Play with a GM who's not going to punish you for every tiny deviation from your code... especially if you have players like Rogues in your party. Give yourself some goal of "greater good" that makes it acceptable to work with people of lesser morals. Don't be a preachy "no-fun-allowed" lawful-stupid who ruins the game for everyone else.

Kinda edge-lordy, but if you really wana work around the whole alignment thing, have you Paladin have celestial blood or come up with some other reason that involves their "holy" powers coming from a source other than faith...
Whether they're aware of it or not...

Best paladin I ever played was a deluded over-zealous demon-hunting monster of a person who would commit atrocities that could qualify as war-crimes during his hunt of demons (torturing innocents for information, executions on the mere suspicion someone might be a vampire, carrying out punishment on those who collaborated with demons even when they did it unknowingly, ect). The leader of his order was secretly a necromancer who was using the holy order to take oout the competition or contain his "experiments" before they got out of hand. The paladins of the order themselves got their power from the blood of a celestial that this Necromancer had captured long ago and kept imprisoned. The paladins would be told to drink the blood in a ceremony similar to Communion with no idea what it actually was or that it was the source of their power. As far as most of them were concerned, their powers came from their "righteousness and faith", as warped as that view was. Not to say the character I was playing was intentionally evil... but yeah... serious delusions.

>>43720026
Be a bro. Be professional and respectful.

Take a level dip into Oracle if the DM will let you and take the Lore Mystery to get "Sidestep Secret". It lets you use your CHA instead of DEX for your AC dodge bonus and also adds it to your Reflex Save. This means with Divine Grace you get to add your DEX to Reflex twice.

>>43720162
Unless OP is playing with a party of veteran min-maxers, that prooobably won't be necessary. Paladins are a pretty strong class already when they're played as intended. Breaking the game with "dipping exploits" tends not to go over well in certain groups, especially ones with newer players.

>>43720162
Err CHA to Reflex twice I mean. And you're gonna want a high CHA.

Paladins are great meatshields. Your job in the early levels is to screen the squishier members. You have good HP, great saves and immunities, and the ability to heal. When somebody drops in combat your job is to get in there and save their bacon. You can take the hits.

Your damage dealing capabilities are average unless you're fighting Evil. At that point your Smite Evil turns you into an Evil-seeking Terminator. Save it for stuff you absolutely need to kill quickly.

>>43720026
Rip off great heroes from history.

By this I mean William Marshall. Before doing anything, ask yourself WWWM do? Then do that.

Remember, your job isn't to make deals with the devil, it's to punch him in the fucking face until he stops being evil one way or the other.

Are you gonna get jacked up sometimes? Yep. Are you gonna get stabbed in the back? Yep. Are you going to lose hope and stop holding onto the belief that things can get better, and start letting small evils slide for the greater good? Fuck that shit.

Offer your enemies redemption, and when they spit on it smack them down again. And then offer them a hand back up. Repeat until it works.

There is no end, there is no pay-off, there is no goal in sight. There is only the constant striving to make tomorrow better than today even if it is only temporary, or by a small amount.

You aren't a god, or an angel, or even anyone particularly special. You don't do anything beyond what should be expected of anyone, namely only what you can do. But you just don't stop, until your dying breath and maybe even beyond but honestly I don't know how your GM feels about that.

>>43720026
Everyone imagines Paladins as dude in heavy armor, beating things with a swords and a shield... but they actually make pretty decent archers too. I'm not saying to invest heavily in it (although your certainly can if you want to)... but carry around a bow as a backup weapon or something.

Using Lay on Hands on yourself is a swift action even though it's not when you use it on allies. This means it can be used to help mitigate damage if you do anything that provokes attacks of opportunity... and you're one of the only classes in the game who can reliably heal themselves in the middle of combat without wasting your entire turn.

Your lowest save is reflex, so "protect from energy" gear/potions/spells can help cover that gap for you when you're up against spellcasters trying to do raw damage, as most evocation spells have reflex saves.

Remember the cardinal rule of being a paladin: no paladin is perfect, they only strive to be.

As long as you can breathe humanity and bring some multi-dimensional traits into a class that has the most cliche expectations surrounding them, you'll bring something fresh to the table. The average paladin has seen enough shit to break most men but he still stays holy and virtuous to the best of his ability, use that to your advantage. Don't be afraid of "falling" both mechanically and metaphysically, it can keep things interesting and it goes back again to the cardinal rule, you will make mistakes and you'll make them a lot. Fall and get back up again, not only is the paladin imperfect but everyone around him is too. Iif they see a paragon making mistakes and getting up time and time again and wishing each time to become better than the last then you've done more than enough to inspire faith around you.

>>43720026
> Any hints or tips?
1. Set down the rules and boundaries. What is acceptable or not as part of your code. Create expectations.
2. Take the leadership of your group.
3. Try to surpass any said limitations. Be creative.
4. Have absolutely no prejudice against anything even remotely close to being sapient. Sarenrae tries to redeem demons.
5. Keep in mind 80%+ of the evil people inhabiting a town won't register on your detect evil and that some effects may have someone register as evil when he's not.

Also, look for anything that use Charisma in any way, shape or form. Diplomacy, Intimidation, Use Magic Device, multi-classing, etc. Face/Front-liner is dun.

Not OP but, I had a question which I couldn't seem to get answered.

Paladins obvious can detect and smite evil. Is it the paladins duty to strictly smite all evil in their path? What if a merchant or peasant is lawful evil, should they be smote?

Then, ofcourse, what if a party member is evil, like the inquisitor, or a fighter-nobleman?

>>43721436
Something to understand about "Detect Evil" is that it doesn't work as a mind-reading personality radar.

Detect Evil isn't meant to give you a readout on a person's personality... it's meant to detect the prescence of things like undead, or demonic creatures who masquerade as humans. A normal human isn't going to ping on your radar unless they're dabbling some dark magic or something similar. A merchant who's simply a ruthless capitalist isn't the same thing.

>>43720846
>How not to paladin, the post.

>>43721490
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/d/detect-evil

While it doesn't give out their personality (obviously), it still does ping them as evil according to Pathfinder. A normal human pings just fine.

>>43720182
>Paladins are a pretty strong class already when they're played as intended.
This is Pathfinder, they're a slight step above fighter but only when they fight evil things.

>>43721598
> A normal human pings just fine
Only if they're a Cleric or exceptionally powerful.

>>43720026
If your DM insists that executing evil threats while they're captured is an evil act, have your paladin go by the "One chance" rule. Every sentient redeemable being (emphasis on redeemable) gets 1 chance. If they deny it or do not mend their ways, they get the axe. (or sword, or hammer, or whichever weapon you decide to wield.)
If the DM still insists on trying to make you fall with that, insisting that executing a threat after you offered it mercy is an unlawful/evil act, simply point out that you merely offered it as a virtue of your code, and that it's infinitely more good to root out evil in any form than to let it roam around to do harm to the innocent.
If he makes you face a "Orc baby, wat do?" challenge, get info on whether orcs are irredeemable or not. If they aren't redeemable, execute. If they are, send the baby to your order so that it can be redeemed.
Don't fall into any loopholes or "hurr durr I'm smart and paladins are not" traps and do good in the world.

Godspeed my friend.

>>43722338
It has an aura of evil if it's above 4HD, even as just regular human merchant, according to the 'Detect Evil' table on the spell, atleast, for pathfinder.

Rule of Paladin: Just be a good person with strong morals they are willing to fight for to uphold. They might not even like fighting, but they understand the necessity of it.

>>43720026
Have fun.

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2m612?Guide-to-the-Class-Guides