I agree that physical damage dealers stroger, But mages have better aoe. Get elemental affinity and put 1 in warfare to get executioner, then mages do insane damage. You can cast impale, fosill strike and fireball in one turn, reduce 3-4 enemies life to %25
... that sounds awesome. Must try on my next playthrough ^^
(Although at the moment I get nervous trepidations from just hearing 'fire aoe'. I did the 'oil rig' fight last night where you have to save the apprentice on the gallows. Good god. FIRE EVERYWHERE! Cursed fire too. Ugh.)
