This section won’t be giving you the combination of height, face, hair, and voice to produce an Avatar that will become the most attractive and famous Avatar in all of Fire Emblem ‘s history (I wish!). Those are completely variable, have no impact on gameplay, and are up to you! But it is worth mentioning that no, sorry, male Avatars can’t have a hair decoration. I know, you really wanted one, didn’t you?

Rather, we’ll be talking about which aspects of the Avatar will affect gameplay. First things first: Boon and Bane . These two customizations will change how your Avatar grows stat-wise. Boon will increase the growth rate of a stat, and Bane will lower another one. If you want your Avatar to focus heavily on magic, don’t make magic your Bane! Maybe consider lowering strength.

For some reason, Boon and Bane selections are listed using flavor text. Here’s a table that shows you which descriptive term matches which stat to raise or lower.

Which should you choose? Many will swear by increasing Speed , as it is one of the most critical stats in the game, affecting your chance of double-hitting the enemy (and their chance of double-hitting you). If your Speed is at least five points higher than the enemy, you can hit them twice, and if your enemy is five points higher than you, they can double-hit you.

It would be more productive instead to discuss which stats you probably shouldn’t make your Bane. You should almost always avoid decreasing your health or speed. Health is fairly self-explanatory, and speed puts you at a disadvantage to many enemies in the game, especially on higher difficulties.

A common Bane to pick is either Strength or Magic, and then simply focus the Avatar on the other offensive stat. For example, you can boost Speed and lower Magic, and choose to ignore your Dragonstone and use Yato and other strength-based weapons instead.

The next aspect of your Avatar that will affect your gameplay is your Talent. Unlike in Awakening , where the Avatar can reclass into anything without expending any effort, this Talent that you choose will become the one Heart Seal class that you have access to.

You will have access to every single base class (except Songstress, Maid/Butler, Wolfskin, Kitsune, Villager) to pick as your Talent regardless of whether you choose Conquest, Birthright, or even Revelations . But before you start diving in willy-nilly, here’s a few things you need to know so that you can plan properly (if you’re into that kind of thing).

First of all, Friendship Seals will allow the Avatar to reclass to the class of any ally of the same gender s/he reaches A rank support with. So if you are playing Birthright and you’d like to become a Swordmaster someday, you can reach A rank support with Hana or Ryoma. And in Conquest if you want to be a Paladin you can reach A support with either Peri or Silas. Choosing a class exclusive to the version you are not playing can help expand your range of skills.