All I want is smiting slavers and oppressive assholes in the face regardless of their race, even if it means smashing a couple humans in too for their anti-goblin bullshit, with a shiny big hammer weilded by an ungenderable working class paragon.

Edit: credit given to credit due: BG3 has a really good character editor that really allows to fucking around with gender quite well Also Edit: props to Paizo with Pathfinder then, that's the way to do it.

Pathfinder 2E is in general just the absolute best that any iteration or hack of D&D has ever been. Lots of little fiddly bits for flavor options, generally pretty good balance, and fixed early levels.

I still don't particularly like it and would never run it, but it is a huge improvement over any D&D version.

In 5e rules-as-written it's pretty flexible.

If a paladin willfully violates his or her oath and shows no sign of repentance, the consequences can be more serious. At the DM’s discretion, an impenitent paladin might be forced to abandon this class and adopt another, or perhaps to take the Oathbreaker paladin option that appears in the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

The tenets of the Oath of Devotion (closest thing to a traditional paladin)

Honesty. Don’t lie or cheat. Let your word be your promise.

Courage. Never fear to act, though caution is wise.

Compassion. Aid others, protect the weak, and punish those who threaten them. Show mercy to your foes, but temper it with wisdom.

Honor. Treat others with fairness, and let your honorable deeds be an example to them. Do as much good as possible while causing the least amount of harm.

Duty. Be responsible for your actions and their consequences, protect those entrusted to your care, and obey those who have just authority over you.

I'd say freeing slaves falls under Compassion for "protect the weak and punish those who threaten them" and as for slavery being legal I'd respond by pointing out Duty where "obey those who have just authority over you" by saying any system supporting slavery is not just.

Even apart from that, there's not really any alignment in 5e. It exists as a way to describe your character and a very small number of magic items require specific alignments. Spells like Protection from Evil and Good work against extraplanar beings like celestials and friends rather than things having good or evil alignment like they did in past editions.

All that to say if anyone tried to tell me my paladin broke their oath by freeing a slave and wouldn't listen to reason I'd probably leave their game. Oathbreaker paladins have no tenets or oath but just read this fucking description and tell me it sounds like someone who freed slaves lol

An Oathbreaker is a paladin who breaks his or her sacred oaths to pursue some dark ambition or serve an evil power. Whatever light burned in the paladin’s heart has been extinguished. Only darkness remains.