Daredevil3181, originally from the Gamefaqs Chrono Cross forum, has volunteered his recruitment FAQ for hosting on the Chrono Compendium.
"The point of this FAQ/Guide is to make the quest of recruiting characters in this game a lot easier for you, the player. There has been a lot of confusion as to the earliest points in which characters can be recruited and at what point they can be permanently missed, if such a point exists. In addition, if you follow the creation of different files that I have outlined for you, it will drastically cut down on the tedious play throughs you must do in order to obtain every available character and all 12 endings."
Enjoy this contribution!
Recruitment FAQ