I gave fire, ice, bolt & cure to all of the main characters. I didn't bother with any shields, I gave each of the characters 2 weapons. Firion I treated more like a warrior class, Maria was more of a white mage out of all of my characters, and Gus was a warrior red mage. Then the 4th character, whoever it was I was a pure warrior class, I either made them fight w/ their fists or weapons. Then I once I got the blood sword, I always had it be 1 of Firions weapons. I love the blood sword . Sometimes it helps to raise levels by either beating yourself up or starting to go into one of important battle places for your mission, then go out heal up & go back in.