Black Belt/Grand Master
Pros:
The black belt is the lowest-costing character in the game (unless you count
costs for staying at the inn and Heal potions). Every level-up a black belt
gains 2 points to Damage and, on average, 3 points to hit percentage. That
means at level 50, a Black Belt hits for 100 Damage. Not bad for no weapons,
huh? Also, every 10 levels, the Black Belt will start naturally adding 2 more
hits. This means at level 9, they will hit twice and do (approximately) 50
damage on certain enemies, while at level 10 they will hit 4 times and do 100.
Also, their absorb gains a point every level-up, so by the end of the game
they've got an absorb rate that rivals that of Knights and their best armor,
and their evade never drops because you never equipped any armor. Very nice!
Cons:
The black belt starts off extremely slow. Their damage is horrendously low,
and if you equip them with Nunchaku for more damage, they seem to drop off the
scale in hit percentage. Their armor benefits aren't very good, either - you
can equip them with armor, but it will always give them a standard upgrade.
If they reach a level where they are naturally as strong as the armor they are
wearing, then they will eventually get WEAKER when equipping that armor.
Bottom line - if you want a black belt, keep 'em in the back, where they won't
die too quickly...you will reap massive rewards for doing so.
Overall:
The trick to using a Black Belt is to get equipment that they won't advance
past for quite a while (Rings work good), then, after every level up, de-equip
those items, then re-equip them. During the beginning, it's good to have them
using Nunchaku, despite the low hit rate. Without them, they may hit
consistantly, but until they get their damage rating up high enough (at about
level 5 or 6), they'll only hit twice for about 2 damage.
