Point taken.
In the 1st edition AD&D the Bard started as a fighter, became a thief, then became a Bard. I always thought the resultant class in 2nd edition was a merger of those three. Fighter, thief and mage, though of course not great at either.
When forming a party, I always keep in mind the old quarter.
Fighter
Magic User
Cleric
Thief.
The two remaining characters supplement and support the first four, and so are often multi for me.
A Palladin is a fighter with a bit of Cleric. A Ranger is a fighter with some thief and some Druid thrown in.
If I had a Palladin I felt better about having a Druid for example.
A Bard gave good Archer support, and secondary Mage skills, with a supplemented pickpocketing, hear noises etc.
In SoA hearing noises is gone.
So much for the benefit of superior hearing.
