I think it'd be pretty cool if Crusaders could spend EP on personal talents. With the exception of very early game, EP is pretty much only good for a few crusaders who could be top DPS. I doubt I'm the only one who feels like it's kind of a waste when Princess or Gold Panda (for example) gain EP. So anyway, I thought it'd be cool if EP could be used to provide other buffs aside from raw DPS.

One idea is what if we could level up a Crusader's unique skills in order customize our party a bit? For example, if we're using Khouri for healing, we could buff his Frog Soup skill. If we use him for damage buffs only, we could ignore leveling Frog Soup and focus on Koffee Potion. Of course, we could also split our points between the two or even boost his personal DPS skills.

I agree with the OP wholeheartedly. Although I always thought that XP, rather than EP should upgrade formation abilities. Whenever I get duplicate equipment for a support crusader, I think 'what a waste' because it does nothing at all.

Turning XP or EP into health on reset seems bad because it defeats the purpose of soft reset. You'd eventually get crusaders who fell too far behind to ever be useful.