amiabletemplar

You'll still (almost certainly) want to get every child character, simply because they have that much of an edge over their parents. Chrom x Robin is fine, generally Chrom makes a better Physical dad but Robin's mods can really make almost anything. I'd recommend the typical +Spd/-Def, as that gives both children an extremely competent set of mods, but you can swing +Str or +Mag if you want Lucina and Morgan to be good at that. +Skl/-Def would also be good, though it pushes things toward physical specifically. Male Morgan means you'll be "benching" Gerome, so I'll save that for last. Next: Sumia x Henry. With the bonus Mag and Cynthia's naturally good stats, she'll make a great Sage, Valkyrie, or Dark Flier. Pass down Wrath or Gamble; there are other options, but honestly none of them are especially good (Axefaire helps physical, but Henry!Cynthia wants to do magic; Counter is useless in Apo; Rally Strength is a waste when logbook bots can handle that; Despoil is only for grinding, but you can use DLC instead). Ricken is the superior choice. Ricken!Owain is wonderfully diverse, much like Gregor!Laurent--he's still best at magic, but he can really do anything (Sage, Sniper, Zerker, and BK are all good choices.) Naturally, pass down GF. Virion!Kjelle is...workable, with +5 Spd/Skl and Sniper. But...you really want GF for Apo, and Donnel!Kjelle gets Aptitude to squeeze more benefit out of every level-up. Since it sounds like you want to move quickly, Donnel x Sully is even better a choice than it usually is. From there, we still have Tharja, Cordelia, Panne, Nowi, Miriel, Maribelle, Olivia, and Cherche. I would recommend: Tharja x Gaius. Go for Sniper. Inheritance matters little as Fighter-line skills provide minimal benefit to Gaius!Noire. Sniper is your go-to, but Assassin/BK can also work. Cordelia x Lon'qu. An unorthodox but excellent unit. Pass down whatever you think will save you time (GF and...Swordfaire? L7?). Assassin, BK, and WL all look good. Nowi x Vaike. Making the best of a so-so unit. Definitely pass down Axefaire, and use General. Vaike!Nah can hit pretty hard. Miriel x Gregor. Another "boring/expected" pair, but it's just so good. Miriel should pass down DSup+. Consider VVW. Hard support as Sage or Berserker. Cherche x Fred. The character's a bench anyway, so it doesn't matter much. DSup+ from Cherche, staff bot. You'll notice I've left out Maribelle, Olivia, and Panne. That's because I'm legitimately not sure how to handle them. Normally, I default to Panne x Virion, Maribelle x Libra, and Olivia x Stahl (when he's available, as he is here). But...you could swap any of these around. They provide most of the same benefits, and even Libra!Yarne isn't bad (as others have said above). I'm honestly kind of leaning toward Stahl!Yarne, Virion!Inigo, and Libra!Brady, but these are really your call. If, on the other hand, you do decide to do Virion!Kjelle, you'll naturally do Nowi x Donnel (so somebody gets his Pegasus inheritance), which frees Vaike up to be somebody's dad. Not sure where to go from there, and I'm too tired to deeply think through it. Not seeing very many good options, unfortunately.

Chrom/Sumia is perfectly fine. Really, most options there are fine--the only two that are "bad" are Chrom/Maiden (avoid this like the plague!) and Chrom/Sully (good mods....but you lose Galeforce, which is kinda mandatory). Yarne prefers Archer from dad, for +20 Hit, helping him hard-support Berserker. Virion is commonly used, and gives Wyvern too which is nice (since Yarne doesn't normally get it from Panne). Stahl is also a good choice, but may be wanted elsewhere. Libra is usually your "third string" Magic-focused dad, after Ricken and Henry (though Henry may also be the "free Berserker" dad), which is generally not a good fit for Yarne. Lon'qu isn't exactly a "bad" dad for Owain, but he can be a better dad for other kids. Severa is possibly the best choice. Owain's "problem" is that his classes are good for physical stuff, but his stats are better for magic--and Lon'qu doesn't change that. If possible, you want Stahl or Vaike (or Fred, I guess) for a physically-inclined Owain. Otherwise, he wants a magic-related dad (Ricken is great, Henry is a bit wasted, Libra is fine). Virion!Owain is interesting, especially if you end up with Owain mostly playing support. Tharja/Gaius is almost always recommended, so I won't spend further time on that. What gender and asset/flaw does your Avatar have? These are very important for discussing where she or he would have the biggest impact. Generally, though, you want to marry a 2nd-generation character (often Lucina for males, or Chrom's son--if he has one--for females) because that's like getting "three" parents instead of two. That is, Morgan will inherit both of his parents' total modifiers...and if Morgan's other parent is 2nd gen, that means inheriting all the modifiers from BOTH of their parents. E.g. if you have a +Spd/-Def Avatar, and she marries (say) Ricken!Owain, your Morgan will have the Avatar's mods, Ricken's mods, AND Lissa's mods. There can be strategies for marrying 1st gen, though, so if you'd prefer to do that, we can discuss what would be most useful. Nowi/Donnel is generally disfavored because Nah is not a particularly good unit--it's not that she's "bad" in an absolute sense, she's just the hardest child to make *great,* so if you have to make a sacrifice, she's the usual choice. This is because, if your Avatar doesn't marry a 2nd-gen character, you end up with 13 children (6 girls, 6 boys, and Morgan)--*one* of them will have to "sit on the bench." Since Morgan's gender is always opposite the Avatar's, this means that you'll bench a girl if your Avatar is male (usually Nah), or a boy if your Avatar is female (usually Gerome). But anyway, instead of Donnel, consider Vaike (esp. if your Avatar is female). It doesn't really matter who her father is if she's going to sit on the bench--though you should still pick someone, because 2nd gen > 1st gen even if just for a Rallybot/staffbot. Miriel/Ricken produces the highest Mag you can get...but is otherwise lackluster. Ricken's classes aren't bad by any means, but they don't make much of a difference for Laurent. Most people recommend Gregor instead: Gregor!Laurent is a fantastically flexible unit who can do almost any (support) role. Overall, these are not terrible. Nowi/Donnel is okay--at least you're getting her Galeforce--but a little disappointing due to lack of versatility and overly high Defense (tanking is considered an ineffective strategy). Lissa/Lon'qu is in a similar boat; it's not the worst, but it does waste some of LQ's potential.

The good: AvatarxChrom is just fine. I've got that on one of my files, and I feel that it's the most natural (narrative) pairing for the female Avatar. It's nice having such a diverse Lucina, though (as others have noted) you miss out on the MMorganxLucina pairing that can potentially be the strongest two units. You'll do just fine with DonnelxSully, HenryxSumia, GaiusxTharja, and GregorxMiriel. Speaking from experience, FredxOlivia is actually pretty good; Fred!Inigo is one of the better places to put Frederick, if you have to use him, as Inigo has less to lose and can actually gain a bit from it (in terms of skills). Libra!Owain is workable, and can pull off a full VVW combo if that's of interest to you, while RickenxMaribelle is a fine choice for a magic-focused Brady, though you could swap these (LibraxMaribelle and RickenxLissa); IMO Owain gains more from Ricken than Brady loses with Libra, but it's a borderline case. The "bad": (Note the quotes!) Normally, Vaike x Cherche is a standard choice...when the Avatar marries a 2nd gen unit, because Vaike!Gerome is a fully competent hard support (Berserker *and* DSup+ makes for a nice supportive unit.) However, because the Avatar is marrying a 1st gen unit, you'll end up with one "spare" child, and in this case, Gerome is the best choice for your "spare" because you have 7 boys (MMorgan, Yarne, Brady, Gerome, Inigo, Laurent, Owain) but only 6 girls, and Gerome is the weakest of the boys. And, as noted by others, "tanking" isn't a good idea in Apo, where you're trying to take the enemy out as fast as possible, so neither Kellam nor Frederick are good choices for Nah's father. Both Nowi and Cherche may want other husbands. Recommendations: With your fixed pairs set, I'd go with Lon'quxOlivia and not FredxOlivia, swap to VaikexNowi for a strong female physical support Nah, and swap to RickenxLissa and LibraxMaribelle unless you have a preference for the support convos of RickenxMaribelle and LibraxLissa. It doesn't matter who Cherche marries because Gerome is your bench character, so pick Fred or Kellam at your leisure. If you're really interested in a very optimal set, consider restarting for Lon'qu x Cordelia, as LQ!Severa is an unorthodox powerhouse; also, swap your Avatar to +Mag/-Def instead of +Mag/-Str, because that's slightly more optimal (and means Lucina and Morgan are a little better if you need them to play physical for some reason). But as these are very marginal gains, it's probably not worth the effort. (If you *do* do this, I recommend StahlxPanne and FredxOlivia, but there are other options.) This got kinda long, so I'm putting it in a spoiler block.

The core question is: Are you looking to do the harder version of Apotheosis? For literally everything that isn't Apo, you can do whatever you want, more or less. There are some front-runner strategies (e.g. "NosTank," running around as a Sorcerer with Nosferatu and Vengeance), but the content wasn't made to expect much optimization. Even Lunatic+ can be completed with just about anything; the only true "never do that" recommendations are never let Chrom marry the Maiden (there's literally no point), and never miss out on one of the children (again, no point). Everything else is a matter of taste. For Apotheosis, however, you're working with a budget. If you optimize ruthlessly, you can easily clear Apo--you have a substantial margin of error. Each step you take away from that hypothetical "maximum optimization" point means cutting into that margin of error. As long as you don't go too far, there's no problem. Some steps are bigger than others, and Kellam as a father is one of the larger steps, which is why people recommend against it. The core issue is, tanking is one of the worst strategies for Apotheosis secret mode, from start to finish. You have to clear the first wave in just two turns, meaning you need to put out a ton of damage very, very quickly--that's exactly the opposite of the tanking strategy, which slows down play (you take less damage, but you also deal less damage). This is compounded by the fact that most "tanky" units have low Spd, so you probably can't double anything--cutting your damage output by more than half (each hit is smaller, AND you hit only half as much). The always-on skills of the enemies in Apo make this even worse, because Dragonskin automatically cuts damage in half, and Pavise+/Aegis+ may cut it in half again (meaning you only do 25% damage), then skills like Vantage+ and Counter mean you don't want to leave enemies partially damaged if you can avoid it. It's not a game-ending fault to choose Kellam!Nah and make her a General (highest Def character in the game, IIRC). It's just that tanking in general (and thus the Defense stat) is considered a waste of time when you need to be putting out lots of damage, and when you (usually) want to fight most/all battles during the player phase, not the enemy phase. Similarly, because of the enormous extra damage potential offered by Galeforce, making sure every unit gets it that can get it is a top priority--and those units that can't tend to be relegated to secondary roles as a result. How you choose to spend your "optimization budget" is up to you--just remember that you're making a choice to be less-than-fully optimized, and will thus need to compensate in other areas to ensure you can still succeed. As for your other questions: Virion is not a bad dad. He's not a great dad, but he's not bad. Other dads are better for various reasons, and I'll use the other dads you mentioned as examples (plus one more). Vaike is a good but highly specialized father. He's got excellent Str and positive Skl and Spd--three stats any physically-inclined child will want--while taking negatives in places that don't matter for physical offense (Mag/Res) and a minor Lck penalty (which is erased by the "children get +1 to all stats" bonus). If he has a daughter, he can pass down typically male-only skills (Axefaire is especially popular); if he has a son, he may give that son access to the fantastic Berserker class. As far as physically-focused fathers go, Vaike is tough to beat. Lon'Qu is equal but opposite, more or less; where Vaike is all about hitting hard, Lon'qu is a Skl/Spd powerhouse (again, only taking penalties to defensive stats that "don't matter"), meaning his child(ren) may double most Apo enemies without any pair-up bonuses at all, and easily double the highest-Spd enemies in the game with support bonuses. The Myrmidon and Wyvern Rider lines pair together nicely, and have skills that can support most other classes, making LQ's child(ren) unusually flexible. Gregor is a well-liked father for two reasons. First, his modifiers are competent for a physical dad--nothing to write home about, but reliable. Second, his class offerings are very good for any child except Inigo (who gets nothing): Hero, Bow Knight, Berserker, and Assassin are all great classes to take into Apo, and several good skills can be found in his set. Stahl is another well-liked father and for basically the same reasons; his modifiers are nearly identical to Gregor's (slightly worse--one more Def and one less Skl), but his class set is almost unbeatable, with Archer, Cavalier, and Myrmidon (offering excellent skills and working with strong strategies e.g. Sniper or Bow Knight). Like how Gregor and Stahl are similar, Lon'qu provides a good comparison for Virion: Virion is less focused, and thus not quite as good as Lon'qu. Virion provides Archer, which is a very strong class line, but the Mage line doesn't really do much for his child(ren), certainly less than the Thief or Myrmidon lines would. Stahl is a better choice than Virion if what you want is a good Archer (or skills from its line) but don't care about mods, while Lon'qu is a better choice than Virion if you care about mods but aren't particularly attached to classes. You don't want generalist children--or, rather, that's a much-less-effective strategy. Augmenting strengths is better than mitigating weaknesses IF you can choose what those weaknesses are, for reasons I outlined above (need to hit hard and fast), and because if things genuinely do go wrong...you just reload and try again. It's better to have awful Defense and Res, but sky-high Str (or Mag, for a mage), than it is to have above-average stats in everything--because you can pick when you fight your battles and you can calculate things out so that you know you'll win without taking meaningful losses. TL;DR: General play = do whatever you want. Apo charop has a range, but is still about all-out offense. Tanking sucks in Apo, so tanky father+tanky child = double suck. Gregor (and Stahl) are great for classes. Lon'qu and Vaike are great for mods. Virion's mods < LQ's mods, Virion's classes < Stahl's classes, so Virion is a second-fiddle dad. Better to make characters with great strengths than no weaknesses.

As for Gerome and Nah: neither choice is particularly good (since Gerome and Nah are not especially good children), but if you absolutely have to use these two excellent fathers on these two children, you're better off with Gregor!Gerome and Stahl!Nah. Gerome really, really needs Berserker if he's going to be useful, and Stahl!Nah can always do Archer. In general, Gregor and Stahl are more commonly used on other children that are already fairly strong, to make them true powerhouses; but if these are your only options, it's better to have more kids than less. Chrom!Inigo!Morgan? The usual best advice still holds: +Spd/-Def, if you want a Morgan that can do just about anything; +Skl/-Def if you'd prefer a physically-inclined one, or one with the highest chance to trigger attacks (sadly, Morgan won't get Aether). +Mag/-Def if you really, really need that Mag for some reason. Classes depend on what you want to do with them. Do you want a generalist Avatar who can do anything? Well then, anything goes; a +Spd/-Def Avatar is a good choice for basically any class, though Sage or Valkyrie (for magic), or Hero/Archer/Bow Knight (for phys) are decent choices. Marrying Chrom!Inigo means a generally physical build is probably more useful. Similar arguments apply to Olivia!Lucina and Chrom!Inigo!Morgan; the mods are all (slightly) physically-inclined, though Morgan should absolutely be a Berserker so Lucina would probably do best as a BK. As for Yarne...well, "best" is in the eye of the beholder. There are plenty of reasons why Yarne isn't necessarily a good hubby, especially if you want higher Mag. (Gregor!Laurent or Ricken!Laurent are much better choices for that.) Unless you've got your heart set on Fred x Sumia, I would strongly recommend swapping him for Henry. Henry is Cynthia's best father when Chrom is already married. Also, usually Kellam is considered the worst possible father, and putting him on Laurent is almost criminal; at least Fred is a slight step up, if only slight. Generally, Donnel is considered best-used with Sully, because Kjelle is already a fantastic unit whose only real flaw is lacking Galeforce, while Nah is a very limited unit with unfortunate stats (very high Def, which is considered useless for Apotheosis aka Apo, the focus of this thread's optimization advice). If you're not building for Apo and just want a group that works? Literally do anything you want, except Maiden!Lucina (which is a HUGE and pointless waste), as long as it gets you all the kids. You could do Kellam!Nah!Morgan with a +Def/-Lck Avatar (close to the worst choice you could make) and still sail through the ending no problem, even without any of the DLC. The base game just isn't hard enough to make it matter, if you're prepared and grind out all the skills you can get. Never do -Luck if you can avoid it, nor -HP. They both reduce Str *and* Mag, which reduces your offensive potential, and that's unfortunate. Since you're considering it, it's always best to go with -Def: the only possible hurt it causes is -1 Luck, and that's a pittance. The lost Def and Res really don't matter that much--I promise. Well, maybe in the first couple maps, when you're still levelling. But it'll disappear by the end. +Mag is a little odd paired with Chrom, since he's not magical at all, but Lucina and Morgan will end up relatively speedy and magical, so that's what you'll go for with them. Overall your choices are pretty solid ones. Since Yarne wants Archer (to get +20 Hit while he sits in the back, Zerker supporting a galegirl), I would swap Fred with Stahl. Gerome is going to be your bench character, so it doesn't matter that Fred is a lackluster dad, while Stahl is a great father that gives Yarne the flexibility he desperately needs. Other than that...hm. Libra!Inigo is an unusual choice, but not bad if you're planning to make him magic-focused (since he gets both Mage and Dark Mage from Libra). Check to make sure you've got an appropriate number of magical girls to pair up with him; if not, consider dropping Libra and using Fred instead, as he makes for a fairly strong physically-inclined Inigo. (Not the absolute best, but a fairly good place to stick Fred if you have to use him.) Everything else looks pretty much as expected.

Aw poop, yes I did mean Sully!Lucina. And yeah, I figured it went without saying that Maiden!Lucina is the worst possible choice in the whole game. At least Sully!Lucina and Gregor!Inigo have decent mods; Maiden!Lucina is literally the worst possible iteration of any child character. And for no possible story gain, to boot.

Generally, Donnel is considered better-used with Kjelle than Noire. Kjelle's stats are already decent enough to handle Donny's lackluster mods, and giving Kjelle GF access makes her a true powerhouse. Tharja's mods don't mix well with Donnel's, especially since that means her highest bonus is in Def (which is generally considered useless for Apo). If you have him free, Gaius is a dramatically better choice for Noire's father, though you can still make her a solid Sniper with (say) Virion as a father. (The other +Spd dad is Lon'qu, and there are MUCH better places for him, e.g. fathering Severa.) Heck, even Vaike!Noire wouldn't be bad. Just to throw out the "generally-recommended" pairings/suggestions, though you should remember these are just one possibility and other options can work: LQ!Severa, Donnel!Kjelle, Gaius!Noire, and Gregor!Laurent are all highly recommended. Mothers should always pass down Galeforce to male children if they can. If Sumia doesn't marry Chrom, she should marry Henry instead (because she has a very limited selection of husbands). If your Avatar marries a first-gen character, you'll end up with 13 second-gen children, so there will be one "bench" character, usually picking Gerome (if Morgan is male) or Nah (if Morgan is female), as they are the least-useful-by-default second-gen characters. Avoid Kellam as a father, and avoid pairings that don't add any new classes (e.g. Gregor!Inigo and Fred!Kjelle) as well as Sumia!Lucina (because this is the only Lucina that cannot get Galeforce).

First-gen is almost always "safe," it just sort of depends on what else you're gonna do. If you go with all highly-recommended pairings (e.g. LQ!Severa, Gregor!Laurent, avoid Kellam forever), you'll probably be fine. As I've said before, there's a fairly substantial safety margin if you do 100% of everything at a high optimization level. Each choice away from the highest optimization eats into that margin. Any single choice--even one as awful as (say) marrying Kellam--almost certainly isn't bad enough to "break" things. Awakening is very easy on the player, and even Apotheosis has a wide margin of error if you go into it well-prepared. Is there some particular parent you were wanting commentary on?

To get the basics out of the way: Several, Noire, Nah, and Kjelle all have the standard-recommendation fathers for reasons you already know. Henry!Cynthia is your best choice if Chrom's not marrying Sumia, so that's fine too. And whether or not it's good, Fred!Gerome is clearly your bench. As for the rest... You'll want a Robin with +Spd, +Skl, or +Str because Chrom's mods, mediocre as they are, favor physical stuff. Stahl!Yarne gets the accuracy boost he wants, but you may be wasting Stahl's potential for passing down juicy classes, but it's not the end of the world if you can't find a better place for Stahl. Ricken!Brady will excel as any kind of mage, and although it would somewhat neglect his strong Mag mod, he picks up Sniper which can make him more versatile in terms of who he supports. Libra!Laurent gets basically nothing (just Priest/War Monk, which is worthless), so if you'd like to make the most of him, it might be worth swapping. Ricken is worth considering. Gregor!Owain is pretty scattered for mods (as most physical Owains are), but he also gets almost nothing class-wise. A swap might be worthwhile, e.g. Stahl, though that does throw Yarne slightly under the bus (as he wouldn't have access to Hit+20 anymore). Virion!Inigo is a capable, diverse unit, but possibly not the best you can do. Good Skl and Spd, though. You could also do Fred or Stahl and come out slightly better, though you do lose Archer if you go Fred.

Yeah, the two are almost interchangeable. Virion!Severa can do Sniper shenanigans, though, which may be enough to make up for the slightly-worse mods. DolphinSquared, I'd generally say that Lon'qu!Severa is your best choice. Technically, if you want to go all-out crit, a Vengeance/Vantage/Wrath combo (presumably inheriting Wrath from Vaike) might be worth looking into...but that seems like spending a dollar to make a dime. Honestly, LQ!Severa has all the tools she needs to be an amazing, flexible unit already; whether you do VV or Astra, she'll rip things apart.

Oh man, I'm so sorry--I totally missed this post. Here you go! A +Spd/-Def Avatar can produce some amazingly high modifiers with the right 2nd gen ladies. LQ!Severa!Morgan, for example, gets +8 Skl and a whopping +10 Spd--though honestly that might be a little overkill. Lucina is also a valid choice, especially since that nets you a great proc (Aether) and still fairly strong mods (+2 Str, +5 Skl, +7 Spd). If you'd like a Mag-focused Morgan, it's sort of a tossup between Henry!Cynthia (+2 Mag, +7 Skl, +8 Spd) and Gaius!Noire (+3 Mag, +4 Skl, +8 Spd)--I'm of the opinion that those 3 extra Skl are well worth a loss of one Mag, but raw damage is still a good thing, so it's sort of up to you. Gaius!Noire!Morgan is a great choice for a Dark Flier or other unit that mixes some magic with some physical, as she has a Str bonus that Henry!Cynthia!Morgan lacks. Avoid Kjelle--Donnel's modifiers are pretty bad, and Donnel!Kjelle's big draw is her diverse class pool...which Morgan won't get any benefit from. With a +Skl/-Def Avatar, the natural inclination toward Str from the asset already makes a physical unit more appealing. Olivia!Lucina!Morgan gets pretty high scores overall, and with +4 Str/+7 Skl, you're looking at a Morgan that can bring the pain (especially with Aether), though she'll want a husband with a Spd-boosting class to compensate for the relatively low +3 Spd (Bow Knight or Assassin are especially nice, adding Skl as well as Spd, but Berserker is still good). LQ!Severa!Morgan, again, has sky-high modifiers and almost no downsides: +4 Str, +10 Skl, +6 Spd, with the only, tiny, problem being -1 Lck. So if you want a brutal phys-focused Morgan, Severa is probably your best choice, with Lucina being the runner-up (as with the previous paragraph). You probably shouldn't use +Skl if you want a strong Mag-focused Morgan, but Cynthia would be a good choice if you did--again, making a good Dark Flier. +Str and +Mag obviously lean you in those directions respectively. With +Str, Severa!Morgan becomes an absolute powerhouse, with +6 Str, +8 Skl, +6 Spd, absolutely ideal for any physical class. +Mag plays best *overall* with Cynthia (+6 Mag, +5 Skl, +6 Spd), but Noire gives just one more point of Mag (for some losses elsewhere, and "wasted" +Str). If you want to go Sage or Valkyrie (or Sorcerer outside of Apo), Cynthia's probably your best choice, while Dark Flier is arguably better with Noire. Hope that helps. Also, definitely listen to anyone else if they have comments or criticism on this. A lot of my stuff here is back-of-the-envelope calculations that may not take into account the vagaries of actual play.

In general, the recommended stats are either +Spd/-Def, +Skl/-Def, or +(Attack stat)/-Def. Def is the preferred flaw because two of the stats it reduces are considered worthless (Apotheosis optimization is all-out offense, so dropping your defenses doesn't matter). Spd is the preferred asset for two reasons: it increases Lck, thereby eliminating any penalty the Def flaw has, and Spd is the vital stat for doubling, so a few extra points can open more options in terms of classes while still hitting the Spd caps for doubling the toughest Apo enemies. (It also gives a small boost to Skl at the same time, so +Spd is useful to all possible Avatars and Morgans.) Skl is an alternative choice for higher skill activation rates, and boosting your attack stat should be a no-brainer. For Avatar!Severa, your choice of asset/flaw leaves her a little flat, mod-wise, which is generally less useful. The best thing you can do, generally, is squeeze the most you can out of just one or two stats. Switching to +Spd/-Def gives you a whopping 5 Skl/7 Spd mod bonus on Severa, which is excellent--effectively on par with Lon'qu (+6 Skl and Spd), while picking up +1 Lck and losing nothing else in the bargain (because Def and Res are dump stats). This produces a very slightly physically-inclined Severa (+2 Str vs. +0 Mag), but she can really do just about anything and kick butt. +Mag is also perfectly acceptable if you want to focus on a Mag-using job (Dark Flier or Sage, Sorcerer for non-Apo stuff). The only one of your choices that I would hesitate to support is Sumia x Fred. Fred is a father with...limited uses. (Fred!Inigo is pretty good, for example, but that's because it's hard to mess up Inigo.) Fred's not as bad as Kellam (never ever use Kellam), but he's very Def-oriented. You've gone for both of the "bench" characters' better options, here--Henry!Gerome and Vaike!Nah--but because your Avatar is marrying the first generation, you're going to end up with an extra child that won't marry anyone. Usually this means people pick either Gerome or Nah (whoever is the same gender as Morgan) to be a bench, and thus "save" valuable dads from that. Since you're doing MaMU, that means female Morgan, so you'd be better served benching Nah (give her any other dad you aren't using) and then going Cherche x Vaike and Sumia x Henry. Also, you haven't used Lon'qu anywhere, and he's a great dad for modifiers, giving big +Spd and +Skl mods. Normally, the advice would be to do Cordelia x Lon'qu, but since she's already married to the Avatar, you have the freedom to use him anywhere else. (Tragic that he can't marry Sumia--an LQ!Cynthia would be lovely.) You could do Maribelle x Lon'qu, which would give Brady a nice stat bonus for minimal loss (Sorcerer is nice, but not nice enough to prefer Libra). There are a few passdowns that do matter, but only contextually: Boys that cannot get Galeforce from their moms should get Dual Support+ if it's available. Yarne, if he doesn't inherit Wyvern Rider from his father, should get one of those skills from Panne (typically Lancefaire, since it helps against Beast Killers). Fathers, as you noted, should pass down Axefaire to daughters if they can get it, otherwise just whatever male-only skill you like (Counter is okay for non-Apo, but there really aren't very many good choices). Of course, for Spicy Tuna Roll, the Yarne thing doesn't apply because Virion solves that problem, but otherwise this stands: Laurent and Gerome should inherit DSup+ from their mothers, Nah should get Axefaire from her father.

Looking over the numbers, Vaike is...one of your only really good choices. Doesn't hurt Spd, good Str. Others have said it as well, but I figure it's nice to give some reasons why. If you want other recommendations, though, there are some options. Lon'qu is better used with other children, but if for some reason you have him free, he's probably a good one as well. Henry is an option, though as with LQ he has other places he may be wanted first (e.g. Cynthia or Gerome). You could do Virion too, I suppose. That should be enough alternatives for you to find someone that works well enough. And the others have covered the class--Sniper all the way.

Not bad. Lots of pretty typical choices. Bit unfortunate that Gerome won't have Berserker, but there's not much you can do about that. As for other Morgan suggestions...hm. I actually don't think Inigo is that bad, you're getting +7 Spd and +5 Skl, and positive mods in everything but the two worthless stats (Def/Res), so you seem to come out looking pretty good. But if you do want to change...some options, assuming you're sticking with a female Avatar: Spd/Def Avatar/Owain. Strong Mag-focused unit with good Spd and a little Skl. The +5 Lck isn't bad, but isn't great either. Skl/Def or Spd/Def Avatar/Yarne. The first gets you +7 Str/+8 Skl/+4 Spd, the second +5 Str/+6 Skl/+8 Spd. Pretty good options, all things considered. Skl/Def Avatar/Laurent. Excellent generalist; +3 Str and Mag, +8 Skl. If you're okay with doing a male Avatar, I can crunch the numbers on the female 2nd gen chars as well.

Male-to-male inheritance is never especially important*--anything Gaius can learn, Brady will be able to as well. All you're doing is saving yourself some time, or getting something that can make the recruitment paralogue or grinding easier. Looking at Gaius's options, there's not a whole lot that really stands out. Since he starts as a Priest, he won't have any use for proc effects, which cuts out most of the "save his butt during the recruitment paralogue" options, including even Vantage. Lucky Seven seems like one of your best choices--Trickster isn't a particularly useful class, and since you don't really need Acrobat, you can just skip Trickster entirely which can save a degree of grinding. In fact, you may be able to skip the Thief line entirely, since you really don't need any Thief or Assassin skills, either. I can't see any real utility for the Fighter line skills, other than maybe Sol to help keep him topped up while grinding? But even that is pretty limited. If you promote Brady to Sage during the fight (like I did), Astra could theoretically be useful, but even with very high starting Skl he won't proc it more than, what, 15% of the time? So, if you care at all, probably do Lucky Seven. Even if the hit is useless while he's a Priest, the avo will help if he gets into any snarls. Similarly, female-to-female inheritance is usually unimportant. Although passing down galeforce is always useful, it's not technically necessary for any of the girls who inherit it from their mothers, as they can just learn it themselves. Certainly saves you grinding time and speeds up all other grinding, but it's not strictly necessary. I went with Veteran for my Avatar!Lucina, for example. Simply: if you aren't getting an otherwise-unavailable skill, you only care about saving time or easier grinding, and those are both very small benefits. *Technically, if you do Gerome!Morgan, you can pass down two different female-only skills, presumably Dual Support+ and GF, so there are some rare situations where a father can pass down a unique skill. Don't bet on it though--almost all of the time, a male child's skill inheritance from his father is meaningless, and his mother is either going to give GF, or DSup+ if she doesn't get GF. Yarne's the only exception, and even then, three decent dads eliminate even that exception (Virion being especially good).

Yeah, Kellam is not a good dad--anything else is usually better. Virion may not be an amazing dad for Nowi, but he's better than Kellam, especially since that means Nowi can at least support as a BK or perhaps Bride. Vaike x Cherche is usually the preferred choice when you won't have a bench character in the second gen, but since I assume "Sabrina" means your Avatar, you're going to have an extra boy, and Gerome is the prime candidate for benching. That would make Vaike!Gerome a significant waste. Consider instead (as Radiant head noted) Vaike x Nowi and Virion x Cherche. It is certainly possible to swap Gregor and Ricken, but the question is whether it's worthwhile to do so. Gregor!Laurent is so frequently recommended because he gets a really great kit and literally zero "wasted" modifiers (with the possible exception of the +1 Str if you intend to go for just Mag stuff). The only things Laurent gains from Ricken instead are +3 Mag, Luna, and Archer/Sniper--but the latter two are not especially important for him because, without Galeforce, he's a support (especially if Miriel gives him DSup+). Ricken!Laurent and Gregor!Brady won't be bad units. Gregor!Brady is a little scattered mod-wise, but becomes more versatile from Gregor's classes, since Berserker means he could go for a more physically-oriented build (he just won't be very good at it with +0 Str). Ricken!Laurent is a potent mage, but doesn't have much else to show for it (I've got Ricken!Laurent on my current file and he's fine, just pigeonholed.) Donnel!Noire has weak mods in two key stats--Skl and Spd--and doesn't get anything worthwhile in the exchange. Valkyrie is an alright class, to be sure, but if that's what you really want, Falcon Knight is probably better and you get that from both Donnel and Gaius. Donnel's mods mean she'd be better supporting, but as a galegirl you want her in the front leading the attack, that's the whole point of having Donnel or Gaius as her father. By going Gaius!Kjelle and Donnel!Noire, you're robbing Noire of significant potential in order to get a modest increase with Kjelle. Kjelle can thrive even with Donnel's shitty mods; Noire will suffer under them. Note, though, that it's still perfectly possible to do this and have successful units, you'll just be taking a small hit overall by doing it this way. Every little bit helps, and little sacrifices can add up.

Vascela covered all the bases here, but I don't think it hurts to reiterate: "it depends." In the context of "what gives Morgan the biggest modifiers," yes, marrying one of the "child" characters (Lucina, Owain, etc.) gives Morgan the biggest modifiers. You (essentially) get the sum of all three parents (Avatar + child char's other two parents), which can be pretty substantial. However, "Morgan has best modifiers" is not an unequivocal good. It isn't strictly necessary for beating Apotheosis, for example, which means it isn't required to accomplish *any* particular goal. When your focus is Apo, you have a 'window' of character optimization available to you--a range into which you can fall where the sum of your choices is sufficient to succeed. You do not need to make "perfect" build choices in order to fall in that range. As Vascela said, you can even accept various "challenges" that make the game harder. Or, you can not do that, and make cutbacks elsewhere and still be fine. There is no "true" or "best" path--every choice exists in the context of other choices you make. Push things too far, and you can't win anymore.

Looks pretty good to me. Stahl!Yarne gets the hit bonuses he wants, Vaike!Nah is a strong support girl, Ricken!Brady is a great choice when Lissa marries the Avatar, and you're hitting all the high points for the rest. Any idea what particular classes or 2nd-gen pairings you'd like to pursue?

Er, shouldn't Morgan at least have GF, to capitalize more on that Vengeance proc during player phase? You wouldn't even need to give up any stats for it--Limit Breaker will give you far more than Mag+2 and Skl+2 would, for fewer skills--or, if you don't care to grind out the points, just use All+2 instead. Also, you seem to be neglecting that allowing combats during EP means giving the computer the choice of which enemies fight. It's not just "can you do the calculation for this opponent," it becomes "can you do the calculation for every opponent you might face?" Avoiding all EP engagements means always fighting battles on your terms, which is something strategists have agreed is a Good Thing To Do for millennia (Sun Tzu wrote about it ~2500 years ago). Yes, it's totally possible to crunch all the numbers for every hypothetical, but that's a lot of extra calculation you could skip with pure-PP combat. If pure-PP combat is still highly effective, while being both "safer" (less need for resets) and "easier" (reduced calculation load), then it may not matter if some other strategy is dramatically stronger. If the extra power isn't necessary, the extra effort may not be worth it. Like paying double the money to get a video card that's only 10% more powerful--sure, some people will do it, because they won't settle for less than bleeding edge, but others won't, because they don't need the small increase in effectiveness to do what they intend to do.

Sure, I don't think anyone would deny that V/V can be quite potent. But, at least based on the discussions I've seen here before, it's also risky, which is a concern in Apo, where it is generally considered unwise to allow anything to happen where you aren't almost certain as to the outcome. One must also consider the opportunity cost--what else could those two skill slots be doing, particularly if they're the only slots you have? (That is, GF and LB are near-guarantees on lead units, and galeboys will probably want Agg as well, meaning V/V takes the remainder.) Again, this is not to say that it is weak, because it can be very strong. Rather, like every tactic, it has concerns and costs to it.

Vaike x Lissa is an unusual choice. The modifiers aren't great, which feels wasteful when Vaike can provide so much Str to the right children, and the class inheritance isn't very good since Owain already has Berserker. If you make any changes, this is definitely the first place I'd look. In fact, I think you'd get a lot out of switching to Virion x Lissa and Vaike x Cherche, because Vaike!Gerome gets Berserker (making him a decent support), while Virion!Owain picks up Sniper and all the goodness that entails (or becomes a slightly better Sage). Alternatively, you could do Henry!Gerome, Virion!Owain, and Vaike!Nah, which I think ends up being a further slight improvement. Most of your other picks are pretty standard (e.g. Gregor!Laurent) or making the best of what you've got left (e.g. Libra!Maribelle). LQ!Inigo doesn't get as much from class inheritance, but that +5 Spd/Skl is among the best things you can do with him since he's not marrying Cordelia. Your natural choice for a "bench" character here is Nah, since you have female Morgan. If you choose to have Nowi marry Henry or Vaike, you might consider passing down Rally Strength, rather than Axefaire. If you don't choose to just keep her benched completely (which would be understandable), Nah could work as a rally Sage, though spotpass chars are still better for that use.

Thank you for the detailed, patient explanation. I know there is still much for me to learn about FE strategy.

HadesRayne pretty solidly covered all the bases, so I'll mostly give filler-fluff here. Pick your Avatar's stats with care. Chrom's mods are kinda everywhere, but lean slightly physical. The "optimal" choice is probably +Spd/-Def, as it patches up the Luck penalty while contributing to a stat that everyone wants to have lots of for doubling. But if you want Lucina and M-Morgan to be magic-focused, you can totally do +Mag/-Def instead. (You'll rarely see anything other than -Def recommended as an Avatar's flaw, simply because it only hurts one valuable stat, Luck, and even then only slightly--it has the fewest trade-offs.) As HR said, consider swapping to Stahl!Yarne and Fred!Inigo. Their stats aren't particularly different, but Yarne really wants Hit+20, because he makes a great supporting male, while Inigo (as a galeboy) can easily play a lead unit and thus use procs instead of passives. Getting Archer is a bigger deal than replacing Yarne's "lost" Wyvern Rider inheritance from Panne. Alternatively, you could swap Fred and Virion, as Gerome will (most likely) be your "bench" character for the child generation. Also, generally I hear Vaike!Nah being set for Axefaire General, as that gives her the highest Str she can get, but Hero may have other advantages I don't know about. Otherwise, all your picks are either "expected" for the set (Henry x Sumia is the prime choice when you have Chrom x FeMU, Sully x Donnel and Tharja x Gaius makes for more galegirls), very strong picks (Gregor!Laurent, LQ!Severa, etc.), or "doing the best with what you've got" (Vaike!Nah). You'll have strong, competent kids almost no matter what you do with them. Think about stuff like who you want to pair with whom, and whether stats line up in reasonable ways. E.g. Henry!Cynthia is a pretty Mag-focused one--she'll pair well with a Mag-focused boy, like Ricken!Owain or Libra!Brady. This can also feed back into your choice of Avatar stats--maybe you like the idea of (say) Brady x Lucina, so you'd want Mag as your asset. Or you could do Lucina x Laurent, and put them as either physical or magic as you like, in which case Spd is a great choice for asset (as it is useful to any class).

LQ!Owain: Definitely Berserker--it does both high-damage and Spd boost. Stahl!Kjelle would most likely go Sniper, though if you have her supporting a Galeboy, Assassin may be better for its support stats. A total of +4 Str, +4 Skl, +6 Spd is nothing to sneeze at.

I must have somehow misread Great Knight as Bow Knight, or conflated Sully and Stahl's class options. Sorry about that! It's sort of a tossup which would be better, then. WL has better overall stats (-2 Str is worth getting +4 Skl and +1 Spd), but the only faire Sully gets is Swordfaire and you'd need to be a Great Knight (or a Paladin, I guess, but that would be worse) to use it. So GK is better for pure damage output, potentially being +7 Str ahead, but WL will be more versatile, especially if you don't equip Sully with a Ragnell so she can hit 1-2 range with a sword.