[Coda]

Well, that throws my entire spiel about stat weightings out the window. :P (If these guys are a limited resource that don't come back if they die, then that makes Life an absurdly valuable stat to the exclusion of all others.)

And for what it's worth, the tactical landscape for the elemental effects changes pretty dramatically too -- knockback is still a bad idea (you NEVER want to have your AI allies shove something out of your line of fire) but the fact that you'll have more than one source of the effects makes the lower proc rate less of a problem. Different types of enemy-impairing effects (stun, slowdown, projectile attack limitations, etc.) are going to be the most valuable against non-boss opponents, while you probably want to have bosses resist some of that stuff which makes damage-over-time (and maybe some projectile counters) more valuable there. (This is a good thing because it means you have to gear up your squad based on what you think you're going to need more help with, and you can't just optimize against the entire mission.)

I think that it might be a nice touch to have the player be able to equip some of this stuff. Being able to customize your leader's weapon and armor with elemental attributes and stat bonuses would make the player feel more in control of the character's growth over the course of the game.