Bards are able to be a jack of all trades but mater of none. I used a bard in a support role and as the party face during my first playthrough and it was a lot of fun. However if you are looking for a character that is the BEST at anyone thing, the Bard is not for you.
main problem is that you can use only 4 chars in team, i tried archer bard and melee bard both sucks and caster bard compered to sorc or wizzard is no comment or support to cleric or paladin