MadalinStroe: The bard has always been the second best class at everything. Depending on the game mechanics he can cast spells, he can steal, he can lockpick, he can fight using melee or ranged weapons. I guess he should always be the best charisma player, but that's usually the paladin...
That hasn't been the case.
I've played plenty of games where the Bard is the best at support roles, or has support abilities, but isn't suitable for other tasks, though having some weak party-wide healing ability (sometimes heal-over-time) isn't unusual. In fact, the specialist is how I've always perceived the Bard, not the generalist that you've been mentioning.
(Although, Wizardry 8's Bard is a bit like you describe, except that they can only cast spells via musical instruments (though note that there's some that cast high level spells, like Nuclear Blast), and they are actually the best at Communication, getting the 25% primary skill bonus to that skill.)
Orkhepaj: (females cant be bards obviously)
In Wizardry 8, not only can female characters be bards, but they're actually preferred, due to an early game Stamina regen item that only female characters can equip.
(Using a musical instrument consumes a large amount of stamina (instead of using SP as a conventional spellcaster would), so being able to regenerate it is helpful, allowing the character to more easily recover from fatigue unconsciousness, and making music spells basically free outside of combat.)
Cadaver747: STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA
Where did you get that particular attribute ordering?
(I've always seen DEX and CON before INT and WIS.)
