FE13 Lords + Bows Playthrough

[ZemZem]

mod note: locked per op request

Yo everyone, it's that archer fanboy, ZM! FE13 has really got me hooked. The downside? I can only play during school weeks, since I borrow my friend's 3DS during the week. I beat the game already (in less than a week, actually), and I'm already almost done with my second file. I think I'm aware of the game and its mechanics enough to finally start one of my favorite kind of playthroughs: bows, bows, and more bows.

Rules:

1. The game will be played on Hard Classic.

2. Only Chrom, Lucina, Avatar (female), Virion, Morgan, Noire, and Basilo can be used. As exceptions to the rule, Gregor must instapromote to bow knight the first chance he gets and use only bows, Tharja and Anna will be reclassed to archers, and Frederick will be used until my units are fit enough to hold their own.

3. Olivia is free to use, because Dancer/10.

4. Maribelle and Brady are free to use for healing capabilities, as decided by the poll (Chrom/Maribelle FTW).

5. Avatar MUST reclass to archer once I get the first Change Seal.

6. Use of Spotpass characters is a no-no. So no Galeforce Jamke. :(

7. No DLC.

8. Every paralogue available must be visited.

9. Gaius can do his thieving thing, but he can't engage in combat. (Averted because Archer!Anna still has his lockpicking skill, so he's on the bench while she's doing his job.

10. Skirmishes can be visited to my discretion, but not too often.

11. The Rescue staff can be used, but sparingly.

Currently on Chapter 19, but I lost my will to continue this run. Besides, I have a DLC file to do. Thanks to all those who watched this topic, the very few of you. ^^

Edited June 7, 2013 by Integrity

[PKL]

Ban the Avatar once you get Virion :3. Or until you can reclass him to Archer, do et. Also Chrom must be reclassed to Archer.

[ZemZem]

I forgot to mention: Avatar is DEFINITELTY reclassing to archer, so no on him/her being banned. In fact, probably Chrom and Lucina (can she?), too.

Edited April 13, 2013 by ZMesu

[Komeiji Koishi]

I feel that I should no longer be surprised when you do bow user runs, but for some reason I am.

Don't marry Noire off.

[ZemZem]

Bows are my thing. You should know that by now. :P

There's no reason to pair Noire off. Besides, her only choices are Avatar and Morgan, one of which is already getting hitched with someone and the other has other things to do...like bother his mother.

I'm thinking of making the avatar a girl and pairing her with Virion.

[Kon]

Use everyone you can reclass into an Archer~

I think that would be both Lords, Stahl, Ricken, Thaja, Anna, and any of the children fathered by the three men + Virion~

[ZemZem]

As fun as that sounds, I'm gonna need quite a bit of Change Seals. Not to mention it wouldn't be a challenge.

Though, reclassing Tharja to an archer sounds like a good idea, to me. She might be able to stay in, if that's the case.

[Samias]

If Anna were reclassed to an archer, you'd have an archer with thief abilities, so Gaius wouldn't actually have to tag along. Also, I think Tharja should stay in but reclassed as an archer as well. I wish Stahl were in but he's a fair distance away from level 10 so otherwise he'd probably feel pretty cheap.

[ZemZem]

That actually would be pretty sweet having Anna do that. And her stats would be pretty darn good, too. Tharja's most likely going to reclass, yeah. We'll see how things go.

Edited April 13, 2013 by ZMesu

[Konnor97]

I agree with the Anna -> Archer thing and with Tharja becoming an Archer. Also, who will Tharja be paired up with?

Edited April 13, 2013 by Konnor97

[ZemZem]

Archer!Anna and Archer!Tharja are being seriously considered now.

Good question. Maybe I'll just deploy a random father for Tharja to pair up with.

Possible pairings:

Chrom/Maribelle (if she wins the poll, and she's in the lead)

Virion/FemAvatar

Virion/Tharja

Avatar/Noire

Random father/Tharja

Edited April 13, 2013 by ZMesu

[charlie_]

Possibly Gregor/Tharja?

He can be instasealed to Bow Knight iirc.

[BlueFire]

This will help

Characters who start with bow usage:

Virion, Noire, Basilio

Characters who need a Master Seal:

Vaike, Lon'qu, Gaius, Gregor, Owain, Inigo, Severa, & Say'ri

Characters who need a Second Seal:

Avatar, Chrom, Stahl, Ricken, Tharja, Anna, Lucina, & probably Morgan

(Avatar, Chrom, Virion, Stahl & Ricken give their kids access to Archer by Second Seal)

Characters who need both Seals:

Kellam, Donnel, Henry, Sully, Panne, Cordelia, Olivia, Gerome, Yarne, Laurent, Kjelle, & Flavia

Master Seals are available after Ch12. Second Seals are available after Ch16 or after Paralogue 10 - which would be after Ch14 if Cordelia is married by then.

You should only use non-bow weapons when a character needs to reach level 10 to reclass. If you use a character who needs both seals then you'd be using them for quite some time before they can use bows, so I don't think you should.

Here you can see which classes use bows: http://www.serenesfo...fe13/class.html

Here are the classes everyone has access to: http://www.serenesfo.../class_set.html

Edited April 13, 2013 by BlueFire

[ZemZem]

I forgot Olivia. She'll definitely be used, because dancer/10. If I'm not doing Chrom/Maribelle, then I'm definitely doing Chrom/Olivia.

Possibly Gregor/Tharja?

He can be instasealed to Bow Knight iirc.

Oh yeah, Gregor. Possibly.

Him, Inigo, and Severa can be instapromoted to Bow Knight. Severa, as much as it pains me to say, is out of the question because Cordelia can't use bows, but I'm considering instapromoting Gregor and Inigo (if I'm able to use him). Chrom/Olivia makes a good Inigo, but Chrom/Maribelle also makes a good Brady. We'll see how the poll goes.

This will help

Characters who start with bow usage:

Virion, Noire, Basilio

Characters who need a Master Seal:

Vaike, Lon'qu, Gaius, Gregor, Owain, Inigo, Severa, & Say'ri

Characters who need a Second Seal:

Avatar, Chrom, Stahl, Ricken, Tharja, Anna, Lucina, & probably Morgan

(Avatar, Chrom, Virion, Stahl & Ricken give their kids access to Archer by Second Seal)

Characters who need both Seals:

Kellam, Donnel, Henry, Sully, Panne, Cordelia, Olivia, Gerome, Yarne, Laurent, Kjelle, & Flavia

Master Seals are available after Ch12. Second Seals are available after Ch16 or after Paralogue 10 - which would be after Ch14 if Cordelia is married by then.

You should only use non-bow weapons when a character needs to reach level 10 to reclass. If you use a character who needs both seals then you'd be using them for quite some time before they can use bows, so I don't think you should.

Here you can see which classes use bows: http://www.serenesfo...fe13/class.html

Here are the classes everyone has access to: http://www.serenesfo.../class_set.html

I thank you for composing of this post, but there's no way I'm using all of those characters. XD If this was a Bow User run, I'd use Vaike, Gaius, Lon'qu, and others that are listed, but since this is Bows only, only those that start with a bow rank can be used.

Wait a minute. It's possible for me to pair Lissa (if she's picked) to get Owain, then instapromote him to Assassin. Hmm. A lot more possibilities than I thought were possible.

Edited April 13, 2013 by ZMesu

[PKL]

You can kinda cheat the whole no-bow thing with pair ups. Just sayin. So you can still get severa

[ZemZem]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Things have changed up quite a bit, then, if Gregor, Inigo, and Severa are thrown into the mix. Possibly reclassed Anna and reclassed Tharja, too.

[BlueFire]

Are you only leveling up people who start with bow/staff access, lords, MU, Tharja, & Frederick?

[ZemZem]

Anyone that starts with a bow will be used, as will Chrom, Lucina, Avatar (who will be reclassed to archer), and a healer, if picked. I'm not sure I'll use Frederick longterm, like how I didn't use FE6!Marcus longterm in my FE6 playthrough. Tharja's fate will be decided by the poll, but it's possible she'll be reclassed to archer.

[BlueFire]

Don't forget kids who can insta-reclass :)

[ZemZem]

Morgan won't have to reclass if I do Virion/Fem!Avatar or Avatar/Noire. I don't want to wait to use Morgan, so pairing with Noire is out of the question, so I most likely won't use the Male Avatar. Instapromoting to Bow Knight or reclassing (I'll make a poll of it) might give Inigo, Severa (<3), and Owain (only if Lissa's picked as my healer) some use.

[ZemZem]

Okay, I think the poll voting is done. Excellent job, the forty members that voted. :D

Maribelle and Brady are my healers, which means I'm pairing Chrom and Maribelle.
Unless I reclass Tharja to archer, she's dumped after Noire is recruited.
Use of the Rescue staff is banned.
My call? I'm doing skirmishes. I'm not gonna buy a bunch of Reeking boxes, mind you, but if a unit needs some EXP, I'll get them that EXP.
Frederick will be a bro and help out until my units can hold their own.

Expect updates tomorrow, and I''ll think about use of Gregor, Inigo, Severa, Archer!Anna, and Archer!Tharja.

EDIT: Two more votes were added after this post, and it tied the Rescue usage vote. Uh...here's how it's gonna go: I'm not gonna be hellbent on using Rescue, but if I feel the need to (example: saving Chrom from certain death), I will use it. I'm not going for LTC, or anything, and I mainly only used the Rescue staff in my other files to get low turncounts. So I doubt I'll use it much.

New poll going up. Hopefully expect an update later today.

Edited April 15, 2013 by ZMesu

[ZemZem]

Without further ado, the journey begins:

Avatar construction:

Name: Vanessa

Birthday: 8/19 (Basically on my half birthay, lol.)

Gender: Female

Build: 01

Face: 02

Hair: 05

Hair color: 04

Voice: Female 3

Assest: +Speed

Flaw: -Resistance

Premonition: Invisible Ties

Turns taken: 2

Pretty standard. Chrom pairs up with Vanessa as she attacks away on Validar. Hilariously, the only attack in the battle was when Vanessa kills Validar with a Thoron crit. I have high hopes for her when she reclasses to an archer.

Time for the first chapter.

Edited April 17, 2013 by ZMesu

[ZemZem]

Prologue: The Verge of History

Turns taken: 11

Frederick doesn't need to do anything currently, so Chrom and Vanessa pair up in order to gain some EXP. He and Lissa basically hid in the corner the entire chapter, haha. Vanessa's first level had her gain HP, STR, SKILL, and SPD, which is a good start for her. Her second level consisted of SPD and LUCK, which is...eh. She could do better, but at least she doubles now. And her third level consisted of HP, STR, and RES. Good level ups for her, overall.

Chrom, on the other hand, gained a STR, MAG, SKILL level, and that was it. Boo. At least he'll hit harder.

Both event spaces had Chrom and Vanessa's relationship improve. That really sucks, honestly, considering how Chrom's gonna bang Maribelle and Vanessa's gonna give some to Virion.

Oh well. Chapter done.

[ZemZem]

Chapter 1: Unwelcome Change

Turns taken: 8

Chrom and Frederick are the best Pair Up partners, OMG. Chrom on a fort with a Frederick support is godly. When Virion and Sully appear, Sully runs off to hide with Lissa while Virion pairs up with Vanessa to team up for some kills. Easy chapter.

The event space improved Virion and Vanessa's relationship, which is good.

The levels:

Chrom: HP, STR, SKILL, LUCK, DEF

Vanessa: SKILL, LUCK

Virion: HP, SKILL, DEF

Chrom's is good, Vanessa got a Shin level, and Virion's is salvageable because of the DEF gain. Still, they can do better. Virion's growths are good, but he tends to get bad ones for me, for some reason. >_< Agh, be more like Wil and Tomas, dude.

[ZemZem]

Chapter 2: Shepherds

Turns taken: 12

Supports made:

Chrom/Frederick gets to C support

Chrom/Vanessa gets to C support

Virion/Vanessa gets to C support

Stahl and Sully pair up and run away, Lissa and Vaike pair up and run away, and Miriel runs away when she shows up in order for the others tog gain as much EXP as possible. This chapter was pretty much Chrom (paired up with Frederick) and Vanessa (paired up with Virion) killing everything. The event spaces gave me the following: A Superior Jolt and Vanessa and Virion's relationship improving.

Level ups:

Chrom: HP, SPD, LUCK, DEF, RES

HP, STR, SKILL

HP, SKILL, SPD, DEF, RES

HP, SKILL, SPD, LUCK, DEF

Virion: MAG, SKILL, SPD, RES

Vanessa: HP, STR, SKILL, DEF

Notice how Chrom got DEF in pretty much all his levels. What a fucking tank.

Virion got SPD, so I'm happy.

Vanessa got all that I want her to get but SPD, and she has plenty of time to gain it.

I'm on a roll.