Which way to go with with my party? Esp. Alch/Prot/Landsk

[Felouen]

Hi, right now I'm around lvl 8, still on the first floor with FOEs, and I'm wondering which way should I focus my party. Now, some of my points aren't so well distributed because even when I noticed that the HP etc. UP skills do improve right away, when reading gamefaqs faq where it said that these skills affect the attribute level growth rate, I believed it and began stackin up points in the HP/TEC/ATK/DEF Ups. Here's how my skills look so far:

[spoiler]Landsknecht:
HP Up 1
ATK Up 2
DEF Up 2
Swords 4
Cleaver 1
How is it with the Axes and Swords? Should I begin raising the Axes skill right away so I can get as soonest as possible Allslash? Or is it better to become a chaser with my current party build?

Protector:
HP Up 2
TP Up 1
DEF Up 4
Shields 1
Provoke 1
F. Guard 1
I discovered that Provoke isn't really useful to me right now, will it be later on? Some people say that the Defender is not very useful with the Medic having Immunize, is it better to have them both or not? Should I go for the Defender or rather for Smite (even though they say Fortify is quite useless when Medic has Immunize) - or should I go for both? What about En Garde, does it work against all attack or just the ones targeting the Protector? How good is it?

Survivalist:
HP Up 1
AGI Up 3
Bows 2
Ambush 2
Truestrike 1
Now, here I'm a little bit more sure. I want to improve Ambush and get Multihit, but I'm not sure what the 1st Hit does - does it make the Survivalist hit first? Also, is it that necessary to get 1st turn for Medic's Immunize? Right now Trickery and Quicken doesn't seem very good, or are they? How do they benefit, do enemies miss more often or I get to attack more quickly?

Medic:
HP Up 1
TP Up 1
Healer 4
Patch Up 2
Cure 2
Well, I thought the Patch Up was going to be good when on the first floor, but now I read that it's useless. Should I use retire afterwards to get rid of points in this? Now, I'm unsure whether to get Immunize right away or whether to spend some points on ATK or TP on the way, as I doubt I'd be using so much Immunize when I get it anyway (that should be within 5 lvls?)

Alchemist:
TP Up 3
Fire Up 3
Toxins 1
Fire 1
Poison 1
Chop 1
I first started off thinking I would first buff up the Fire skills, however when reading some builds I found out that Toxins 1 + maxed Poison is "best" for starting out and killing FOEs, so instead of putting the 2 points into Fire Up I put them into Tox+Poison, only to discover that the FOE - Ragelope - wasn't poisoned at all even after five attempts. Is it better now to focus on fire and put more points in Fire Up, or go the Toxic way? When does Ragelope become poisoned, do I need two, three points in Tox/Poison?
Some people say it's the best to max out Tier Three elemental spells, while others say it's good to put the points into Tier Two spells. The opinion I've read the most is to max Flame, Freeze and Thor.
With the build as I've got it, should I go for Flame+Toxins+Volt? Or should I do Toxins, then rest and put it into the elements? Or any other good alternative? [/spoiler]

And - should I put point/s into Stalker? If yes, with Protector or Survivalist? And any points into Mine/Chop/Take, or just use dump Survivalists for that? Thank you!

[Sampson]

For item nodes, you can just make a team of survivalists specializing in that and have them collect items.

Both axes and swords for the Landsknecht are fine, just focus on one right now. Since you're already putting points into swords skills, just continuing putting points into swords and cleaver. You don't need Allslash just yet, and it'd be best if you didn't focus on that right now so it doesn't become useless. You have only one element-user, so there's no need for chasers.

For the Protector, Defender is still useful. I believe it stacks with Immunize, so you'll be taking a lot less damage. If you want to go for Smite instead, go for it, but I don't think you'll have it by the time you reach the first boss. Try to have it by the end of the second stratum. I've never really used En Garde, though.

1st turn is useful for Immunize if your Medic's slow, although your party will usually be able to take a hit before it activates. Try putting more points into the Survivalist's combat skills. Apollon deals a lot of damage.

For the Medic, Immunize is most useful when facing FOEs, bosses, and some normal battles. Try to get salve as soon as possible, and put more points into healing abilities. Don't put points into Attack Up unless you're planning to put your Medic in the front row, which you don't have to do. Your Landsknecht and Protector are sturdy enough.

And as for your Alchemist, poison becomes obsolete very quickly, and I'd recommend trying to get Flame instead. I'm not that sure about the optimal build for an Alchemist (I don't use the AoE attacks at all, even though many people say you should). You can put an extra point or two into Poison, but the direct damage skills take priority.

And the HP/TP up skills give big bonuses for the 1st, 5th, and 10th points put into them, I believe. You're best just putting one point in each during the beginning of the game.

I know that didn't answer all of your questions, but I hope it gave you some guidance.

[Felouen]

[Kaname]

[Felouen]

[scy]

It's due to the way the game handles Damage Reduction. More specifically, how the game handles DEF. I'll use an example:

Base Damage: 50
DEF: 15
Reduction: 60%

Total Damage taken: (50 * .4) = 20 - 15 = 5

DEF in this game is a flat reduction that gets applied after all other Damage Reduction is done; due to that, it leads to minimal damage taken.