I'm not all that certain what you are arguing here. Maybe you can help clear it up with a yes or no answer to the following:
Do you think ALL paladins HAVE to be devoted to a specific deity NO MATTER WHAT and there CANNOT exist a Paladin which does not express devotion to a specific, named deity? (Meaning the option not to follow a deity should NOT exist?)
No, thats possible. But its certainly not the norm, those Paladins are in a minority. The norm is that Paladins Get their power from their chosen deity/deities. Hence if Larian implemented something similar/copy of Cleric its ok to have an option like «none» in my opninion.
Dont think that it has been brought up in this thread. But Ive seen people argue in other threads on this forum on this same topic, as well as on Reddit, that Paladin powers dont come from deities. But rather some random oath force (i.e thin air). Hence my previous post.
This is just a personal theory, but I think The reason why WOTC implemented The whole powers connected to oaths thing, was to give an alternative to the traditional stereotype. They did it to have a more loose system that wasnt as rigid. Also its alot easier to Connect stuff to more general oaths that can cover several deities in one oath. Rather than make specific oaths to each god etc. Thats just my theory though, havent really read up on reason for emphasis change.
