Favorite character?

[St. Pius X]

Great Knight is the best promotion path for Gilliam, Amelia and all the Cavaliers in my opinion.

General = 5 mov, Axes, Big Shield, stats
Great Knight = 6 mov, Axes, stats, mount
Paladin = 8 mov, mount

(by "stats" I mean superior promo bonuses and stat caps)

Compared to General, it's 1 mov and mount vs Big Shield. I'll take the former.
Compared to Paladin, it's axes and better stats vs 2 more mov. I'll take the former again.

For the Social Knights, I usually look at the stats and growths in deciding what class each respective Social Knight promotes into. If they're blessed, Paladin, and if not, Great Knight.

[Mekkah]

Personally I'd go with Paladin for the higher move - it gets things done faster due to 2 more move.  Do you honestly need better caps and weapons in order to beat FE8?

Nope, don't need it. Don't need 2 more move either. However, I've found that access to axes makes a pretty great difference. I do agree Great Knight's animations look just plain stupid.

[darkchaz]

Are you insane? The general class has some of the best overall caps in the game!

maybe I am...
anyway, since I got bad memories of generals in all FE games (except 2 or 3), I never bother with them unless forced to..and the fact that generals might have the best overall caps in the game doesn't matter. plus, I don't like how the caps are spread , since they are not in harmony with my playstyle (who cares about defense if you dodge 90% of the attacks?) moreover, since FE8 is easy, you can favor MOV over caps, as you won't spend hours on a map that you can finish in minutes

[Ice Dragon]

(who cares about defense if you dodge 90% of the attacks?)

Which matters not since the General has the same Speed cap as Paladin and Greatknight (24 for male, 25 for female, except JP female Greatknight at 23). Well, actually, the General has higher Speed than its competition due to higher base Build. For that matter, all of the General's caps are equal or greater than the respective cap for the other two classes:

Code:

1 General M      29  27  24  30  25
2 Paladin M      25  26  24  25  25
3 Greatknight M  28  24  24  29  25
4 
5 General F      27  28  25  29  26
6 Paladin F      23  27  25  24  26
7 Greatknight F  26  26  25  28  26 (NA)

Again, everything still depends on play style, though, as you can so easily blow through the game.

[arashisama without the decorative symbols. RANDOM ENOUGH?!]

L'Aracheal- She is born of royality and that she grows more Def in Valkyrie class than as a Mage Knight.

I doubt this will be read at this point, but... She gets the same defense in either Valkyrie or Mage Knight. The promotion bonuses are the same except for one more point of Resistance (I think for Valkyrie?) which she'll beyond max either way with or without. And growths stay the same before and after promotion (though RNGs have funny tendencies...).

@Otori Gin ~ Just wanted to mention, that "Allied Forces" and "Axis of Evil" thing just made my day. Night. Whatever. I think it's been used before, but it's a refreshing reminder...

[Levin]

Amelia! Adorable, and a pink armored general!  (I like her as a general) I really wonder if she's human though, I mean how can someone of her stature fight and move in such heavy armor?

[Lemurian]

Personality: Gerik and Seth. Gerik is just what I like about a character and I seriously wuv Seth/Eirika A.

Stats: Amelia was The Bomb in my latest play-through. Capped Strength, Skill, Speed, Luck and Defense is my best (General). I also have good experiences with Arthur (Sage), Tana (Wyvern Knight) and Neimi (Ranger).

Looks: Amelia! Cute!

[SMDeathwind]

Joshua.

I mean, come on. Can't beat the hat. 

Plus, he's a swordmaster with Str. Now all we need is FE6 SMs back and... *ceases to think coherently and reverts to drooling fanboy mode*

[astromanzx]

i like mhyrr because she is so strong

[I Fell In Love With Judas, then I got Herpes]

While your opinion is amazing in its depth, this is a necropost. Reading the rules is usually considered a good idea, you know.