Ninjas completely kick butt. I thought I was going to have an awful time leveling him up (it takes forever and a day to level the horde of mages) but he hardly ever gets hit, plus he counters up to three times (this helps make up for the fact that I haven't buffed him to the point where he inflicts one-hit kills). He may not have a ranged attack, but he has a good natural movement range, and the high evasion rate means it's safe to send him out there. I can even let him get surrounded as long as the enemies aren't too tough - he'll counterattack an escape route.

Now I'm working on getting a samurai, a female healer, a star mage, and then hopefully a rune knight. I don't really know what I'm doing with a party this large, but I want one of each class eventually.