paladin21

I totally agree with this. He is designed as a physical unit, and a freaking brawler for that (and fists are banned for mages). He gets a budding talent skill that is almost useless for him (just like it is for Dorothea). His spell quantity fits a hybrid character. If something was to be changed, he should give up on of his Reason spells for a Faith one (Seraphim as a BT). There's no character that gets five spells of a given type if they don't have that proficiency from scratch, with Hapi and Constance being the exception. These two characters have almost a null list for arts (just the magic blades for Constance and their BT arts), but they were the two purely magic characters that came with two hybrid ones that needed Faith for their intended classes, thus banning them from getting the proficiency. Other than them, only characters starting with a proficiency in Faith get five spells (Lindhart, Mercedes, Lysithea, Marianne, Manuela and Flayn). For Reason it's even more restricted since not all of them get five spells (Hubert, Dorothea, Lindhart, Lysithea and Hanneman), while the other get only four. I don't think Byleth was presented as a hybrid character. He is always depicted as a swordsman, with his Faith being developed from being in contact with Sothis. His final class also reflects this, having magic as some free utility advantage for a physical character. Having Aura instead of Abraxas is a matter of what Aura means for Fire Emblem since the first game. As for the lists themselves, I find them pretty solid the way they are, with the exception of Seraphim not existing in his White Magic list (but like I said before, should be granted as a budding talent). I also think that Thunder only exists to give Byleth additional magic uses of a low tier magic. Having him getting more spells or more powerful ones, would make other dedicated mages redundant. Being the main character doesn't mean he has to be able to fit any role.

If you genderswap between playthroughs, you may unlock S-ranks from hetero characters that are the same sex as your previous Byleth, provided they got their support to A and build the unseen relation. Even if you don't unlock the S-rank through the story option, you can see it in the extras menu. Bi character's S-rank conversation can only be unlocked through story choice.

I have 308 5* units, with quite a few of them merged 1 or 2 times and two of them with +10 (the original Corrins), and like another 20 turned into manuals waiting to be used (for skills or merging, I'm still undecided).

I want to see this one, since I have F!Corrin 5*+10 with the distant-counter breath. If the weapon+refine don't fit into her build, I might just be disappointed as #*@! and not use that weapon at all. However, if it has it built-in, I'll be dancing happily (and looking like crazy or stupid).

The point of the class is that he actually gets three faires but only on melee attacks. His minimum defense in that class would make his melee attacks increase their damage output by 4, which is almost a faire, but applied to three weapons. Chances are, however, that his defense is slightly higher, reaching 25, which would make his skill increase his melee damage to a faire level in three weapons, and with one skill slot used. However, when initiating attack, he gets armoured blow that, while protecting him, also boosts his damage by one or two points (depending on the number rounding). All of this, even if he doesn't equip shields, so the class gamebreaker is giving him a shield to hit even harder, even at the cost of his AS (or not if you give him the Lampos/Kadmos shield). That was the whole point. I think being a mounted Bishop fits completely with her personality, as for the Magic Blade skill, as you said, is there to synergize with those two arts. I didn't want yet another mounted class to have her spamming Thoron and black magic in general, as there are quite a few now. As for the other two, I got most of the ideas remembering the Tear Ring Saga and Berwick Saga games. In the TRS game, there were terrain skills that characters could learn, that would increase hit, avoid and movement in certain type of maps, so I made Surprise Attack and Forest Stride somewhat knock-offs of that. The Hunter's Eye is pretty similar to BS Huntsman skill, with the difference being not being tied to a specific weapon. I agree that she grew stronger and got out of hand, but her Aria skills are based on Fateswakening Rallies and the TRS singer, which had a probablity of refreshing a unit based on the number of times Song had been used (10-60%) and her support with said unit (0-2%), while healing all units in range some chip damage (2-5 HP). However, her range would be growing from 1 to 4 squares away, giving her the chance to affect up to 40 units (not that there'd be that many clustered). While getting the offensive or defensive spectrum might be too much (maybe it could be cut to half bonus), the chance of getting the additional effect is quite low to rely on it (except for the designated target to move again if Dorothea was the Dancer). It means that at her best [58 (stat cap) +2 (class) +10 (battallion) +2 (item) +8 (Rally Charm) = 80 Charm], every non-target character would have a 20% Chance of getting the effect, with the ones that get support with her boosting it to 24% (B), 26% (A) and 29% (S). It's highly unreliable to work a strategy around, and difficult to play with even by using the rewind feature. During a regular and realistic game, her Charm would move in the 30-40, making both the refreshing and Blessing just nice extras to an area buff. Her Healing Aria resembles the TRS original Sing slightly more, and is like an active version of her personal skill. This skill alone would make this class totally change Dorothea's role from mainly offensive to a lesser healbot (just like Mercedes with Fortify, trading uses for range and healing power). Her other two skills upgrades her from healbot to utility. This class would be a pure support class for her and a direct upgrade from Dancer. If she doesn't become the Dancer, the Trobairitz's utility would drop a lot. It's like comparing War Master to Warrior, as it's just plain superior in every aspect. The Trobairitz would lack the magical power a Warlock/Gremory would have, and it's healing ability would be more focused on healing small damage to an area when compared to a Bishop, lacking the Heal+10 and WMx2 skills. Without her mastery ability, her AOE is reduced to adjacent allies, which might be four, but more often than not will be two or three. Only after mastering the class will she truly shine with her boosts by getting +1 range to her skills. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm no fan of Rallies in this game. I think their nerfing has made them somewhat impractical due to opportunity cost. While having one character boosted can help him get a kill safely, I think that having a second character deal some damage to the target is far more useful. From my point of view, Rally seems to have been nerfed for monsters (a single multitarget Rally Charm would be destructive for them), the Death Knight (by hard countering everyone, you are forced to boost one, and only one, character) and support gambits. However, these gambits came as a DLC, though only for Str and Def and with a different area of effect (9 units instead of 12) and use limits. The three "dedicated" ralliers can be quite heavy damage dealers (Hubert and Annette) or great for debuffing (Ignatz with Seal Strength + Poison Strike + Break Shot/Ward Arrow). For specific moments, they could have equipping one or two Rallies (Spd+Str/Mag), but I think there's little to no reason to make a build based on Rallies any more.

Marianne's batallion grants hit+40 and damage+5 (physical and magical). I usually run it on Ashe and Bernie to fix the Deadeye art accuracy. I already thought of the Valkyrie mastery skill, but it's a big detour from her usual bow class path (B reason, B riding). It could be achieved for NG+, but not really viable for a regular NG.

It's a regular Part 1 paralogue. That's why I said it was a little too soon. I think Barbarossa get the 18 Str for being a flying unit. The only non-flying classes that get a base Str above 17 are Warrior and War Master. He gets a debuffing skill by unlocking his hidden talent, and I thought that stacking it with the Seal Speed wasn't a bad idea. With his arts he could damage Spd, Str and either Def or silence the enemy by investing just one slot. I hadn't seen Annette's Stormcaller in detail before, but I find it as a Rally overkill. Since her mastery is yet another Rally, it seems to be implied that you should fill up to four skill slots with them and that just kills the chance of working as something else. I thought something similar and ditched the idea for not being that useful (at least in my head). Hubert suffers from the same issue, if you become a jack of all trades, you're master of none. Both get two different weapons boosted (axes and black magic damage for Annette and bows and dark magic range for Hubert) and a mastery skill that would likely leave out one of their specialties (I'm cool with Ward Arrow though). If the mastery skill was Rally Spectrum (boosts every stat by half the usual Rally and stacks with them), I'd be ok with it. Your idea of Ignatz is slightly more focused, since he'd only focus on one weapon, but he'd have buffing utility (his debuffing utility goes with his weapon). However, Rally Movement is a rare skill that unlocks very late (S-rank for both Byleth and Annette), and inserting it into a class skillset would break the balance of the skill. Another rally probably wouldn't have bothered me that much. While he is in the lower half of the cast with three reason spells (and seven in total), his spells have reasonably high critical ratio, and if their damage is boosted, can deal considerable damage. He'd also get access to Physic for added support utility and Ward which, even at lower capacities than a Rally, last a few turns and gives exp. The truth is that I'm no fan of Rally bots since they get no rewards for their job (exp, class exp, weapon exp...), so they're likely to fall behind. Having one or maybe two is nice to build up supports or take on specific targets, but more often than not, I find them fighting shorthanded or needing to be fed kills to catch up. Finally, the master art you gave him comes at the cost of resource management. You can only deploy three adjuntants, and you need to give one to a support unit instead of a frontliner. That, more than an asset seems to be a liability. What about having a supporting unit strike along? The first choice is the adjuntant, and if there was no adjuntant, another unit in range for a linked attack. That'd allow you to have the Guard adjuntants where they're needed most and still be able to pull the trick. It'd be somewhat similar to the Triangle Attack in that you need to position your units carefully to pull it off.

It's not that you sounded aggresive, but I didn't think I had made my point of view clear enough. I wrote quite a post there, and I didn't go with much detail through all of the characters. During my playthroughs, Deadeye had been somewhat useful for me with both Bernardetta and Ashe. It would deal more damage than Curved shot at 3 range, and if needed, it could get greater reach. Since I used them as chippers before my main units would go in to finish the enemy off, I found its utility good enough to propose it. However, I always relied on Hit+20 and Bow Prowess for it to work, otherwise it's a terrible waste. Yeah, I suppose we have different approaches here, since I'd be using bows more often than you, but I'd give him a Levin+ for sure, like I do to every mixed character I get (like Ingrid or Manuela). However, reaching B in bows would make Yuri eligible for a Magic Bow/Magic Bow+ as well. Did you try using him that way? I think it would be useful for Wyverns at least. I used Mercedes with bows instead black magic in a run, and if she attacked, she would wreck havoc (she's way stronger magically anyway).

I think that upon finishing his paralogue is like a bit too soon. By the time you say, Ignatz might be in his early tens or so, getting an OP class before even Byleth has unlocked his. I also think that a base 18 Str is too high for either his or Bernardetta's personal classes, seeing that Dimitri, Edelgard and Byleth's classes just get 17. I also don't see him as a Commander, even if he has a boon in authority. I think something more along the lines of Arcane Archer (if he has mastered his hidden talent post-timeskip) would fit him better, with a Mastery Art that hits lower of Def/Res when attacking with a bow. Instead of Rally Movement, put Black Tomefaire and move the Cha mod to Mag, and it should be a viable class.

Like I said, I don't have much experience with Yuri, and what I wrote was from a theory point of view, so I appreciate your comments about Deadeye in particular and everything about Yuri in general. Having that in mind, I had placed Windsweep as an alternate art. The whole point was having an art to reliably avoid being countered. I would have done that as well, but I mostly stuck to the class progression @TriforceLegend posted. I think Poison Strike can be good on not-so-heavy hitters, like Yuri or Ignatz. I see your point, and I was thinking about the extra avoid as an additional countermeasure for when his Crest wouldn't trigger, but Lethality in its place is a solid choice. Yes, totally agree with the Str+2, and taking a level in bows lets you certify for Fighter. However, I use HP+5 mainly as a filler until I get better skills later on, like I do with Def+2 (as Res+2 is lord-locked and no one use it in my teams). I wouldn't actually invest into Vantage, since most of the time he doesn't have enough power to kill before being killed. I'd use him as a sneak attacker, using swords and bows to hit the enemy from beyond out of their range (or maybe magic, but he lacks a 1-3 range spell, and as a Trickster he wouldn't actually have that many charges). This makes me question myself why I placed Duelist Blow there. Yes, if instead going myrmidon for the Spd+2, he goes fighter for the Str+2, that'd totally work. I'm totally with you here. However, it also depends on how Yuri is intended to be used, either as a finisher or as a chipper, since the former would benefit from using only one weapon type, and the latter from using two.

Speed+2 is quite direct, but you need to spend time in a beginner class to get, which can affect your character performance. Late game, Weight-3 gets obsolete for lighter weapons, but can still be useful for hevier weapons and magic in general, since spells can become quite heavy and not every mage is Lysithea to knock everybody out with one hit. And, unless you certify for physical classes, none of your dedicated mages are going to reach 15 Str anytime soon, with specifically Lysithea and Marianne struggling to get above 10. That's the reason I recommend raising their rank in swords to certify as myrmidon/thief/(trickster)/swordmaster, and raise their base Str (and maybe other stats). Just as it limits Speed+2. That's the reason I said that it depends on the unit and the benefit it may take from it. Like @LoneRecon400 said, it requires 25 Strength to not be slowed down by an iron sword if you're not equiping anything else with weight. From Str 15 on, both skills are equally useful, netting you an AS+2 (you'd be losing 1 AS from Weight-3 for being too strong). However, if you use lances, you need 20 Str for Spd+2 to be as relevant as Weight-3, and 25 Str for axes, which can fall into late game. Sometimes you may not even be able to rely on Combat Arts and light weapons to kill the targets, and it might happen for 1 AS, being that the difference between killing the opponent and not. Even if the classes aren't that good, armour knight can give you 3-5 points of base Def, wich can be worth around ten levels. It isn't that difficult to get to D for neutral units, and if they already use axes, there's no reason not to do it. You don't even have to use the class anyway. Now, getting heavy armor past C rank is something I would advise against. Smite at B and Weight-5 require too much investment that'd better go on weapons and authority. But getting to D rank for any axe user not named Raphael or Dedue (who can get 12 Def before being able to certify for AK), is far from being useless. and the Weight-3 can still find some uses and it's not that big of an investment.

The Weight-3 ability is useful for speedy characters with heavy weapons or magic. It comes with the added benefit of being able to certify as an armour knight and getting an early boost in Def and possibly in HP. If the character is proficent in axes, I'd strongly consider it. However, if the character has a weakness in heavy armour, it might take too much effort that'd better go into authority. Otherwise, the Speed+2 from the myrmidon class can be more useful. Out of your listed characters, I'd say that Claude, Ferdinand, Petra and Felix could benefit from it, due to developing in classes that use axes, which may allow them to get 3-4 points of base Def. Ferdinand would also get an interesting skill along the way. You should still think on your final skillset for each of your characters, as W-3 may be redundant or not fit into it. By seeing your team and development, I'd use these sets during the game. They'd be filled in order, then switched out when new skills are acquired. I'm not going out of the way you set for the characters unless there's somthing I'd like to remark. Also, I'm not adding NG+ skills. I haven't accounted for S-rank weapon skills, but if you get them, I'd say you equip the Magic Range+1 immediately. The Crit+10 would depend on how much you rely on critical hits to trigger and Faire skills would likely replace the Strength/Magic+2 skills or the secondary weapon Prowess.

Ferdinand: He would unlock this class if he unlocked his hidden talent before his paralogue. Petra: She would get her personal class after her paralogue. Marianne: She'd get her personal class if she has unlocked her hidden talent at her paralogue. Dorothea: She would get this class after the time-skip if the had her hidden talent unlocked by then.

You can check the info here: serenesforest.net/three-houses/miscellaneous/linked-attacks-gambit-boost/ To make the most of tour adjuntants, since you want them as guard type, the flying units would be adjuntant-less, leaving the following possible set-ups (I wrote in italics deployed characters): Byleth (F) - Falcon Knight: No guard adjuntant. Extra damage with Claude/Yuri/Flayn. Claude - Barbarossa: No guard adjuntant. Extra damage with Byleth/Hilda. Petra - Wyvern Lord: No guard adjuntant. Ferdinand - Wyvern Lord: No guard adjuntant. Extra damage with Lorenz. Constance - Dark Flier: No guard adjuntant. Lysithia - Gremory: No extra damage. Marianne - Dancer: No extra damage. Leonie - Bow Knight: Extra damage with Alois. Sniper options: Shamir - Sniper: Extra damage with Catherine. Ignatz - Sniper: Extra damage with Raphael. Mercedes - Gremory: Extra damage with Annette. Felix - War Master: Extra damage with Sylvain/Ingrid. Yuri - Trickster: Extra damage with Byleth. Out of the possible guard adjuntants with bonus damage, the easiest ones to make are Alois and Raphael (either brawling or axe+armour), and to some extent Sylvain (he's already strong in axes to grab heavy armour D). Catherine requires a greater investment in axe+armour or in faith in case you want War Cleric (DLC), since she doesn't have a boon in either. Annette can pick up axes fairly easily, but she'll have a harder time in armour due to having a bane in it. Ingrid will require as much investment as Catherine in axe+armour and even more if you want her to go War Cleric, since she doesn't have either boon or starting rank in brawling. Outside the guard adjuntants, you can use Lorenz, Hilda and Flayn as attack adjuntants to Ferdinand, Claude and Byleth if you want the to deal extra damage. Hilda and Flayn are already good with lances and only require flying investment, while Lorenz will require more since he needs both axes and flying without a proficiency in either one.

In the FE3H linked attack section (https://serenesforest.net/three-houses/miscellaneous/linked-attacks-gambit-boost/), among the pairings that receive a damage boost I've seen Bernardetta-Marianne and Hilda-Dorothea, but those characters don't even support each other.

It's one point of difference, and enemies usually have way lower Res than Def. You can still carry a secondary axe, but the Bolt Axe is something you should strongly consider. Which classes have you already mastered by the way?

She started a war against the other two countries in the continent. To wage a war she needs soldiers, and the nobles must provide them. It's not a matter of sit out until the war is done. During the war she'll need soldiers, resources, safe passages through territories, etc. If a given noble doesn't comply, she isn't likely to make a detour to find a different approach. We're talking about war here, not a softball game. There are implications for everyone involved, specially Ferdinand, since his father was decomissioned on the word go. Caspar, Bernardetta and Linhardt might be argued to have the option to sit out the war, but they actually don't. You can argue that they could do nothing, like Bernie and Linhardt in SS during the timeskip, but that wouldn't last forever. When your family is asked for reinforcements and they comply, you are complying with them. That is, unless you have cut ties with them before, like Caspar does in SS. If the Empress asks for soldiers, food or weapons, she isn't giving options. But, hey, you can sit confortably in a sofa to read some books while your soldiers follow Edelgard. During a war the only option not to fight is to flee the countries at it, so the third option isn't not fighting, it's leaving Fodlan. And there is one other character that gives such a choice: Claude. He tells Lysithea to join Edelgard should anything happen to him, so he gave her the choice to turn on him. And just like with Lysithea, I guess he had done that with everyone else, just because he knew that the only way to not fighting was leaving the continent, and at least he had where to go.

Give her a magic axe. Things as you have them now are difficult to fix. If you had trained her in flying, you could use her as a wyvern rider/lord. Or you could start with the sword and faith classes, since she already has some development in them.

Read between lines, the choices are "kill the Flame Emperor, who has attacked the Monastery where you now live, endangering everyone who live in it students and merchants alike" or "protect the Flame Emperor, demonstrating that you actually believe their attack was justified". It's an all-out war. You can't just sit that one out. If the Faerghus-Leicester troops want to get to Edelgard, they have to cross through Varley, Bergliez and Aegir. In order to protect their people, Bernie, Caspar and Ferdinand have to fight. And all three of them have reasons not to sit out: If Varley falls, Bernardetta's abusive father would be reinstated, so she can fight to avoid it or to have a say in his fate. Caspar isn't forced by Edelgard to fight, but I'd say that being his father the Minister of war, he wouldn't allow him to stay away from battle. Caspar is terrified of his father and he would never say "I don't want to fight" to him. I think his father would even be proud if Caspar decided to fight against him, as he'd see his son showing some spine by facing the man he fears and respects the most. Ferdinand is a noblesse oblige kind of man. At the early stages of war, he'd have to choose a side, but not fighting is out of the question. That's five years into the war, by that time Edelgard would have loosen on the restrictions Brigid had, becoming fully supportive of one another. This is what Petra says right before Edelgard's attack on the Monastery. She didn't have the option to stay out of the fight. She had to choose a side, for her and for Brigid and the rest of the BE were in similar positions. While I agree that siding with Edelgard is quite understandable in CF, it's forced in any other route. However, after five years of war, everyone has come to believe in their side of the story.

Actually, the number one error is letting it happen. You can't just let loose some questionable allies and then shrug off the responsibility for their misdeeds. We know there's a line between the Flame Emperor and the Agarthans, but any of the students know of it. Edelgard was with them in most of the missions, but she actually used beasts when attacking the Throne, and, knowing the origin of the beasts, that makes the line blurrier. It is right before the battle against Edelgard, but I brought it up because I was told earlier that he was the most saddened by the Empire and Edelgard's downfall. Five years later, convictions would have deepened, but just as Dorothea wishes to find a peaceful solution, but so is Byleth. Just as he's asked about killing Edelgard, neither of his possible answers is "I'll rip her head off". Yes, Edelgard allows them to choose. The problem is the choices they have. Side with the Empire, side with people who don't trust you or sit out the war, knowing that you would lose her trust. It's a maybe-lose/lose/lose dilemma, so they go for the maybe. And they might eventually HAVE to fight. Edelgard started a war she was winning on non-CF routes by the time Byleth woke up, but it could be otherwise. Even if they had secured an alliance with both Gloucester and Rowe (which they hadn't as shown in CF), there was no knowing that it would last. Varley and Bergliez are pretty close to the border. In case of a counterattack, Bernardetta and Caspar would be primary targets along with their families whether they chose it or not. Bernie might even have to see her father vindicated, and there's nothing more terrifying for ther than that. Caspar would have to fight with his father, like it or not. He's just terrified of him. Those choices are biased. They have implications, and if they don't have Byleth's support, they're likely to be distrusted in the other army, and that goes for everyone else. She may respect it, but that doesn't mean it would go without consecuences. Edelgard has never mistreated Petra, having been a refugee herself, but both know Brigid is on the line. Siding with Edelgard is the easiest way to secure a shield for her land, since the Empire is right between Brigid and Faerghus and the Alliance. They would have negotiated her land's freedom after the war for her support, and after a time, it would have become a genuine alliance. If she sides with the other faction, she gets in a powerful position against the country that caused Brigid's humilliating situation. The Empire would have to keep an eye on Brigid in order to avoid being attack from the other side. It would make her people free by their own means. However, she would need an important leader of the other army to trust her, and with Claude more interested in going back to Almyra, she's out of luck. However, being a hostage of the Empire, chances of her being shipped back to Brigid at the beginning of the war are little. She couldn't choose not to fight, just the side on which she would. Not joining either army could result in getting a room next to Rhea's. They were forced to fight, it's just the side which isn't decided. If they don't side against Edelgard, they'd be forced to fight with her (not for her). But that's after Byleth sides with Edelgard. Seeing Rhea tranform into a raging dragon when Byleth protects Edelgerd would scare the crap out of many. However, other characters would feel just as betrayed by Byleth as Rhea, just like Leonie and Alois tell him as enemies in CF. I'd even say that seeing her transformation in CF would even deter some would-be-defectors to flee. I totally agree with this. It's the final battle, Dimitri is dead and Claude is gone as well. Whoever changed sides during that battle would probably be labeled as a coward. However, Annette, Ashe and maybe Gilbert wouldn't fight for Rhea. I'm not so sure about Gilbert, but it would depend on the faith he had on Rhea after Dimitri's demise.

And yet he's the one who sais that she should die in SS. Ferdinand and Caspar are adamant in finishing her off, Petra and Bernardetta want to stop her themselves and Dorothea and Linhardt hoped that there was a more peaceful way. And yet Edelgard was the first one deploying beasts in the battlefield, at least two of them, a couple of hours before. Everybody knew that the Flame Emperor was responsible for the massacre at Remire, and no one would have restrained themselves from taking its life. However, when they see that the big baddie is their Valedictorian, it's all weird and all. Everyone knew that Rhea had high hopes for Byleth and holded him in great steem. They probably had seen her fighting in her human form (during Ashe's paralogue), constraining her power. To anyone who has been betrayed by someone who was very close, snapping at that moment may be something regretable, but understandable. When you're betrayed, you don't want to see that person as a human, so that your resolve doesn't weaver, and it takes time to come over it. There would be a shocking reaction to her being a dragon, but just because they way she shows herself. The students side with Byleth, not with Edelgard and that's because of her concealment of her plans. If they aren't recruited by Byleth, they would likely be tagged as Slytherins, and be seen as spies or traitors, so they are left little choice, but to hide or stay with the ones that trusted them. Being in Byleth's inner circle in non-CF routes was a safe card. Even Linhardt aknowledges being looked upon as a traitor in one of his exploration conversations. And the fact that Edelgard started the war actually forces her friends to fight. If she, after being crowned Empress, had made a proclamation of her views instead of launching a sneak attack, the other BE would have been able to choose freely to fight or not. She didn't give them that option. She had chosen that they had to fight, they just had to choose the side, and the only key player to level that was Byleth.

Just as any student from the Black Eagles has reasons to be willing to leave the Empire, just because she started a war. She didn't try to use diplomacy, she was secretive even from her closest friends. Only Hubert and Byleth are let into the information about her crowning, and let's not forget that Linhardt, Bernie and Caspar's fathers sided with her. It's understandable for her not to trust Ferdinand since he was the son of the one who turned her life miserable, but the other three were supposed to be trusted. Another thing we're forgetting to mention is the murder attemp at the very beginning of the game. She tried to kill the future leaders of Fodlan. The point is that not only Claude and Dimitri were to die that day, but any other student that came in their way, no matter if his name was Dedue or Ferdinand. Just as some characters would think of shapeshifting into a human despicable, so would others think about underhanded assassination attemps. That action alone makes it clear, "if I ever think you're going to oppose me, I'll kill you in cold blood". And another thing is that she was inept at carry on the assassination. Surely the dagger was her safety ticket, and that's the reason she pulled it out when she was surrounded by enemies with no ally to witness it, and Byleth screwed everything over by dying to protect her (quite literally actually). Even if they didn't run into Jeralt, she could have caused much trouble if Claude had gotten into a village. The bandits wouldn't have stopped at anything, just like they did with Jeralt and Byleth. That kind of mistakes are taken very seriously by those who study politics in places like an Academy, just like Garreg Mach. I think they were taught something more than strategy, magic and weapon use, since there would be better places to learn those things (like the magic Academy at Firdhiad). If you gather the future leaders of a nation, you'd do something else than having them learn how to fight. Culture, economics, politics and history were sure to be taught there. Even if you say that many of the students would become angry at Rhea for corrupting history, there would be a whole bunch of them ready to snap as soon as they knew there was a vixen in the flock. All the Black Eagles stay with Edelgard if unrecruited because there are enough chapters to fit them all (one or two per chapter). The other factions have less chapters to be faced in either route (one chapter to make the BL and GD face each other), so two of their characters were made join the Empire (Ashe and Lorenz), but with more coherent reasons than "I have to impress Edelgard" or "I'm the will of the Emperor", and another two completely vanish from that route (Marianne and Annette). In CF you don't get to fight neither Raphael nor Marianne, just because you rush through two chapters to obliterate the Alliance, while it takes three for the Kingdom, thus facing the recruitable characters in groups of two with a few other possible characters. Keeping the recruitable characters count low per chapter seemed to be key in the game, and from a certain point in the game, some recruitable character had to appear in part 2 chapters. In CF they had too many characters to have this number low, but in the other routes they needed every character they had to accomplish this (except for the Gronder fields where you have to face 4-5 recruitable characters). In order to keep the BE characters, they were given reasons to stay with Edelgard that, for me, are totally out of character, like with Ferdinand and Petra. It's like they get brainwashed if you didn't recruit them.

The key point in all this is Byleth. If he joins Edelgard, Rhea snaps. If he stays with Rhea, Edelgard resorts to, at least, questionable tactics. When Rhea transforms in CF, she seeks to destroy and punish, thus making more likely for people to side against her; but when she transforms in the other routes, she's trying to protect someone, which would make her allies as a guardian that was always ready to protect them if the need was dire. With this I agree. I don't think most of them would switch sides to the other country, even if they're seen as allies. The only exceptions I posted didn't defect from the Kingdom to the Alliance or viceversa. I think Ashe and Lorenz are almost canon to side with the Empire for a bunch of reasons each, like Ashe's disappointment with the Church (feeling betrayed is a very strong motivation) and both of them remaining loyal to their houses, which had switched sides. Since they are the only two characters that, if recruited from a different house and having Byleth turn on the Empire, join the Empire, I'd say they're set canon to join the Empire. Like I said before, Felix wouldn't follow suit with the Kingdom. His bound to his friends Ingrid and Sylvain, but his relationship with his father is tense to say the least. He blames him for the death of his brother and has no interest in knighthood. And though he actually cares for Dimitri, I don't think he'd follow him while he blindly charges all across Fodlan. Felix would fight for his friends and family, but not following the codes of chivalry his father abides to, or the orders of someone who he's seen as a lunatic for more time that people give him credit for. With Mercedes, I took a little gambit there. She might as well have stayed with the Kingdom forces, but I see her more likely to devote herself to the Church and support as an ally to make some distance from her adoptive father in order not to get married. The Church is the closest ally to the Kingdom, so she wouldn't be too far from home. I don't see her relationship with her brother strong enough for her to defect, but she'd surely try to lure him to her side. A few of them were difficult to place in one faction or another, like Linhardt. He would be likely home sleeping during the war. He's a pacificist and doesn't seem to have any issue with the status quo as long as he's allowed to do what he likes (sleeping, fishing, reading...). I just thought that having him kidnapped by Caspar would be quite funny and not that out of character for Caspar either (he actually kidnapped Bernardetta in their supports). Just like that, Linhardt could have gone either way, but I wanted to choose a side for each rather then making a line just for him, and maybe Lysithea. The case with Caspar would be one of personal growth. If his father were present during Edelgard's attack, Caspar would have undoubtedly sided with them. But that not being the case, he would have taken time for himself. I think he would have been protecting villages from being pillaged during the war from either brigands, defectors or even battallions from either army, and after seen the effects of war in the population, he'd join the Resistance. He wouldn't be bound to either the Kingdom, the Alliance or the Church, he'd be just fighting the Empire.

I think the final "rosters" would look like this: The Empire would have some people that would join willingly and other who would join because of the circumstances: Most people from the Kingdom would stay loyal to their house: The Alliance is also most likely to stay the same: The church of Seiros wouldn't actually lose anyone: The Resistance would be people opposing the Empire with no defined loyalty: Finally, I think some characters would stay neutral to the fight: That pretty much sums it.

If you plan on having Dedue learn Quick Ripost, you'd better leave him as a War Master. Crit +20 is way better than 1 movement. The higher Def won't make that big of a difference if you load him with Pavise+Aegis. Renewal is too big of a detour since you have Mercedes that can cast Physic and Fortify from miles away, Flayn with Fortify as well, and Sylvain (as a DK) and Dorothea with Physic. Just saving one of this characters to move the last to heal, would be enough to keep his health up. However, you're pointing to get very high proficiencies with Dedue, like B/B+ in Lances, Axes, Brawling and Armour (he has a boon, so it's doable to even score A's), but also in Riding and Faith, in which he has a bane. This means too much dedication for a character that won't have much availability. Don't get me wrong, it's doable, but it might make you neglect other characters. Getting everyone to an advanced class for stats is unneeded. If you're going for the stat boosts, armour knight is more than enough to fix some characters defense, since it may be easy to grind Axe and Armour for them to get to the class soon (this is specially true with Annette, since she already has a boon in axes), but going any further might mess with you endgame characters, as having many B proficiencies won't help you much when trying to get advanced classes. And I know this just because, just like you, I did a grind-heavy AM run as my second one (to collect class masteries in my case), and it wasn't an easy task. If you stormed through SS to finish it already, grinding will probably mean hell to you, as it meant to me. If anything, use NG+ to do that through several playthroughs, as it'll be less repetitive. If you think you're gonna have a hard time in hard mode, there's nothing wrong to go normal instead and enjoy the ride. I'm not maddening material myself. I know it's a game I'm suppossed to enjoy, and getting frustrated because enemies are overpowered is no fun for me (like in Shadow Dragon H5).