As for when you should use a Seal... use Master Seals on non-promoted classes at level 10 to upgrade them, and Second Seals on non-promoted classes at 10 to switch them over to another class tree (mostly worthless, though switching characters that have access to Mercenary, such as the Avatar, over to it ASAP is generally a good idea), or to switch a promoted class into another promoted class at level 15.