Editing Paladin (section)

===4th Edition===
In 4th Edition, the paladin must be the same alignment as their deity; no more [[Lawful Stupid]] out of fear of falling.  The slightest deviation from one's alignment no longer results in a DM bitchslap and losing class features; instead, you get vague threats that the other faithful of the paladin's religion will seek you out to administer chastisement for your failings. You would ''think'' that since this removes one of the oldest mechanical complaints about the class, fans would be happy, but "Paladins must be Lawful Good!" is such a sacred cow that people were bitching over its loss even as they bemoan the Lawful Stupid Paladins and Orc Baby Dilemmas of old editions. Because of this beloved sacred cow, /tg/ likes to joke that this applies literally, making a [[meme]] out of 4e-paladins taking no falling damage.

As they were mechanically slotted to the role of Divine Defender, Paladin abilities are more focused on being a meat-shield than being a holy avenger; for more smite-evil action, you want the [[Avenger]] class from Player's Handbook 2. What this enabled, though, was the ability to focus your paladin into two different styles: either the full Str-meathead attacking tank pally and the Cha-based casting-and-curing paladin. Regardless of which path you picked, Paladins have two features by default: Divine Challenge (Your alignment-neutral Smite Evil that now forces an enemy to fight you or suffer damage that scaled by tier) and Channel Divinity (Your 1/fight special powers weren't part of your leveling scheme that you only get more of by getting feats). There is ultimately one way paladins can differentiate yourself, and it was only realized with the advent of the ''Divine Power'' [[splatbook]]: 
* '''Lay on Hands''': That old staple that the PHB held onto. You spend one of your Healing Surges to heal an ally as if they spent it.
* '''Ardent Vow''': A damage-focused power that dealt extra damage the next time a paladin hit the designated enemy as well as designating them to the newly-made Divine Sanction (A challenge-lite that also hurt an enemy when they don't target a paladin but has far less restrictions on usage).
* '''Virtue's Touch''': Not quite as strong as Lay on Hands, but this allowed a paladin to cure various conditions they might run into.

The ''Essentials'' books later gave the Paladin two variant classes: The Cavalier (a very simplified paladin that pretty much exemplified the stereotypical "Essentials Class") and the [[Blackguard]] (A sort of bizarro-paladin that went more offensive and gained powers from their vices without becoming completely evil).