No. Being a true paladin and an imitation of one are not at all the same thing no matter how good the imitation. And Mazzy would be the first person to agree with this.
You don't get Mazzy. Mazzy is a paladin despite not being one. She is a fighter on the outside but she is a paladin on the inside to the points that she transcends the limitations of her own race. She is practically a paladin in all but name. Why else would she get those special abilities? In fact I would argue that Mazzy is a better paladin then the baseline one, because for her it's a personal thing. Her skills and devotion are intertwined with her personality making her into something unique. I kinda wish all companions had a unique personality-twist on their core class like that. DA2 and Tyranny did this very well. Every companion had their very own personal talent tree, they weren't just cardboard cutouts.
No, you're the one missing my point. Mazzy is a fighter and not a paladin because the game rules very arbitrarily and with no logical reason forces her to be that. It's the game rules forcing this on the character, not the character's story. That's the point. If the game rules allowed her to be a paladin, her character would've been written as a paladin.
The issue of a character who could be a paladin but chooses to not be one and instead chooses to be a fighter who behaves like a paladin, because that's what the character's story is all about, is an entirely separate issue. I agree that is an interesting character. But that is not what I am talking about here.
