[GenXCub]

Of Samurai, Valk, Lord, Monk you have different combinations, and it REALLY depends on your play style.

As far as Damage Dealing, they're all fairly equal. I'd side towards the Lord because of the Dual Weapons bonus, but no character in the game can compare to a Samurai Lightning Strike (when you're lucky enough to get them). Even at Level 12 wielding Bloodlust, my Samurai once Berserked and hit 7x (extra attack from Bloodlust, high Sword skill + Lightning Strike). Doing about 30 per hit, he pretty much took out the Rapax Scount we were fighting. Samurai also get the Critical Strike, a plus over the Lord and Valk (but you can find weapons with %Kill to balance that).

Monks are a mixed bag for me, you lose the "find the best items" aspect of the games since you're really just using Robes, your Hands and Feet, and sometimes a Zatoichi Bo, but you attack more than the other characters, meaning more chance for a Critical.

Valks don't die easily because of their cheat death ability (just make sure to have lots of stamina), but that's about all I can see as a plus for them.

Lords and Valks can use the best Weapons and Armor in the game, making them quite easy to shop for, they have that over the Samurai and Monk.

As for spell power, Samurai are best because they have 2 of the most common Buff spells (enchanted Blade, Missile Shield) that will free up spell points for your Bishop. the Monk's psionics are easy to build up as well with Mindread. There aren't as many useful priest spells, I don't really cast heal wounds with my Lord, I leave that to my Bard, it's quicker.

For your 3rd spot up front, I'd say go with the Samurai or Lord. You can recruit Vi and RFS-81 for a Valk and Monk later on. You may want to recruit Madras for awhile though to use his Engineering skills to build some Tripleshot crossbows for the party.