All Mages released so far have been "specialists", being Trained all the way up to sixth level in a certain school.

However, all those who have ever played D&D in any form know that “jack-of-all-trades”, the Bard, not the best and most specialized in any school but good to decent in more schools than others. Not a “specialist” thus, but an “all-rounder”.

I'd love to see a Bard released and started thinking what he would look like in the Mage Wars universe, meaning, what Training would he have and what would be his Abilities ?

I envision him like this :
Similar to the Wizard, the Bard has to make some choices regarding his Training :

Trained in lvl 3 Nature or War Spells.
Trained in lvl 2 Holy or Dark Spells
Trained in lvl 1 Arcane or Mind Spells
Trained in lvl 1 Fire or Water or Earth or Wind Spells

As such a Bard would have 7 levels of Training which is 1 lvl more than most Mages ( but less than the Wizard and Warlock which have 12 lvls of Training ) but at the cost of not being Trained beyond lvl 3 in any school.

It would be a real Jack-of-all-Trades kinda Mage as he gives you a lot of design possibilities.
You could go for a "classic" good kind of Bard with Nature-Holy-Arcane-Earth
or a more "evil" oriented like War-Dark-Mind-Fire and a lot more variations.

Notice the Bard doesn't have any spells costing triple spellpoints during spellbook design, which of course also represents his jack-of-all-trades characteristic.

As for his abilities :

Bodyguard ( Counter )
When a friendly - non-Legendary, non-Unique - creature comes into play, you may make it your Bodyguard.
Pay mana equal to the creature's level, then place your Bodyguard marker on it.
Your Bodyguard gains the Vigilant and Intercept Traits.
If your Bodyguard is destroyed, you may assign the marker again in the same manner when a new non-Legendary, non-unique creature is summoned.

Leadership ( Ability )
All other friendly creatures in the Bard's zone gain Armor +1.

Singing ( Ability )
Once per round, as a Quick Spell, the Bard may use his Singing ability to gain the Aegis 1 trait until the end of the round.

Starting stats :
Life : 34
Channeling : 9
Basic Melee attack : 3 dice

And finally … his ring

Charisma Ring
Cost : 3
Once per round, this Mage may pay 1 less mana when he casts a creature spell from a school and a level that he is trained in.

Any suggestions whether he would be equally powered, underpowered or overpowered in this state are welcome.