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Ah shit, here we go again.
Worst place in the world. Fort Rigwald, Grado country. I haven't represented Renais in a year and a half, but Grado won't give a shit.
(ahem) Welcome back to I, Elf Member: Arch Detests Nose! It's time to tackle Ephraim's chapters on a brand new run.
The settings, if you'd like to play along. I was just cycling through seeds and playing the first two chapters or so to get a sense of what would be the most interesting, and found that naming it after The Last Promise's Father Of The Year award recipient led to some pretty good stuff. Also, I've decided to keep at least a little of my sanity and not randomize event items, so as not to get screwed out of over half the S-rank items and other treasures like last time. This does mean no early Swiftsole or White Gem, as villages are lumped in under "events", but I'm sure I'll get those eventually.
Now, let's meet the cast, shall we? I'll be posting each character's bases (starting from chapter 3 because I lost the images from before then), their current stats if applicable, and their growths.
SKILLS:
Miracle: Survive a lethal attack if HP > 50%.
Shove
Desperation: If HP < 50%, double attacks occur immediately.
Foresight: Takes 0 damage from critical hits or battle skills.
Eirika is an absolute beast and I wish I was going with her route again. Seriously, these are incredible growths! Plus, her being a magic user means she won't be slowed down during the desert chapter once we get her back, which is always nice. Instead...
SKILLS:
Paragon: EXP gain is doubled.
Shove
Elbow Room: +3 damage when fighting on terrain with no effects.
...I'm stuck with this as my main character for the rest of the game. 
I'm breaking last run's "no grinding" rule because it'll take grinding him to a high level, dosing him to the eyeballs in stat boosters, and/or doing the double promotion glitch just to keep him on par with the rest of my team - Paragon will (hopefully) get him to a serviceable place faster. Truly a far cry from the killing machine he was in the first run.
SKILLS:
Pass: Allows unit to move through enemy units.
Canto
Pragmatic: +3 damage to and -1 damage from enemies with less than max HP.
Spur Defense: +4 Defense to adjacent allies in combat.
Unfortunately, I don't see Seth making the miraculous comeback he did in the last run. The new seed was not kind to his bases (or his growths, for that matter); 6 strength for a promoted unit is pretty bad! It didn't help that he started equipped with the Slim Lance, a weapon that turned out so bad that Eirika had to feed him kills because half the time he wouldn't be doing jack shit against enemies with full health.
SKILLS:
Chivalry: Attack/Defense/Resistance +2 when fighting an enemy at full health.
Shove
Franz finds himself benched for the second run, uh, running. Revenants have really bad class bases, which is partially why Ephraim is also terrible (yes, Ephraim and Franz share a class again), but Ephraim has the small victory of starting with more defensive stats than Franz's flat 0. Chivalry helps him a bit, but I think I prefer Ephraim due to Paragon and also for having slightly more balanced growths.
And also, y'know, Franz can't promote twice.
SKILLS:
Darting Stance: +6 Speed when under attack.
Shove
Provoke: Enemies are more likely to attack this unit.
Seal Luck: -6 Luck to any enemy who survives combat with this unit (regenerates over time).
Gilliam is turning out pretty good so far, but, in the same vein as how I ended up with 10 guys locked to lances last run, he's one of four axe users, so we'll have to wait and see if he gets much action. Darting Stance is very helpful for him, too, as axes still tend to be pretty heavy.
SKILLS:
Lancefaire: +4 damage when equipped with a lance.
Canto
Swordfaire: +4 damage when equipped with a sword.
Bane: (Skill/2)% chance in combat to leave the enemy at 1 HP.
Normally I'd have turned my nose up at Vanessa remaining in her original class, but 1) Lancefaire and Swordfaire means she basically has +4 strength at all times, even if she goes into Falcoknight, and 2) she has better growths almost across the board compared to her vanilla incarnation (except in Luck). She's a force to be reckoned with, especially when paired with her old support partner, Moulder. Speaking of which...
SKILLS:
Live to Serve: When healing an ally, heals self for the same amount of HP. Useless on him.
Canto
Hawkeye: User will always hit the enemy. 
Relief: If there are no allies within 2 spaces of this unit, heals 20% of max HP at the start of the turn.
Well, someone sure turned themselves around after last run! Moulder is like the unholy lovechild of last run's Vanessa and Artur - he's already just one level off of capping Strength with nine to go. The only bad thing here is his Speed growth, really.
SKILLS:
Wary Fighter: Cannot double or be doubled.
Shove
Ignis: Skill% chance in battle to add Defense/2 and Resistance/2 to damage dealt.
Ross has the second-least growth to show of the characters I've actually used - partially due to his mediocre growths and partially due to Wary Fighter making him a little harder than normal to use effectively. I don't know if I see myself using him much, especially given I still have two more axe users to talk about.
SKILLS:
Spur Resistance: +4 Resistance to adjacent allies in combat.
Shove
I so want to use Garcia more, if only for the novelty of being able to use a Bael of my own. Unfortunately, Sharp Claw got a severe nerf on this run (falling all the way to 5 might), so he's been stuck using Franz's Rotten Claw, which has a more respectable 9 might. I'd say his growths remind me of Run 1 Ewan, but he's at least getting more stats than that. 
SKILLS:
Seal Speed: -6 Speed to any enemy who survives combat with this unit (regenerates over time).
Shove
Focus: +10 Crit when there are no allies within 2 spaces.
On the one hand, Colm has some pretty solid growths, especially his frankly absurd 110% Speed. On the other, his base HP and Strength are so godawful that he wouldn't last a minute in an actual fight, even if I threw him the Angelic Robe I picked up from a chest earlier. Next!
SKILLS:
Charisma: +10 Hit/Avoid for all allies within 3 spaces.
Shove
Orange Death Blow: +20 Crit when initiating battle.
Neimi has the same problem, though she at least has utility as a healer and I'll probably be bringing her off the bench more out of necessity than anything. Like Colm, her growths in everything except Defense are solid (yes, that's a single digit 5 there), her bases are bad enough to make it not feel worth trying to build her up. She also has a second problem in that she got the limelight stolen away from her just one chapter after she joined.
SKILLS:
Relief: If there are no allies within 2 spaces of this unit, heals 20% of max HP at the start of the turn.
Shove
Lethality: (Skill/2)% chance to instantly kill enemy when attacking.
And here's our spotlight stealer now! Sure, he won't really be able to make good use of his skills until he promotes, but him getting Lethality again is hilarious and I intend to take full advantage of it as soon as I can. Yes, he actually managed to hit his 5% Defense growth, I'm just as surprised as you are.
SKILLS:
Barricade: Damage taken is halved after first being struck.
Shove
Warding Stance: +6 Resistance when under attack.
Lute is pretty solid, due in no small part to her astronomical Strength growth - maybe all the points that were supposed to go into Defense went into Strength instead? Since I'm not touching Colm, she's my only sword user, and she fills the niche decently well. Yes, she managed to hit her 5% Defense growth also, and yes, this is the third person in a row with a growth that bad in it. And she's not even the last one...
SKILLS:
Vantage+: Always attacks first; also negates crits.
Shove
Desperation: If HP < 50%, double attacks occur immediately.
Fortunately, Natasha is. Vantage+ and Desperation also means she's more or less invincible on the enemy phase if she's capable of doubling... though I have a feeling that won't last long given her low Speed growth. Why did you have to make Luck your dump stat? 
SKILLS:
Rally Strength: Choose "Rally" to boost Strength/Magic of all allies within 2 squares by +4 for a full turn.
Shove
Mercy: Command that attacks and leaves the enemy with 1 HP.
Our resident archery skeleton isn't quite as all-powerful as he was in Run 1, but he's still pretty good. Rally Strength is one of the best Rally skills to have, and while I'd prefer it if he was a human Archer (as Bonewalkers can't use Ballistae) he still makes for a damn fine bow user (as well as the only one thus far). I do think it's funny that the archer has one of the highest defense scores so far.
SKILLS:
Swordbreaker: +50 Hit/Avoid when enemy is equipped with a sword.
Shove
Provoke: Enemies are more likely to attack this unit.
Hey, Forde turned out decent for a change, how about that! Other than his low HP and defensive stats, he has serviceable bases, and his growths are pretty good all things considered. Swordbreaker is pretty sweet too, effectively negating his weapon triangle disadvantages.
SKILLS:
Axefaith: Axes do not lose durability, also multiplies Luck by 1.5 when equipped with an axe.
Shove
Provoke: Enemies are more likely to attack this unit.
With how much better Kyle was than Forde last time, it's almost jarring to see that he's the worse one this time around. That said, infinite durability axes is a good reason to still use him... but is it enough to warrant slotting him over one of my three other axe users? I'm not sure.
SKILLS:
Pivot: Movement command that lets the user move to the space behind an adjacent ally.
Shove
Despoil: Luck% chance that defeated enemies drop a Red Gem in addition to any other loot.
Rally Movement: Choose "Rally" to boost Move of all allies within 2 squares by +1 for a full turn.
And for completion's sake, here's Orson. It's a shame I can't keep him, because Rally Movement helped Ephraim to actually be of use during this run's 5x.
And that's everyone! Stay tuned as we actually get down to business with Ephraim's route next time.