Luninareph

Hinata has the perfect tank option available to him right off the bat: reclass into Oni Savage. Boom, done.

Agreed. Odin is one of the few characters who doesn't want a "reclass" so much as he wants a "DLC class." Odin wants Dark Falcon liek whoa. A class that will boost his STR, MAG, SPD, and RES enormously, giving his natural HP, SKL, and DEF all the stats he needs to succeed? Plus 9 base SPD and the Speed +2 skill just to give him that little bump he might need in certain situations? Yes please.

Godspeed, Fals. We salute you.

Okay, so, I did choose Bifrost a little bit to be contrary, but also because it does something you can't actually do in Fates any other way. I am a sucker for uniqueness like that, even if it's completely useless uniqueness, which all accounts say it will be.

The biggest thing I'd like to see is a big expansion of the magic classes. I don't mind all the anima spells being one group of tomes, but I'd like to see Dark and Light magic come back and for IS to give us classes that use various combinations of them. It's just silly how there are almost twice as many physical classes as magical ones, and that's with counting the hybrid-y things like Basara as magical instead of physical.

I never said it was practical, just that it would be convenient.

He makes a pretty fabulous Sorcerer. Seeing as he's your Nohr capture unit, you probably want him to have better offenses than Adventurer offers, and Sorcerer secures his MAG growth, offers S-rank tomes, tacks on Vengeance, and throws in HIT+5/ CRIT+10/ C.EVA+5 for good measure. A Sorcerer with Pass might be pretty convenient, too. It doesn't hurt that Nyx might be better served going Adventurer than Sorcerer anyway--she's a bit shaky in combat due to bad SKL and durability; being able to sit back and take a breather with staves is appreciated--so she can take over healing duties and free up Zero to go Sorcerer and wreck face.

I quite like having an Avatar. I don't see it being any different from having a Lord--even in a game like Persona where every time the protagonist talks it is a dialogue option, I am never going to self-insert myself into the main character's place, mostly because there's never a "Where did you get your dress?" option--but I actually get to decide what the protagonist I spend the next forty hours staring at looks like and make them look cool, or weird, or very unlike a regular main character. The way I change the Avatar's appearance can put a subtly different spin on their dialogue and make them feel a little bit different from the last time I played the game. And I love being able to customize my main character's class and skills so I can make them a mage like I always want them to be. TL;DR: I like having an Avatar because I like being able to choose who the main character is.

I think you're correct that we're witnessing a breakthrough in how Fire Emblem does Fire Emblem. My hope is that IS will be able to merge these two goals, and it's my (perhaps optimistic) opinion that Fates is a step in the right direction for this. Characters can have gimmicks AND interesting character arcs, and a story can be fun AND emotionally complex, and it looks like Fates is managing this unification better than Awakening did. It's pretty understandable that they would feel obligated to stick to FEA's format, however, seeing how it literally pulled the series out of the jaws of death and all. Incidentally, I giggle every time I see somebody complaining about the waifus or the incest. FE4 had both of these things and it is very justifiably one of the classic games of the series. If you want to complain about the implementation, that's one thing, but complaining about them as concepts is just silly.

Odin's tricky. His stat growth is really spread out, so the RNG can make him a freaking beast or a total joke, depending. (Both appropriate in their own way.) Adventurer: 20% SPD growth. Gives staffs in case he gets stat-screwed. Needs to learn bows and staffs, though. Basara: Odin's a great hybrid, but might need bigger focused stat gains than Basara offers. Berserker: Better than it initially sounds. He gets solid HP, STR, and SPD out of it. Needs to learn axes, though. Bow Knight: Has some nice SPD, but STR remains a little shaky and he needs to learn bows or swords for it. Brave Hero: Stats are pretty good for him and he can get swords easily via Samurai. High SKL for Sol, too. Butler: Guaranteed to be useful. Staff safety net, plus kunai don't need to do damage to be useful. Good SPD, hybrid stats, pulls up his low RES, too. Dark Knight: Risky because it doesn't help SPD much, but has a lot of STR, MAG, and DEF. Not a safe choice, but can pay off. Exorcist: Good SPD, high MAG, and Tomefaire. It's actually pretty nice if you can get it to him. Falcon Warrior: Good SPD, great RES, hybrid stats, staff utility. Has to learn spears and staffs, though. General: Foregoes SPD entirely and gets Defensive Formation. Probably works. Golden Kite: The SPD is nice, but the other growths are poor and he doesn't have spears or bows by default. Probably a bad choice. Great Knight: Doesn't help his SPD and doesn't offer much in exchange. Luna's good on him, though. Holy Bowman: Good SPD, great SKL, some defensive and offensive stats... has to learn bows, though. Jonin: WILL fix his SPD and RES, he can get swords from Samurai, and kunai utility. Axes his offense but has high SKL for Lethality. Paladin: Has Basara's problem of giving a good stat spread but not where he wants it. Puppeteer: Copycat Puppet aside, the stats aren't ideal and he needs to learn both weapon types. Revenant Knight: Good hybrid stats, but low SPD. Probably better options. Sorcerer: WILL secure his MAG and has okay SPD and RES, but he can still end up getting stat-screwed in multiple places. Not bad, but not the best. Strategist: Basically inferior to Sorcerer, which he has by default, and Butler, which he can get if he can get Strategist. Trueblade: Swordfaire, great SPD, and some extra RES. Plus it's available innately. Might have low STR, but high SKL + Astra can help. Weapon Master: He becomes somewhat speedy and somewhat tanky, but maybe not enough either way. Wyvern Lord: See above. Also: Dark Falcon. Odin REALLY likes Dark Falcon. It pumps up every growth he wants boosted, keeps tomes, adds flight, and gets to be a hybrid attacker to sweeten the deal. TL;DR: Particularly offensive options: Berserker, Brave Hero, Holy Bowman, Trueblade, Dark Falcon Particularly safe options: Butler, Exorcist Honorable Mentions: Adventurer, General, Sorcerer

Subaki can also provide some decent staffwork as a Falcon Knight even if stat-screwed, which gives you some leeway to shift Sakura and/or Asama into combat classes/roles, which is convenient considering their great growths.

Jakob Takumi, Asama, Rinkah Elise, Odin, Zero Kisaragi, Foleo I'm going to be doing a lot of playthroughs :D

Oh man, so hyped, I can't even :D

IMO, immediately Parallel Seal into Oni Savage, promote into Blacksmith at 10 or 20, and use him as a tank. He has good base SPD but his growth is so awful that it's never going to be salvaged, so don't bother trying. If you can get him Defensive Formation, awesome, but otherwise focus on survivability and dip into Shura lategame for Counter. His passive is a mini-Counter to begin with, so roll with that and use him to wall the hell out of physical units. If he can pick up some self-healing and some anti-magic measures, so much the better (Buddying Subaki for Eastern Heart and Mirror Strike, anyone?) Astra is good, but his SKL is quite poor, so he may not proc it as often as you'd like unless you indeed pick up Flamboyant. Blacksmith will help as well, though, since Blacksmith has equal SKL growth to Trueblade (+15%). You can also go Shura for a little less HP but more DEF and access to Spells. Switching Axes for Swords isn't too much of a problem if you Parallel Seal him upon recruitment, which you should REALLY do if you plan on using him. Dread Fighter's anti-magic measures can be quite useful as well, and it wouldn't hurt to have Kunai on him: tank the enemy's hits, leave a debuff, let your other units take them out. Vanguard probably better suits his strengths as a permanent class, though.

There is going to be so much Witch!Kamui in my future.

Also Subaki has great SKL, so Astra should proc quite nicely on him. Javelins and Shinrai Naginata prevent skill procs, but Spears don't.

Subaki's niche is Javelins and Spears. Their weakness is lower accuracy and inability to double; Subaki won't be doubling anything anyway and his passive gives him bonus accuracy. Their range keeps him off the front line, so he keeps his passive bonus up longer, and his survivability and the passive's evasion might help him survive if you mess up and he gets targeted. He also has pretty good MAG growth for a fighter, so he can use staffs both adeptly and safely from his ranged position.

I am a firm Nohr backer, but I like the Hoshido classes much more. They are much more my style: speed and magic above all else.

Sakura's pretty hilariously adept at any class due to outstanding all-around growths, so you can do just about anything with her, really. I'd kind of like to experiment with Trueblade Sakura just for the lulz. But her natural Exorcist and War Priestess are among her best choices and come right from her default class tree, so there's no need to move away from them unless you want to.

Lightning isn't super-effective against dragons and is vulnerable to Magic Counter where a nuke like Ginnungagap might prevent that damage, and +2 move on a class that needs to stay behind your frontline is often wasted in a game without Canto.

I voted Revenant Knight for preferred and my post that you quoted supports the idea of Maid Elise, so yes, I am aware they also offer good SKL growth (Revenant Knight also gives her some DEF growth, which I love). Yes, you can certainly level Exorcist and then reclass to Strategist, especially since that will also get Elise Tomefaire for leveling as Exorcist, but Exorcist has slightly higher caps in SKL, SPD, and RES; you won't have to Parallel Seal back to Exorcist if you Eternal Seal Elise later down the line, which is just convenient; and it has A Tomes, which gives her access to Dragon God, Snake God, and Ginnungagap. Plus, of course, it isn't weak to anti-horse weapons. Does that outweigh Strategist's mounted movement, higher LUC cap, and A Staffs? Maybe yes, maybe no. However, it definitely means Exorcist isn't an "inferior" option.

Exorcist not being able to use Fortify only matters if you need Elise specifically to be using Fortify. You'll already have Felicia/ Jakob as a potential Fortify user from the beginning of the game, plus Flora, Dia/Deere, Jakob/Felicia, and Foleo coming in later, not to mention anyone you manage to spread Rod Knight to, i.e. whoever Elise marries and whoever she is the mother of. Plus, Fortify and the Hoshido equivalent, Great Festal, are the only things Elise misses out on by having B Staffs instead of A. It's really not a huge loss unless you're dedicating Elise entirely to healing. The advantage both Exorcist and Maid have over Strategist is giving Elise SKL, which is the weak link in her otherwise impeccable magical offense. Rod Knight has really good SKL growth, but Strategist has none. If Rod Knight doesn't fix Elise's SKL problems for the rest of the game (and there's a good chance you're promoting her at 10 to get her a weapon ASAP, so she's not in Rod Knight for long,) then it's entirely possible Strategist!Elise will be unable to reliably hit things, which axes her offensive capability way more than Maid, seeing as Maid has Felicia's Ice Tray and Exploding Shuriken as magical weapon options, but also gives Elise actual SKL and some extra survivability in the bargain. I'm not saying Strategist is bad, obviously (the mobility alone is a major advantage). However, saying Exorcist is bad because B Staffs and Maid is bad because STR is silly, especially if you're willing to countenance Sorcerer or Witch Elise, who can't use Staffs at all. (Note that Sorcerer also has no SKL growth to help Elise aim. Witch does at least help SKL a little.)

In order: Staffs Tomes Kunai = Bows Swords = Spears Axes = Stones I am so pleased that the Fates staves have been expanded so far beyond the FEA ones *_* My army of staff-users shall triumph!!!

I believe Exorcist is her optimal class. Elise has devastatingly good MAG, SPD, and LUC, but her SKL is crap, so if you want her to participate in combat you'll want to pull it up, and Exorcist is the best way to do that (plus it gets her Tomefaire, which she otherwise won't have). Since making Elise survivable is just about impossible, she really either needs her combat to count or she needs to avoid combat altogether, and with that MAG and SPD it would be a shame to cut her out of combat. On a regular Nohr path, Strategist and Maid both have benefits. I picked Strategist because of horse mobility and more versatile weapon choices, but an Explosive Shuriken Maid Elise is a much more accurate and more survivable option, even if she's probably going to be relegated to a more support-focused role than Strategist Elise. Favorite, I picked Revenant Knight. Tiny Dragon Eater of Worlds is just too cute. (Yes, I do love Tiki, Nah, and Fae, why do you ask?) DLC I picked Witch, because it's my new favorite class now that I have seen their little lantern and magical-cheerleader-hat-flipping routines. Next vote, I picked Rinkah, because I think she will give us all a lot to talk about XD;

Holy Bowman + Fuujin Bow + Hinata Buddy + Astra = DEATH AND DESTRUCTION