Cleric vs Paladin, 3.x Forgotten Realms
Faiths and Avatars doesn't have anything on Paladins, specifically. (I think. It's 2e.)
Anyway, in the 3.x Realms, I always saw Paladinhood as a set of rules defined by and under the jurisdiction of Torm - to the extent that other gods of Law or Good can have Paladins, it's by Torm's authority. Hence, Paladins must both serve the commandments of their god and the codes set by Torm (even if, say, Sune might not object to one of her followers murdering a dark wizard in his sleep, that's not what paladins do - or let their allies do). It isn't until 4e that you get Paladin redefined as simply "holy warrior of any faith."
Broadly-speaking, most any concept you can do as a Paladin can also be done as a Fighter-Cleric, but the reverse isn't true. A Paladin is a warrior specifically empowered by an appropriate god (either of Good or Law) to fight for them while embodying concepts of Good, Law, and honor (the Code). They are knights of the light. A Cleric, meanwhile, is a priest of any deity trained in combat and the necessary rites to invoke that deity's magic; it's a far broader and more general class. A combat-focused Cleric of good with fighter levels can look almost identical to a Paladin thematically; though they don't have the specific graces that are granted to a Paladin, they can absolutely do the holy-knight thing just as well.
This message was last edited by the user at 04:03, Thu 01 June 2017.