Rank Characters based on In Game Use: Reboot!

[SnowFire]

Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete:
Alex Noah: 8/10.  MP is an issue if you want to do anything other than Sword Dance / Vigor but hey, just having those Dragon spells as backup is pretty handy.
Luna: 7/10.  Frailish but that is not a big problem in Lunar early game where you just keep her in the back with a bow and most enemies can't reach her quickly anyway.  Cascade Song is hax, and cheap healing is obviously useful.
Ramus: 3/10.  Obviously becomes a joke by the end but hey, warm body.  Lunar is a game where you definitely appreciate having him at all rather than no one.
Laike: DNR.
Nash Rumack: 3/10.  Can status out enemies with Sleep, sure, but some dungeons resist it, and he's pretty terrible otherwise.  Worst character vs. bosses 'till Thunderbolt, too.
Jessica De'Alkirk: 7/10.  Essential, obviously, thanks to the MT healing + regen + eventually revive.  Still feels less useful than Luna?  Conflicted since Healers in Lunar are essential but she's pretty much only that.
Mia Ausa: 3/10.  Lunar Mages.  I guess she speeds up the buffing game later and can toss items, and hits elemental weaknesses more commonly than Nash does.
Ghaleon: DNR.  As pointed out you can't even XP grind with Ghaleon.
Kyle: 6/10.  Feels like I'm underrating him, as he is your #2 damage dealer vs. bosses, and crucial front-line support for cleaning out randoms.  Just obviously suffers in comparison with Alex.
Tempest: 5/10.  Exists.

Random rant: Something Lunar2 improved on Lunar1 was that you fought every boss fight in Lunar 1 the exact same way.  Whee power up Alex & Kyle to the max, then spam Sword Dance / Power Slash which will do 4x the damage of the mages.  Ah well.

Fire Emblem Sages, Druids and Dragons:

Erk: 5/10?
Canas: 4/10?  Unimpressed with Dark Magic.
Pent: 8/10.  The man.
Nino: 2/10.  No I am not going to kill feed you so I can have a slightly better character for the finale at the cost of making about 3 missions extremely dangerous to resets from random wyvern rides sticking a lance in you.

Lute: 8/10.  Dodgy, doubles and kills everything.  Lacks Tana & Eph's range but whatevs.
Saleh: 4/10.  Slightly less broken Pent in a game with more broken competition.
Ewan: 2/10?  Allegedly not bad if you build him up but screw that considering how late you get him.
Knoll: 3/10.  0 LUCK DONOTWANT.

Soren(9): 6/10.  Doubles and kills everything with Elwind / a forged Wind tome (unless species weakness is in play, then switch).  *Everything*, I was able to take out hi-resistance units with Soren just fine normally.  Dies to a stiff breeze so balanced but hey.  I tossed him the early Seraphic Robe on my Hard mode playthrough.
Illyana(9): 4/10.  Soren trading speed for a tiny bit more power.  BAD TRADE.  But not useless for some of those mid missions so I can't hate on her too much.
Tormod(9): --- Didn't use.
Calill(9): --- Didn't use.
Bastian(9): --- Didn't use, but looked bad.
Ena(9): --- Didn't use.
Nasir(9): 4/10.  TOO DANG SLOW get some move.  At least he's tough.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Lute: 8/10.  Dodgy, doubles and kills everything.  Lacks Tana & Eph's range but whatevs.

She doesn't lack Eph's range if she promotes to Mage Knight! Which is better for her in-game, mounted+high move > 3 more power in the very endgame taking average stats. Unless you feel not having Light Magic is a crippling loss, but non-Anima magic in FE8 is kind of ungood.

[superaielman]

Leonardo: 1.5/10. He is actively a liability early on since his death means game over, and his stats are terrible. I don't give the bow much credit since that is after the hardest point of the game, and even with that he's still worse than the other two snipers.  
Volug: 8/10- Always good but never the best in combat for the DB thanks to uber guests, but no one matches his avaiability+movement+durability combo.
Nailah: 9/10. What everyone else said.
Lethe(10): 4/10- She was very useful on part 2 maps, at least.
Astrid(10): 0.5/10- Loses half a point because her dying early costs you Paragon.
Shinon(10): 7/10- STR's a problem at first, but... he starts ramming into caps fast and it isn't hard to get his STR up after that. Surprisingly durable as well.
Rolf(10):  7/10. Little weaker start than Shinon, but man that offense is awesome.
Lyre: 1/10- Fails.
Ranulf(10): 6/10. Good but the DB has better options.

Jill(10): 8.5/10- What everyone else said.
Marcia(10): 8/10- Is awesome.
Haar(10): 9/10- Super durable+damaging. Also fast if you blow a speedwings on him. Yikes.
Janaff(10): 7/10- See Ulki.
Ulki(10): 7/10- By the time they joined they were behind most of the Greil mercs in offense. Excellent durability and flight, but Laguz aren't my thing.
Sigrun: Didn't use.
Tanith(10): Didn't use.
Tibarn(10): 9/10- Damn good.

Guy: 7.5/10. Very possible to get RNG fucked, but he is pretty dominiant otherwise.
Raven: 9/10. I appreciate him more after trying to use Eliwood and Dorcas for offense. Heroes are pretty cool.
Karel(7): 2/10. Found him to be actively bad.
Harken: Haven't used him since the first playthrough.
Karla: 1/10

Edward: 2/10. Wrong game to be an offensively geared swordmaster. If he was in say FE7 he'd probably be the best PC in the game. FE10 however rewards concrete durability far more than offense. He isn't even especially good at offense in the DB until late either. Too many lancers around+superior guest options.
Zihark(10): 8/10- Not as tanky as Volug, but generally superior on offense.
Vika: Didn't use.
Nealuchi: Didn't use.
Lucia(10): 3/10. Useful for two maps, which beats Edward being useful for no maps.
Mia(10): 8.5/10. What the fucking christ. THe only reason she isn't higher is that part 3 has tons of high defense enemies that she can't quite one round. Shame for her that she can't get an armorslayer!
Naesala(10):
Stefan(10): 7/10. 27 strength on a swordmaster?! That is Ko/10 balance.

Aran: 5/10. Good short term, terrible long term thanks to speed.
Meg: 3.5/10. Interesting take on an armor user, but she is way too reliant on the RNG to be remotely competent on offense.  The DB project crew (Ed, Leo, Meg) don't really have a large window to be made competent either. If they aren't catching on by 1-5 you pretty much hvae to ditch them.
Tauroneo(10): 5/10. Very useful wall.
Nephenee(10): 7/10. What everyone else said. Durability isn't as good as before, but she's still fast in a game where you really need quick units.
Brom(10): 5/10. Solid in part 2 but outshone by Gatrie in part 3.
Danved: 2/10. Useless outside of killing one boss thanks to his slightly better speed. Not durable, damaging, or even really fast.
Gatrie(10): 8/10. Loses a point for the movement issues, but my god the offense.

[Meeplelard]

Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete:
Alex Noah: 9/10. Covers all bases well, a much needed meat shield, etc.
Luna: 6/10. Healer w/ Cascade Song, being fragile hurts though.
Ramus: 3/10. He's not horrible in the first dungeon or two, and he's still a warm body even when he starts being crappy.
Laike: DNR. He's actually around for a legit dungeon, but that dungeon feels geared just for "Watch Laike kick ass!"
Nash Rumack: 4/10. Speed isn't as useful in this game as others cause I distinctly remember enemies being generally slow, he's worthless on bosses until Lightning Bolt, and even after that, he's merely "ok", status is alright though.
Jessica De'Alkirk: 8/10. Healer you rely on for much longer than Luna, and be damned if you could finish the game without her!
Mia Ausa: 4/10. Crowd Control is good, but still kind of limited, frail, her buffs aren't as useful as they should be cause Alex/Kyle have the important one as is.
Ghaleon: DNR. Worse than Laike cause he's not even around for a realistic time period.
Kyle: 6/10. A 2nd meat shield who is much needed as Alex cannot take all the hits himself, and pretty much half your offense against bosses (Alex being the other half.)
Tempest: 4/10. He's better than Ramus when you have him!  Uh, yeah.

Fire Emblem Sages, Druids and Dragons:
Lugh: 6/10. Decent.
Lilina: 6/10.  Found the Roy Support really helpful, as well as getting Gonzales and GARRET!! to join.
Ray: 5/10. Decent Shaman, but joins a bit late, and kind of want more out of him.
Sophia: 0.5/10.  I wanna give her a 0, but she does get you a free Guiding Ring if kept alive, and must stay alive to get one of the legendaries, so I'll give her half a point.
Hugh: 4/10. Joins too late and costs too much to really see use; additionally, if you spend less, he gets much worse to boot.
Niime: 2/10. Good Physic user, but that's literally all she's good for.  If she so much as sees combat, she's pretty much dead.

Erk: 4/10.  He's alright during those brief stints Lucius isn't around!
Canas: 6/10.  Has some unique applications like Luna for tank bosses that no one else can apply, and is an extra source of good offense for the Final Boss due to that as well.
Pent: 8.5/10.  Freaking awesome; Prepromo with great starting stats for the level, and high rank in Staves to boot making him a very good healer if need be.
Nino: 3/10.  Underleveled project unit, this wouldn't be so bad if she had more than like 7 maps to catch up...also, when caught up, you end up just saying to yourself "Wait, why didn't I just use Pent, and have a slightly worse unit in the long run for a much better unit DURING those past 5 maps?"

Lute: 8.5/10.  Lilina+.
Saleh: 4/10. Pent-
Ewan: 2/10. Starts off worse than Nino, but the nature of FE8 makes him easier to raise, I guess...but not convinced that's enough to give him the same rating, cause Nino isn't COMPLETELY useless when underleveled, Ewan kind of is.
Knoll: 4/10.  Yeah, Summons save his worth a lot, but that's all he can do.

Soren(9): 6/10. OK for what he is.
Illyana(9): 4/10. Less OK.
Tormod(9): 5/10. On paper, better than Soren, but joins too late and underleveled such that catching him up isn't worth it.
Calill(9): 7/10. Pent without the staves.
Bastian(9): 2/10.  Saleh without the staves...and significantly more suck.
Ena(9): 4/10.  Not too bad for 2 chapters, but nothing special either.  Can hurt Ashnard at least.
Nasir(9): 4/10. He's better than Ena if you get him, but getting him isn't trivial.

Illyana(10): 2/10.  Good for two maps, but suck after that; pity, she's the only Rexbolt user.
Tormod(10): 3/10.  REALLY good Part 1, but then fails to exist and...yeah...
Calill(10): 7/10.  Better competition in this game, but she can use staves now.  Guess it evens out.
Soren(10): 7/10. Found his solid enough for what he does; also helps work away one of Ike's only fears (Elthunder Crits) due to the Bond.
Pelleas: 4/10.  On paper, he looks pretty good, but he joins a little too late; also NG+ only.
Bastian(10): 5/10.  Pretty damn good in one map...but one map only.
Ena(10): 6/10.  Blood Tide, and giving her Imbue makes her NEVER need staves or Concoctions, which is a nice perk.
Kurthnaga: 5/10.  Really damned good...if caught up...which is definitely NOT happening.  He's still tanky and Night Tide is cool.
Gareth: 2/10. Extra Blood Tide is good, but he's a major liability on BOTH of his only maps due to the Speed.  Waste of absurd defense.
Nasir(10): 6/10.  White Pool should really give him a higher rating, but he exists for literally only 2 maps, so I can't realistically give him more.  The awesome Res is handy for all those pure Magic fights though.

[Dark Holy Elf]

in ur threadz, debating ur ratingz

meat shield

I'm going to have to take issue with this; Lunar enemies target whoever the hell they want despite the slight positioning elements in the game (IIRC it's a mix of "target: random", "target: lowest HP", and "target: Alex", with the first dominating), so meatshielding isn't really an appropriate term for the game, and high durability is mostly wasted (never mind that Lunar's durability curve is fairly tight anyway outside elemental resistances).


Also, Ike has three other bonds besides Soren (two with frontliners like himself, and the last one is Mist, who while even more fragile than Soren has the advantage of the bond being +10 instead of +5). That really feels like too minor a point to bring up here.

[Crystalgate]

Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete:
Alex Noah: 8/10. All around solid character. Great for both clearing out cannon fodder enemies and inflict damage on bosses. Most of his skills were held back by MP issues though which prevents him from being overpowered.
Luna: 6/10. Healer with a good MP pool. Lacks damage output.
Ramus: 3/10. Warm body and so on while it still counted.
Laike: DNR.
Nash Rumack: 6/10. Good for randoms, but really bad for bosses. He is faster than the fighters which is a big plus. His status can be useful, but the hard hitting enemies makes testing their accuracy way to risky for my taste.
Jessica De'Alkirk: 8/10. Healer with enough damage output to matter against randoms. As a rule, her contribution will lead to one more enemy killed in round 1 which means she significantly lowers her own MP expediency.
Mia Ausa: 7/10. Like Nash she's best for randoms, but her buffing makes her better against bosses. She also has a better selection of offensive spells. Unfortunately, she suffers from speed issues for a while.
Ghaleon: DNR.
Kyle: 7/10. Like Alex, but somewhat weaker. He has a worse skillset, but for 95% of the game it doesn't matter since fighters rarely need something else than attack and their respective single target move.
Tempest: 6/10. He plays similar to mages in terms that he area of effect nukes them and doesn't have a high single target damage move. For the dungeon he joins in he is really useful though since you don't have Mia. Also, combining his Flash Arrow with Nash's sleep makes really short work of cannon fodder enemies since Flash Arrow is physical and sleep makes physical attacks auto critical.

Anyway, about speed. Being faster than enemies is rarely a problem since they tend to be slow. However, you really want mages to be faster than fighters. Let's say that Alex has three attacks and only need two to kill an enemy after the mages nuked it. If the mages goes before Alex, he will kill one and then use his last attack on another enemy. However, if Alex is faster he will use all three attacks on the same enemy wasting one of the attacks. Chance is Kyle will also waste one attack and with two attacks to kill one enemy it makes one less killed. In my experience that extra enemy increases the damage you take by about 50% which has a very significant impact on Jessica's MP expedience and since enemies hits rather hard you at least quadruples the chance that one character will be knocked out.

[Dhyerwolf]

Soren(9): 6. Found him pretty good at destroying myself. Adept+Ate Laguz Up+Solid against flyers+Decent game long 2 range attack+Mine got good growths overall
llyana(9): 3. Uh...also good growths.
Tormod(9): 2. Too late for me to growth abuse as much as the other two.
Calill(9): 3. See that. Did she get knives or was that Bastian
Bastian(9): 1. Horrible stats. Only use seemed to be if every other mage (and Mist) had died...unless he had knives locked...

[Ultradude]

Calill and Bastian are both knives only.

[Talaysen]

Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete:
Alex Noah: 8/10
Luna: 6/10
Ramus: 4/10
Laike: 6/10
Nash Rumack: 7/10
Jessica De'Alkirk: 7/10
Mia Ausa: 6/10
Ghaleon: 6/10
Kyle: 6/10
Tempest: 3/10

Fire Emblem Sages, Druids and Dragons:
Lugh:
Lilina:
Ray:
Sophia:
Hugh:
Niime:

Erk: 8/10
Canas: 2/10
Pent: 7/10
Nino: 4/10

Lute: 9/10
Saleh: Who?/10
Ewan: 6/10
Knoll: 2/10

Soren(9): 4/10
Illyana(9): 6/10
Tormod(9): 3/10
Calill(9): 3/10
Bastian(9): 2/10
Ena(9): 6/10
Nasir(9): 6/10

Illyana(10): 6/10
Tormod(10): 6/10
Calill(10): 6/10
Soren(10): 5/10
Pelleas:
Bastian(10): 2/10
Ena(10): 7/10
Kurthnaga: 7/10
Gareth: 4/10
Nasir(10): 5/10

[Meeplelard]

Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete:
Alex Noah: 8.26
Luna: 5.38
Ramus: 3.07
Laike: N/A
Nash Rumack: 5.56
Jessica De'Alkirk: 7.58
Mia Ausa: 5.36
Ghaleon: N/A
Kyle: 5.02
Tempest: 4.18

Fire Emblem Sages, Druids and Dragons:
Lugh: 7.00
Lilina: 6.85
Ray: 4.91
Sophia: 1.78
Hugh: 3.50
Niime: 2.95

Erk: 5.09
Canas: 5.06
Pent: 7.31
Nino: 3.05

Lute: 8.23
Saleh: 4.07
Ewan: 3.24
Knoll: 2.89

Soren(9): 6.08
Illyana(9): 4.42
Tormod(9): 4.38
Calill(9): 5.27
Bastian(9): 2.07
Ena(9): 3.75
Nasir(9): 3.69

Illyana(10): 3.85
Tormod(10): 3.59
Calill(10): 5.75
Soren(10): 5.35
Pelleas: 4.81
Bastian(10): 4.28
Ena(10): 6.38
Kurthnaga: 5.81
Gareth: 2.68
Nasir(10): 5.58

Best Rating of this Session: Alex Noah w/ 8.26
Worst Rating of this Session: Sophia w/ 1.78
Ghaleon and Laike get the BOOT since they failed to administer more votes than DNRs.

Moving on, WE ARE ON THE LAST OF FIRE EMBLEM PEOPLE! Yes, after this session, you never have to look at Fire Emblem again or something!

In any event...

Breath of Fire:
Ryu:
Nina:
Sr-1:
Sr-2:
Sr-3:
Bo:
Karn:
Gobi:
Ox:
Deis:
Mogu:

Fire Emblem Staves, Light Magic, and Thieves:
Ellen:
Chad:
Clarine:
Saul:
Astol:
Cath:
Cecilia:
Yodel:

Serra:
Matthew:
Lucius:
Priscilla:
Legault:
Jaffar:
Renault:

Moulder:
Colm:
Artur:
Natasha:
L'Arachel:
Rennac:

Rhys(9):
Volke(9):
Sothe(9):

Laura:
Sothe(10):
Heather:
Rhys(10):
Oliver:
Volke(10):

REMINDER: DO NOT CHANGE NAMES.  Don't go "well, they're called this in the game, so I'm calling them that here!"  Its not funny and is just dickish.  I say this here cause I know at least someone is going to be cute; I'm not counting your vote if you do that.

[DjinnAndTonic]

I haven't played but like 15 minutes of BoF1... but I've no idea what Sr-1, 2, and 3 are. Out of curiosity, I request an explanation.

[OblivionKnight]

They're soldiers. 

[Dark Holy Elf]

They're soldiers who join Nina (and later Ryu) early in the game. They apparently are not worthy of real names.


Breath of Fire:
Ryu: 8.5/10. Boomerang death god. I wish his tanking was more proactive, but aside from that, boomerangs off high speed are great for randoms, and dragons are great for bosses.
Nina: 8/10. Initiative healing is sexy. Wish she had MT healing, though.
Sr-1: 3/10. Bad.
Sr-2: 5/10. Competent but uninspiring. Correct me if I'm mixing them up, but I don't think I am.
Sr-3: DNR, you don't fight anything notable with him.
Bo: 5/10. His lightning magic makes a mockery of the bosses you fight before you get dragons. After that he tails off fairly badly.
Karn: 8/10. Fusions wreck things rather nicely, though he's one-dimensional and if does go down (ID) it sucks.
Gobi: 1.5/10. Half a point because his magic is good against Pincher.
Ox: 4/10. Can sub in for a quick initiative heal if need be.
Deis: 9/10. Crazy HP, speed, and damage.
Mogu: 1/10. Hahahaha.


Fire Emblem Staves, Light Magic, and Thieves:
Ellen: 3/10. The speed/durability combo limits her potential. Why use her after you get Clarine?
Chad: 5/10. Does thiefy stuff. Can provide a decent support for Lugh for all that he does have other options.
Clarine: 8.5/10. Is your best healer and your best wall. THIS GAME MAKES NO SENSE.
Saul: 5/10.
Astol: 6/10. More sturdy than Chad. Both maintain decent scores because you'll often want to use both.
Cath: 0/10. YOU'RE BETTER OFF KILLING CATH.
Cecilia: 2/10. 11 Magic and C staff rank makes her the worst of the game's three filler staff users, sadly.
Yodel: 3/10. Doesn't feel as useful as Niime (fewer chapters, less magic, though better durability if you care) but better than Cecilia? This works.

Serra: 5/10. She's all right. Only all right, suffers from being outclassed by Pris.
Matthew: 6/10. Is a thief. Supports Guy which is fairly cool.
Lucius: 7/10. Offence is sexy. Defence isn't. Also, initial C staves on promo gives him another leg up on Canas and Erk, not that he needed it.
Priscilla: 7.5/10. Serra has nothing on Pris' +2 move, and her supports (Guy, Oswin, Raven, Lucius...) are better too.
Legault: 6/10. Doesn't have the supports, but has better stats than Matt.
Jaffar: 5/10. Okay lategame filler.
Renault: 2/10. Workable filler staff user but oh god the Magic stat ugh.

Moulder: 3/10. Giving Vanessa and/or Colm a second support doesn't hurt, but healer/flyer and healer/thief supports are fairly impractical. Eh. He himself just unimpresses forever, and outside support range he's a crit away from death far too often.
Colm: 8/10.
Artur: 6/10. Pretty decent, rounds out the party nicely in terms of supports, just lacks Lucius' oomph.
Natasha: 6/10. Best overall healer.
L'Arachel: 3.5/10. Has the aforementioned move, mainly, though it's only 1 point in this game. Stats make up for the level some.
Rennac: 4/10. Filler rogue.

Rhys(9): 6/10. Serviceable enough healer. Don't find the durability too big a problem, although he only rare ever has offence even after promo.
Volke(9): 7/10. Steals stuff, won't die to a sneeze.
Sothe(9): 4/10. See Rennac I guess, he's not as good statwise but on the other hand he does save you some money compared to Volke?

Laura: 5/10. Healing helps other PCs get turns and DB has lots of chokepoint maps to make her series-worst durability less important. Hype for her as a longterm character baffles me, Laura played properly shouldn't hit Level 10 by the end of Part 1.
Sothe(10): 8/10. Awesome jeigan use, has thiefy use too.
Heather: 5/10. Mostly for a few maps where she's your only thief.
Rhys(10): 4/10. Outside wasting a Master Crown on him, Mist feels better.
Oliver: 1.5/10. Just... why would you use him, he's clearly behind Elincia and Bastian for a filler staff user at endgame. Probably crown'd Pelleas too on a NG+. 20 speed? Ack.
Volke(10): 6/10. Kills 4-5 dead then pretty good endgame.

[OblivionKnight]

Damnit Elf, stop being so helpful.

Ryu: 9/10.  Eh.  I went back and forth on about every rank here.  Boomerang of doom destroys randoms, dragons do wonders against bosses (especially Agni).  Does everything really well, but...considering I was debating on a much lower score, I can't give higher than this.
Nina: 7.1/10.  The MT healing is late, and barely matters.  Early on, really helpful, and even late, the support spells (which you'd think at first glance are useless!) are very good.  Still feels like she's not integral to the team in the way the others can be.  Items always felt way too powerful.
Sr-1: 6.1/10.  Good!
Sr-2: 2.3/10.  Eh. Always died for me, until I leveled him.
Sr-3: 6/10.  Better than a lot of the permanent cast.
Bo: 4/10.  Fuses with Karn can only be so bad.
Karn: 9/10.  Even the early fusions are nice, and you can get that awesome IceDR so early...Puka in the end smashes things up good, especially with Mrbls.       
Gobi: 4/10.  Fuses with Karn can only be so bad.
Ox: 4/10.  Fuses with Karn can only be so bad.
Deis: 9/10.  Fast magic.  Overall excellent stats.
Mogu: 4/10.  Wishes he could fuse with Karn.  Still, initiative run is...cool?

Ellen: What?
Chad: Who?
Clarine: 9.1/10.  Pretty awesome.  Not as good as Lilina, but works wonders - kind of slow start isn't too bad, but does suck a bit.
Saul: Potato?
Astol: WHERE IS MY MOTHER!?
Cath: 7.5/10.  Only thief in the game, which counts for a lot.  Sucks for combat, but...yeah.  You need a thief.
Cecilia: Zuh?
Yodel: Huh?

Serra: 8.8/10.  Excellent overall healer.
Matthew: 8.7/10.  Is present more!  
Lucius: 8.9/10.  Can attack earlier than Serra, which...is worth a little more.
Priscilla: 8.8/10.  Longer to build up than Serra...but better once there.
Legault: 8.7/10.  Better stats, comes with Member Card!
Jaffar: 6.7/10.  Decent enough, but losing stealing sucks...though less impactful by that stage.
Renault: 6.6/10.  Makes a decent replacement at the end.

Moulder: 8.5/10.  Uber CON.  Slayer is also awesome at the end.
Colm: 8/10.  Stealing!
Artur: 8/10.  Worse than Lucius easily.
Natasha: 7.9/10.  Not as durable as Moulder, but otherwise the same.
L'Arachel: 8.9/10.  Priscilla, but...better overall.
Rennac:  7.5/10.  Stealing!  And replaces Colm if you make him an Ass!

Rhys(9): 7/10.  Only Priest is...something.  LUK and SPD at least don't completely suck.
Volke(9): 7/10.  Eh...
Sothe(9): 4/10.  Can...steal?

Laura: 9.6/10.  One of the best in the DB.  Tanks, damage...has everything, except for good starting skills.  Still owns.  
Sothe(10): 8.7/10.  DB!  The other tank after Laura.  And can steal.  Trails off FAR more than Laura does in the end, but...helps a lot early.
Heather: 7.5/10.  Steals...blah, why couldn't she be better ;_;
Rhys(10): 2.2/10.  Feels far, far worse this game.
Oliver: 2.2/10.  Uh...at least as good as Rhys?
Volke(10): 7.6/10.  Better than FE9, and at least can damage things in the end...damn you Sothe/Heather not getting better weapons!

[Random Consonant]

Fire Emblem Staves, Light Magic, and Thieves:
Ellen: hay guize 20% speed growth, 0 base def, and 5% def growth totally awesome.  1/10
Chad: Has utility and Lugh support, but little else.  5/10
Clarine: Best healer in the game.  7/10
Saul: Is a more solid option than Ellen at least.  4/10
Astol: Well if you don't want to rase Chad, he's there.  5/10
Cath: Uh free lockpicks.  0/10
Cecilia: Uh well, the stats are trashy but anima mage can only be so bad.  Then you remember that she joins on a freakin' desert map, for which I dock her a point.  1/10
Yodel: uh staff levels.  2/10

Serra: Not really impressed with her.  3/10
Matthew: Eh.  Thieving is only worth so much, and it feels less useful than it did in FE6, and when there's no thieving to be done you're essentially blowing a slot to make Guy slightly better.  Cruddy starting luck also hurts some, even if the growth is good.   4/10
Lucius: Whee glass cannon.  10 base speed is good and he has the magic stat to make light magic not suck.  7/10
Priscilla: Not as good as Clarine but not bad.  6/10
Legault: Well if you don't want to go through the trouble of raising Matthew he's there.  4/10
Jaffar: Lack of caring.  2/10
Renault: uh fortify staff.  1.5/10

Moulder: Needs less garbage luck, though Vanessa/Colm supports are nice.  4/10
Colm: Now we're talking.  There's a fair amount to swipe in FE8 and Colm can hold his own as a combat unit fairly well, too.  Having the best support in the game is gravy.  7/10
Artur: Lucius trading a bit of offense for a bit more evasion/concrete.  Also has Lute support.  6/10
Natasha: Better stat spread than Moulder, worse supports.  Think she comes out ahead but honestly not by much, since outside of speed the bases aren't much to look at.  4.5/10
L'Arachel: PROJECT HEALER AWW YEAH.  On the one hand, has more time than Nino, on the other hand, you can actually get Nino up to speed in the space of one chapter.  Yeah no, fuck off.  1/10
Rennac: Godlike Res/10.  (this is actually a 2/10)

[Rozalia]

Laura: 10/10 - Invaluable. Owns Ike badly in 3-13!
Sothe(10): 7/10 Stealing things is great but its a shame there is never much worth stealing. Brom's disarm helps but it comes a bit late. Sucky at endgame but can tank for micky at least.
Heather: 2/10 - Likely to die and all her stages are jam packed with enemies. Trying to steal on those maps will get you killed.
Rhys(10): 2/10 - The Mercs don't need healing. Also is outclassed by Laura.
Oliver: 7/10 - His battle theme plays whenever you battle someone with him. Its a nice change of pace but beyond that he is a nice filler mage.
Volke(10): 6/10 - Good but will always be at the bottem of the list for people you want to take into endgame. Sothe covers stealing and Volke isn't so good he can't be replaced by the many units you've trained by that point.

Write in:
3-13 Archer: 10/10 - I think 3-13 is a pretty cool guy. eh kills Laguz and doesnt afraid of anything.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Breath of Fire:
Can't vote.

Fire Emblem Staves, Light Magic, and Thieves:
Ellen: 3 - Early enough to be useful, but outclassed.
Chad: 5 - Average.
Clarine: 6 - Pretty good healer.
Saul: 4 - Better than Ellen, but still not great.
Astol: 5 - Average.
Cath: 4 - Crappy unit, but I'm leaning towards Thief utility saving any of the crappy thieves from ever being less useful than a 4.
Cecilia: 3 - Not even average.
Yodel: I don't even remember.

Serra: 7 - Early use, becomes a decent Light mage later on. Hector, Matthew, and Erk supports had their uses.
Matthew: 6 - Decent unit + thief utility.
Lucius: 7.5 - Awesome glass cannon early, though he evens out with the other Light magic users towards the middle.
Priscilla: 6.5 - Mobile healer! Dies more easily than she should, causing infuriating resets until you give up and use Serra instead. But I recognize that she can end up pretty awesome.
Legault: 3 - Snrk.
Jaffar: 6 - Needed to join earlier, but I found him useful when I tried him out.
Renault: 2 - Snrk.

Moulder: 4 - Joining this early can't really be much of a handicap.
Colm: 8 - Oh what the hell
Artur: 6.5 - Useable, but Lute obsoletes him for the most part.
Natasha: 6 - Good healer! Never really becomes anything else.
L'Arachel: 7.5 - Mobile healer that saved my good units more times than I care to remember.
Rennac: 3 - Snrk.

Rhys(9): 7 - Kinda invaluable.
Volke(9): 7 - Kinda invaluable.
Sothe(9): 2 - Get thee to a sequel!

Laura: 4 - She has yet to be useful beyond helping Micaiah EXP-grind with Sacrifice.
Sothe(10): 6 - Awesome early, loses 2 points for being a useless Jeigan who is forced at endgame. At least he ensured that you'd have Stealing in the last chapters.
Heather: 4 - Utility in the chapters without Sothe and that's about it. ;_;
Rhys(10): 3 - Huge drop in usefulness due to competition.
Oliver: Didn't get him.
Volke(10): 4 - Too late to be really helpful.

[Yoshiken]

I'm just gonna put - for abstain from now on. There are too many to count normally. >.>

Moulder: -
Colm: 7/10. Good support, a good weapon and standard thief benefits. Not too strong, which lets him down later on in the game.
Artur: -
Natasha: -
L'Arachel: 8/10. Good healer, decent-ish offence and good mobility. Definitely useful.
Rennac: 2/10. BUT BUT BUT RES! Yeah, no worth over Colm.

Rhys(9): 5/10. Doesn't get screwed over as far as healing goes, but... ugh, that durability and lack of decent offence is terrible. Also loses half a point to Mist for not being available against Burger King.
Volke(9): 6/10. Can be decent, but needs an Occult for it. Gains a point for being the only thief for a long time, and the only thief ever worth using.
Sothe(9): 1/10. ahahaha no promotion? *punt*

Laura: 3/10. Useless frail healer who can barely even heal worth anything. Only points come from the fact that she is the DB's only healer who doesn't drain her own health at the same time.
Sothe(10): 8/10. Pretty much a lifesaver throughout the DB sections, and still worth using towards endgame (barely)
Heather: -
Rhys(10): -
Oliver: -
Volke(10): 2/10. Too late to be useful.

Wait, did we already rank Micaiah? I don't remember seeing her, but I've not been paying much attention.

[Ultradude]

Fire Emblem Staves, Light Magic, and Thieves:
Ellen: 3/10 - Nothing special.
Chad: 6/10 - First thief, auto-recruit.
Clarine: 8/10 - Mobile healer with decent attack magic later on, and is also the fucking wind with the right supports.
Saul: 5/10 - He's... there.
Astol: 5/10 - Thieves, they're very useful here.
Cath: 3/10 - Except when they run away with your stuff.
Cecilia: 2/10 - Just awful. Only points are for being an Anima mage in a game that really likes them.
Yodel: 2.5/10 - Staff levels! Inferior to Niime anyways.

Serra: 6/10 - Lyn story, isn't bad later on and has good supports.
Matthew: 5.5/10 - Thieves are less valuable here, but he can kill things. Promotion loses some thiefy benefits, but makes him a decent combat unit later on.
Lucius: 7/10 - Glass cannon-tastic.
Priscilla: 6.5/10 - Half a point over Serra for mobility. Not a full point over because of slightly lesser supports.
Legault: 4/10 - Spare thief.
Jaffar: 5/10 - Decent combat unit; helpful if you suck as bad as I did on my first ever playthrough.
Renault: 2/10 - Haha.

Moulder: 5.5/10 - Nice 'stache. Early healer, Slayer is mean.
Colm: 8/10 - Thief who is also badass in a fight. Supports motherfucking Neimi.
Artur: 6.5/10 - A lesser Lucius, but Slayer is, again, mean.
Natasha: 5/10 - Later Moulder.
L'Arachel: 7/10 - A bit of a project, but she's also a healer, and also also in FE8. Solid once caught up.
Rennac: 4/10 - Not horrible, and if you want to make Colm better at killing things, he can take over stealing duties.

Rhys(9): 5.5/10 - Mist catches up fast, and stays better. Usable enough though.
Volke(9): 7.5/10 - Vastly superior thief, and a decent combat unit; Stiletto is cool.
Sothe(9): 1/10 - You have Volke.

Laura: 5/10 - Oh hey I can totally rate her too.
Sothe(10): 7/10 - Saves the DB, never horrible.
Heather: 3/10 - Few thiefable chapters that lack Sothe.
Rhys(10): 2.5/10 - Overshadowed all over the fucking place.
Oliver: 3/10 - Gets points for his battle theme. Usable if you need a dedicated healer, and he isn't Renault-level.
Volke(10): 6/10 - The crit bonus is great, and he gets better weapons, but he loses the 'is your thief for the whole game' thing he had going for him. Late too.

[Talaysen]

Breath of Fire:
Ryu: 8
Nina: 9
Sr-1:
Sr-2:
Sr-3:
Bo: 3
Karn: 7
Gobi: 1
Ox: 2
Deis: 7.5
Mogu: 1

Fire Emblem Staves, Light Magic, and Thieves:
Ellen:
Chad:
Clarine:
Saul:
Astol:
Cath:
Cecilia:
Yodel:

Serra: 6
Matthew: 5
Lucius: 8
Priscilla: 8
Legault: 3
Jaffar: 2
Renault: 2

Moulder: 5
Colm: 8
Artur: 7
Natasha: 5
L'Arachel: 8.5
Rennac: 3

Rhys(9): 5
Volke(9): 7
Sothe(9): 2

Laura: 5
Sothe(10): 6
Heather: 4
Rhys(10): 5
Oliver: 2
Volke(10): 4.5

[Cmdr_King]

Breath of Fire:
Ryu: 8/10.
Nina: 7/10.
Sr-1: Abstain.
Sr-2: Abstain.
Sr-3: DNR.
Bo: 5/10
Karn: 8/10.
Gobi: 5/10.
Ox: 5/10.
Deis: 8/10.
Mogu: 2/10.

Fire Emblem Staves, Light Magic, and Thieves:
Ellen: 5/10.
Chad: 5/10.  I see no strong reason to really raise him, but he is your first thief, plus there are maps where heaving both him and Astol on the field is nice.
Clarine: 6/10.  Looks good on paper but... for some reason first healer tends to just get that slot in FE games, for me.
Saul: 4/10.
Astol: 6/10.
Cath: 1/10.  Die~
Cecilia: 1/10.  Bigger liability than Sophia, at least when I was playing.  This is terrible.
Yodel: 4/10.

Serra: 6/10.
Matthew: 5/10.  See comments for Lagault.
Lucius: 5/10.  It's weird, I always feel like he's doing really good, then shortly before promotion he dies on me. 
Priscilla: 5/10.
Legault: 5/10.  Well... Matthew has Lyn mode, and while it doesn't reward thieves much what it does do is give him half a chance to be around Lagualt's level when he joins.  So neither feels strongly better than the other.  Beyond THAT... thieves are okay but don't feel super necessary in FE7?  I dunno what it is, just didn't feel like I was missing thieves at any point in the game, whereas I definitely was glad to have them in FE6.
Jaffar: 4/10.  Servicable if you need someone but not much more.
Renault: 3/10.  Well.  Spare healer's worth something I guess.

Moulder: 4/10.
Colm: 8/10.  Death machine.  Thanks to Neimi support, not largely hindered even by Assassin caps.
Artur: 5/10.
Natasha: 5/10.
L'Arachel: 4/10.  FE8's not the best game for healers.  They don't feel necessary in the long term.  Probably says what you need to know about the game.
Rennac: 4/10.

Rhys(9): 5/10.  As noted earlier, on average first healer wins.  On the other hand... the speed.
Volke(9): 3/10.  I didn't even use thieves in this game.
Sothe(9): 2/10.

Laura: 1/10.  DB durability is so goddamned low they can use freaking vulnaries.  Laura cost me multiple resets in c1 and died to a freaking cat or something in chapter three.  I didn't bother resetting then.
Sothe(10): 6/10.  Solid enough.  He only gets a short time to really shine as a jeigan (ie shares that spotlight with too many people) so it's only a minor boost to his lackluster lategame performance.
Heather: 3/10.  Died on her first map, didn't bother to reset.  Still, having a non-Sothe thief would have been nice at times so I missed her once or twice later.
Rhys(10): 3/10.  FE10 is a more punishing game than FE9, so his loltastic speed/durability combo hurts him a lot more, so Mist's lead on him as a healer is a lot more pronounced.  Nevermind the insane jump Elincia got.
Oliver: Abstain.
Volke(10): Abstain.

[Rozalia]

Laura: 1/10.  DB durability is so goddamned low they can use freaking vulnaries.  Laura cost me multiple resets in c1 and died to a freaking cat or something in chapter three.  I didn't bother resetting then.

Can't that be said of all healers? Rhys getting 2 points more even though his durability is even worse due to the open maps and stronger enemies seems a bit odd. Healers pretty much always die when attacked but Laura is in a group that needs healing while Rhys is in a group that just doesn't need healing.

[Cmdr_King]

No.  a) if a Greil Merc gets hurt, they need a healer, not just an item.  b) if Rhys dies, I can just let him stay dead (I think I did, in fact).  If Laura dies, I game over because no one can die in the first chapter.  Therefore, she's a greater liability.  c) Rhys' durability is not worse than Laura's.  EVERYTHING kills Laura, even mages, due to her abysmallly low HP.  Rhys can luck out and survive cat attacks.

[Rozalia]

Maybe my memory is a little off but isn't Rhys facing cats possible on one map which is splitpath at endgame? Laura can survive Cat attacks at that point so its hardly a plus in his favour.
Also mages killing her with that speed and res? Yeah I don't see that happening.

[Cmdr_King]

you mean her sub-Micaiah speed and barely above average res?  Yes, clearly invincible.