Class Favourite 9: Monks/Shamans

[bethany81707]

Light Magic is the domain of those sworn to serve their faith. It is rather low in power, though very accurate. Light Magic bests Dark Magic in the Magic Triangle, and classes that specialise in Light Magic include Monks and promoted healers.

Dark Magic, or 'elder magic', is a kind of magic that comes with a high cost, and is thus more commonly found on the enemy's side of the field. Dark Magic bests Anima Magic in the Magic Triangle, and it comes slowly (both mechanically and animation-wise), but hits hard.

 

So yeah, two hard-to-come across classes, an classic-era naming issue (Deirdre and Julia are Shamans that use Light Magic), and in some cases, some very interesting clashes with the Classic/Veteran/Modern pool (Salem is the only Classic 'Shaman', while there are no Modern 'Monks'). Of course I had to combine them, even if the recently observed edge-case in Etzel had to show up one last time.

Well, I say last, but I think the poll with Nagi in it will have very different issues with Classic/Veteran/Modern.

Edited January 28, 2017 by phineas81707

[Slumber]

Ahhhh. I can't choose between Julia, Linoan, Sara and Salem. They're all so good. Screw it, I'll give my vote to Salem, since he's unlikely to get love from anybody else in this poll.

Canas for vet, for being potentially one of the most useful units in the game with Luna at the end(Also true for other Luna wielders in the other games, but fuck 'em).

Henry for modern. One of the few VERY eccentric characters of the new games that I really liked.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Slumber

[AbsoluteZer0Nova]

Etzel. Knoll and Nyx. Also before anyone wonders why I would vote for characters who are pretty much glass cannons well I happen to like their supports a lot. I also consider Knoll to be one of my favorite underrated characters and don't find the low defense to be a huge problem in a game like Sacred Stones especially since that's why we have stat boosting items which I give him to survive stuff because giving those to already powerful units would make the game easier than it already is (though I happen to consider PoR easier than SS). I was contemplating on voting for Pelleas, but supports won Knoll my vote.

[Magical Glace]

Julia, Sophia, and Odin.

HM to Raigh and Canas though.

[Shadow Mir]

Don't care, Canas (it ain't like he had much competition), Ophelia (HM to Henry and Leo)

Edited January 28, 2017 by Levant Mir Celestia

[Thor Odinson]

Sara | Lucius | Leo

HM to Niime

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Julia, Canas, Leo.

[Tolvir]

Lol, only person who voted for these two.

Voted for Pelleas. He is one of my favorite characters in the series. He really is an interesting character because the tortured life he has to go through. That and he is the only character besides Lehran who can use dark magic, so that is nice. 

Tharja is also my favorite dark mage in the series. Honestly, after taking a good look at her character, I think the complaints about her are severely overdone. Just from the "fanservice" standpoint she really isn't all that. Sure the DLC and depictions of her outside of Awakening really emphasize those parts, in game it's a lot different. She is hunched over, holding a book to her chest in her portrait, which is more of a look of a socially awkward person rather than someone trying to look seductive like Aversa. Sure her battle model and sprite are in a pretty skimpy outfit, but so are the male dark mages, and honestly the battle models are not overly detailed, so it's about as "sexy" as her map sprite, which is not very detailed either.

Outside of her supports with Robin and the whole situation with Noire (which I will get to later), her supports are actually quite interesting. She is a truly morally grey character. She follows a darker form of magic, and makes questionable choices through it, but also shows that she isn't a terrible person. Her helping Nowi with finding out about her parents, and then questioning whether or not to tell her, or the entire support line with Kellam really show that she isn't some emotionless monster. On the others and, her clear remorseless attitude towards the enemy, and her use of hexes and dark magic aren't exactly nice things. She truly is the moral grey character.

In regards to her craze with Robin, when you really look at it it begins to make sense. Tharja joins the Shepards because she doesn't believe in what they are fighting for. So here she is, a plegian, the same nation of people the Shepards are trying to stop, she is a dark mage on top of it so that isn't helping her position any, and she also just joined them. She is likely not trusted (reasonable), if not outright hated by many of the others. The only person who would be familiar to her is Robin. He clearly is wearing plegian attire and has an aura of dark magic around him. Out of everyone else in the Shepards at the time, Robin is the only one that would be in anyway have an air of familiarity to her. So it's no wonder why she might take an interest in him (now of course IS takes what should be a simple attraction or interest, and turns it into a crazy stalker for, I guess humor?)

Now when it comes to Noire, that one is hard to argue. Yes, Tharja was abusive to her, but that was Tharja from the future, a different timeline with different events. This version of Tharja that we use doesn't. Is she a contender for mother of the year? No, not at all, but she isn't abusive to her in the supports. She doesn't try placing a curse on her, she doesn't threaten her, she is just training with her. Now the support with Noire and her father, I don't know what to say on that. It's like they had two different writers do those supports. I tend to kind of ignore it to be honest, it seems way too disconnected from everything else they establish. 

Sorry for the long post, wasnt expecting it to be this long.

 

 

[KoimanZX]

1. Salem because he is the only one who can use proper Dark tomes.

2. Even though he fits the "Wise Prince" trope to a tee, Pelleas is pretty fun to use. Granted, his availability is awful and his caps are just as bad, but is fun while it lasts (I like the Dark magic animations) and his outfits look rather smart.

Of course, I could split hairs about Micaiah technically being a Shaman (as that is the name of her third-tier class in the Japanese version) but she is already in the Lord category, so no big deal.

3. Henry is probably the most tolerable of the bunch. He also can be pretty amusing, though his original characterization sounds pretty intriguing as well.

[bethany81707]

2 minutes ago, KoimanZX said:

Of course, I could split hairs about Micaiah technically being a Shaman (as that is the name of her third-tier class in the Japanese version) but she is already in the Lord category, so no big deal.

Since Monks are in this poll, Micaiah easily qualifies were Lord not counted.

...Makes me wonder what polls other Lords would fit in.

[Folt]

Salem, Canas, and Odin.

[Punished Dayni]

Makes sense to merge these. My picks are Julia, Canas and Henry.

Julia gets Naga. OK, there's more than that; As she's actually pretty powerful once she gets going even without that tome, and her character shows some noteable moments where she's either not there (i.e. Naga's taken over, similar to a certain someone), but character otherwise is limited to say the least. HM to Dierdre (Tragic character, her gameplay is atrocious in practice), Linoan (Sages in Judgral are amazing, and she's sort of a psuedo lord in this game) and Sara (Because her skillset is bonkers and her background is pretty standout).

Canas gets this because he's another personal favourite; I actually like all of his supports, he's a solid combat unit (much as his growths aren't amazing) and he can use FE7 Luna (Which gives him a tough niche to fill that if it weren't for Athos would be unique). HM to Niime (Well, she is his mother, and is also a competent unit in her right, especially as a staffbot) and Ray (good for gameplay in FE6 and can wield Flux without issue. unlike the other two).

Henry gets the modern section because I haven't played Conquest and much as Tharja isn't entirely Robin obsession, there are still plenty of issues with her character that irk me.

[Sylphid]

Don't know, Lucius and Henry.

Must keep the balance between light and dark

[Cornguy]

Julia. Don't care much for the classics this time, but I like Julia enough.

Canas. I love his design and personality, and Luna's busted. Also he was the first character that felt like a secret because I missed him on my first playthrough. HM to Pelleas, also a secret character.

Henry. One of few good designs in Awakening. 

[Tango]

Veteran category is so hard, but I'm going to have to go with Pelleas. Poor guy. He's a great character. Canas, Lucius, and Sophia are also great.

Ophelia is all the weirdness of Odin, but actually a good great spellcaster.

[PurpleKawaii]

Classic- Etzel, the only one I used out of all of them

Veteran- Sophia, I love her character, even tho she's terrible in game

Modern- I don't know, never used any of them

[The Malign Knight]

Classic: Etzel

Veteran: Raigh. I love his character too much and is probably one of the characters I always use in every playtroguh of FE6

Modern: Leo. One of my favorite characters in the series and doesn't take too much effort to become very good unlike the other mages from Fates.

[NinjaMonkey]

No Rhys, Laura or Oliver?

N/A, Pelleas, Tharja.

Edited January 28, 2017 by NinjaMonkey

[Brand_Of_The_Exalt]

Deirdre, Canas, Ophelia.

When are Pegs scheduled ?

[Slumber]

1 hour ago, NinjaMonkey said:

No Rhys, Laura or Oliver?

N/A, Pelleas, Tharja.

I'm guessing Rhys and Laura will be lumped in with healers.

Oliver probably was forgotten.

[Shadow Mir]

27 minutes ago, Slumber said:

I'm guessing Rhys and Laura will be lumped in with healers.

Oliver probably was forgotten.

I'd expect Oliver lumped in with healers as well.

[Slumber]

3 minutes ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

I'd expect Oliver lumped in with healers as well.

The only thing that makes me question that is that we only ever see Oliver promoted and using Light magic, but his base class technically is a Priest/Cleric.

[bethany81707]

Then call it a bit of both. Healer is today, at least.

Peg knight will probably be tomorrow.

[vanguard333]

I don't know for classic FE games. For veteran, it was a tough call between Pelleas and Lehran, but I went with Pelleas because Lehran is a bit disappointing as, despite having a cool light tome when you fight him, all he has is a staff when you get him, and I feel Pelleas is underrated. On my first playthrough that I was able to use Pelleas (so my 2nd playthrough) I found a great strategy for him: long-range artillery. Long-range dark magic is immensely powerful, he had just enough skill to be accurate with it, just enough strength to take the weight, and enough speed to double quite a few enemies in the endgame. I was able to use him to one-round-KO the sentinel in endgame part 2 without having to cut through any other enemies to get to him and thus get the ss-rank lance on turn 1.

[BANRYU]

Ahhhh yessss my favorite class. I chose Canas because he's the best GBA shaman + my introduction to my fav and Tharja because I like her and also she kicks ass as a unit. (Henry, Nyx, Sophia, and Ophelia are all pretty good though!)