Breath of Fire IV - Masters

The Breath of Fire IV Master system is very similar to that in Breath of Fire III.  In short, throughout your journey, you will come across people who will offer to teach you various things, raising and lowering your stats as long as you're their apprentice.

Unlike in Breath of Fire III, you do not earn spells based on how many levels you spend serving under a certain master.  Instead, you earn them when you complete specific tasks.  This makes it a lot easier to play around with your character's statistics and bonuses.

Two masters, Momo and Stoll, raise certain stats without lowering others.  I see no reason not to leave characters apprenticed under one of these two as long as you have no other goals.

Masters are listed in the order that you meet them.

Rwolf
AP + 2
Power -1
Wisdom + 1 

You will find Rwolf in the Valley of Kurok, between Chamba and the Dam.  All you need to do to apprentice with him is agree with him.

Skill	Obtained
Eddy	Perform a 5-hit combo.
Plateau	Perform a 10-hit combo.
Magic Ball	Perform a 15-hit combo.
Flame Pillar	Perform a 20-hit combo.

Please note that you don't have to hit the exact numbers; you could perform a twenty hit combo and receive all of his skills.

 General tip; if you use the same type of skill one after the other, the number of hits will increase. While typing, I managed a 6-hit combo by having Ryu cast blind, Cray use snap, and Ershin use wild shot. The snap attack attempted to blind the enemy as well, which would have resulted in another hit if it had worked. The wild shot hit three times, then attempted to blind and lower the defense of the enemy, only one of which worked. It's easy enough to get ten hits early on, when you run into a Red Cap with five caps. Have Cray use Rock Blast, pray that at least four survive, and have Ryu use burn.

You'll also find a lot of information in this FAQ, including this important little tidbit;

After a fire spell, you need wind to create an explosion spell
After a wind spell, you need water to create a thunder spell
After a water spell, you need earth to create a disaster spell
After an earth spell, you need fire to create an eruption spell

Stoll
Agility + 1

You'll find Stoll in the hideout, after you've caught him for Marlock (unmissable, part of the story).  He will offer to teach you in return for all your zenny.  I highly recommend buying rather than trading weapons up to this point, and then going off and buying a bunch of healing items to use up the last of your cash.  As long as you have at least one zenny to give him, he'll accept you.

You can then liquidate your assets (by selling them) and get some cash back. Just remember not to sell the last of any unique item. Look at the table for why.

Skill	Obtained
Steal	Have 80+ items in your inventory.
Cowards Way	Have 120+ items in your inventory.

Not much to say about this one, really.   Hoard like a maniac.  Items in all categories count.  Like in Breath of Fire III you can't unequip weapons, so get a spare of whatever's cheapest.  That said, for a long part of the game, you can't reach him at all, and by the time you get him back, you'll have well over 120 items, so you probably don't need to be worried about that.

I put everyone except Nina (who was under Rwolf) under Stoll at this point.  It's not like they had anything better to do.

Una
  HP + 12
AP -2
Power + 2
Defence + 1
Wisdom -1

Una is in the Elder's House in Worent, on the second floor.  Speak to her after defeating Kahn for the second time, and she'll agree to teach you if you apologise.

Skill	Obtained
Pilfer	Do more than 1,500 damage in a Combo.
Super Combo	Do more than 3000 damage in a Combo.
Blitz	Do more than 10,000 damage in a Combo.

Njomo
HP - 8
AP +1
Agility + 2

After Ahm Fen, head east towards the hut Njomo shares with her husband.  She will only let you apprentice with her once you've built at least one house in the Faerie Village. 

Skill	Obtained
Faerie Attack	More than eight Faeries in the Village.
Faerie Breath	More than twelve Faeries in the Village.
War Shout	More than sixteen Faeries in the Village.
Faerie Charge	More than twenty Faeries in the Village.

Momo
HP + 8

Momo is in the windmill in Wyndia.  There are no prerequisites to apprenticing with her.  Just agree to listen to her stories.

Skill	Obtained
Spray	25+ hours of playtime.
Clip	30+ hours of playtime.
Oracle	40+ hours of playtime.
Egghead	50+ hours of playtime.

Abbess
AP + 2
Power -2
Defence - 2
Wisdom + 4


The Abbess in Chek will become your master once you've met with a few of the dragons.

Skill	Obtained
Concentrate	Meet with more than 70 different enemies.
Sanctuary	Meet with more than 70 different enemies.
Celerity	Meet with more than 70 different enemies.

Marlok
HP + 16
AP + 3
Power -1
Defence - 1
Agility - 1
Wisdom - 1

Marlok will become your master if you go back to Synesta and show him the Tin Ball after he loans you the money for a Sandflier.

Skill	Obtained
Charm	Show him a Copper Ball or better.
Monopolize	Show him an Electrum Ball or better.
Roulette	Show him a Platinum Ball or better.

You buy the initial treasure from a Frogman in Sarai's Inn (a Lead Ball) and then upgrade it by exchanging it.  Yes, it's a straw millionaire game.   I won't post the upgrades here; I'll make a post about them later.

Kryrik
HP +25
AP - 2
Power + 3
Defence + 2
Agility - 2
Wisdom - 2

Kryrik is one of the sailors in Shikk.  After reaching Lyp, go back, and if you've performed a 25 hit combo, he'll allow you to apprentice to him.

Skill	Obtained
Megaphone	30+ Combo.
Spiritblast	40+ Combo.
Cleave	50+ Combo.
Disembowel	70+ Combo.

Easiest way I know to do this is Celerity, Vitalise, Vitalise.  Save first, because you can only use Celerity once every three hours.

Gyosil
HP - 8
AP + 2

Gyosil is in Lyp.  As long as you have over 3000 Fishing Points, he will agree to teach you.  You can read my general post on Fishing here, and you can see most of the points here.

Skill	Obtained
Ring of Ice	4000+ Fishing Points.
Spanner	6000+ Fishing Points.
Master's Rod	9500+ Fishing Points.

Lyta
AP + 1
Defence - 1
Wisdom + 1

Nun in Synesta Orphanage.  She will teach you after you have begun learning from Gyosil.

Skill	Obtained
Supplication	Ryu at level 20+.
Holy Strike	Ryu at level 25+.
Resist	Ryu at level 30+.
Benediction	Ryu at level 35+.

Kahn
HP + 20
AP - 4
Power + 3
Agility + 1
Wisdom - 3

After you get out of the Saldine Flats, head north again.  Kahn is waiting at Fish Head Beach.

Skill	Obtained
Focus	Fight 300+ Battles.
Shout	Fight 400+ Battles.
Tiger Fist	Fight 500+ Battles.
Flex	Fight 600+ Battles.

Bunyan
HP - 16
AP - 3
Power + 1
Defence + 1
Agility + 1
Wisdom + 1

Skill	Obtained
Backhand	Do over 3000 damage in a single attack.
Counter	Do over 5000 damage in a single attack.
Shadowwalk	Do over 8000 damage in a single attack.
Final Hope	Do over 12000 damage in a single attack.

To unlock these,I gave Nina the Palliate skill, learned from Lampkins (give them a panacea to heal them, then either moon tears or croc tears when they ask for water).  She used her Inspire (learned at level 26) skill to raise her wisdom to max.  Almost 40,000 damage.  Well, healing power, not damage, but Bunyan counts it the same.