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Iomedae

Portfolio: Valor, Rulership, Justice, Honor
Description: The goddess of righteous valor, justice, and honor.

The problem with Iomedae is that from her description, her paladins are the classic, stereotypical paladins: holy knights, dressed in white, tasked with rooting out evil. The church of Iomedae was designed as a vehicle for exactly those paladins. However, there's no reason for a paladin to be an unflexible dogmatist. He could be aware that others have not been as blessed as he has with proximity to the Goddess, and might require his sympathy, not his scorn. He could be more pragmatic - striking a bargain with the rest of the party to give up certain aspects - torturing captured humanoids, for instance - while accepting certain practices himself. After all, Iomedae knows that she is not the only deity - she views the likes of Cayden Cailean as allies, after all - and will allow her servants some measure of flexibility, assuming their overall goals server her purposes. Of course, such a paladin would always be on somewhat unstable footing - her eye would be extra vigilant to make sure those that walk on the thin line don't stumble over to the other side.

I think the first thing to do is break the link between "paladin" and "knight". It's the classic formulation, but that's because the original paladin's image is based on medieval knights fighting in the name of Christianity. But take an LG deity in your campaign setting, and try to build the paladin in his image.

You tagged your question Pathfinder, so I went over and checked the Lawful Good gods in Golarion, the default setting's pantheon to see what do we have. Also, as Martin Sjokas noted in the comments, just because the paladin has to be Lawful Good, doesn't mean he has to serve a Lawful Good deity. Pathfinder's wiki has a little chart to see what alignment followers can be, and quite a few ones accept Lawful Good followers. But for our example, we'll focus on two LG deities:

Andoletta

Portfolio: Consolation, Respect, Security
Description: appears and acts like an elderly family matriarch. She treats her flock as any grandmother would, protecting the innocent, reprimanding the wayward, and punishing the sinful.

How would a paladin of Andoletta be seen? A woman, probably. Not necessarily old (since you have to start somewhere) but compassionate. Perhaps a healer or wise-woman, who also steps in to defend her friends and charges when they are risked. She or he could be a member of a large extended family, even a noble family, and be the protector of the household and the family name.

Erastil

Portfolio: Farming, Hunting, Trade, Family
Description: He is a god of the hunt and of farming, leading his followers by example and good deeds rather than flowery rhetoric

The classic paladin, the one we're trying to avoid, LIVES by his flowery rhetoric. A paladin of Erastil will seem to many to be a ranger. He might live in small farming communities, maybe even outside the communities, but he serves as their protector. He makes sure the traders coming in for the harvest are safe, that no shady dealings occur, and that monsters and animals don't hurt the town. Think of a classic wild-west sherriff, protecting his little town. That could be a paladin of Erastil.

The list goes on, and you can think of many more archetypes. The Sherriff, as we said. An Exiled Prince, on a divine mission to reunite a torn kingdom, can also fit. What most of these archetypes share is that they're not necessarily preachy, and they're not necessarily dogmatic and rigid. Paladins are Lawful Good, but they don't have to be Lawful Stupid. And their Paladinhood doesn't have to be their only defining trait. Take any LG character, add divine motivation to their actions, and you have yourself a paladin.

I think the first thing to do is break the link between "paladin" and "knight". It's the classic formulation, but that's because the original paladin's image is based on medieval knights fighting in the name of Christianity. But take an LG deity in your campaign setting, and try to build the paladin in his image.

You tagged your question Pathfinder, so I went over and checked the Lawful Good gods in Golarion, the default setting's pantheon to see what do we have. Also, as Martin Sojka noted in the comments, just because the paladin has to be Lawful Good, doesn't mean he has to serve a Lawful Good deity. Pathfinder's wiki has a little chart to see what alignment followers can be, and quite a few ones accept Lawful Good followers. But for our example, we'll focus on two LG deities:

Andoletta

Portfolio: Consolation, Respect, Security
Description: appears and acts like an elderly family matriarch. She treats her flock as any grandmother would, protecting the innocent, reprimanding the wayward, and punishing the sinful.

How would a paladin of Andoletta be seen? A woman, probably. Not necessarily old (since you have to start somewhere) but compassionate. Perhaps a healer or wise-woman, who also steps in to defend her friends and charges when they are risked. She or he could be a member of a large extended family, even a noble family, and be the protector of the household and the family name.

Erastil

Portfolio: Farming, Hunting, Trade, Family
Description: He is a god of the hunt and of farming, leading his followers by example and good deeds rather than flowery rhetoric

The classic paladin, the one we're trying to avoid, LIVES by his flowery rhetoric. A paladin of Erastil will seem to many to be a ranger. He might live in small farming communities, maybe even outside the communities, but he serves as their protector. He makes sure the traders coming in for the harvest are safe, that no shady dealings occur, and that monsters and animals don't hurt the town. Think of a classic wild-west sherriff, protecting his little town. That could be a paladin of Erastil.

The list goes on, and you can think of many more archetypes. The Sherriff, as we said. An Exiled Prince, on a divine mission to reunite a torn kingdom, can also fit. What most of these archetypes share is that they're not necessarily preachy, and they're not necessarily dogmatic and rigid. Paladins are Lawful Good, but they don't have to be Lawful Stupid. And their Paladinhood doesn't have to be their only defining trait. Take any LG character, add divine motivation to their actions, and you have yourself a paladin.

I think the first thing to do is break the link between "paladin" and "knight". It's the classic formulation, but that's because the original paladin's image is based on medieval knights fighting in the name of Christianity. But take an LG deity in your campaign setting, and try to build the paladin in his image.

You tagged your question Pathfinder, so I went over and checked the Lawful Good gods in Golarion, the default setting's pantheon. What do we have?

Andoletta

Portfolio: Consolation, Respect, Security
Description: appears and acts like an elderly family matriarch. She treats her flock as any grandmother would, protecting the innocent, reprimanding the wayward, and punishing the sinful.

How would a paladin of Andoletta be seen? A woman, probably. Not necessarily old (since you have to start somewhere) but compassionate. Perhaps a healer or wise-woman, who also steps in to defend her friends and charges when they are risked. She or he could be a member of a large extended family, even a noble family, and be the protector of the household and the family name.

Erastil

Portfolio: Farming, Hunting, Trade, Family
Description: He is a god of the hunt and of farming, leading his followers by example and good deeds rather than flowery rhetoric

The classic paladin, the one we're trying to avoid, LIVES by his flowery rhetoric. A paladin of Erastil will seem to many to be a ranger. He might live in small farming communities, maybe even outside the communities, but he serves as their protector. He makes sure the traders coming in for the harvest are safe, that no shady dealings occur, and that monsters and animals don't hurt the town. Think of a classic wild-west sherriff, protecting his little town. That could be a paladin of Erastil.

The list goes on, and you can think of many more archetypes. The Sherriff, as we said. An Exiled Prince, on a divine mission to reunite a torn kingdom, can also fit. What most of these archetypes share is that they're not necessarily preachy, and they're not necessarily dogmatic and rigid. Paladins are Lawful Good, but they don't have to be Lawful Stupid. And their Paladinhood doesn't have to be their only defining trait. Take any LG character, add divine motivation to their actions, and you have yourself a paladin.

I think the first thing to do is break the link between "paladin" and "knight". It's the classic formulation, but that's because the original paladin's image is based on medieval knights fighting in the name of Christianity. But take an LG deity in your campaign setting, and try to build the paladin in his image.

You tagged your question Pathfinder, so I went over and checked the Lawful Good gods in Golarion, the default setting's pantheon to see what do we have. Also, as Martin Sjokas noted in the comments, just because the paladin has to be Lawful Good, doesn't mean he has to serve a Lawful Good deity. Pathfinder's wiki has a little chart to see what alignment followers can be, and quite a few ones accept Lawful Good followers. But for our example, we'll focus on two LG deities:

Andoletta

Portfolio: Consolation, Respect, Security
Description: appears and acts like an elderly family matriarch. She treats her flock as any grandmother would, protecting the innocent, reprimanding the wayward, and punishing the sinful.

How would a paladin of Andoletta be seen? A woman, probably. Not necessarily old (since you have to start somewhere) but compassionate. Perhaps a healer or wise-woman, who also steps in to defend her friends and charges when they are risked. She or he could be a member of a large extended family, even a noble family, and be the protector of the household and the family name.

Erastil

Portfolio: Farming, Hunting, Trade, Family
Description: He is a god of the hunt and of farming, leading his followers by example and good deeds rather than flowery rhetoric

The classic paladin, the one we're trying to avoid, LIVES by his flowery rhetoric. A paladin of Erastil will seem to many to be a ranger. He might live in small farming communities, maybe even outside the communities, but he serves as their protector. He makes sure the traders coming in for the harvest are safe, that no shady dealings occur, and that monsters and animals don't hurt the town. Think of a classic wild-west sherriff, protecting his little town. That could be a paladin of Erastil.

The list goes on, and you can think of many more archetypes. The Sherriff, as we said. An Exiled Prince, on a divine mission to reunite a torn kingdom, can also fit. What most of these archetypes share is that they're not necessarily preachy, and they're not necessarily dogmatic and rigid. Paladins are Lawful Good, but they don't have to be Lawful Stupid. And their Paladinhood doesn't have to be their only defining trait. Take any LG character, add divine motivation to their actions, and you have yourself a paladin.