Ara's almostly-wostly complete guide to New Friends and NPCs

The Fellowship-quests started as a event-quest in the August ’05-Update and became one of the more interesting parts of the game. The “adventuring fellows” help the player to farm, to solo, provide an interesting storyline (which will most likely be continued in the next Expansion, “Treasures of Aht Urghan”) and are … well … just nice.

Requirement: To start the first fellowship-quest, you have to have Rank 4. Rank 5 and the possibility to use the airship are nice but not needed, and a Lv. of 35-40 is enough for the first couple of quests. For almost all other quests after the first three it is necessary to wear the Signal Pearl when speaking to the quest-starter person. Most of the time you won't get any new quests without this item. A Tactics Pearl is not enough.

Attention: This is not spoiler-free!!!

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Fellowship Quests – Main Storyline

#1: Unlisted Qualities

At the Artisan Bridge in Upper Jeuno you’ll find Luto Mewrilah, a Mithra dealing in treasure and information. She asks you to find one of the persons on her list. The first step is to choose a race, a gender and a name of her list.

Note: For each race/gender-combo there are eight names. The stats of your soon-to-be-friend do NOT depend on the race, they all have the same stats, so a Galka-friend has more MP than a Galka-player and a Tarutaru-friend will have more STR and HP than a Tarutaru-Player.

ElvaanF: Armittie, Cadepure, Clearite, Epilleve, Liabelle, Nauthima, Radille, Vimechue
ElvaanM: Chanandit, Deulmaeux, Demresinaux, Ephealgaux, Gauldeval, Grauffemart, Migaifongut, Romidiant
Galka: Durib, Dzapiwa, Jugowa, Mugido, Voldai, Wagwei, Zayag, Zoldof
HumeF: Amerita, Beatrice, Henrietta, Jesimae, Karyn, Nanako, Sharlene, Sieghilde
HumeM: Feliz, Ferdinand, Gunnar, Massimo, Oldrich, Siegward, Theobald, Zenji
Mithra: Fhig Lahrv, Khuma Tagyawhan, Pimy Kettihl, Raka Maimhov, Sahyu Banjyao, Sufhi Uchnouma, Tsuim Nhomango, Yoli Kohlpaka
TarutaruF: Cupapa, Jajuju, Kalokoko, Mahoyaya, Pakurara, Ripokeke, Yawawa, Yufafa
TarutaruM: Balu-Falu, Burg-Ladarg, Ehgo-Ryuhgo, Kolui-Pelui, Nokum-Akkum, Savul-Kivul, Vinja-Kanja, Yarga-Umiga

The next step is to search the person. There are three persons in Jeuno which may have seen it: Red Ghost (a galkan Ducal Guard in Port Jeuno), Kuah Dakonsa (a Mithra at the bridge over the walkway after the Auction House in Lower Jeuno) and Akta, a old Hume man in Ru’Lude Gardens. They all ask you if the person you’re searching has a certain hairstyle/facetype. Just say ‘yes’ to the NPC which describes your soon-to-be-friend in the way you want him to be.

Note: From the eight possible hairstyles per race you can chose three. Faces/Hairstyles have an influence on the personality of your friend. There are eight different personalities (Big Sister, Charming, Cute, Lively, Passionate, Quiet, Serious, Sullen) and each race/gender-combo can have three different personalities. Like the race this has no influence on the performance of your friend, but will give you different messages when talking to him at the rendezvous point or in the field or for his own talking when he uses messages while fighting.

Red Ghost:

Akta:

Kuah Dakonsa:

The last step is to choose the haircolour. To get this, go back to Upper Jeuno and talk to the Hume Bheem near the gate to Batallia Downs. He will remember someone looking like your target person and ask you if the person’s hair has his favourite colour.
Note: His favourite colour will give your friend the colour-type A and his non-favourite colour will give him or her the colour-type B of the chosen hairstyle/facetype.

You will see a short cutscene with the person you are searching going to Batallia Downs. Go back to Luto and report to her. She will give you a silver ingot and the quest is finished.

#2: Girl in the looking Glass

While you are talking to Luto again, a hume lady named Laurana appears. She is searching her daughter Palometa which disappeared some time ago. From the description she gives you, you remember the girl and her brown cap: she was near your soon-to-be friend, when he went out to Batallia Downs.
So talk to Bheem and he will tell you, the person you were searching was going to Eldieme Necropolis.

Go to G-8 in Batallia Downs and take the entrance in the old bunker. After some steps (attention, a Gazer spawns here) you will find a ???. Click on it and you will find the cap of the little girl. Shortly after that the girl shows up together with your friend who has found the lost girl due his magical Glass of All-Looking and you just want to start talking to them, when a skeleton appears.
The NM Skeleton Namorodo has ~1200 HP and you’ll have to fight it together with your friend (a party may help also). After you won the fight, talk to your friend and he will tell you, he’s bringing Palometa back to her mother.
Go back to Luto and Laurana and you will see the reunion of mother and daughter. Luto will thank you and your friend and ask if you two are interested in doing some freelancing work for her in the future. The Glass of All-Looking your friend has could be very useful for this.

Note: This applies to all quests where you have to kill a NM with your friend: If your friend dies, you have to wait for the next Vana’diel day and can try it again then.

#3: Mirror, Mirror

This time Luto will tell you and your friend there was a strange mirror she wanted to have, but something happened to the shipment. She sends you to San d’Oria, where you have to talk Portaure in the Cargo Room B in Port San d’Oria. He tells you some Orcs from Ghelsba Outpost have stolen the treasure.
Go to the great hut in Ghelsba Outpost (F-10) and click on the door to start a solo fight with Lv.40 cap.
A NM Carrion Dragon will spawn and you will have to fight him. He has ~1300 HP and after some time your friend jumps in and helps you to kill the Dragon. On his corpse you find the mirror Luto talked about.
When you bring the mirror back to Luto, she will thank you and your friends Glass of All-Looking will show your face. Because of this, your friend decides to give you a Signal Pearl, so you may call him whenever you need him/her. You will also get the title Destined Fellow.

Note: After the great rush for this quest after the release it is possible to trio this fight instead of the normal solo-fight. But in this case THREE Carrion Dragons will spawn instead of just one. The trio fight will just save time but is not really easier than the solo fight.
The NPC-friend(s) will come in after some time, not after the dragon has taken some damage. The fight itself is really easy. Technically a Lv.40 BRD or WHM has to be able to solo it, so a job with greater potential as damage-dealer will have an even easier fight. The mighty Carrion Dragon of Friendship is a wimp ^^

#4: Past Reflections

Luto will send you and your friend to the Optistery in Windurst to get a book about magical mirrors. She wonders if you can find more information about the mirror you have found at the Carrion Dragon of Friendship.
When you are in Windurst, talk to ministaru Tosuka-Poriga in the Optistery and he will show you to Ritopopo, a researcher which will give you the book if you bring her something to eat.
Ritopopo has a rather big wish list and wants some expensive food. The Whitefish Stew and the Windurst Salad can be bought at the Timbre Timbers in Windurst Waters (the Whitefish Stew is just sold when Windurst has a Conquest ranking of 2 or better), the Merry Minstrel in Lower Jeuno sells the Icecap Rolanberry, the White Bread can be bought in the Marble Bridge Tavern in Upper Jeuno or the three san d’orian Inns (Phoenix Perch Inn, Rusty Anchor Pub, Lion Springs Tavern, but it is just sold there whan San d’Oria has a Conquest ranking of 2 or better) and the San d’Orian Tea can be bought in the Lion Springs Tavern in South San d’Oria (but it is just sold to san d’orian citizens and even then just when San d’Oria has a Conquest ranking of 1). The last item, the Bison Steak is a Lv.65-cooking synth and can just be bought at the Auction House.

Bring all the food to Tosuka-Porika and Ritopopo will give you the book. She will tell you of two magical mirrors, the Glass of Blessed Radiance and the Mirror of Blighted Gloom. The first one incredible beautiful, the other misty and dark, both originating from the realms to the near east.
Bring the book to Luto and she will tell you her thoughts about her broken mirror: it may be the Mirror of Blighted Gloom, but she does not know how to repair it. Your friends Glass of All-Looking will show you Palometas face, so you have to find her. Go to Port Jeuno and talk to Khumo Daramsteh (the Mithra between the gate to Sauromugue Champaign and the port for the Kazham airships) and you will find Laurana and Palometa. She will tell you her father was a guardian of one of the fabled mirrors and she is searching them.
Luto wonders who this Taliesin was who wrote the book about the mirrors … and it seems she has also some other plan ...
After the cutscene with Palometa the quests is finished and the bond of friendship between you and your friend strengthen.

Note: After this quest was released the AH-prices of these items went up insanely. It is far cheaper to wait for a Conquest ranking of San d’Oria – 1, Windurst – 2 and then buy them at the merchants instead of buying them at the AH. Ask a san d’orian player to buy you the tea if you are not a san d’orian citizen.

#5: Blighted Gloom

Luto has finally found a way to repair the Mirror of Blighted Gloom. You need Vitrallum, a fluid metal, which can be extracted from a certain species of slime. She tells you this slime-species can found in

a) Korroloka Tunnel, at the second map at F-9/10
b) Ordelle’s Caves, at the second map at I-5 (go in at F-7 La Theine Plateau and go south to G-4)
c) Ranguemont Pass, at I-9

There you will find a ??? which will spawn the slime when you click on it. Your friend will appear also.
The NM Metallic Slime has ~800 HP and will do the normal slime attacks. After you killed it, talk to your friend and examine the ??? a second time to get the Vitrallum.

Bring the Vitrallum to Luto and she will tell you, you need a place with very clear water to restore the beauty of the Mirror of Blighted Gloom. This place can be found at Lake Mechienme in Jugner Forest. To reach to the perfect spot you have to go through King Ranperre’s Tomb and take the east exit to the forest. At the northeast shore of the lake you’ll find a ??? where the perfect place seems to be. Luto, Palometa and your friend will meet you there.
Palometa will chant the spell which should be able to restore the Mirror of Blighted Gloom, but when she does this and the Mirror is restored, a strange sorcerer appears, takes the mirror, and casts powerful spells to k.o. you and Luto. Some light from the Glass of All-Looking will save your friend, but the sorcerer will curse Palometa with a powerful spell.
When you bring her to Dr. Monberaux clinic in Jeuno, Luto wonders what went wrong with her plan. The quest is finished and the bond of friendship between you and your friend will strengthen again.

Note: Luto will randomly choose a location where you an find the slime. The other places are not important for you.

#6: Chameleon Capers

When you come to Upper Jeuno, you meet not one Luto Mewrilah but two! Mileda-Shiraddo, a friend of Luto is using a magical costume kit to alter his form, so his ... um ... shady business is made a bit easier. But when he tries to take the costume off, he is stuck in it and cannot change it!

Go to Ru'Lude and talk to Muhoho, a Tarutaru Ducal Guard in the Auroral Palace. She remembers hunting a thief, but just found a little Tarutaru child when she followed the burglar. Mileda-Shiraddo wonders if he broke the magical costume, when he stumbled and is stuck in the costume because of this. Luto sends you to Bastok Mines to visit Boytz' Knickknacks.
In the shop in Bastok you meet the Galka Gelzerio, which tells a different story, where he met a old taru man who was also very clumsy and broke his glasses. It seems that was also Mileda-Shiraddo and he broke also his second costume. Gelzerio wants to sell you some reversion dust to change the magical costume back, but sadly he hadn't got a shipment in a long time. He tells you to go to Windurst Waters to the source of the dust.
Travel to the Rarab Tail Hostelry in Windurst Waters and talk to Chamama. She tells you a story about a beautiful Tarutaro woman entrancing her aide, but breaking her shoes when she stumbled ... Mileda-Shiraddo strikes again. Chamama gives you a free vial of the Dust of Reversion, which you have to bring back to Luto.
Luto asks you and your friend - who accidentaly walks around - if you have seen Mileda-Shiraddo and after some talking you decide to go to Delkfutt's Tower to find him.

Search a ??? at J-9 at the first floor and you will split up to search in different directions. You will find another ??? at I-5 and there your friend will talk to you through your signal pearls. But he stands in Upper Jeuno! Could it be that your friend who so innocently sneaked away at J-9 is in fact ... ?!
Go back to J-9 and examine the ??? again. You and Luto will meet your friend - twice! Just guess who is the true friend and then turn Mileda-Shiraddo back to his little Tarutaru self. And in that moment a second Luto Mewrilah shows up! But she acts kind weird and soon the illusion starts to fade. Your friend will help you in this fight, when the monster attacks you.
The NM Illusory Pot has ~1800 HP and will use typical pot-attacks. After you killed it, speak to your friend and examine the ??? one last time.

Luto and Mileda-Shiraddo remember how they met here in Delkfutt's Tower years ago, two young but already famous thiefs on one of their first adventures. They found a treasure here but became friends soon. And to remember the friendship they decided to hide the treasure here and keep it in their memory. Mileda-Shiraddo asks you to chose one of the old books the treasure consists of. Now you can choose between three item: the Tactics Manual of Endurance, the Tactics Manual of Fortitude or the Tactics Manual of Might. He will also give you the Costume Kit, perhaps you may need it some times ...
Go to the Rendezvous Point in Ru’Lude Gardens and your friend will learn a new fighting style. This finishes the quest.

#7 Blessed Radiance

Luto tells you and your friend, that little Palometa hasn't woken up until now. Dr. Monberaux told her, there are just two ways to lift a curse and these ways are asking the cursemaker to lift the curse or to kill the cursemaker. But you have no clue, where the sorcerer went, when he stole the Mirror of Blighted Gloom - no, when he tried to steal it! Your friend could save the mirror and hands it over to Luto.
She asks you to go to the Neptune's Spire Inn in Lower Jeuno to visit Laurana and Palometa there. Their room is the one on the left side, right after the entrance. Laurana is worried about her daughter, but Luto lays the Mirror of Blighted Gloom besides Palometa, so that the spirit of her father may protect her. Luto tells you, she was in Windurst at the Optistery again to ask minister Tosuka-Porika and Ritopopo about the mirrors again and so she got to know, that Taliesin, the guy who wrote the books about them, died in his search for the mirrors. But she also knows a way how perhaps Palometa could be awaken again. You have to call the spirit of the guardian of the mirror to help you. You have to burn a mistroot on a plate of glimmering mica with a fire of lunascent log near a mirror pond to call the spirit.

Now get a sickle, a pickaxe (both sold from Upih Kachlah in Ensasa's Catalyst Shop in Windurst Waters) and a hatchet (sold from Bikini-Mikini in Mhaura) and go to Giddeus. When you find a harvesting point, you can harvest together with your friend. Call him and then use the sickle to get a Mistroot. No travel to the Maze of Shakhrami and search a excavation point. Call your friend again and use the pickaxe to find the Glimmering Mica. To get the last item, take a chocobo to Jugner Forest and call your friend when you find a logging point. Use your hatchet to get the Lunascent Log.

Mirror Ponds are found in Beaucedine Glacier, so you have to travel there. When you exit the tunnels of Ranguemont Pass you will meet the shady sorcerer, who cursed Palometa but he will warp away, before you can catch him. Search the mirror pond at J-7 and you will call the spirit of the guardian. He will appear before you, a man called Klafaan and after seeing the Glass of All-Seeing in the hands of your friend and hearing the story of Palometa, he will lift the seal on it.
... a strange day indeed, when the wielder of Blessed Radiance seeks to protect the bearer of Blighted Gloom ...
When the seal on the Glass of All-Seeing, no, the Glass of Blessed Radiance breaks, you see an image of Palometa, crying for her father. Run back to Jeuno as soon as possible and go to the Neptune's Spire. Luto and Laurana are very worried. The shady sorcerer came back and although the spirit of her father tried to protect her, he could force her to follow him and when Luto and Laurana tried to stop him, he warped himself and Palometa away. The poor girl is nowhere to find!

Your friend has the sparkling Glass of Blessed Radiance in his hand and promises, as soon as the power of the light mirror is stable again, he and you will go to safe Palometa from the shady sorcerer.

Note: For this quest a Tactics Pearl is very useful to call your friend at each point to get the items.

#8 Mirror Images

Talk to Luto and then go to the Burning Circle in Qu'Bia Arena (Fei'Yin) and fight a NM Demon Vassago. The fight is a lv.50 capped solo fight, so just you and your NPC may enter. The demon is a DRK-type and will use a special attack called Blighted Gloom more or less every 25% of HP he loses. This very powerful and dangerous attack has a rather long casting and short range, so you may try to run away as soon as he starts casting it, but instead of trying for a fizzle let your NPC tank. If Blighted Gloom hits your NPC it will not deal any damage and your NPC will counter with a special attack Blessed Radiance instead.
After you killed the demon, go back to Luto, talk to her, visit the Neptune's Spire one last time and the quest is finished.

The bonds between you and your NPC strengthen again and from this time on, your NPC will use Blessed Radiance as a kind of desperation weaponskill if both you and he have very low HP.

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Fellowship Quests – Sidequests

#1: Empty Darkness

Prerequisites: You have to have finished Past Reflections, your friendship needs to be high enough and you have been to a Promyvion at least once (it is enough if you just entered the Promyvion, you don’t have to beat it).

That is not the real name of the quest, in fact it is not a quest listed in your questlog. Talk to your friend at the rendezvous point about ‘quests’ until he mentions his mission to investigate the emptiness.
Go to a Promyvion and you will find a rendezvous point near the entrance. Clicking on it will spawn your friend. Now you have 45 minutes to find something strange in the area.
You can find a ??? on each floor of the Promyvion, except on the third floor where you can find two ???. Examine it to find this ‘something strange’ and your friend asks you if you want to be warped out. If you say yes, your friend will warp you to the entrance of the Promyvion and will get some exp. Now go back to the rendezvous point in your favourite city and your friend will give you a Tactics Pearl, so you can call him more often.

The exp your friend gets after the quest is related to two things: First, he gets more exp if you find the ??? at a higher floor: 300 exp for the first floor, 500 exp for the second floor, 750 exp for the third floor and 1000 exp for the fourth floor. Additional to this, he will get 40 exp for each empty you killed (for up to 30 empty), so to get exp easy, kill the Strays near the Memory Receptacle.
If you examine the ??? but don't say yes when your friends asks if you are finished you get the exp-reward from this floor but you can still go to a higher floor for another ??? and a second exp-bonus. So in the best case you can get up to 3750 exp per run.

Locations of the ??? in different floors of Promyvion:
Promyvion-Dem: J-12 / E-9 / F-6, G-12 / K-8
Promyvion-Holla: H-7 / G-9 / E-6, L-5 / L-11
Promyvion-Mea: F-4 / F-10 / E-7, K-9 / I-5

Note: You can repeat the quest once each week. You have to get the quest anew at the rendezvous point in the city to be able to start it in the Promyvion. To get the new Tactics Pearl you have to throw away the old one.
Your friend cannot gain a level through this quest. He doesn’t get exp for killing Empty per se; he gets just the whole bundle at the end of the quest. But because he has already despawned when he gets the exp he cannot gain the level. Or in other words: this quest will cap him at 1 TNL.
If your friend dies in Promyvion before you get to the ??? he won’t get any exp and you have to wait a full RL-day to repeat it.

#2: Picture Perfect

Prerequisites: Your friend has to have reached Lv.50 and has around 60% of the exp needed to reach Lv.51. (around 4500/7800 TNL). You have to finish the quest “A Pose By Any Other Name”, given from the painter Angelica in the Rarab Tail Hostelry in Windurst Waters. You have to wear your Signal pearl to get this quest.

Go to Selbina and talk to the Hume Diederik near the shore. He will ask you to go either to Umberto in Bastok Markets (near Harmodios Music Shop) or Angelica in Windurst Waters. Choose one of the persons and your friend will go to the other one. Talk to the person, buy a pickaxe (for example at Boytz Knickknacks in Bastok Mines) and go to Korroloka Tunnel to find an excavation point.
Dig up the Bal Shell and bring it to Umberto or Angelica (whoever you talked to) and then return to Selbina and talk to Diederik again. Now you have to go to Castle Oztroja and through the Brass Door at I-8. Go upstairs and walk east till you get to the Brass Door at I-8. Click on it for a cutscene and then enter. You will find a ??? which spawns a NM and your friend.
The NM Yagudo Muralist is a BLM and has ~1300 HP. Kill it, talk to your friend and examine the ??? again to get an Opalescent Stone. Now go back to Windurst and talk to Angelica, then go to Bastok and talk to Umberto.
The quest is finished and your friend is now able to reach Lv.55 and will give you the title Team Player

#3: Regaining Trust

Prerequisites: Your friend has to have reached Lv.55 and have around 60% of the exp needed to reach Lv.56. (around 7800/12800 TNL).

Luto will tell you, your friend is in Dr. Monberaux hospital after a monster in Qufim attacked him. Visit Dr. Monberaux and your friend, then go back to Luto. Now go to Qufim Island and examine the Giant Footprint at E-6 which will spawn a Giant and your friend.
The NM Giant Ingaevon has ~3000 HP and after you killed him, talk to your friend. Go back to Jeuno and visit first Luto and then Dr. Monberaux again.
The quest is finished and your friend is now able to reach Lv.60 and will give you the title Worthy of Trust

#4: Mixed Signals

Prerequisites: Your friend has to have reached Lv.56.

Talk to Ratoto (I-10, Upper Jeuno) then talk to Luto. Travel to San d'Oria and talk to Raimbroy (E-8, South San d'Oria) and go back to Luto again. Now go to Qulun Dome, behind the Ruby Quadav and find the room with water in it, where you have to check a ???. Then go back to Luto again.
The quest is finished, your friend is now able to reach Lv.65 and he will give you a Homemade Food and the title A friend indeed

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Redoing the quest:

You can restart the quest-series for a different friend, but you will loose the first friend. To get a new friend, talk to Luto again and talk to her about ‘ending this task’. She will then erase your memory with a magic mirror and you can start all over again. (*arg*, all the mirrors in this storyline ><)

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Items:

Signal Pearl (RareEx)
Ear, Lv.5, All Jobs
Enchantment: Calls your friend <1/1 20:00:00 [20:00:00, 0:30]>

Like every other 1/1 enchantment in this game this pearl has infinite charges.
Your friend can be called at almost every area. Exceptions are cities, lvl-capped areas and events, Burning Circles, the inner sanctums in the beastmen strongholds, Tu'Lia, Lumoria, Promyvion, Dynamis and Aradjiah. He can be called in addition to the pets of BST, DRG and SMN. It is also not possible to call him while on an Escort Quest.
If you drop your Signal Pearl, you can get a new one at the rendezvous points from your friend. The new pearl is fully recharged, so you can call your friend immediately again. You can only get one new pearl every Vana’diel-week (the VD-week ends with darksday).

Tactics Pearl (RareEx)
Ear, Lv.5, All Jobs
Enchantment: Calls your friend <4/4 00:10:00 [00:10:00, 0:30]>

This Pearl is gotten from the quest “Empty Darkness”. It is used like the Signal Pearl, but if you drop it, you have to repeat “Empty Darkness” to get a new Tactics pearl. You can finish this quest once every RL-week.

Tactics Manual of Endurance (Rare)
Tactics Manual of Fortitude (Rare)
Tactics Manual of Might (Rare)

These books will teach your friend new fighting styles: Soothing Healer, Stalwart Shield and Fierce Attacker.
You get one (and just one) of the manuals from the quest “Chameleon Capers”. To teach your friend the fighting style you have to have the manual in your inventory and speak to him at a rendezvous point. The manuals do not get consumed by your friend, so you can bazaar or trade them to other players and get their manuals so your friend can learn all three fighting styles.
You have to finish “Chameleon Capers” before your friend will be able to learn the new fighting styles.

Homemade Bread(Ex)
Homemade Cheese(Ex)
Homemade Gelato(Ex)
Homemade Herbal Tea (Ex)
Homemade Riceball(Ex)
Homemade Risotto(Ex)
Homemade Salad(Ex)
Homemade Steak(Ex)
Homemade Stew(Ex)
Your adventuring fellow made this food item especially for you.

One of these foods is a present from your NPC after you finished the third Genkai quest. What kind of food you get depends on the personality of your friend, and all food effects will stay for 30 minutes.

From a male friend you can get following items:
"Charming": Homemade Gelato (INT +1)
"Passionate": Homemade Steak (STR +1)
"Serious": Homemade Bread (AGI +1)
"Sullen": Homemade Cheese (HP +10, Def +40)

And from a female buddy you will get:
"Big Sister": Homemade Risotto (MND +1)
"Cute": Homemade Stew (VIT +1)
"Lively": Homemade Riceball (DEX +1)
"Quiet": Homemade Herbal Tea (CHR +1)
"Serious": Homemade Salad (MP +10)

Hydra Cap (Rare/Ex)
Hydra Jupon (Rare/Ex)
Hydra Bracers (Rare/Ex)
Hydra Hose (Rare/Ex)
Hydra Boots (Rare/Ex)

These Lv.70 equipment pieces are drops in Dynamis-Tavnazia. They are wearable by every job and race and bring 143 Def for the wearer. The real bonus are the additional stats your friend is getting:
Cap - HP/MP +10, INT +2
Jupon - HP/MP +20, VIT +2
Bracers - HP/MP +10, DEX +2
Hose - HP/MP +10, STR +2
Boots - HP/MP +10, AGI +2

Shinai (RareEx)
Great Katana, Lv.1, All Jobs
Dmg: 2, Dly: 480, Fellow: STR/DEX +4

This great katana is a reward of the '07 Feast of Swords-Event and it gives your buddy a little boost in the fighting stats when you have it equipped when you use call him. You will get a message saying "Fellow is afraid of the Shinai", which most likely means he will try to fight better. It is not yet proven if the stats disappear after you deequip the Shinai or if you just have to wear it for the calling.

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Rendezvous Points

There a certain points in every city, where you can meet your NPC to chat a bit or to do a ... well ... config-thingie.

Jeuno: Lu'Rude Gardens, G-10
Bastok: Port Bastok, J-12
San d'Oria: Northern San d'Oria, K-10
Windurst: Windurst Waters, L-10

When you just chat with him, he will say some nice thing. Your friendship will increase with this option.

When you talk about quests, your friend will talk about the actual quest you are doing with him or the last quest you did with him. You also need this option to (re)activate the “Empty Darkness” quest.

When you talk about battles you can ask him about his Lv. and his fighting style. You can change the fighting style and ask him to talk during fights. He can tell you, if his HP or MP drop below 25%, can have a ‘macro’-type line when he uses a jobability or a weaponskill and he can tell you when he has enough tp% to use a weaponskill. He will also tell you, when he gets tired and leaves soon.

When you get the option to talk about appearances you can change his armour and headgear.

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NPC-Behaviours

Most important thing: The friend will despawn when you zone, temp log and leave the area in any way.

Friendship

Friendship is a very important part of your relationship to your buddy. To start new quests, to get equipment upgrades and to improve his fighting power you need (besides the prerequisites listed at these points) a certain amount of friendship.
Your friendship will increase every time you call your friend (+1) and if you talk to him at the rendezvous point (+1 each RL-day), in contrary your friendship will decrease if you throw away your Signal Pearl (-5). You can throw away a Tactic Pearl without decreasing friendship.

So whenever I say some upgrade may happen “after some time” I mean “it will happen after you got a certain amount of friendship". How much you really need you can see in this table. Whenever a quest ends with 'The bonds of friendship between you and your friend strengthen' the maximum amount of friendship you can have increases. These quests are not there to get directly more friendship, but will unlock the potential to get more friendship and so more benefits other upgrades.

Note: This table is wrong. I more or less copied it from other websites, but I found many differences. Till I get a correct one, this table will remain here.

Levels

Your friend starts at Lv.30 when you get the Signal Pearl the first time. When you call him and fight against mobs, he will get exp. He gets the normal exp for the level-difference between his own lvl and the lvl of the mob.
You self get an exp-penalty of 30% but the exp of your friend does not depend on your own exp. So it is possible to help him lvl when you fight with Lv.60 in a real high-lvl zone to get him much exp. He gets just exp for a mob he fought with, so a strong AoE-attack cannot net him a bunch of exp in small time. You can use an Empress Band or Chariot Band to increase your exp again.

If you call him while you have a lower Lv. then his actual Lv. he will cap his own Lv. down, so he never will have a higher Lv. than you. But he amount of exp he gains is still dependent on the difference between his REAL Lv. and the Lv. of the enemy. So if you call a Lv.45 friend to help you while you are fighting as Lv.15 player, he will come also as Lv.15 but his exp-gain will be as if he is still Lv.40 (which means he will most of the time not get any exp on the mobs you are fighting at Lv.15).

If you talk to him in the field he will say something to tell you how far it is to his next Lv.:
0%-20%: I’ve gained a level lately.
20%-40%: I have to work hard on my l.evel.
40%-60%: I’m at the half way to my next Level.
60%-80%: I’m getting near my next level.
80%-99%: I’m almost at my next level.
(Depending on his personality he may use other words, but similar meanings)

Partying and Mechanics

You can party with your friend in a normal party. He will take up one party slot and despawns if the partyleader invites more people so the party will never have more than 6 people. The exp-penalty applies just to you and not to the other people in the party.

Your friend will take up a party slot, but will work like someone in the same alliance than you. That means songs, -ga spells (Protectra, etc.), Regen and Refresh will have no effect on him. Single-target spells like Cure, Protect, Shell and various –na spells will work on him. To target him in a macro use < ft >.

Your friend has a certain Hide-Trait, very much like a pet, a wyvern or an avatar: You don’t get alot Hate for healing or enhancing him, and he will not draw aggro through sight, sound or smell. He may still get aggro from linking Mobs.

If you want him to attack a mob, you have to attack the mob yourself. You cannot send him to assault like a pet and as soon as you disengage your friend will stop attacking also. Mages should attack the mob once, lock off and go back to a safe place but have to stay in the attacking mode.

• Normally your friend will stay with you for 45 minutes or will help you kill 15 mobs. After that (whatever happens first) he will get tired and return to his home.
• With increasing friendship your friend will stay longer. The maximum at the moment (after the quest Mirror Images) ist 30 mobs or 90 minutes.

You can all your friend everywhere with following exceptions: cities, areas with an Burning Circle or an Protocrystal in them, the manaclipper/ferry/airship, Dynamis, Promyvion (except for the Empty Darkness quest), Limbus, Lumoria, Aradjiah and every lvl-capped area.

Weapons and Shields

Your friend will start equipped with a Xiphos and a Lauan Shield. After your friendship is high enough (the first time after the 6th calling) Luto will talk with you about your friends weapons and him straying around in weapon shops. Trade a new weapon to Luto, so he may use different weapon types.

After some time – and after you traded at least one tier1 weapons – Luto will talk about this topic again and allow you to upgrade the weapon a second time. After you traded the next tier and got enough friendship, Luto will announce the next tier and so on.

While fighting it makes no difference if your friend uses a tier2 or a tier7-weapon, the weapons are just upgrade-tiers not the real weapons. For example, the tier4 club is Lv.12 but the tier4 katana is Lv.36 – but on the 4th upgrade both weapons are similar when used by your friend. That means the weapon is - like the armour - only cosmetical and changes the weaponskills of the friend but not the dmg/dly-ratio of your friend.
There are just two exceptions to this: shield do in fact increase the defense (also by a set amount for 'shield' compared to 'no shield') and shield-block-rate and hand-to-hand-weapons are weaker when used by a Soothing Healer (look below).

When you trade a two-handed weapon (Great Axe, Great Katana, Great Sword, Scythe) your friend will also lose his shield. To get him his shield back, trade him a one-handed weapon and a new shield. You can always switch weapons by trading your friend a new weapon of the current tier.

Axe: Bronze Axe --> Brass Axe --> Battle Axe --> War Pick --> Mythril Axe --> Tabar --> Mythril Pick
Club: Bronze Hammer --> Brass Hammer --> Willow Wand --> Brass Rod --> Bone Cudgel --> Bone Rod --> Darksteel Mace
Dagger: Bronze Dagger --> Brass Dagger --> Baselard --> Kukri Kris --> Bone Knife --> Darksteel Knife
Great Axe: Butterfly Axe --> Great Axe --> Hydro Axe --> Voulge --> Twicer --> Heavy Axe --> Hydro Cutter
Great Katana: Uchigatana --> Nodachi --> Kanesada --> Ashura --> Hosodachi --> Mikazuki --> Kiko-Ichimonji
Great Sword: Claymore --> 2handed Sword --> Inferno Sword --> Falx --> Mythril Claymore --> Great Sword --> Ram-Dao
Hand-to-Hand: Cesti --> Bronze Knuckles--> Baghnakhs --> Claws --> Katars --> Patas --> Jamadhars
Katana: Kunai --> Wakizashi --> Hibari --> Busuto --> Kodachi --> Sakurafubuki --> Kabutowari
Polearm: Harpoon--> Bronze Spear --> Spear --> Lance --> Halberd --> Mythril Lance --> Kamayari
Scythe: Bronze Zaghnal --> Brass Zaghnal --> Scythe --> Zaghnal --> Mythril Scythe --> Mythril Zaghnal --> Mandibular Sickle
Staff: Ash Staff --> Holly Staff --> Holly Pole --> Spiked Club --> Oak Staff --> Oak Pole --> Quarterstaff
Sword: Bronze Sword --> Xiphos --> Scimitar --> Longsword --> Tuck --> Tulwar --> Schlaeger

Shield: Lauan Shield --> Shell Shield --> Aspis--> Mahogany Shield --> Kite Shield --> Targe --> Heater Shield

Note: You will not get the older weapon back, when you trade a new weapon.

Magic and Weaponskills

Your friend can use both, magic and weaponskills. Depending on the equipped item and and the used fighting style the usage of these can vary.

Weaponskills depend on the equipped weapon. Your friend has a A+ rating in all weapons and is considered as 'every job' what means, he can use every weaponskill of the equipped weapontype at the earliest Lv. possible. He will get tp% according to his weapon-type and will choose randomly one of his weaponskills to use, when his tp% are above 100. If an enemy has less HP and is almost dead, your friend will not waste his tp% and wait for the next enemy.

Until now it is known that the fellows can use the 8 'normal' weaponskills of each weapon. The current Lv.65-cap does prevent them from using the 'quested' #9-weaponskills so we do not know if this weaponskills can be used. The #10 weaponskills from the upgraded relic weapons are also out of reach for our friends at the moment.

Please note that some weapontypes have an AoE-weaponskill (Dagger - Lv.41, Great Sword - Lv.49, Hand-to-Hand - Lv.49, Scythe Lv.41, Staff - Lv.23, Sword - Lv.49) so you might want to avoid these weapons from these levels upwards if you don't like accidental links.

The magic of your friend is absolutely white. He will learn certain white spells at the earliest Lv. possible depending if this Lv. is that of WHM or - rare - RDM. He can heal (Cure I - V), cure status effects (Poisona, Paralyna, Blindna, Silena, Cursna, Viruna, Stona), enfeeble enemies (Dia I - II, Paralyze, Slow, Silence, Flash (?)) or enhance himself and you (Protect I - IV, Shell I - III, Haste).
Technically your friend is not in your party, so party-only spells like Erase, Regen, Refresh or AoE-effects cast from you will not work on him. In return he doesn't use them also.

The Glass of Blessed Radiance

After you finished the quest #7 'Bright Radiance' your friend's Glass of All-Looking turns back into the Glass of Blessed Radiance, the bright one of the two twin mirrors. In quest #8 'Mirror Images' during your fight against Vassago your friend will already use the power of the mirror to defeat the demon-spirit.
After that the power of the Blessed Radiance is an special white magic spell which deals light damage like Banish or Holy. Your friend will use that power as a powerfull desparation move after both you and he are on real low HP (both around 20% or below and little chance to use a Cure-spell) and will attack the enemy with it. It is very strong, but note that you both have to be in danger for this attack to appear.

Armour

The armour your friend is wearing is technically just decoration, much like his race and gender. His DEF-stat is linked to his Lv. and also to his shield.
When your friend starts to go adventuring with you, he will wear the Scale Set without any headgear. Every time he leaves you after a quest or a adventuring call he may upgrade (successful fighting) or downgrade (death!) his equipment. I think it is random how many parts change. But it is not random to what his gear gets upgraded. It has a great chance to get upgraded to a gear of the nation which controls the area in this conquest tally, a chance to get upgraded to a gear of the nation which is atm gaining control of the area and even to the type of enemy you kill (either depending on enemy type, i.e. 'Plantoid', 'Beastman', or the type of crystal dropped - continuing research).
If you call your friend for longer time in an area under the same circumstances you can get higher tiers of armour.

Bastok: Lizard Armour --> Chainmail Armour --> Centurion Set --> Kenpogi Set --> Shade Equipment --> Royal Squire Armour --> Raptor Jerkin Set --> Shinobi Gi Set --> Royal Knight Set --> Gavial Mail Set

San d’Oria: Scale Armour --> Plate Armour --> Mythril Armour --> Eisen Armour --> Carapace Armour --> Iron Musketeer Armour --> Hara-Ate --> Darksteel Plate Armour --> Scorpion Cuirass Armour --> Adaman Cuirass Armor

Windurst: Doublet Set --> Trader’s Set --> Seer’s Set --> Gambison Set --> Wool Set --> Holy Breastplate --> Tactician Magician Set --> Earth Doublet / Silk Set --> Austere Set --> Noble Tunic Set

Beastmen: Lv.1 RSE --> Chocobo Rider Set --> Bronze Harness Set --> Lv.30 RSE --> Blue Cotehardie (Chocobo/Fisher/Vagabond Set) --> Scorpion Harness --> Justaucorps / Battle Jupon --> Coral Harness --> Cardinal Vest --> Demon's Harness

After some time (and friendship) you will get an upgrade in the ‘appereance’-section of the rendezvous points. With this option you can tell your friend to not change a single parts of his armour. With increasing friendship you will be able to lock two, three or even all four parts of the armour, so you can customize his appereance.
Btw, the equipment of your friend will never change when you do the Empty Darkness quest in one of the promyvions.

If you call your friend while wearing a Dream Hat +1 and a Dream Robe +1 he will also wear this 'set' and if you wear an Egg Helm, your buddy will also wear one. This is just a little easteregg and clothing are not lost. :)

Headgear:

After some time your friend may get the option to wear headgear and the ‘lets talk about appearances’-section will appear at the rendezvous points. As time passes more and more headgear options will appear. What headgear your friend will get, depends on his personality:

These are the headgears for the men:
"Charming": Iron Mask --> Bone Mask --> Gavial Mask --> Carapace Helm --> Scorpion Helm --> Celata --> Alumine Salade --> Darksteel Armet
"Passionate: Hachimaki --> Sallet --> Zunari Kabuto --> Scarlet Ribbon --> Trader's Chapeau --> Red Cap --> Ogre Mask --> Scorpion Helm
"Serious": Faceguard --> Velvet Hat --> Noct Beret --> Shade Tiara --> Banded Helm --> Black Ribbon --> Iron Mask --> Green Beret
"Sullen": Leather Bandana --> Iron Visor --> Trader’s Chapeau --> Iron Mask --> Mythril Sallet --> Tiger Helm --> War Beret --> Austere Hat

And these are the headgears for the women:
"Big Sister": Circlet --> Trader’s Chapeu --> Garish Crown --> Silk Hat --> Red Cap --> Iron Mask --> Bascinet --> Noble's Crown
"Cute": Green Ribbon --> Bronze Cap --> Velvet Hat --> Trader’s Chapeau --> Circlet --> Noct Beret --> Tiger Helm --> Silk Hat
"Lively": Blue Ribbon --> Headgear --> Scarlet Ribbon --> Coral Cap --> Garish Crown --> Couerl Mask --> Velvet Hat --> Shinobi Hachigame
"Quiet": Seer’s Crown --> Silk Hat --> Circlet --> Noct Beret --> Bascinet --> Trader's Chapeau --> Headgear --> Crow Beret
"Serious": Bronze Cap --> Faceguard --> Shade Tiara --> Velvet Hat --> Noct Beret --> Purple Ribbon --> Banded Helm --> Errant Hat

The main reason for headgear is to check how high is your friendship: More friendship means more headgear-options.

Fighting Styles:

Your friend can use six different fighting styles. The first one (“Shield”) is the style he starts with, the next two (“Healer”, “Attacker”) will he learn after some time and the last three (“Stalwart Shield”, “Soothing Healer”, “Fierce Attacker”) are taught through the Tactics Manuals gained from the Chameleon Capers Quest.

• “Shield”, “Stalwart Shield”

This style is a defensive style. Your friend can use the ability “Provoke” and has the traits “Resist Sleep” and “Undead Killer”.
Provoke does not generate as much hate as the provoke of a player and he will just use it to rescue you. He will not provoke an enemy away from another player, a pet, a wyvern, an avatar or another NPC-friend. The provoke has a recast-time of 30 seconds (like for a player) and he may use it more than one time in a fight if necessary.

The upgraded version “Stalwart Shield” has also the ability to use his most powerful Cure-spell to heal (just) himself and like a PLD he gets the trait "Auto Refresh" at Lv.35.

Note: Because this is the starting style, your friend will use Provoke against Namorodo and the Carrion Dragon and may intimidate Namorodo.

• “Attacker”, “Fierce Attacker”

This style is an offensive style. Your friend has no abilities, but has the traits “Physical Attack Up”, “Double Attack” and “Counter”.
With this style your friend will announce when he has enough tp% to do a weaponskill. If you have under 100tp% and he gets to 100 tp%, he will say “Ready when you are” (or something like this) and then he will activate his weaponskill as soon as you get to 100tp%, so you can do a skillchain immediately. If you have 100tp% or more and he gets to 100 tp%, he will tell you "I'm ready" (or something like this) and after some seconds activate it. In this case he will try to close a skillchain, if you did your weaponskill before him.

The upgraded version “Fierce Attacker” gains the trait “Store TP”, “Counter II” and will also use the stronger weaponsskills instead of randomly every weaponskill he knows. Normally your friend will randomly choose one of his weaponskills to use, but if there are two "tiers" of weaponskills (Shining Strike / Seraph Strike, Burning Blade / Red Lotus Blade, etc.) a Fierce Attacker will only use the stronger weaponskill.

• “Healer”, “Soothing Healer”

This style is a supportive style. Your friend has the trait "Auto Regen" and can cast all his learned white spells.
He will use the strongest tier of the spell he can use and is smart enough to recast enhancing and enfeebling spells the moment they wear off, but he will just heal himself and you when at less than 50% HP, but will use the strongest Cure possible.
The Healer style is a bit weaker in the melee-department: This is the only style which has NO A+ rating in hand-to-hand. That means if you give your friend a hand-to-hand weapon he will just use one hand to attack and not both. All other weapon types work as normal.

The upgraded version “Soothing Healer” gains the trait “Cure Potency Up” and will start to heal as soon as the HP falls under 75% HP.

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Personal note: Thank you SE for this absolutely magnificent piece of work. The adventuring fellows are one of the best things you did in FFXI and I hope you will upgrade this system with more quests, options and stories.

<3 Kolui-Pelui

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Ara's almostly-wostly complete guide to New Friends and NPCs