Elvaan seem the most adept at melee, but with lower dex and agl they are probably slower. I was hoping for a dragoon with sub of samurai for damage, but I also wanted to attack fairly fast. Is there a better race for that or a different thing I should change about my plan?
If you're going to be a dragoon, you're not going to be very fast no matter what race, every spear I saw had high delay on it. Elvann are the strongest (damage) in the game, followed by Galka, who take hits better.