Final Fantasy Hacktics

In an attempt to make monsters a little more interesting, I used FFTPatcher to allow them to equip armor on a case by case basis, however, it didn't seem to work when I went into the ENTD and edited a custom monster class I made to have a leather mantle. The monster didn't have anything equipped when I checked it during the battle.

The battle I edited was the first one involving Algus/Argath, with the monster in question being a Red Chocobo edit with all of the Chocobo family's skills and an additional one I added in place of the Red Panther you usually see there. Are monsters hard coded to be unable to equip anything?

Hey, all. I'm very new to some of the more elaborate aspects of hacking a game but am eager to learn given the large number of tools available. Before I get my hopes up and bury myself in all the more technical parts of this hacking business, I hope you all don't mind answering a few questions I have:

For one, one of the things that got me excited about hacking the game is the possibility of importing characters and races from other games I enjoy playing, in particular the races from FFTA. I understand that one has to give up a "spare" character's portrait and sprite in order to put new ones into the game, and so I ask: is there enough "extra" characters in this game to support seven or eight new sprites of, say, several of the Moogle Jobs from FFTA. Adding to that, is the work involved with making these sprites especially time consuming enough that it would be impractical to make unique portraits and sprites of several new generic units?

 I appreciate any answers I get on the subject.