Larian specifically lets you choose a deity for your Paladin and not other characters, it sort of implies something that WotC has moved away from.

But then I guess the question becomes why not let us choose a deity for all custom characters, even if it's window dressing? Roleplay and window dressing have a long history together.

That's because according to basically all lore and history of Faerun, it shouldn't.

This was a move made because atheists (and I myself am an atheist, so before you whiny ones talk ♥♥♥♥, realize this) unfortunately wanted to ♥♥♥♥♥ and moan about "why do I have to be beholden to a god to play a paladin" a while back. They could handle playing a fantasy game, but not handle being sworn to a fantasy god - and D&D decided to pander to the group instead of telling them to man/woman up and deal with the fact that it was a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ GAME and not real life religion.

So, suddenly, Paladins didn't have deities. Clerics, no longer NEEDED a deity, and could also gain power through "their faith in the universe/life itself/etc, though they could still choose one if they so chose. Same for Druids not needing a nature deity anymore - which is again, anti-lore because the entire reason Druids couldn't wear metal armor was because their gods forbade it! In fact, there was a specific nature deity that allowed HER druids to wear metal armor where all others didn't because she didn't see metal as "non-natural" because it literally isn't... she just demanded that mining operations be as safe as possile for the surrounding nature instead of destructive, or for people to use "starmetal" aka metal from asteroids and meteors that falls from the sky instead of mining.

Long story short, a bunch of whiny atheists (contrasted with the Chad Atheists who can handle a game having deities that matter unlike our view of reality having no real gods) ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and moaned and so D&D caved and destroyed any semblance of lore. Gods are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ irrelevant now in modern D&D because you don't actually need them for DIVINE MAGIC in the slightest. All you need is "muh feelings". It's ♥♥♥♥, and one of the biggest things atheists have done to ruin D&D in history, just like how the Christians once ruined the Devils/Demons with their whining about Hell.

I find it utterly ironic that the same group who complained about Christians ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about their beliefs in a game, turned around and did the same ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing. Losers.

And anyone claiming this isn't true, clearly has no history of D&D. Just go play the old BG games. Paladins? All had deities. ALL of them. It was NOT optional. This change was implemented around 3.5/4e when the athiest community started ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and moaning. (Frankly, atheism got ruined the instant the atheism plus crowd moved in, so I'm not surprised they turned into a bunch of why Steve Shive type bastards for the most part.)

[GrandMajora]

Publicado originalmente por lunasmeow:

That's because according to basically all lore and history of Faerun, it shouldn't.

This was a move made because atheists (and I myself am an atheist, so before you whiny ones talk ♥♥♥♥, realize this) unfortunately wanted to ♥♥♥♥♥ and moan about "why do I have to be beholden to a god to play a paladin" a while back. They could handle playing a fantasy game, but not handle being sworn to a fantasy god - and D&D decided to pander to the group instead of telling them to man/woman up and deal with the fact that it was a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ GAME and not real life religion.

The reason is because Paladins are DIVINE spell casters, and in the case of the Forgotten Realms setting, divine magic comes directly from the gods themselves. When you cast a divine spell, you turn yourself into a conduit through which the spell's power flows from the god and into the world around you.

It takes more than mere conviction to work divine spells. Even druids call upon the power of Sylvanus, the God of Nature, in order to perform their spells.

----------------------

Paladins were conceived to be the sort of 'holy knight' archetype. The righteous crusader that serves the church, rather than some king. That's why more traditional knights such as the Cavalier were a different sub-class.

[Drake]

The most stupid thing is that dnd is a world based system. While the forgotten realms have gods, there are systems that don't.
If you want you play a paladin without a god just make a campaign in eberron.

People just don't care about world building and can't dettach fantasy roleplay from real life...

[Enigmatory]

Publicado originalmente por chriseggroll:

Unless I missed it, during character creation Paladins don't have the Deity selection option. Seems like especially for a Devotion Paladin this would be important. It would be nice to have armor or shield based on your deity as well and or your oath.

Flat and simple - paladins don't need serve any diety at all by 5e core. Their power coming from their oaths. Gods probably watching them but that's don't mean that paladin wothishipping any god. Same as warlock don't need to sell their soul to anyone to get pact powers.

[GrandMajora]

Publicado originalmente por lunasmeow:

Long story short, a bunch of whiny atheists (contrasted with the Chad Atheists who can handle a game having deities that matter unlike our view of reality having no real gods) ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and moaned and so D&D caved and destroyed any semblance of lore. Gods are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ irrelevant now in modern D&D because you don't actually need them for DIVINE MAGIC in the slightest. All you need is "muh feelings". It's ♥♥♥♥, and one of the biggest things atheists have done to ruin D&D in history, just like how the Christians once ruined the Devils/Demons with their whining about Hell.

And yet, the Wall of the Faithless still exists. So if you are trying to play an atheist character, no matter how many good deeds you perform, your soul is getting bricked up in what is implied to be eternal torment because Myrkul is a spiteful bastard.