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Marle
Element:  Ice
Crono meats Marle at the Millennial Fair shortly after the game begins.  They "bump into each other" (literally) and set forth a chain of events that will change the past, present, and future.  Her true identity is Princess Nadia, run-away princess of Truce.  She also has the hots for Crono, it seems...
In battle, Marle functions best as a healer.  Her physical attacks just plain suck, and her offensive magic/tech skills only become useful when paired with other's, for example, the Antipode spells, which are Duel-Techs with Lucca.  If you're going to use her in battle, either use her to heal the other two (and herself) or make sure you have a good character in the party she can duel-tech with.

Lucca
Element:  Fire
Lucca is the residential genius of the game, and Crono's best friend.  She's always inventing new things, which incidentally, is what sets forth the adventure in the first place!  Her interest in Science stems from an incident involving her mother, several years ago...
In battle, Lucca is the second strongest magic-user in the game.  She's definitely a force to be reckoned with, especially once she learns Flare, the ultimate Fire magic.  She'll prove very useful in boss-fights, as she's one of the biggest damage-dealers in the game, and also has some nice Magic Defense.  Her only downside is her Attack and Defense, which are both crappy.  Don't use her against a boss that uses lots of physical attacks unless you're looking for a challenge.

Frog
Element:  Water
The name says it all.  He's a demi-human toad, who speaks in a very polite manner.  He was best friends with Cyrus, the legendary knight, before Cyrus was killed by Magus.  Glenn (Frog's true name) was then turned into a frog by Magus, and was thought dead.  He returns to Guardia to protect Queen Leene, and seeks revenge for Cyrus's murder.  He wields the legendary sword, the Masamune, which is said to be the only sword capable of defeating Magus.
In battle, Frog is the second most well-rounded character in the game, only after Crono.  His major downside is his crappy Magic attack stat, but you'll find after using him for a while that there's really no need for him to have a magic attack stat anyway, as you'll only be using him for physical attacking and an occasional healing.  Which is fine, since he's one of the strongest physical characters in the game, especially after acquiring the 2nd Masamune (see our Sidequests section for more info).  His defense and magic defense stats are also very nice, which makes him well-rounded in the department of damage taking.

Robo
Element:  Shadow
Robo is a robot from the future (as you may have guessed) and repaired by Marle.  He really doesn't have much of a past to speak of, and is one of the lesser-developed characters in the game.  He DOES have his own sidequest however, which reveals a lot about how he was made, and what he was originally programmed for.  Other than that, the only reason to use Robo is his strength in battle, not for storyline purposes.
Speaking of battle, he's a VERY strong physical character, (high attack and defense) but his magic and magic defense are sad, to say the least.  DON'T EVER use him against a strong magic user, as he's most likely to get leveled.  This would be bosses like Magus, Giga Gaia...
Once you complete his side-quest however, his magic defense and speed (his two worst stats) will both be improved significantly, which makes him a lot better of a fighter, and you may very well want to use him then.  Also, he can't use magic at all, but he does have several techs, which are shadow-elemental based.

Ayla
Element:  None
Ayla is most easily described as a "cave girl" from 65 million years ago.  She's the village chief, and is fighting the "Reptites" who want to destroy the humans.  She speaks with broken English, and dresses skimpily.
In battle, she's got some pretty impressive physical stats, but like Robo, her magic stats are not quite as impressive.  She's not as sad as Robo in those departments however, and it makes her a bit more well-rounded.  She uses no weapons, but only her fist (which improves in high levels).  She's also the only one that can steal in the game (using the "Charm" tech), so she's useful against bosses, who often have some nice items to plunder.  She has no elemental attributes to speak of, as, quite frankly, she's too stupid to use magic.

Magus (Optional Character)
Element:  Shadow
For a while, Magus looks like one of the major villains in the game.  He's the evil dude who killed legendary hero Cyrus with ease, and is summoning Lavos, the creature who will destroy the world 1000 years later.  As the game progresses, we find he has mysterious connections with the Atlantis-like kingdom of Zeal, and he may not be the evil no-redeeming-qualities guy that we thought he was.  He plays a HUGE part throughout most of the game, and is a boss-fight about a 1/3 of the way through.  He's pretty much just a guy out for revenge against Lavos, who destroyed his home and sent him 1000's of years into the future when he was young.  Of course, he and Frog have some unresolved personality conflicts going on...
In battle, he quite simply rocks yer arse off!  Without a doubt, he is the STRONGEST magic user in the game, and his other stats are also nice as well.  He also has the neat ability to cast spells of ANY element, and his own Shadow magic spells are devastatingly powerful.  You have the option of either killing him, or letting him live (in which case he joins you) near the end of the game, but really, what kind of idiot wouldn't want this powerhouse on their team?  He also is fun to have around in the story, as he says some pretty cool stuff (just take him on the Ozzie sidequest!  It's hilarious!).