Shattered Kingdoms

Bards also get: third attack, dodge (which, by the way, is a skill that I think literally every caster gets, paladin or not), parry, disarm, sword (a weapon no casters except paladins/hellions get), e-damage, fast healing, trip, and dirt kicking.

They are consumate fighters, only outmatched by mercs, barbs, and swashies. It's a pretty even fight between bards and pallions. A caster gets to cry bitter tears of horror when a bard comes to call, if they don't have an army of undead or a big scary charm at the ready.

So your argument that "pallions are fighters and so should be able to use magic while fighting" applies just as readily to bards. There are exactly two fighting skills pallions get that bards don't: shield block, and heavy armor. Arguably, that's also offset to fewer by the fact that bards get fighting skills that paladins don't, such as brawling.

I demand shield block. Give it to me!

Seraphiction, you seem to be confused about how combat casting works, unless I am reading your posts wrong.

A paladin/hellion with combat casting gets 1 attack a round, as opposed to the zero attacks any other caster will.

-All casters-, if bashed while casting a spell, pause the spell halfway and resume it when they regain their footing. This has nothing to do with combat casting.

If your case is for giving combat casting to anyone besides paladins/hellions, then I'm completely confused. Absolutely no other caster classes benefit at all from it.

It's called combat casting for a reason. It's a combat skill. You get one melee attack per round while casting and you get all your normal melee attacks per round if you are prone while casting. This is all in the help file.