Actually compared with those in their class the trainees are not too over powered. Mostly they are similar but just have higher luck.

I.E.


_______________________________
|Amelia's Final average| General Max|
|-------------|------|------------ |
|--Hit Points--|--49--|-----60-----|
|--Strength-- |--23--|-----27-----|
|-----Skill---- |--26--|-----28---- |
|---Speed----|--25--|-----25-----|
|---Defense-- |--21- |-----29---- |
|-Resistance- |--13--|-----25---- |
|----Luck---- |--30--|-----30---- |
|----Move----|--05--|----------- |
|----Con----- |--11--|----------- |
|---------------------------------|
_______________________________
|Gilliam's Final average| General Max|
|-------------|------|------------ |
|--Hit Points--|--61--|-----60-----|
|--Strength-- |--27--|-----29-----|
|-----Skill---- |--20--|-----27---- |
|---Speed----|--17--|-----24-----|
|---Defense-- |--30- |-----30---- |
|-Resistance- |--13--|-----25---- |
|----Luck---- |--14--|-----30---- |
|----Move----|--05--|----------- |
|----Con----- |--16--|----------- |
|---------------------------------|
Thus in a comparison of the two. Amelia tanks not well at all. In addition despite the fact that she is more skilled and faster in the end she has to use weaker weapons than Gilliam due to much lower Constitution. The only area she is 'overpowered' in compared to Gilliam is her luck. Comparison wise Gilliam can score just as well if not higher due to the fact that he has higher str[4], defense[9], HP[11/12if you count the 1 above max he usually goes] and con[5]. She only is higher in Luck[16], Speed[8] and Skill[6]. Meaning Gilliam has a total of 29 stats higher than her(30 if you count that hp goes 1 over the cap, I don't), and she has a total of 30 stats higher than him. Seems pretty close to me. And Gilliam's are actually set more in line with what a general should have.

|HP.PW.SK.SP.DF.RS.LK|Description|
-----------------------------------
43.25.21.23.12.26.28 Ewan avg final
(60.28.30.26.21.25.30) Sage cap

37.31.18.24.11.23.25 Lute avg final
(60.30.28.26.21.25.30) Sage cap

Ewan is also in a boat where he isn't obviously better but is still quite usable. I think he is better suited as a druid which sort of leaves him with very little competition(similar to Ross as his beserker). Anyways Saleh also is comparable though weaker than the two above. And you just have so many applicable and usable sage canidates that it is hard to say Ewan pwns all the other sages. However, he is, imo, the best druid(he only has Knoll for competition and Knoll has no defense or luck, and doesn't come out too much higher in the other areas if at all).

Garcia and Ross compared as Warriors, Ross lacks 6 hp, 2 skill, and 3 con. All other of his stats(spd3,luk10,def1,res4) are other than str are in Ross's favor(str they both cap). So Ross lacks 11 points when compared to Garcia and Garcia lacks 18 when compared to Ross. Add in that I think Ross's is a bit better spread and that makes Ross the one trainee that is more powerful than his contemporaries. This is even more obvious if you take Ross on the Berserker path. Dolza, the other Berserker, can't stand against Ross at all.

Thus, what makes the Trainee's(particularly the warrior ones) so powerful is that they have monster luck stats. Without that they would likely be below average units.

Also the super Trainees aren't really all that powerful. First of all they gain no Con on the promotions so they are always taking hits in ability due to weapon weight. In addition the General is a more powerful class than the Super Recruit. The Berserker can top the Super Journeyman(both have extra crit) but the Berserker has caps better suited for Ross and much better Con. The Super Pupil is the one of them that can top the other upgrades, or so I am told. If I recall right it has some very nice caps compared to Druid and Sage, in addition he can use all forms of Magic if I recall right.



To end note the reason I like the raw defense is purely because in this game if you get unlucky you get to restart and I HATE that. Tink Master Gilliam is much more stable when it comes to lasting. I had Joshua get hit more than 3 times(two got to attack him one round, and I didn't count how many the next round, not likely to be more than 3 since I try to keep from being surrounded) in a row by opponents that had less than 20% accuracy on him. As you can guess he died and I got to restart. And it has happened many times like that. However, in other games I would agree with you since bad luck means you just have to revive(quickly revive if in FFT) the person and you don't have to restart a nearly half hour to hour long battle. Though of course the best tank is one that uses both evasion and pure defense. And of course that is why I like Amelia. She has enough defense to stand on the front without too much fear of being taken down in one unlucky critical. PLUS she has a lot of avoid and the shield skill which is just a nice combination for my style of play.