I've DM'd for Paladins as PCs before, and my experience is that they can unwittingly derail a campaign, even without any effort or powergaming on the part of the player. As such, now that I'm a player, I refuse to play a Paladin. I don't want to inflict campaign-derailing sidequests just because I accidentally broke the Code and have to go on a redemption quest just to be a useful party member; I don't want to torment my DM with at-will detect evil, like I have been tormented.
I still like the character concept and some of the abilities though; I especially like their Lay on Hands class feature. So, as a first stab at finding acceptable alternatives to the Paladin class, I was wondering if there were abilities one could acquire that work just like or very close to Lay on Hands, but without being a Paladin.
Best Answer
A quick list of non-paladin ways to get Lay on Hands:
Of these, only Champion is somewhat useful.
Depending on what exactly do you require of "similar" ability, you may also want to take a look at
Of these, Touch of Vitality and Sentinel of Bharrai are usable - the latter being a full-caster prestige class and the former being a class feature of a half-decent class.
There may be more.