Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

I know you're all sick of this and rightfully so but I had trouble understanding one thing about reclassing.

I know it isn't necessary but I though it could be fun to mess around with. So my question is do reclassing a character change their growth rate for stats? If not then it would seem silly to reclass, say, a Cavalier into a Mage since he won't ever level magic.

Inversely if it does change stat growths, then once you reclass a physical unit into a magical one and level them it would make it harder for them to effectively switch back.

So some help on this would be great heh. Thanks a lot!

All characters have personal stat growth. All classes have class stat growth. The stat growth of Character X in Class Y is the sum of Character X's personal stat growth and Class Y's class stat growth. Thus: yes, if you reclass a Cavalier into Mage, you'll start gaining Magic (and Resistance).

Class stat growth can be negative; physical classes murder your Magic and Resistance growth, magical classes have it in for your Strength and Defense growths. So, you're right again; if you level let's say Cain as a Mage for a while and then switch him back to Cavalier, expect him to have notably lower Str/Def than if he were levelled as a Cavalier all the way.

As for swapping physical units into mages and vice versa: Physical units with high personal Speed make passable mages, although I don't think it's ever an ideal approach. Magic is a secondary concern, and Resistance isn't worth a moment's thought. Some names you might want to try this on; Frey, Abel, Cain, Caeda, Draug, Cord, Caesar. On the other hand, ex-mages can't really get away with their universally terrible Strength and Defense. You could try Cavalier Merric just for grins; he'll achieve impressive HP and Defense with acceptable Speed, but his Strength is terrible.

Wow thanks for that awesome response! Yeah that clears everything up and makes sense.

Thanks again :D