Child Seals...

[Hoshidokoala]

So, I read somewhere that in childrens' paralogues, the kids don't actually have a child seal until you reach a certain chapter. Is that true and what chapter do you need to reach if it is?

[Shinehollow]

I don't know what chapter, but when I beat the game and decided to go get some children I didn't get, they had the Offspring Seal, which is the Child Seal in the official translation.

[Chaotix]

I believe it is chapter 18 or 19, at least on Birthright. (Probably the same for the other routes considering same number of chapters). I got a few children directly before this, no Offspring Seal. Next paralogue, the child has one (and also I might add the enemies took a large jump in difficulty).

[Byleth]

the children will have Offspring Seal if you recruit them AFTER you complete Chapter 18 and so on.

Edited February 23, 2016 by KamuiSama

[Frozenkappa]

Before completing the following chapter

Chapter 10 / level 10
Chapter 11 / level 11
Chapter 12 / level 12
Chapter 13 / level 13
Chapter 14 / level 14
Chapter 15 / level 15
Chapter 16 / level 16
Chapter 17 / level 18
Chapter 18 / level 20
Chapter 19 / level 20/2 after Child Seal

[Hoshidokoala]

the children will have Offspring Seal if you recruit them AFTER you complete Chapter 18 and so on.

Thank you! Would you say this is an optimal time to get child units as it's easier to promote them?

[ShadowGuy1]

Thank you! Would you say this is an optimal time to get child units as it's easier to promote them?

I find it better as you can get your other units higher up and even if you have a bad father and mother they end up fine.

[Hoshidokoala]

I find it better as you can get your other units higher up and even if you have a bad father and mother they end up fine.

Thanks!!

[crazy_man]

There's a balance.

Getting them too early means they reduce the exp spread for your entire party (if your play Conquest or want to avoid grinding) and fewer abilities to pass down.

Getting them too late makes supports harder to do (again in Conquest or if you want to avoid grinding) and they less impact on their usefulness in the run (a great unit you only use a few chapters?).

I say 18 is good. By then your main party should have mostly promoted, and the children can promote, and possibly have lv 5 skills to pass to the children, and can use them for the last third of the game.

Edited February 23, 2016 by crazy_man

[Thor Odinson]

I like 20 if you wanna save money, and the enemies will be 20/6 which is really good for exp at that point in the game. You can autolevel the kids to 20/6 which gets them their lv5 promoted skill immediately, and there's still 8 chapters left to go.

[crazy_man]

You've convinced me, 20 does sound better.

Edited February 23, 2016 by crazy_man

[Hoshidokoala]

Also, I heard that children wise, Mitama and Shiro can be excellent, as well as Selkie (with a bit of grinding). Is that true and are there any others who are particularly good?

[Byleth]

I'd say past chapter 20 is better but, the enemies will also get stronger, especially in annoying Paralogues like Shiro/Siegbert/Ignatius.
In Shiro Paralogue, your movement will be hindered, and he will suicide to lvl 6 Promoted enemy while he is still lvl 20 unpromoted.
In Siegbert Paralogue, there are too much trees that will hinder your movement, the enemy will keep spawning unless you close the Dragon Vein, also on the right side there are Elite Ninjas with Poison Strike which is a nightmare.. and Siegbert will stand on enemies range.

In Ignatius Paralogue, there are also lots of trees, he is slow and Elite Ninja with Poison Strike and Onmyoji will rush into him, there are also 2 Maids with Freeze staff that will make you unable to move..

[Samias]

Also, I heard that children wise, Mitama and Shiro can be excellent, as well as Selkie (with a bit of grinding). Is that true and are there any others who are particularly good?

Mitama is amazing even if you never trained Azama if you get her at chapter 19/20. Azama might not pass any skills down but she'll have excellent bases for a priestess and at least C rank staves. I personally picked her up at chapter 19 so she could help out on very important heal duties in the next few chapters. Selkie has a good personal skill but her defense is as poor as her father's, making her another glass cannon unit in a sea of other glass cannons. If you aren't using Kaden I would use Selkie because Beastrunes are great weapons, though. Kiragi is also pretty good as bows are a very strong weapon in this game. Asugi is a bit fragile on the physical side at his base, but shurikens help him blunt damage severely and help others to tear apart generals. Depending on pairings he might handle flame shurikens well. Rhajat was an instant magical pick-up for chapter 19 to deal with half of the enemies, with extreme magic and fairly good speed, though a scary poor 11 skill at base.

Of the kids I was unimpressed by, Shiro and Hisame are a bit superfluous as you have plenty of good sword and lance users to pick from. Hisame was better than his father but still not that good considering Ryoma exists. He also had terrible defense AND resistance (although significantly better than his father's staggeringly poor 3 res at 20/1), and merely average strength and speed. Shiro is a bit better as he can go straight into Basara and tear stuff up with Rend Heaven, but he's kind of average in everything. Enemies start to ramp up in damage quite hard from this point so any unit with sub 35 HP and 20 defense are going to be tricky to maneuver.

I wouldn't dawdle with most of the paralogues beyond chapter 20 otherwise kids like Shiro and Selkie are going to be picked off by enemies with better bases than them until they seal up. Some children are less vulnerable or worry free, like Rhajat, Shigure, and Dwyer.