We would like to create an outdoor space in our backyard and have considered something like a paver patio. However, our backyard slopes toward our house. It would be extremely difficult to make it level. Will this possibly cause a flooding issue if we have very heavy rain? I think if we tried to level the yard, water would come over the fence curbing if we had heavy rain (maybe once every 10 years!). Would some type of deck be a better option?

It depends on whether or not you have a basement or not.

If you have a basement, then it's always best to have your landscaping slope away from the house, but the bottom line is that there are weeping tiles all the way around the bottom of your basement walls. Those weeping tiles drain the ground around your house of excess ground water thereby removing the hydrostatic pressure that would otherwise cause the ground water to want to leak into/through your basement wall into your basement. Provided your weeping tiles are in good condition and working, I don't see any real problem in using concrete pavers to make a patio that slopes toward your house. It'll just mean that there'll be a bit more water draining away through the weeping tiles into your catch basin or sump pit.

You might consider is to leave a small gap between the pavers to allow the rain water to drip down between them. That's not normally a good idea cuz dirt will collect in those gaps and weeds will start to grow in that dirt. But, you could kill those weeds by pulling them or spraying with Round-Up. At least that way, the water issues that result from building that patio won't be significantly worse than they are now.

Where I live, virtually every house has a basement. So, how that patio would affect a house built on a slab is something I wouldn't know. Maybe someone else in here could comment on that.

We don't have a basement, but the house is on a concrete slab. I tried to post pics, but was unsuccessful. We don't have any flooding issues now, but don't want to create any. Leaving gaps between pavers sounds like it might work though. Thanks!

I would excavate so that the paver patio slopes away from the house. You could do a little retaining wall at the back edge to account for the soil you removed. Why risk the water coming in, even if it is only once in a while. You just never know.

the house should be on the highest ground in the lot. failing that, any water should be directed away from the house at whatever cost, and any area that can't be fully guaranteed to be above water level should be actively drained.

get good wheelbarrows and shovels, you are going to use them really, really hard.

you might have to put in drain "tile", usually clothed perforated plastic pipe, and a pump well and sump pump. and/or a deep French (rock) drain near the house, if raising the grade would take soil within a foot and a half (two blocks) from the first wood. windows might need drained wells.