Using children

So I have a pretty beast roster of OG Shepherds. I'm just now starting to get children, which makes me wonder - will I actually use them? I'm playing on Hard Classic, and restarting on every death. My gut says I probably won't, due to having to level them.

Which makes me think - I just might end up playing through a second time, Hard Classic, except taking EVERY death. That'll definitely force me to use everyone.

What are you guys doing?

I think it really depends on the parents and kid. For example, Donny's kid ended up getting his boosted stat gain so she scales up really fast. I also used Sully's kid since she was another Kellam/brick wall. Other than those two though I pretty much left every other kid in the dust, no point in using them since I already have a dozen other people that can stab guys way better. However, I can definitely see them being more useful in a "no restarts" type of run since they all have a bit of a head start level wise.

I'm playing on normal and I'm likely not going to use the children. I think it is a function of me not letting a lot of the cast die and just already having a stable of dudes up for whatever situation comes up. The kids just don't add anything I need right now.

My next playthrough I am definitely gonna see what happens when I take every death. Maybe even bump up the difficulty to hard.

The stats of the children are averaged between the two parents, so if you've been using the parents a lot and leveling them up, they'll be able to keep up despite being a base level 10 class. If you've neglected their parents, they'll be terrible.

Also, they'll inherit whatever you have equipped in the last skill slot on both parents. So if you want a specific skill, make sure it's on the bottom of the list.

I'm glad I clicked this thread to find out what it was actually about. My imagination was going to some pretty shitty places.

If you're restarting at every death anyway then my guess is that there's probably no reason to switch characters. But I have been playing on normal and it hasn't been that tough, Hard might be a lot different.

I say go for it. My children ended up being rediculously overpowered, and outclassed their parents by a long shot. Like Cynthia = Sumia + Gaius? I had a ridic overpowered Gaius, so Cynthia became this god-like white storm of death and destruction, nothing could stand against her. Owain was the child of Lissa and Donny, and holy crap absolutely nothing could touch him by the end of the game. Lucina also came out as pretty damn powerful for me, and Inigo & Kejelle (I can't remember how her name is spelled) came out as pretty ding dang powerful.

So yeah, I say go for it good sir. Pair them up with one of their parents (whichever one is higher level) and go grind them on the paralogs/skirmishes

Considering how skills are passed down from parents to child, you can absolutely crank out some incredibly overpowered kids to use by the end of the game. The last equipped skill for each parent gets passed down, which means that theoretically every child can possess Galeforce. Also, Donnel's musky seed will inevitably grow into a tiny god with the Aptitude skill. Fun stuff!

It's pretty stupid how the game handles the child characters, they had absolutely no bearing on the plot. Even your kid didn't really matter in the end, which is really weird considering where that game goes.