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In Golarion, how closely are Paladins tied in to using their deity's favored weapons? I've got a paladin I'm building up who uses a longbow, but the character's personality isn't well-suited to worship of Erastil.
Would Abadar or Sarenrae consider using a longbow heretical? Does Iomedae frown on using anything but swords? Should a paladin of Shizuru spend a feat on Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Katana)?
Is a paladin's weapon choice tied to their deity, or more of a personal choice?
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In Golarion, how closely are Paladins tied in to using their deity's favored weapons? I've got a paladin I'm building up who uses a longbow, but the character's personality isn't well-suited to worship of Erastil.
Would Abadar or Sarenrae consider using a longbow heretical? Does Iomedae frown on using anything but swords? Should a paladin of Shizuru spend a feat on Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Katana)?
Is a paladin's weapon choice tied to their deity, or more of a personal choice?
Personal choice. Nothing forces you to use your deity's favored weapon, even if you're a cleric of the god in question. You might find some minor encouragement in the form of special feats or spells that enhance the favored weapon, but that encouragement is all carrot and no stick.
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That said, how close a deity is connected with his or her weapon depends on the deity. Gorum for example is always described as in heavy armor, his weapon seems quite unimportant. A quick read over some of the articles on PathfinderWiki reveals that Sarenrae "expects her faithful to be skilled at swordplay, both as a form of martial art promoting centering of mind and body, and so that when they do enter battle, their foes do not suffer any longer than necessary", but really, I'd say take whatever deity you want and go with it. It's not like in The Dark Eye (which probably very few around have ever played) where the goddess of war hates bows and her clerics are even strongly encouraged to destroy every crossbow they come accross (but on the other hand, many gods in this game tend to be quite extreme in their views) - the Golarion deities seem pretty relaxed, in this regard at least.
As Blackbot said it depends on the connection between the god at hand and the weapon.
I'd consider the following major god(esse)s of the Inner Sea region to have a closer relationship:
Ruyan.
I don't think the deities have any problem with their paladins using other, suitable weapons.
A paladin of shizuru wielding a tetsubu or a paladin of erastil wielding a spear should be ok.
A paladin of iomedae specializing in the use of a scorpion whip would depend on the reasoning and might be somewhat irritating. (but that's subjective)
And in some cases, it's really illogical or at least unoptimal for them to do so. For example, one of my paladins in the past, in my group's Age of Worms game, worshiped Wee Jas, whose favored weapon is dagger. Sure, there's probably a paladin build out there that could make dagger-fighting really work, but it wasn't the kind of character I was going for. So my paladin toted around a heavy flail instead. After all, we had a feeling we'd be needing to smash a great deal of undead....
She carried a dagger around though. One because it's just a generally good idea for every character to own a dagger for practical use's sake, and two because it was her deity's favored weapon, and thus would be used in rituals and stuff.
Slight side track: the Paladin does not automaticly receive the proficiency for their god's weapon, right?
I wanted to create a Paladin of Ragathiel but did not want to spend the feat to use the Bastard Sword. So I gave him a Longsword.
It's also important to note that in Golarion, to the best of my knowledge, a Paladin's powers don't actually come from their deity, they come from their devotion to the ideals they follow, which are often IN LINE with a specific Deity.
So they're not nearly as tied to the use of that deity's weapon as a cleric might be. If they choose to wield it, it's generally out of respect to the God they follow, not out of requirement.
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Report from the field:
I did a crappy survey of the GMs I know and every one I grilled stated emphatically that Paladins MUST use the weapon approved by their deity. 100%, no exceptions.
Next, I did a check of their house rules and was amused that only 1 of 15 had such listed in her rules. But that was only for Smites and other 'channelings' of Divine Power (Clerics too). I fall into that school as well, having 'cut-and-paste'd her rules a dozen years ago. This is kind of a dodge, all three of the Pally gods have that weapon as their holy symbol.
A third tier check of a number, maybe half, of the relevant players revealed that well under a quarter (6 of 27 interrogated) followed that restriction, even in the above GMs' games. Again, the result was flawed by 3 of the above GMs being in that lot and word getting out that I was doing a survey.
In conclusion, while folks might say that's what should be, the reality is the opposite, for the most part.
For the record, all but one of these GMs grants proficiency in the weapon or Weapon Group, Cleric and Paladin. Only two realized such was not automatic.
Unless the GMs are actually reading or being advised of this board, only one has changed his house rules, but he currently has no Paladins characters active.
Creative Director
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In Golarion, paladins of a deity prefer to use the deity's favored weapon. They aren't required to, but most take it as a point of pride to use that weapon or at least carry it on their person when at war or adventuring or crusading. Some take it as a point of honor to use the weapon in battle, even if it's not necessarily the BEST weapon they could use. And since the higher level a paladin gets, the more damage he does with his smite starts to overshadow the actual die roll of his weapon anyway...
And while it's true that a paladin doesn't HAVE to worship a deity... most of those in Golarion DO worship deities. The vast majority, in fact, do. It's usually when you get to PCs that this rule isn't as set in stone.