Perhaps because there are a whole raft of sub-paths for the mage, dependent on which combination of spellbooks they know?

What I would like to see for mage champions (as long as mages have been brought up) is more combo spells--and summons.  So the mage is rewarded well if they have Earth and Fire to level 4 each, etc.  This would promote specialists and differentiation, rather than all-arounders who tend to seem alike.

No, currently there are no sub-paths for mages.

Yep, more spell combinations would be great, but they would not help to differentiate mages, because everyone could use them.

i always go defender...

path of the warrior sux defender is the way to go its much much better

also as defender you CAN get dmg boosts for sword and maces afaik (i modded this in fact so only warrior get dmg boost and defender does not)

Not reasonably.  Because if you're running an assassin, you wouldn't want to spend 8 traits/levels in order to learn (to use my example from earlier) Fire 4 and Earth 4.  You'd end up with a crippled assassin who misses some good assassin traits, and can cast spells without getting the benefits of the mage path, or the evoker trait.  Don't misunderstand me: I'd like to see more mage-specific traits.  But I don't want to see non-mages hobbled by removing their access to spellbooks.  The player should determine how they want to develop their champions--and if that means piling spellbooks on an assassin, well, it'll be a less effective assassin, but it's their choice.

+ 1 what he said...

No reason to choose Path of the Mage for many champions, because it is not enough mana for much spell casting. Mana is too limited resource in game. When I played Magnar in past, my economy was strictly mana-oriented and anyway I was in lack of mana. Only slave spam helped me. So most of my decent champions are Warriors/Assassins/Defenders. Also when you play Irane, Markin or Verga you probably not choose Path of Mage. Ceresa, Procipinee and Magnar are usually mages. Karavox and Relias may have several ways.

dont forget the removed 3 turn limit

now magnar train slaves in 2 turns at start which is so much better

Just tried Path of the Defender and noticed what it was about, never thought running around with TONS of hp would mean this much

Hmm, meaby a teeny nerf
Then again, I also play Gilden, with my sovereign running path of defender, and "Hardy" starting trait.

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

yes that is the best possible combo, as soon as you have decent armor ... you are god too much op anyway

You still need to deal damage, which is terribly hard as defender

Meaby I should fetch myself a nice spear somewhere

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

but you get traits as defender if i recall correctly, 40% more dmg is enough once you get  a decent weapon and some buff

or you just call a mage friend to do the dirty work

Wait what?
you can only pick swordmaster, but every hero can pick this.

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

yeah but swordmaster is the best

also how much more dmg you want, you are a tank!