Paladins are the quintessential knights in shining armor in both Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder. They are typically seen wearing heavy armor and wielding a sword and shield, but they are ideal on the frontlines. However, since 2009, Paizo has been nudging Paladins to be more than just shining defenders. The divergence came from reworking Smite Evil – the previous iteration of D&D’s Divine Smite – to trigger at any range. Compared to D&D, many Pathfinder Paladins rely on archery, hyper-focus on spell casting, or stop a fight from even breaking out.

https://screenrant.com/dnd-pathfinder-differences-paladin-divine-smite-rules-op-ed/