I did enjoy when mages had weapon skills, I don't see the harm in bringing them back, could make things more interesting.

"Condemnation Thaumaturge 10 You open with your weapon a gateway to the world. Damage element: shadow. Effect: According to the damage caused your MP to be replenished."

I thought this was pretty neat when it was in-game, before it was removed.. there were a lot of others I liked too.