Maybe Ancient Gamble should just add Str or 2x Str to crit?
For the subcategories, it seemed like Sidearms didn't really have a theme to them, though; they had multiple independent little things going on in it, from range to status ailments to sword-hate to crit(plus, not even a Brave Dagger. Bah!). And, while it might be well and good to hold things over from Fire Emblem like favoritism and some classes being just plain better than others...it's not really fun, or fair, to the people who like other classes and want to play those. :/
Crushing is raw damage, Thrusting is Effective damage(which was usually the Other category for the weapons, it seemed, or Even Heavier and Even Stronger, or both like with Crossbows), Slashing is crits(and high Hit?), and Sidearms is gimmicks. For Lances, it seemed like Javelins was range, Piercing was General(/High Hit?) and Polearms was Effective/Raw Damage. Axes had Hacking for General/Low Weight(?), Throwing for Range, and Bludgeoning for Raw Damage/Effective. Anima Magic had Wind Magic for Speed/High Hit, Lightning for Raw Damage/Crit, and Fire for General. Light Magic had Holy for General/Raw Damage, Judgement for Effective Damage, and Wards for Defense(Wards really suck right now, though, I mean seriously, unless you're making some sort of weird uber-tough build with Monks that isn't already immune to all damage). Dark Magic had Dread for damage, Ancient for Status effects, and Druid for Effective(apparently). Bows had Recurve Bows for General/Speed, Longbows for Range/Effective, and Crossbows for Flier Death, Accuracy, and Self-Defense.
But Crossbows, for example, suck for Self-Defense because of how much they reduce your speed by, meaning you'll be doubled and take more damage anyway. Their weights are just so tremendous that their damage doesn't really make up for it, not when you can't add your Strength. The Nature Spirits in v1.20, and the generally high Con of people anyway, made Wind largely redundant, and Wards just plain suck. Judgement was extremely over-specialized in many ways, and the Raw Damage of the two weapon categories that were supposed to have higher damage in general than Swords, pale in comparison to Crushing. Pilums make Javelins almost completely redundant save for Speed-pumping spear wielders, or ones with low Strength, and Thrusting seemed better than Slashing in almost every way, for a lot of the tiers(for 1.20, at least).
Also, how was Physical Training going from Troubadour to Mage Knight supposed to work, might we ask?