No, I was not using any mods ... just was an available class to choose when I downloaded the game through Steam last week, so I made one and started playing. Today none of my saved games work, I updated beta to patch 8 and it had no Paladin option. I am now deleting and re-installing and crossing my fingers.
If you only downloaded the game last week then you were presumably on patch 9 (which is the first and only one in which paladins are available). If you then 'updated' to patch 8 then you will have removed paladins.
