Ryu: In the begining, the first master you can get is mygas, i think. I would recomend you having just Ryu being his apprentice and go back to him after you have progressed in the plot for a while. This will help his magic out alot, and since he's best at a Dragon, it only makes sense.
Rei: Rei is your fastest character you have. Later, when you can get Merryleap as your master have Rie apprentice under her.
Teepo: Not much to say about Teepo, dont bother to make any plans with him, you will lose him shortly after you defeat the McNeil ghosts and will never get him back. The only exception to this would be a "rumor" i heard about if you beat Balio and Sunder you get to keep Teepo and you wont get Nina. (I started to investigate this but it takes to long to beat the horseman by attacking them everyother turn in between heal's)
Nina: Nina is a strong magic user. Low HP, Defense and attack. Lots of MP tends to die quickly.
Momo: Momo deals a lot of damage with her bazooka and she also has some decent support spells. Her HP and MP are average, but combine this with her attack power and she can easily become a main character.
Peco: Peco is usually an overlooked character because you get him at lvl 1. If you dont plan on having Peco as a main character, you should use him to easily learn spells and skills from Masters. Although once you hit higher lvls Peco has some great multi-target spells. He also gets a good amount of HP and MP. He is a strong attacker and he comes with auto regeneration after every turn. This Auto regeneration is the reason why some people will replace Garr or Momo with Peco.
Garr: Garr is a powerhouse for normal attacks. He comes with high power and high hp. Although he lacks alot in magic attacks and mp, his few spells come in handy at times. Garr is slow though and his best spear has a life drain on it, which doesnt make him good with Party heals and averages out his HP in a sense.
