This topic is in need of complete redo and update. I'll get around to it this winter if not before, I believe. In the meantime, better than nothing. More useful, boss-related notes in second post, status testing commentary in the third.
What those abbreviations mean
Hp- Standard "you need these to live" fare.
Sp- Moves consume these.
Mp- Magic uses this. Only useful for Elena and Millenia.
Str- raw physical strength.
Vit- raw defensive power.
Agl- raw speed rating.
Spd- raw move stat (probably useless, although I suspect it may influence evasion)
Mag- More makes spells cause bigger owies.
Men- sometimes known as 'MDef'
Atk- Physical power after equips
Def- Defensive power after equips
Act- Speed after equips
Mov- Movement after equips. (see 'Spd' note)
General Note: I didn't do status tests. I forgot about it completely while going through the game, so I never used the status weapons or messed with Elena or Millenia's spells. As such, any status-adding whatnot is added for reference, and should be taken with heavy grains of salt in terms of usefulness.
If someone wants to test the statuses sometime, they earn a cookie
(bolded techniques indicate what I feel is the characters best bet for damage in a duel)
Equipment note- Grandia II doesn't know the meaning of the term exclusive equipment. All weapons are unique, all armor is storebought, and all accessories are initial except where noted.
Ryudo, Millenia, and Elena are all tested at level 51. Damage taken against the mighty butterfly himself, Zera/Valmar.
Ryudo- lovably cynical and insulting Geohound, protagonist of the story, and shares a voice with a Ninja Turtle. We all know and love Ryudo.
Hp- 3173
Mp- 185
Sp- 224
Str- 257
Vit- 225
Agl- 117
Spd- 103
Mag- 168
Men- 171
Equipment-
Granasaber- 150 Atk. reduces Sp costs 15% (included in costs already, but meh)
Aura Armor- 64 Def. Increases power of moves
Charisma helm- 38 Def. 5 Act.
Battle Boots- 12 Def. 12 Mov.
Friends Necklace- 25 Def. (plot gift from Gatta. Default is Leather Bracer, which is 4 Def)
Atk- 407
Def- 361 (or 340 if you're really against the plot accessory)
Act- 122
Mov- 115
Damage figures
Tenseiken Slash- 2350 physical. Cancel effect (for what it's worth) (20 sp)
Flying Tenseiken- 3800 physical. (34 sp)
Purple Lightning- 3200. Lightning element. (From what I can tell, it's both physical and magical in nature, as it dealt severly reduced damage to magically immune enemies, but still dealt damage. This holds for the other elemental Moves as well.) (27 Sp)
Sky Dragon Slash- 4500 physical. All (84 Sp)
Combo- 800 physical.
Weapon Options:
Shadow Blade- 44 ATk. -4 Move, adds Sudden Death.
Silence Sword- 85 ATK. Adds Magic Block.
Notes- nothing too surprising here. While noticibly better, SDS' Sp cost is just too damn high to be the tech of choice, although it may have uses. Purple Lightning may be handy in special circumstances. Still, though statistically solid and possessed of the most damaging move in the game, Ryudo lacks the variety to be effective in Heavy, but probably too much for most middles.
Elena- Nun on a mission. I hope it's not just me, but I hate Elena. Still, she's not too shabby in battle.
(Note- Elena is given the Book of Priests during the course of the game. Although most would likely rule it illegal, it's interesting, so parenthesised numbers indicate boosts from the book. It raises Hp and Men, as well as boosting water, ice, earth and forest spells)
Hp- 2826 (3626)
Mp- 263
Sp- 206
Str- 189
Vit- 191
Agl- 102
Spd- 95
Mag- 162
Men- 265 (315) (note- 0_o to either)
Equipment
Holy Ghost Staff- 137 Atk. Reduces Mp costs 10% (already calculated)
Priestess' Robe- 68 Def. Resists all status. (note: from what I can tell, when GII says 'resists' it means 'immune to')(Yes, status immunity. Shock)
Priest's Hat- 36 Def. Resists Magic/Move block.
Battle Boots- 12 Def. 12 Mov.
Jade Charm- 2 Atk. 2 Def. (yeah, pretty useless)
Atk- 326
Def- 309
Act- 102
Mov- 107
Damage Figures
Impact Bomb- 2000 physical. Might also be holy aligned, although Grandia doesn't even have a holy element, or anything weak to it. So, I have no idea if it is or not. Cancel effect. (25 SP)
Nightmare Ball- causes sleep. Didn't test it much... or at all. (18 Sp)
Droplets of Life- Full healing, including resurrection and status restoration. (90 Sp)
White Apocalyse- 4000 physical to all (again, slight possibility it's also holy) (80 Sp)
Holy Egg- I picked a handful of potentially useful spells, because I'm flat out not listing all 30 of them. Again, parenthesis indicate Book of Priests bonuses.
Healer+- Heal appx. full Hp. (21 Mp)
Quake- 1200 (2100) Earth damage. Targets all, for what it's worth. (36 Mp)
Crackle- 1400 (1950) Ice damage. Single Target. (14 Mp)
Crackling- 1900 (2600) Ice damage. All. (46 Mp)
Cure- removes poison/paralysis status. (3 Mp) Which she's immune to, but with RPGmon and the like...
Refresh- remove Magic/Move block. (10 Mp) Again, doesn't help her in duels.
Fiora- Add move block. (10 Mp) No estimates on accuracy, although against the party from most enemies it was a little better than 50%.
Shhh!- add magic block. (9 Mp) Again, I didn't test it, but enemies hit around half the time.
Weapon Options:
Lullaby Staff- 65 ATK. Adds Sleep.
Decalogue Staff- 108 ATK. Adds Move/Magic Block.
Notes- Elena has some good variety, and really doesn't fear magic. But, sub-par speed, low Def and bad Hp aren't a good combination. Attack spells, though not great for damage, are enough to fall back on after the stupidly high cost of White Apocalypse. Anyway, Elena too rides the Heavy/middle border, in my view, unless one is particularly generous and grants her the HP boost from Book of Priests. But, that's a big exception.
Millenia- Wings of Valmar, and generally an idicator that things are afoot. Plus, I thought she was funny, but that's me.
Hp- 2826
Mp- 264
Sp- 202
Str- 189
Vit- 190
Agl- 103
Spd- 94
Mag- 265
Men- 161
(in other words, invert Elena's Mag and Men, and you get Millenia's stats. Which is fitting, of course)
Equipment
Black Angel Bow- 135 Atk. Drains Mp as 10% of Damage.
Priest's Robe- 54 Def. Resists poison, paralysis, and plauge (thankfully, plauge has no equivelents in other games I'm aware of. It's an evil, evil status.)
Priest's Hat- 36 Def. Resists Magic/Move block.
Battle Boots- 12 Def. 12 Mov.
Rune Necklace- 5 Act. Supress IP slowing (which means nothing outside the Grandia system, but meh) (... while she'd like a higher bonus, Millenia isn't gonna complain about a speed boost either)
Atk- 324
Def- 292
Act- 108
Mov- 106
Damage Figures
Arrow Shot- 2000 physical. Cancel Effect (25 Sp)
Heel Crush- 1450 physical. -1 Atk, Def, Act, Mov level. (note- -1 isn't much, but around -4, things get pretty noticable. Assuming Millenia is in a match that'll last that long) (20 SP)
Fallen Wings- 4350 physical. All. (75 Sp)
Starving Tongue- 2100 parasitic physical damage (x number of targets, I think) (55 Sp)
Spellbinding Eye- Traps enemy, does negligable damage. Lasts slightly more than 2 of Millenia's turns.(60 Sp)
Grudging Claws- 3750 Physical damage. (42 SP).
Combo- 700 physical damage.
Chaos Egg- again, just the short version of 'skills she might use'
Healer- Heal 1400 Hp (12 MP)
Burnstrike- 1550 Fire Damage. Single. (20 Mp)
Howlnado- 1600 Wind Damage. All (45 Mp)
Dragon Zap- 2400 Lightning damage. 'line' (58 Mp)
Notes- Millenia has a lot of Elena's problems. She doesn't like being hit. But, she's not quite the OHKO fodder some claim, and her speed is sufficient to preclude opening double-turns much of the time, though she's still sluggish. Spellbinding Eye is nasty, but not nearly as bad as Enclose. Still Millenia can probably do decently in heavy, although she's probably not champ material.
Alrighty then. Now we move on to Tio and Roan. They're at the lower level of 48. Damage is against Valmar Moths. They seem pretty similar to Zera/Valmar defensively.
Roan- lovable child with the hatable voice. Not a bad character though, both in terms of story and in battle.
Roan can opt for the Priest's Robe/Hat. Numbers for those in parenthesis.
Hp- 2780
Mp- 221
Sp- 197
Str- 218
Vit- 196
Agl- 116
Spd- 92
Mag- 206
Men- 197
Equipment
Dirk- 140 Atk. Wow! effect. supposedly.
Aura Armor (Priest's Robe)- 64. Raises power of moves. (Priest's Robe- 54 Def. Resists poison, paralysis, and plauge)
Charisma Helm (Priest's Hat)- 38 Def. 5 Act. (36 Def. Resists Magic/Move block)
Battle Boots- 12 Def. 12 Act.
King's Pride- 25 Atk. Raises power of moves. (yes, this stacks)
Atk- 383
Def- 316 (304)
Act- 121 (116)
Mov- 110
Damage Figures
Golden Hammer- 2400 (2100) physical damage. Cancel Effect. (22 Sp)
True Dragon Rise- 4000 (3500) physical Damage. (42 Sp)
Ice Prison- 3300 (2800) Ice/physical. (30 Sp)
Vitality March- Restores status. I don't see a real use for it, but meh (20 Sp)
Combo- 700 physical damage.
Notes- Roan... is pretty good. His speed is only average-ish, but he's solid defensively, and he has the best 'recommended' Move. He can get a fair number of status immunities, although his offense takes a hit, and he doesn't hit the nastier ones. Still, a fair heavy.
Tio- standard "android trying to be human". Not a bad character, but nothing too memorable.
note- Tio, too, can opt for the Priest's robe. She's stuck with the Priest's hat though.
Hp- 2655
Mp- 212
Sp- 188
Str- 207
Vit- 205
Agl- 137
Spd- 112
Mag- 180
Men- 184
Equipment
Phoenix Ring- 142 Atk. +1 Sp regeneration, which only matters in-game
Aura Armor (Priest's Robe)- 64. Raises power of moves. (Priest's Robe- 54 Def. Resists poison, paralysis, and plauge)
Priest's Hat- 36 Def. Resists Magic/Move Block.
Shadow Shoes- 10 Def. 15 Mov. Adds 10% to evasion chances.
Meteor Earring- 20 Mov. Adds 25% to evasion chances.
Atk- 349
Def- 315 (305)
Act- 137
Mov- 147
Damage Figures
Lotus Flower- 1600 (1350) physical damage. Cancel Effect. 'line' (28 Sp)
Fast Dance-whirl- 3200 (2900) physical damage. (38 Sp)
Tornado- 2700 (2200) wind/physical damage. All. (48 Sp)
Whisper to Stars- +1 Atk, Def, Act, Mov level. Again, this is only noticable after several casts. (36 Sp)
Combo- 600 physical damage.
Weapon Options:
Binding Circle- 92 ATK. Lightning Based, adds Paralysis.
Notes- well, Tio has good speed, and is probably the only character likely to evade in a duel. But, her damage just doesn't measure up to the rest of the cast. Middle.
Mareg- lvl 44
Hp- 2821
Mp- 129
Sp- 211
Str- 245
Vit- 209
Agl- 90
Spd- 97
Mag- 90
Men- 120 (yikes)
Equips
Leo Rex Axe- 120 Atk. +3 Sp recovery. This is fabulous in game, for the record. Pity the weapon isn't found until halfway through Valmar's Moon.
Aura Armor- 64 Def. (Raise Move Power. Remember, he wasn't actually wearing this, so... don't hold his moves to this)
Charisma Helm- 38 Def. 5 Act.
Battle Boots- 12 Def. 12 Mov.
Hercules' Brace- 5 Atk.
Atk- 370
Def- 323
Act- 95
Mov- 109
Damage
Beast-Fang Cut- 1650 physical. Cancel effect. (26 Sp)
Beast-King Smash- 3000 Physcial. (44 Sp)
Beast-King Blast- 1500 Fire/Physical. (52 Sp). (note- in all honestly, I'm pretty sure that I was testing this against fire resistance. However, from what I could tell none of the enemies on Valmar's Moon were neutral to fire, so... bah.)
Lion's Roar- +1 Attack level. (18 Sp). Dear god this Move sucks.
Combo- 750 physical.
Okay, before commentary, some comparative stats. Ryudo and Tio, level 44. Assume their listed equipment. Note- both have significantly better weapons (150 and 142 compared to 120. So... their attack is a bit inflated.)
Ryudo (lvl 44)-
Hp- 2437
Mp- 152
Sp- 192
Str- 223
Vit- 194
Agl- 112
Spd- 99
Mag- 148
Men- 151
Atk- 383
Def- 330 (309)
Act- 117
Mov- 111
Tio (lvl 44)-
Hp- 2242
Mp- 194
Sp- 170
Str- 194
Vit- 187
Agl- 134
Spd- 110
Mag- 167
Men- 171
Atk- 336
Def- 297 (287)
Act- 134
Mov- 145
Now, lets suppose that Mareg gets about the same stat boosts as Ryudo. You get this-
Mareg- (projected lvl 51)
Hp- ~3500
Mp- ~170
Sp- ~240
Str- ~275
Vit- ~240
Agl- ~95
Spd- ~100
Mag- ~110
Men- ~110
Atk- ~400
Def- ~355
Act- ~100
Mov- ~120
These hypothetical stats and Aura Armor would likely put Beast-King smash at something under 4000 damage. They also leave Mareg with a healthy Hp advantage, but as it turns out, Ryudo (assuming the friend necklace, of course) has a somewhat higher Def. Granted, Mareg would likely have higher stat growth than this, but still, it's an interesting note. Without beating about the bush, that MDef is crap, though not on the order of Kongol or anything. His Hp easily balances that out, such that he takes magical licks about the same as Ryudo or Millenia. Still, Heavy is probably giving him a bit too much credit, especially with game-worst speed.
Averages- Bear in mind, thes are almost uniformally a little low, because Roan and Tio are slightly underlevelled. Also, I'm leaving off SP, because unlike MP, there's no reason to really care (MP matters for draining cases).
HP
1. Mareg- ~3500
2. Ryudo- 3173
3t. Millenia- 2826
3t. Elena- 2826
5. Roan- 2780
6. Tio- 2655
Average- 2960
MP
1. Millenia- 264
2. Elena- 263
3. Roan- 221
4. Tio- 212
5. Ryudo- 185
6. Mareg- 170
Average- 219
Atk
1. Ryudo- 407
2. Roan- 383
3. Mareg- ~370
4. Tio- 349
5. Elena- 326
6. Millenia- 324
Average- 360
Def
1. Ryudo- 361
2. Mareg- ~355
3. Roan- 316
4. Tio- 315
5. Elena- 295
6. Millenia- 292
Average- 322
Act
1. Tio- 137
2. Ryudo- 122
3. Roan- 121
4. Millenia- 108
5. Elena- 102
6. Mareg- ~100
Average- 115
Mov
1. Tio- 147
2. Mareg- ~120
3. Ryudo- 115
4. Roan- 110
5. Elena- 107
6. Millenia- 106
Average- 117
Mag
1. Millenia- 265
2. Roan- 206
3. Tio- 180
4. Ryudo- 168
5. Elena- 162
6. Mareg- ~110
Average- 182. Elena has below average magic ability. The fuck?
Men
1. Elena- 265
2. Roan- 197
3. Tio- 184
4. Ryudo- 171
5. Millenia- 161
6. Mareg- ~110
Average- 181.
From Sage
Damage average assuming only best attacks:
Ryudo(4500, Sky Dragon Slash)>Millenia(4350, Fallen Wings)>Elena(4000, White Apocalypse)=Roan(4000, True Dragon Rise)=Mareg(Scaled. 4000, Beast-King Smash)Tio(3200, Fast Dance-Whirl)[>Mareg unscaled(3000, Beast-King Smash)
Average damage assuming this: 4008.
Average damage without straight-scaled Mareg: 4010. Changes much!
However, I came in here to make a three turn average, damnit. >_>
Three turn average:
Ryudo: Triple Flying Tenseiken(11400, 3800 a turn.) (However, it's worthy of note that, in a strictly numerical sense, two Sky Dragon Slashes and a Flying Tenseiken does more. This runs Ryudo out of SP totally, but does 12800/averages 4266 a turn. Not assuming it for averages because it's really almost never the best overall option.)
Roan: 4000 x 3 with True Dragon Rise. He has one left over after this, so that works perfect.
Millenia: Hard one to call. Fallen Wingsx2/Grudging Claws is the best on paper-like Ryudo, this also runs her out of all SP. Does 12450/4150 average. Grudging Claws x3 leaves her with one more shot after, and, far more importantly, can be used three times after a SBE. Average there is 3750, of course. Her magic's a more notable drop than Elena's, damage-wise(Elena has no damage outside of WA...) so I'll assume this.
Elena: Double White Apocalypse, Impact Bomb.(10000, 3333 a turn average.) (I have no real problem with this, though. She has magic that is comparable to Impact Bomb.)
Tio: 3200x3 with Fast Dance-Whirl. Also has one left over after the three turns.
Mareg: Triple Beast-King Smash, at 4000~ each.
Average:
Assuming highest damage: 3824.
Assuming no Mareg: 3789.
Assuming overall best damage: 3680.
Assuming no Mareg: 3616.