Actually, debian does not go to the extreme in the other direction, it's possible to split off the pike-level modules too, as has been discussed here, and all C-modules. Debian only have some 10 packages (I don't remember exactly how many).
I don't mind the debian way of packaging, btw, it's quite usuful. What I dread is that, say, Protocols.HTTP will be removed (and not nessesarily that specific module, perhaps Calendar instead) from the default distribution, and suddenly most 'cool' small pike-hacks that can be downloaded will also require a secondary download of pike-modules, just as is already the case for perl and python.
It really raises the bar for 'normal' users as far as running pike-scripts is concerned.
And actually, one of the top-ten widely distributed pike-applications I know of (AIDO) requires SDL, GL, MySQL, HTTP and much more.