RPG Maker Forums

I was playing/beating breath of fire 1 yesterday and got an idea from Karn(the game's shapeshifter). 

I thought that an interesting idea might be to have a shapeshifting main character that can shift seamlessly between turns into forms that are needed for battles. I was also thinking that attacks in one form would lead into another form, ex. flying form -> ox form = Meteor Dive! lol I thought up several forms that would pretty much be everything a team would need to fight with, but in having such a jack of all trades...would it be necessary to have other characters? 

I am pretty sure I could whip up some complimenting characters, like perhaps an outcast witch, a half human half demon, a monk that was sent to exorcise the demon(the demon & the main character who is mistaken for a demon) but eventually becomes a part of the group, the father of the main character as a hunter type character that hunts him down at first but eventually joins him(he hunts him because he thinks that he is a demon that killed his son and assumed his son's form but eventually realizes that he is indeed his son), and possibly a knight(why not?) the point of the matter is, would it be overkill? Would it be more fun to control only one character, have these other minor characters in the story line that act to an extent in battle(like they punch or shoot an arrow giving you an opening but they aren't actually in your control), and just play it that way?

The reason I hesitate is because the main is such an overwhelmingly powerful jack of all trades, the other characters would seem quite plain in comparison. I could probably give them cool/unique abilities but wouldn't they just be echoed in the main character anyway? What I don't want to do is to be like Breath of Fire 1 where Karn's shifting abilities and Ryu's dragon abilities pretty much made the battles and the remaining six characters were forgotten....several of which made up Karn's form which is like the ultimate "meh, was there even any other characters than Karn, Ryu, Nina, and Bleu?". Bleu had her magic arsenal which did well but she was no Puka or Rudra. Don't get me started on Agni and the face rolling that won me the last 4 boss battles in the game. 

My question is this: In having a powerful jack of all trades shapeshifter, is it a good idea to have more playable characters in a standard team way? Or should I keep it single playable character that has storyline friends/allies that may impact certain battles but will not actively participate in a standard team way? Thoughts, comments?