I generally agree with the point you're making. That said...

>Defiance even falls under this. It is often
>held by paladins who take few risks, and moreover are willing
>to (usually, nep played temp paladins are an exception) get
>the group together to get it.

It really doesn't seem THAT bad to me to get solo for any non-dwarf paladin. I'll probably do something one of these days to discourage the serial suicide method that generally seems popular among paladins not played by me; even without it's completely doable.

Caveat: You do need to keep your eyes out for (or pre-gather) a few key pieces of gear to do it with minimal struggle. None of it's super-limited or stuff the same paladin could not get alone.

I think the last time I did this was with a pre-hero no-virtues-yet paladin, for what it's worth. As far as I can figure, assorted game changes since that time would only make the process slightly easier.

If this seems insurmountable, that might be a challenge to make another paladin and try to figure out how to do it. :)