Roleplaying Rules

[Arkhios]

Otherwise, that's the point a background and class creates an interesting backstory to tie it all together.

You have a point, no question there. I guess I just woke up on the wrong foot, since I had a compelling urge to be snide. My apologies.

Back to my post a way back in the thread (and multiple times before, elsewhere).

Being a Paladin, for example, is to answer a calling. It doesn't matter who you are, or where you were born.

Mine was born to a clan of a northern clan known as the Winter Wolves, who, by the way, despite their classification as a clan, live within a society of their own, settled in one place. Not precisely within a city, but a settlement with a ruler and rules to abide to which defines their own culture.
A Culture which might seem barbaric to the outsiders might not actually be so.

Vikings, for example, were very cultured in their own way, and despite their tendency to raid their neighbours regularly, they were much more than just barbaric raiders. They had a social hierarchy reminiscent to that of a kingdom, and Jarl actually translates to something akin to a king. Being a fearsome warrior was part of their cultural identity.

Similarly, for my paladin's people, being a warrior is both a life-style as well as cultural thing. Being a warrior does not, however, dictate that a person couldn't strive to achieve more or something else entirely.

Due to an ancestor who united the two previously separated clans of Winter Wolves and Tundra Wolves, my character was trained in the basics of Arcane knowledge as was everyone before him, just because the ancestor just happened to be an Archmage, and thus teaching the Nature of Magic became a family tradition, regardless of what career everyone chose to pursue later. Mine chose to become a blacksmith, who out of as much as necessity as duty to his clan, took part in several battles. In those battles he grew to be quite a remarkable warrior as well. Long story short, his family was devoted to the Old Faith (sort of like the druidic religion), and as a warrior he also revered Kord, the god of battle and storms, and so it happened that he felt a calling to become a paladin, and to protect the Old Faith and ancient traditions properly, he swore the Oath of the Ancients in the presence of the local Druidic Circles.

TL;DR: A character's background as a specific rule trumps the generic rule, but sometimes with a bit of creativity (and a DM's consent) you can entwine the class and background together seamlessly.