BoF IV - Masters Location and Guide
If you played Breath of Fire III, you're probably already familiar with how the Master system worked in that game. If you're unfamiliar with that entry of the series let me break it down for you how Masters work. Basically, having a Master assigned to a character slightly changes what stats increase upon level up.
Masters also teach you skills when you perform their specific requirements which make them useful for more than just leveling up. Some of these skills are extremely unique and can not be acquired through any other means. Abbess, the master in Chek has one of the better abilities that I have seen, just to give an example.
As for leveling up, I would recommend Marlok or Kryrik because they give raw HP/AP. If you decide to participate in the Fishing Minigame, you'll be able to increase your stats through trading fishing which means you should definitely go with Marlok or Kryrik if you plan to go that route.
Rwolf Master Location & Guide
Requirements: None
Master Bonus: Haste - Your characters are faster during battle.
Rwolf teaches the player more skills depending on how many hits they can get with a combo.
5 Hits: Eddy
10 Hits: Plateau
15 Hits: Magic Ball
20 Hits: Flame Pillar
Stoll Master Location & Guide
Requirements: Give him all your money. Spend as much money as you can before recruiting him as your Master, it doesn't matter if you have 1 Zenny or 1 million he takes it all.
Master Bonus: Filch - You sometimes steal items when you attack, but only if you don't already have the item. Note: Filch also causes your attacks to do a lot less damage when it tries to steal an item from the target. It's kind of like a Pilfer ability; it does probably 50% the damage of a regular attack but also has a chance to steal.
Stole will teach you new skills depending on how many items you have in your inventory.
80 Items: Steal
120 Items: Coward's Way
Una Master Location & Guide
Requirements: Apologize to her and deal more than 1,000 damage with Combos.
Master Bonus: Wild - More damage per attack but a lower chance to hit.
Una will teach you new skills based on how much damage you deal with combos. For more information on the best spot and best skills to use to get a butt load of Combos (30 +) check out my High Combo Location and spells to use guide.
1500 Combo: Pilfer
3000 Combo: Super Combo
10000 Combo: Blitz
Njomo Master Location and Guide
Requirements: Build a house in the Faerie Village minigame (Access the Faerie Village by using Camp on the world map)
Master Bonus: Pique - All counter attacks deal critical damage.
Njomo will teach you skills based on how many Faeries you have in the Faerie Village.
8 Faeries: FaerieAttack
12 Faeries: FaerieBreath
16 Faeries: War Shout
20 Faeries: FaerieCharge
Momo Master Location & Guide
Requirements: I think 20hrs playtime if I am wrong then no requirements
Master Bonus: Drowse - Characters in the back row will fall asleep and recover 10% of their HP/AP a round. Really annoying bonus imo especially if it happens to Nina or someone you depend on for heals. You will NOT be able to manually wake the character up once they fall asleep; only damage will wake them.
Momo teaches you new abilities depending on what your played time is.
25 Hours: Spray
30 Hours: Clip
40 Hours: Oracle
50 Hours: Egghead
Abbess Master Location & Guide
Requirements: Recruit the help of at least one of the Dragons, use my Dragon Locations Guide to find any one of them.
Master Bonus: Reck - You have a higher % chance of learning skills from enemies.
Abbess teaches you new skills based on how many different types of monsters you have encountered throughout the game.
70 Species: Concentrate
85 Species: Santuary
100 Species: Celerity
Marlok Master Location & Guide
Requirements: Have the Tin Ball
Master Bonus: Greed - Increases the amount of money earned after battle. Only one character on your whole team needs Marlok as a Master for this to work.
Marlok teaches you new skills based on the type of Ball that you have collected.
Copper Ball: Charm
Electrum Ball: Monopolize
Platinum Ball: Roulette
Kryrik Master Location & Guide
Requirements: Complete a combo with 25 or more hits.
Master Bonus: Finale - When an enemy is low on health there's a chance that your character will deal an extra hit, defeating it.
Kryrik teaches you new abilities based on how many hits you can do in a combo chain. For more information on the best spot and best skills to use to get a butt load of Combos (30 +) check out my High Combo Location and spells to use guide.
30 Combo Chain: Megaphone
40 Combo Chain: SpiritBlast
50 Combo Chain: Cleave
70 Combo Chain: Disembowl
Gyosil Master Location & Guide
Requirements: Acquire 3000 or more Fishing Points
Master Bonus: Ward - An item isn't always consumed when you use it in battle
Gyosil will give you items (not abilities) based on how many Fishing Points you have.
4000 Fishing Points: Ring of Ice
6000 Fishing Points: Spanner
9500 Fishing Points: Master's Rod
Lyta Master Location & Guide
Requirements: Need Gyosil available as a Master.
Master Bonus: Guard - Your character may take the hits for another character that is very low on HP.
Lyta teaches you new abilities based on Ryu's current level.
Level 20: Supplication
Level 25: Holy Strike
Level 30: Resist
Level 35:
Benediction
Kahn Master Location & Guide
Requirements: None
Master Bonus: Valor - There's a chance that the character will be revived when s/he is K.O.'d during combat
Kahn teaches your party new abilities based on how many encounters you have with enemies.
300 Encounters: Focus
400 Encounters: Shout
500 Encounters: Tiger Fist
600 Encounters: Flex
Bunyan Master Location & Guide
Requirements: Have all other Masters
Master Bonus: Vision - Drastically increases your chance to hit. Only the enemies which have an insanely high evade chance dodge you.
Bunyan will teach you new abilities based on how much damage you've done with a single attack.
3000 Damage: Backhand
5000 Damage: Counter
8000 Damage: Shadowwalk
12000 Damage:
Final Hope
In order to make Master Bunyan's location appear on the world map you'll need to take an alternate path out of the ? on the world map south of his house. In the picture above where Ryu is standing next to a rock, if you follow this route of the area you'll run into Bunyan's house.