Class upgrades and more questions...

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Have been reading a lot the past couple of weeks, hearing mixed feedback on upgrading classes.

Some people say turn your non magic to magic and vice versa so you end up with a full party of balanced fighters/magic casters. Others have warned that you have a less than ideal mana pool if you do that. Thoughts?

The gadabout/jester class sounds like a fun challenge. I've read they can upgrade to Sages for free and that Sages are great. I've also read that the stats the gadabout/jester has are not ideal and it's better to upgrade a pilgrim or mage. Then I read that if you upgrade a pilgrim or mage you get spell overlap/create redundancies upgrading them to sage. Thoughts?

What's the best way to use and upgrade a thief? Sound like a valuable class but I hear their stat progression kind of sucks. Have also read that they can efficiently steal stat increasing seeds.

Is it better to level as much as possible before switching classes? For example in Shining Force 2, you actually benefit from leveling your characters another 10-15 levels whenever you unlock the ability to upgrade a class.

[slayermakure]

The class upgrades are a bit complicated, and I hate to be that guy... so I will be and I won't be. You can change your class to anything you think sounds best. Yeah, that didn't sound so great. Alright, so...

Warrior -----> Fighter
Mage -----> Warrior
Priest/Mage -----> Sage

That's the combo I went with WAY back when, and believe me, it's a powerhouse. The issue is that when you class change (if I recall correctly), all of your numeric stats get cut in half. That means your HP, MP, Strength, Agility, etc. all get halved. So, it would behoove you to level up your group as much as possible in order to learn as many spells and abilities as possible before class changing. The only class you don't want to change is Thief, as that one is important for seed farming and stealing in the late game. Turning your Jester into a Sage is also recommended. Not sure about the Monster Wrangler, I haven't gotten far enough.

In the end, just make sure you're at a comfortable level before class changing your characters to whatever suits you best.