Authority

For the ability in Three Houses of the same name, see Authority (ability).

Authority (Japanese: 指揮 Command) is a stat present in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, Thracia 776, Radiant Dawn, and Three Houses.

In the former three games, it measures the ability of an army's leader. Possession of points in authority, expressed on a unit's status screen as a number of stars (★), by the commander of an army will give small boosts to the performance of units under their command. The maximum number of authority stars possessed by any unit is five (★★★★★) in Genealogy and Radiant Dawn, and ten (★10) in Thracia, primarily exclusive to late-game bosses.

Authority can be possessed by both player and enemy units, and with the exception of Genealogy, all units even if they never actually function as a commander. For playable units, authority is completely fixed and cannot be directly manipulated by the player.

Authority in Three Houses functions entirely differently. It is a skill level and is thus ranked with letters. It affects what battalions a unit can equip. Increasing authority level can also cause a unit to gain abilities such as rallies, depending on the unit.

Overview

In Genealogy, units who do not possess any authority stars will list their immediate commander in the authority field instead. This indicates the unit from whom they receive their authority bonus. For player units this is always Sigurd or Seliph, but individual enemy units are under the authority of one of several commanders in each chapter, including the main bosses and generic commander units, and will only receive an authority boost from their specific commander.

Thracia 776 changed the effects of authority to apply to all units in the field within the same faction, rather than just those within range of the commander. The game's protagonist, Leif, gains one authority star for each of his tacticians (August and Dryas) present with him in the story. Some other playable units also have authority stars when they join, which are also added to the main stat-boosting calculation.

While the stat is absent in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, the tactician's bonus serves a similar function.

Calculations

Authority bonus

The authority bonus calculated from a commander's possession of authority stars is used to provide a boost to the hit rate and avoid calculations of units under their command, with the specifics depending on the individual game.

Game	Formula	Notes
Genealogy of the Holy War	[(Authority sum of the commander) × 10] - 10	Used as a coefficient in the hit rate and avoid calculations for the commander and all of their subordinates* within a three-tile radius.
Thracia 776	(Authority sum of all units) × 3	Used as a coefficient in the hit rate and avoid calculations for all units in the respective army.
Radiant Dawn	(Authority sum of the commander) × 5	Used as a coefficient in the hit rate and avoid calculations for all units in the commander's army.

Flavor text

Game	Text (English)	Text (Japanese)
Radiant Dawn (NTSC)	The unit's command level. This unit can have as many bonds as the number of ★ icons shown.	指揮のレベル 指揮官であれば同じ部隊のユニットを ★の数分だけ支援する
Radiant Dawn (PAL)	The unit's command bonus. According to the number of ★ icons shown, each subordinate unit gains a fighting bonus.	--

Trivia

• In Radiant Dawn, the Japanese and North American versions' help descriptions for authority erroneously claim that the stat determines how many bond supports the unit can possess. The stat has no effect on bond support possession, with any unit able to possess them even if they lack authority. The PAL version of the game corrects this error.

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology, and notes
English	Authority	--
English (unofficial)	Leadership	Colloquial term for Authority, mainly used in reference to Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776.
Japanese	指揮	Command
Spanish	• Autoridad • Mando	• Authority; used in Radiant Dawn. • Command; used in Three Houses.
French	Autorité	Authority
German	• Einfluss • Autorität	• Influence; used in Radiant Dawn. • Authority; used in Three Houses.
Italian	• Autorità • Comando	• Authority; used in Radiant Dawn. • Command; used in Three Houses.
Korean	지휘	Command
Simplified Chinese	指挥	Command
Traditional Chinese	指揮	Command

See also

• Charm
• Support