Paladins then get their powers the same roundabout way druids do -- in theory! In practice, people have argued here that a paladin not worshipping a specific deity is a white raven. They /exist/, but who thinks of a white raven before black?
Divorcing the Paladins from their respective deities in DnD seems to be an interesting case insofar as it presents us with a situation where the loosening of rules with the explicit goal of creating more player freedom to explore niche character concepts (white ravens as you called it) paradoxically creates a ripple effect where we now have fewer roleplay choices and the exception effectively becomes the new rule. There's a lesson to be learned here, I guess.
