Does anyone get what the deal is with these spells? The in-game abilities section say they use the strength stat, but lighting does a good 200-300 more damage with her regular attack then she does with these. Are they just not meant to be as good? How do they compare to the spells if cast by someone who had equal stats in strength and magic? I've tried researching this online, but no one seems to be able to come to a consensus.
 
If they actually are based on strength, I'm going to boost up this weapon that increases strength by ridiculous amounts, otherwise I guess I'll need to look into getting her something more balanced. 
 
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

From what I can tell they exist so that if you build your characters with high strength they can still be decent ravagers when you need them to be. Ravagers and commandos have entirely different roles in combat and sometimes you need a character who you have built mostly around strength to be a ravager to get the stagger bar up.
 
Also I find that ravager damage in general is lower than commando damage.

I don't know for sure but i use magic attacks like those with Lightning because they're good at staggering the enemy. Then i switch to Commando.

" I don't know for sure but i use magic attacks like those with Lightning because they're good at staggering the enemy. Then i switch to Commando. "

Max the Lionheart>Ultima weapon, it's a good balance with good speed and a great bonus.

" From what I can tell they exist so that if you build your characters with high strength they can still be decent ravagers when you need them to be. "

"It's not that magic attacks specifically are good at staggering enemies, it's that ravagers are good at staggering enemies.... and ravagers just happen to be magic focused.  Generally if I am trying to stagger an enemy I go Com/Rav/Rav, once it is staggered I try to switch over to a Com/Com/Rav paradigm (if I have two characters that make good coms) because I find commandos generally do more damage than ravagers. "

" @Huey2k2 said:

"It's not that magic attacks specifically are good at staggering enemies, it's that ravagers are good at staggering enemies.... and ravagers just happen to be magic focused.  Generally if I am trying to stagger an enemy I go Com/Rav/Rav, once it is staggered I try to switch over to a Com/Com/Rav paradigm (if I have two characters that make good coms) because I find commandos generally do more damage than ravagers. "

If it is a long stagger countdown it can also be good to stay Com/Rav/Rav for the first little bit because Ravagers will increase the Chain % faster than Commando and the higher the chain bonus during stagger the greater your damage.  So basically, stay Com/Rav/Rav or go Tri-Disaster and crank up the chain % a little more and then switch to Multiple Commando for major damage. "

Yeah, Commandos are always going to outdamage a Ravager.
 
Also, somehow I have a perfectly even Lightning.  232 strength, 232 magic.  (At chapter 8)