It isn't the concept of "Paladin", it is the implementation.
And my reasons for not wanting to do one in Express Additions is simple, doing so steps on the toes of other things that ICE (and The Guild Companion) have going on. That simple. It is already being done in 2 different ways in 2 different products. Doing it a third time is just plain silly.
And yes, it is back from when the old ICE went bankrupt - remember, we are not that same company as that old ICE.
Due to the bankruptcy, ownership of much of the IP returned to the authors. That means that for ICE to republish or re-use material from those products, we, the current ICE, have to purchase it from the authors.
Certain products, like many of the RM Companions had multiple authors and we do not have contact information for them (especially, not after 10-20 years).
ICE has made a deal with the Guild Companion. If they can track down and get the authors to agree to sell their rights to ICE, TGC gets to publish the product (It is a bit more complicated, but that is the general gist of it). Once TGC publishes one of the old products, ICE gets to develop NEW material based on that material (i.e. derivative material -- something not allowed otherwise).