Are the child characters viable for a playthrough with no grinding besides paralogues?

[MarkyJoe1990]

I got my child units and... their stats are really really good for their level, as are their skills, but relative to my other units, they're a little behind. I also hate grinding unless I'm doing it through a paralogue.

Would training them still be reasonable? I know they become gods of reckoning when they're trained up, but... I kind of wanna know if they can become good under their own merits quickly enough.

Edited March 1, 2013 by MarkyJoe1990

[Agro]

You can usually just baby them a little bit and they'll have caught up in no time. Or just promote them straight away.

[Goblinaro]

I also agree. Even if they lag behind a little bit, if their parents had good stats when you entered any given child's Paralogue, their stats should still be solid enough to hold their own, and it should also be relatively easy to raise their Support Rank with their parents without needing to grind on DLC, depending on how close to finishing the game you are before recruiting them in their respective Paralogues. Plus, if set up any given child's parents to pass on a Mastery skill (I think that's what they're called, offensive skills with activation rates like Astra, Sol, Lethality, etc) and/or a defensive skill/s (like Pavise, Aegis, etc.) then the children characters have a higher chance of taking more hits, allowing them to in turn tackle more enemies and level up quicker or have a higher chance of dealing a ton of damage immediately after recruitment with a Mastery skill, but then you probably already knew all of this.

Even if the children character lag behind a little after recruitment, their growths should be pretty good and their max stat caps are generally higher than their parents', and since they can build their Support Ranks quickly with their parents they can not only get good Support Bonuses specifically combat-wise but also get relatively high Stat bonuses when paired with one of their parents (who plays as the Support Unit) at an A-rank, although that's also dependent on the parent's stats. Setting up parent/child pairings like this, coupled with the possibility of inherited activation rate based offensive skills or defensive skills can allow a child character to do well in combat and level up to the point of being able to hold their own before too long. And if any of the child units either inherited Veteran or already knows Veteran from having their base class as Tactician, then that will help speed along their level ups as well. If any of them inherited Aptitude from Donnel that could prove useful too when leveling them after their recruitment.

Although I highly doubt everything I've said thus far pertains to Lunatic Mode, as the difficulty of Lunatic might be too hard for everything I've just said to be so clear cut (let alone easy), and on Lunatic Mode the parents' stats upon entering their given child's Paralogue chapter, the skills their child is inheriting (and possibly the pairings of the parents themselves determining their child's actual character growth rates) make a huge difference on the usability of child units in Lunatic Mode without grinding. But then again, I'm probably around the last person that could help you when it comes to Lunatic Mode.

If all else fails and you don't find the answer/method/explanation(s) you're looking for, you could always ask shadowofchaos as he'll most likely be able to answer any questions you might have about raising your units and usability of certain units (with grinding or without).

[I don't play for turns]

Use them anyway. Because they're low level, they grow very quickly, and if you straight promote them, they won't be behind for long. If you straight change them, they will get to level 10 in their next class at about lightspeed and when you promote them they will be outstanding. A little babying might be necessary, but not excessive grinding.

[Knight]

They can hold their own as long as their parents are strong, it only took my Gerome five levels and a promotion to completely outclass his level 12 Wyvern Lord mother.

[Naui]

Depending on their parents they can become incredibly capable units, even from recruitment, and possibly even better than both of them.

Remember that their base stats when doing their paralogue are the sum of their parent's current stats/2 then added to their base stats. So if you do their recruitment right after chapter 13, chances are no, they won't be THAT strong, though they shouldn't be too far behind their parents at that point since at Chapter 13, most units should either have just promoted, or be very close and they all come in at Level 10. But they'll keep up stat wise in later chapters should you wait, much like I did.

However, like me, I waited quite a while to recruit them despite the fact that I could have gotten most of them by Chapter 13. However the biggest thing stalling me was Skills. Especially for Owain, Inigo, and Brady, who I had to wait quite a while so that they could inherit Galeforce, however it was worth the wait.

Still I really did not use any of them, not even my own children characters, for any main storyline chapters save Lucina. In the end, they served more as bonus characters and for some laughs for their supports, but still will be useful for future DLC chapters.

[arvilino]

I got my child units and... their stats are really really good for their level, as are their skills, but relative to my other units, they're a little behind. I also hate grinding unless I'm doing it through a paralogue.

Would training them still be reasonable? I know they become gods of reckoning when they're trained up, but... I kind of wanna know if they can become good under their own merits quickly enough.

Depends on their parents. If both parents are your higher leveled units with the best stats, yes, even on Lunatic the Children can be pretty good(e.g. I had Chambray go from roughly on par with the average member of the team to one of the better characters even though he was limited by weapon rank by re-classing him to Barbarian-->Berserker with only 9 levels gained through Severa's Paralogue).

But if one or both of the parents are quite under leveled for the current chapter of the game there's very little chance the child is going to be worth using.

[shadykid]

Remember that their base stats when doing their paralogue are the sum of their parent's current stats/2 then added to their base stats. So if you do their recruitment right after chapter 13, chances are no, they won't be THAT strong, though they shouldn't be too far behind their parents at that point since at Chapter 13, most units should either have just promoted, or be very close and they all come in at Level 10. But they'll keep up stat wise in later chapters should you wait, much like I did.

actually its (sum of parent's stats+personal bases)/3+class bases, but the idea is the same

basically the higher stats the parents have, the higher stats the kid will have

most notable with Morgan, cause lolVeteran

[MarkyJoe1990]

Alright. I'm satisfied with the answers I've received. Thanks everyone!