Part 107: Forrest
Forrest
Troubadour (HS: Dark Mage (Leo), Mercenary (Felicia))
A+ Support Partners: Seigbert (Cavalier), Shigure (Pegasus Knight), Ignatius (Knight)
Personal Skill: Fierce Counter (+2 damage to male enemies when counterattacking on enemy phase)
Growths (With Default Class) [Base]:
HP: 47.5% (47.5) [55]
STR: 12.5% (12.5) [15]
MAG: 50% (60) [65]
SKL: 25% (45) [20]
SPD: 37.5% (47.5) [35]
LCK: 40% (55) [25]
DEF: 20% (20) [25]
RES: 45% (60) [55]
Forrest! Yet another Troubadour, and the final unit I have to write one of these stupid things for.
Much like Percy, Forrest is unfortunately cursed with a base growth so high it's literally impossible for his mother not to lower it. 65% is the highest natural magic growth in the game, and the only 2 first gen units who can match it are Elise and Orochi, neither of which Leo can marry. The second highest first gen magic growth belongs to Leo, and he can't marry himself, so the best you can do for Forrest is either Nyx, F!Corrin with a magic boon and a bane in anything but speed or resistance, or Sakura if you're playing Revelation. All three of them have a natural magic growth of 50% which will lower Forrest's magic to 57.5%. It's a bit of a shame.
Despite all that, Forrest is actually a fairly difficult child to ruin with a bad mother. As a Troubadour he can heal fairly effectively no matter his stats, and even if you give him a mother with a 0% growth in magic he'll still have growths about on par with Felicia. Just don't waste a physical powerhouse like Effie or Charlotte on him. His resistance is always going to be decently high too, even if you completely tank his growth he'll still have his very high base res to go off of. The most obvious path for him is Strategist, he'll be a slower but more magically tanky Elise. He'll heal well and he won't take much damage from mages, but he'll be a bit too slow for combat. Unfortunately Forrest's late join time means he's yet another lategame staff user in a sea of lategame staff user. He's very definitely good at his job, he's just not exactly a game changer. Certainly better than a Dwyer from a late-joining Jakob will be, although he does have the disadvantage of not joining with an inventory full of staves.
I feel like Forrest is probably useful in other classes, although I've never actually tried using him in them. He joins late enough that he'll probably get tome rank from Offspring Sealing into Strategist, and I assume he'd do decently well as a Sorcerer or a Dark Knight if you want a tankier magic user. You definitely want something that takes advantage of his sky high magic anyway.
Fierce Counter is an okay skill. It's not particularly well suited to Forrest, but he can still make use of it. Female enemies are very rare and all the mages you'll want him to tank will be men. I guess you could stack it with Quick Riposte if you like big numbers?
My Rating: Responsible for the pink beret being a buyable accessory and therefore is the best character in Fates