Adventuring Fellow

Obtaining the Signal Pearl
You obtain the Signal Pearl which allows you to call your Adventuring Fellow after completing the following quests (in the following order):
 * 1) Unlisted Qualities - Note: Must be Rank 4 to start
 * 2) Girl in the Looking Glass
 * 3) Mirror, Mirror

Adventuring Fellow Names
When completing the quest Unlisted Qualities, you will have the following choices to name your Adventuring Fellow. This is the first step to determining what your Adventuring Fellow will look like.

Adventuring Fellow Face

 * There are three face types for each race and sex combination, and two hair colors for each of those face types. Three NPCs in various parts of Jeuno can be talked to while completing the Unlisted Qualities quest and your answer when talking to them will determine how your NPC Fellow looks. You will only ever need to talk to one of these NPCs to get the face you want for your NPC Fellow, by agreeing to the description they give. You can talk to the other Jeuno NPCs and not agree to the description; the one you actually agree to will lock in your choice. The three NPCs in Jeuno who determine what your NPC Fellow will look like are:
 * Red Ghost in Port Jeuno a Galka guard who wanders around G-8.
 * Akta in Ru'Lude Gardens, a Hume at H-10.
 * Kuah Dakonsa in Lower Jeuno, a Mithra at H-8 on a bridge overlooking the walkway.


 * After choosing the face type you want, you can select one of two different hair colors for your NPC Fellow. To do this, return to Upper Jeuno and talk to Bheem at F-5. He will verify the name and face style that you have chosen. Then he asks, "By the way, this person's hair wouldn't happen to be my favorite color, would it?" The answer you choose here determines the hair color your NPC Fellow has.

Leveling Up Your Adventuring Fellow

 * Your Adventuring Fellow will obtain a baseline experience point rate per hour.
 * Your Adventuring Fellow will obtain experience points from killing mobs that would theoretically con Easy Prey or above to him or her. In other words, the experience points gained by your Adventuring Fellow relative to the mob will be based upon your Adventuring Fellow's level and not yours.
 * Your Adventuring Fellow will remain with you for a certain number of kills or a certain length of time, whichever comes first. The number/time increases based on your Adventuring Fellow Bond starting at a minimum of 15 mobs/45 minutes and increasing to a maximum of 30 mobs/90 minutes.
 * You can call your Adventuring Fellow in most zones.
 * Currently you cannot call your Adventuring Fellow in (1) Level capped areas, (2) Burning Circles/Special Arenas, (3) Dynamis, (4) Sky, (5) Sea, (6) Promyvion, with the exception of the Tactics Pearl quest, (7) Cities, (8) Beastmen strongholds of Qulun Dome, Monastic Cavern or Altar Room, (9) Ghelsba Outpost, (10) Treasures of Aht Urhgan zones, (11) Pso'Xja uncapped areas, (12) Dragon's Aery, (13) Fishing Barges (Phanauet Channel & Manaclipper), Ferries, and Airships or Wings of the Goddess area's.
 * You can not call your Adventuring Fellow when you are in the middle of a npc escort, but can call after the npc disappears. If you are doing an NPC escort while in a party, but you were not the one to activate it, you can call your NPC.
 * You can talk to your NPC when leveling and eventually she/he will tell you how much more experience she/he gained. The actual text of the message will vary depending on the race/sex of your Fellow.
 * 0%-20% into level: "I have recently risen in level. The next level is still quite some distance away." / "I've just gained a level. The next level is still quite a way off."
 * 20%-40% into level: "There is still much work to be done. I must gain more experience if I am to become stronger."
 * 40%-60% into level: "I believe I have almost reached the halfway point to my next level. Let's not rest on our laurels, however!" / "I do believe I'm coming up on halfway to my next level. That was much faster than I expected."
 * 60%-80% into level: "Well well. It appears my next level is not far off at all." / "Come on! I need to gain a little more experience for my next level!" / "Hmm.  Not too much further to my next level." / "Just a little more. My next level is not too far off."
 * 80%-99% into level: "Any time now. My next level is very close indeed." / "Well, what do you know? I think I'll be gaining a level soon." / "Woohoo! I'll be leveling up really soon!" / "Hmm.  I should be gaining a level soon."


 * To have your Fellow obtain max XP/kill, at level 30 you must kill mobs at least 4 levels higher than your Fellow, from levels 31 to 50 you must kill mobs at least 3 higher than your Fellow, from levels 51 to 55 you must kill mobs at least 4 higher than your Fellow, from levels 56 to 60 you must kill mobs at least 5 higher than your Fellow and from levels 61+ you must kill mobs at least 6 higher than your Fellow.


 * Here is a small list on mobs that should be your targets.
 * If your Fellow is getting max xp/kill, the following chart indicates how many kills are needed to level up.

Fighting with your Adventuring Fellow

 * It is possible to call an Adventuring Fellow in an alliance or a party.
 * Adventuring Fellows count towards the maximum party limit, so no party can have more than 3 Adventuring Fellows present. However, this only applies to members in the same area, so a party of 6 can have an Adventuring Fellow in their party as long as one of the players is in a different area.
 * Every new party member, including new Adventuring Fellows, that are invited into a full, 6-member party will kick one of the Adventuring Fellows, starting with the oldest.
 * When you fight with your Adventuring Fellow you will receive a 30% reduction in your experience points. Your party will not experience any exp reduction.
 * Your Adventuring Fellow will disappear if you are knocked out, get on a Chocobo, or enter an area where an Adventuring Fellow cannot be called. (Adventuring Fellows now come with you when you teleport or escape.)  Your Adventuring Fellow will also disappear if you stray too far from him/her using an ability such as Flee.
 * If you log off while your Adventuring Fellow is still accompanying you, it will reappear the next time you log on.
 * Your Adventuring Fellow will cast level appropriate spells (if set to Healer, Soothing Healer, or Stalwart Shield setting), but will only cast single-target spells on itself and you. Your Adventuring Fellow will not cast spells on other members of your party or alliance.
 * Your Adventuring Fellow cannot be aggroed by monsters, but can cause them to link.
 * Your Adventuring Fellow can be cured and buffed by party and alliance members, but cannot be targeted for party-only buffs such as Refresh.
 * Your Adventuring Fellow does not lose experience points when he or she is knocked out.
 * Your Adventuring Fellow is able to use Weapon Skills and cause Skillchains.
 * Which weapon skill is used is more or less random.
 * Your Adventuring Fellow can use any weapon skill available at its level, for its equipped weapon.
 * Your Adventuring Fellow learns a light-based weapon skill called "Blessed Radiance" after successfully completing the Mirror Images quest. The weapon skill is triggered when both you and your NPC are in orange (<50%) HP. Reuse time is currently unknown.
 * If your TP is at least 50% at the time their TP hits 100%, your Adventuring Fellow will wait for your TP to reach 100% to unleash a weapon skill, making it possible to skillchain. Attacker and Fierce Attacker style NPCs will time their weapon skills better.

Adventuring Fellow Combat Styles
After your Adventuring Fellow Bond increases a little, you can set your Adventuring Fellow to be a healer type, attacker type or shield type at a Rendezvous Point.
 * Healer - will still attack, cast White Mage spells and has Auto Regen.
 * Shield - will attack and provoke mobs, has Undead Killer.
 * Attacker - will concentrate on attacking and will have Double Attack and Counter.

After completing the Chameleon Capers quest, you will be be offered additional styles (you can also trade with other players to aquire the manuals which teach your Fellow the additional styles). These styles have the same features as the basic styles, but add new features.
 * Soothing Healer - Heals and remedies ailments more frequently. Will also use enfeebling magic more intelligently (requires T.M. Endurance).
 * Stalwart Shield - Same as normal "Shield", but now will also Cure self when under 60% HP. Auto Refresh included (requires T.M. Fortitude).
 * Fierce Attacker - Uses additional Weapon Skills, will notify you when at 90% TP, and Double Attack happens more frequently (requires T.M. Might).


 * Note: Healer and Soothing Healer will place their partners in top priority, whether it be curing or healing ailments.
 * Note: Stalwart Shield acts as a Paladin with a Warrior support job, and will therefore use spells according to a Paladin's level. Also, it means that at level 50, your NPC will acquire Double Attack. Stalwart and normal Shield NPCs will also prioritize you when using Provoke.
 * Note: Attacker and Fierce Attacker act as a Warrior with a Monk support job. This means that at level 25 and higher, your NPC will have Double Attack, and at level 20 and higher, he or she will have Counter. It also means that when equipped with Hand-to-Hand, they will have a chance to Guard.

You can trade, buy and sell the specific T.M. Manuals (see Chameleon Capers quest), with other player characters, before the quest is even available to you and you are able to use them.

If your bond decreases to less than 5 (by throwing away your Signal Pearl) you will not have the option to change combat styles untill Bond reaches 5 again.

Adventuring Fellow Level Caps
Upon first obtaining your Signal Pearl, your Adventuring Fellow will start at level 30 and will not be able to exceed level 50. As your Bond with your Adventuring Fellow increases, and as the level of your Adventuring Fellow increases, you will be able to start the following Adventuring Fellow level cap quests.
 * Picture Perfect - Increases NPC Level Cap to 55
 * Regaining Trust - Increases NPC Level Cap to 60
 * Mixed Signals - Increases NPC Level Cap to 65

Obtaining the Tactics Pearl
1. Upon obtaining sufficient Adventuring Fellow Bond (about level 33+), summon your NPC at a Rendezvous Point and select the "Let's talk about quests" option to hear a message about the Emptiness. The text will be similar to this:

"Actually, I've been requested to carry out an investigation of the Emptiness. It appears to be a most complicated phenomenon. If I may, I would like to have your assistance in this matter. I have no strict timetable, so please come along when you are ready."
 * Note: Your NPC will only mention the Emptiness once per week.
 * Note: You cannot call your NPC in Promyvion unless you have 33 points of bond, despite the fact that your NPC may mention this quest before you have 33 points of bond. The cap of bond is 30 until you finish the Past Reflections quest.
 * In order to hear this speech, you must have access to the Promyvions (See "The Rites of Life" and "Below the Arks").

2. Enter Promyvion - Dem, Promyvion - Holla, or Promyvion - Mea. There should be a Rendezvous Point as soon as you enter. Check the point and you will get a cutscene with your NPC, thanking you for coming out. After this, your NPC will be summoned.
 * It is not necessary to have the Signal Pearl with you to start or complete this quest.

3. You will have 45 minutes with your NPC to find a "???."

4. When you kill monsters in Promyvion, your NPC will gather experience. The maximum amount of experience that can be obtained is 2,700. You can only kill a maximum of 30 monsters for maximum experience in that time period. *NOTE* This is not true. After killing 35 enemies, I clicked the ??? on the second floor of Dem, yielding 2100xp for my NPC. 5. When you find the ???, check it. Your NPC will get experience for the monsters you've killed and you will have the option to warp back to entrance of the Promyvion.
 * The amount of Experience Points your NPC receives will depend on which floor you check the ???.
 * The easiest ??? to solo is on the first floor of Promyvion - Mea.

6. Return to a Rendezvous Point in any city and call your NPC.

7. Your NPC will give you a Tactics Pearl, which will allow you to summon your NPC every 10 minutes.
 * Calling your NPC with a Tactics Pearl is the same as if called with the Signal Pearl.
 * You can only obtain one Tactics Pearl every week (resets after the Conquest Tally)
 * You must drop your old Tactics Pearl before you can get a new one. Dropping your Tactics Pearl will not lower your NPC affinity.
 * You must speak to your NPC about quests before going back to the respective Promyvion.
 * You must repeat the Promyvion quest.
 * If you fail the quest, it can be repeated the next real-life day (after midnight, JST).

Adventuring Fellow Weapons
As your Bond with your Adventuring Fellow increases, Luto Mewrilah will offer to take weapons from you and pass them along to your Adventuring Fellow. What type of weapon you trade to Luto will determine: So, if you trade a dagger to Luto, your Adventuing Fellow will perform dagger weaponskills, will swing quickly for small amounts of damage, and will be seen wielding a dagger. Likewise, if you trade a scythe to Luto, your Adventuing Fellow will perform scythe weaponskills, will swing slowly for larger amounts of damage and will be seen holding a scythe.
 * 1) What type of weapon skills your Adventuing Fellow will perform.
 * 2) How often he/she hits and for what amount of damage.
 * 3) How your NPC looks.

Your Adventuring Fellow has an 'A+' rating in all weapons and can therefore use all weaponskills of the equipped weapon available at his/her level. Note that the specific weapon's level and damage rating do not affect the damage done with it by the NPC. Thus, the Kiku-Ichimonji (Level 51, DMG 66) does the same damage as the Uchigatana (Level 12, DMG 24) when used by your NPC. Also note that if you trade a one-handed weapon to Luto, you can also trade a shield.

There are seven weapon levels and thirteen weapon types (including shields). Thus, upon receiving the first message from Luto, you have thirteen weapon choices. Upon receiving the level 7 message, you can trade 91 different weapons to Luto for your NPC.

Adventuring Fellow Equipment

 * The equipment that your Adventuring Fellow wears does not affect his or her statistics; it's only for looks.
 * As your Bond with your Adventuring Fellow increases, you will be given the option to "lock in" certain equipment that your NPC is wearing. This option appears at a Rendezvous Point under the heading "Fashionable Equipment." When you select one of the equipment options under the Fashionable Equipment submenu, you will lock in that piece of equipment so that it will not change regardless of where you choose to level.
 * Your NPC will initially ask you what he or she should keep. If you answer "none", your NPC will respond as if he or she is disappointed. This means that nothing is locked and all four pieces of armor could change. Once you choose a piece of armor to lock, then all other pieces that you did not select will still be changeable. As your bond increases, you will be able to lock more than once armor piece at a time because immediately following your choice of armor piece, your NPC will ask "What else?", then, you will be able to select from a list of the three still unlocked armor pieces to keep.
 * There are three armor locks available, each gained as your Adventuring Fellow Bond increases.


 * Armor will change based on a currently unknown formula. See Adventuring Fellow Equipment for a collection of theories and facts about changing your Adventuring Fellow's equipment.

Adventuring Fellow Headgear
As your Adventuring Fellow Bond grows stronger, you will be presented with the following headgear choices for your NPC to wear. They are for cosmetic purposes only. Your NPC does not obtain the stats from these items. These headgear options are chosen at a Rendezvous Point. Which options you will get depend on the race/sex/face of your Adventuring Fellow.

Increasing Your NPC's Statistics

 * As noted above, the armor and headgear above are for cosmetic purposes only. Your NPC does not obtain the stats from these items.
 * The following weapons will increase your NPC's statistics when equipped by you:
 * Shinai = STR+4, DEX+4


 * The following equipment (all level 70), when worn by you, will increase your NPCs statistics:
 * Hydra Cap = HP+10, MP+10, INT+2
 * Hydra Jupon = HP+20, MP+20, VIT+2
 * Hydra Bracers = HP+10, MP+10, DEX+2
 * Hydra Hose = HP+10, MP+10, STR+2
 * Hydra Boots = HP+10, MP+10, AGI+2


 * The full set will give your NPC an additional HP+60, MP+60, INT+2, DEX+2, VIT+2, STR+2 and AGI+2.
 * These items are obtained in Dynamis - Tavnazia.

Obtaining A New Adventuring Fellow

 * If you ever decide you want to change your NPC Fellow into another face type, race or sex, you can restart after completing the quest Mirror, Mirror. Talk to Luto Mewrilah and choose I want to quit this task and verify you want to get rid of your current NPC Fellow, and you will entirely lose your current Fellow and be able to complete the quests all over again, choosing a different NPC Fellow.

You will be required to return your Signal Pearl, and Tactics Pearl if you currently have one, to Luto to start over with a new NPC Fellow. If you have dropped your Signal Pearl you can get a new one by going to any Rendezvous Point and requesting a new one.

Special thanks to Allakhazam users for information.

Miscellaneous: Adventuring Fellow Affiliated/Related Quests

 * Bait and Switch