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Well, what world is this in? And what part of the world? It can make quite a big difference whether he's from a viking-like area, or a more Arabic-flavored one.
What caused him to become a Paladin? I mean, we're talking the same kind of things that motivate one to become a priest or a superhero, after all.
What was his childhood like? Happy, sad, rich, poor, what? Again, it makes quite a big difference.
Think like you're writing a biography. Start from birth and go from there.
I think the first step is to find inspiration. Then each idea seems to spawn the next.
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Places to look for inspiration:
Pathfinder materials
- What deity will you serve?
- What land or country are you from?
- What traits are you choosing?
Art & Literature
- Adopt a characteristic or two from a favorite book or movie character. (Indiana Jones' attitude, Monk's obsessiveness, etc.)
- Look at pictures of fantasy characters. (Google image search for "knight")
History
- What real-world country might your character be from?
- Pictures and stories about historical figures.
- Images of historical events or places.
If you are unsure of the world or just don't want to use the world's deities, you can always be a paladin without a deity. You would just serve an ideal or set of ideals. So, as someone suggested, you will need a reason for why your character is a paladin. Was he born in a church/temple and raised to serve the patron deity? (In which case you likely would have a patron.) Was his village raided by orcs/bandits/the overlord's military and he fights for justice? Was he a bad person when he was younger and is now trying to redeem himself (and if so, why the change of heart?) There are many ways you can go with this. If you do want to have a deity to worship, ask your GM about what kinds of gods his world will have and work with your GM on how paladins might serve those gods.
Paladins can be different from the basics if you build them different. I've had a African style Dwarf paladin.
a swashbuckler 3 musketeer style...
doesn't HAVE to be the standard shining white knight on a horse.
I decided a while ago, if I play another Paladin in the future, that I was going to make him like Jonah and the Whale. If you're not familiar with the biblical reference, the basic story is this:
The Lord said, "Go here and speak for me." Jonah said, "Nuh-uh," and ran away. But, the Lord wasn't going to let Jonah simply run away and ignore His command. So, the Lord followed him, and commanded him, over and over. Then, finally, when Jonah was on a boat, the Lord sent a powerful storm. When the sailors discovered that it was because of Jonah, they threw him overboard. But, even then Jonah couldn't escape. The Lord sent a giant fish that swallowed Jonah whole, and carried him to where the Lord wanted him to be, then spat him back out.
My premise for the Paladin is basically that he doesn't want to be a Paladin. He's not "fallen". He's still a good, moral, and just person. He just doesn't want the trials or the burdens or the responsibility. He's trying to run away from it. But, ______________ isn't letting him. The campaign, almost no matter what it is, would be the Paladin ending up where he was supposed to be.
my best paladin backstory was a very minor noble, raised to be a soldier. However, once he actually went to war, it turned out he was a coward, fleeing the battle to a nearby town to drown his sorrows in drink.
After a time, a a kindly priest (at the time it was 3.5, so Lathander, the Morning Lord) found him passed out in an alleyway in a pile of trash during a rainy night. After getting cleaned up a bit, he decides that perhaps coming to a Temple of Lathander was a sign, and after praying (something he's never done before) he felt that the path of the paladin was the right choice.
However, he is still very uncomfortable in his role as a holy warrior, and is still harboring self doubts about his choice, and about his previous acts of cowardice. Though immune to fear, he has anxiety over any possible return of his cowardice, and its constantly striving to prove to others (but really, himself) that he is not a coward any longer.
This leads to some reckless endangerment of himself and the party. However, it is tolerated due to the fact that he is NOT the typical, annoyingly lawful stupid paladin, he isn't a bigot, and he isn't anywhere near falling. He is just plagued by self doubts.
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I was considering trying the concept of a bigoted pally who only considers members of his own race as "innocents" and anyone else is treated no differently than an animal.
You can easily have a bigoted Paladin. One who had a sense of noblesse oblige or 'white man's burden' towards lesser races seems very likely in some cultures actually. But he'd always treat his 'inferiors' very well, particularly if they knew their place. It's a definitional thing.
You cannot have one who actually legitimately mistreats or actively harms people because of their race...because that's an Evil act and thus causes him to fall and no longer be a Paladin.
To take a page from real history, a Paladin could support the idea of segregation and 'separate but equal', and reject the idea of interracial marriage as appropriate...but if he sees a lynching in progress? He's gotta step in and stop it. Ditto if he sees someone beating up a guy for being a minority.
Or, to go further back, you can have a Paladin who supports slavery, but he'd also support laws proteting slaves from abuse, and wouldn't countenance the unjust punishment of slaves, nor allow things like the rape of slaves by their masters.
Paladins can have inappropriate or unfortunate thoughts or beliefs, but they can't actually directly oppress or harm people for invalid reasons, as that's gonna result in their falling pretty quick. Treating people like animals is definitely gonna qualify as an Evil and quickly fall into this category.