How common are soul crystals?

[Brightamethyst]

Somewhat inspired by the healer thread, how common are soul crystals?

We know what some are rare, or even effectively unique in the lore (WHM, SCH, BLM) but what about others where the jobs themselves are fairly common? PLD, SAM, NIN, and the like? Does the Ishgardian knighthood issue a job crystal to every new dragoon, or are they rare and saved for special circumstances, leaving the rank and file to the years of training it takes to master a job without a crystal?

[Bright-Flower]

While not all jobs are as exclusive as WHM or DRG (at least azure dragoons, not sure if normal dragoons get stones or not in lore), they all seem to be rare. Not impossible to get your hands on for some, but not common.

I don't now of any indication that say ishgard tmeple knights use them. The sultansworn recruited some adventurers to carry on their arts but I dont'[ think they're giving these out like candy.

I'd say they range from 'one of a kind' to 'very rare/hard to get.'

However, we DO know that it's possible to make new stones, as the BLU and MCH job stones are new and don't contain any actual knowledge so it' snot like their creation is a lost art.

[ObsidianFire]

Soul Crystals are one of the biggest mysteries in the game for me. On the one hand, some of them are super rare, some are not. And they seem to be very easy to make. No one makes a big deal about you being the person who is essentially acting as a template for the BLU and MCH Soul Crystals. Or even that new blank Soul Crystals somehow happened to be on hand.

For that matter, why do deeds have to be "carved" on them? And who does that anyway? And how does doing that help the next person who has the Soul Crystal?

[AvenoMatt]

I think for some they are rare/restricted and others are more meant to help us the players advance a job quick. For WHM only the padjali are allowed to learn the art of White Magic but we get chosen by the elementals to learn the art so in this case it's restricted. For SCH the soul stone holds the fairy itself and without it one can not call upon a fairy for aid but also Nym the very city the art of SCH was founded in has been abandoned and in ruins so I would surmise that there are soul stones somewhere lost in the city with the canse that most had been destroyed after the cities fall, so for SCH rare. Soul stone are also tools to help the user tap into more powerful abilities without hurting themselves as with the case of BLM who need the soul stone or their very being get's burned from the inside.


Sam is different however as there are numerous samurais in the east so I think our use of the soul stone is merely meant for us to have the knowledge of a SAM which is why we start at lv50 and not lv30 like other jobs so I would assume that the stone itself isn't common or needed and we only have one so we aren't forced to start from the beginning. And for MCH we aren't using the stone to tap into the art of MCH we are using it so we may instill our own knowledge into it for future MCH so I think the stone again isn't common or needed but is given out to all those who join the Skysteel Manufactory to show membership and to help future MCH.

[Bright-Flower]

Soul Crystals are one of the biggest mysteries in the game for me. On the one hand, some of them are super rare, some are not. And they seem to be very easy to make. No one makes a big deal about you being the person who is essentially acting as a template for the BLU and MCH Soul Crystals. Or even that new blank Soul Crystals somehow happened to be on hand.

For that matter, why do deeds have to be "carved" on them? And who does that anyway? And how does doing that help the next person who has the Soul Crystal?

I think the carved thing is metaphorical.

Person A corries the stone. Their experiences are 'carved' into it over time.

Person B receives it, and person A's experiences etched into the stone from their travels and experiences then allow person B to learn from person A's experiences faster.

Then person C gets the benefit of A and B.

I don't think anyone consciously carves things into them, more it's a metaphor for the stones absorbing the memories/experiences over time passively.

[Daralii]

Soul Crystals are one of the biggest mysteries in the game for me. On the one hand, some of them are super rare, some are not. And they seem to be very easy to make. No one makes a big deal about you being the person who is essentially acting as a template for the BLU and MCH Soul Crystals. Or even that new blank Soul Crystals somehow happened to be on hand.

For that matter, why do deeds have to be "carved" on them? And who does that anyway? And how does doing that help the next person who has the Soul Crystal?

The flavor text that appears when learning actions from job quests suggests that they store knowledge and pass that knowledge on to future wielders as they grow in strength. Some possess other properties as well- Sultansworn soul crystals apparently become unstable if there isn't a clear hierarchy among wielders decided by strength, the WHM crystal that the WoL inherits contains a fragment of A-Towa-Cant's soul, Scholar soul crystals seemingly act as anchors for their fairies, etc.

[Kalise]

It seems to depend.

A lot hinges on just how much a Soul Crystal is required to perform the job in question.

For example, BLM is rare and is necessary to not set fire to your own aether.

PLD is not rare, but still required to use PLD skills (The Sultansworn go around giving the Paladins they train crystals. Technically, we were given 2 different crystals one by whatshisname and the other by the dude in Ul'dah who actually teaches us)

SCH is rare and is required to summon a fairy.

Of course, all this can also be exacerbated by artificial rarity. As in, there might actually exist a bunch more SCH and BLM soul crystals for example, but no-one who has an affinity to unlock the secrets within them has come across them as most people aren't like us and are able to essentially universally apply ourselves to jobs, allowing some of the crystals we handle "Choose us" or react to our presence. While other people aren't so lucky, which is why for example, Martyn was being investigated as a con-man when people he sold Blue Mage crystals to weren't learning any spells. Or why it's extremely abnormal for us to be able to learn White Magic.

For that matter, why do deeds have to be "carved" on them? And who does that anyway? And how does doing that help the next person who has the Soul Crystal?

I believe the owner of the crystal carves their deeds on to them. Likely using their own aether.

Most likely, when we do that little animation after a job quest and hold it up with some text about how we're "Empowering our soul" or some such, that's when we're inscribing onto the crystal.

How does it help other users? Well, when they perform deeds, they are more likely to learn a skill that we used. Kind of like when we learn skills from our crystal (As opposed to when our mentor says "I'mma teach you this new skill, you better practice it!")

[MistakeNot]

Having a Job Crystal equipped allows it to "absorb" your knowledge and experience of the job as you progresses through the job. It works the other way around too, so it allows you to absorb the knowledge previous users of that job stone left in it.

Simplified, a Job Crystal accelerates your learning pace - letting you learn the job in a matter of months or years rather than decades, but training and practice is still needed to be able to use the knowledge in the Crystal.

[YianKutku]

I don't think anyone consciously carves things into them, more it's a metaphor for the stones absorbing the memories/experiences over time passively.

To be pedantic, the soul crystals are "carefully cut" before use to better facilitate the "capture" of the holder's memories and experiences. So soul crystals are prepared beforehand, rather than someone just picking up a random crystal in the wild and using that as a soul crystal.

Maybe it's better to think of it as a soul-facing GoPro?

[Bright-Flower]

To be pedantic, the soul crystals are "carefully cut" before use to better facilitate the "capture" of the holder's memories and experiences. So soul crystals are prepared beforehand, rather than someone just picking up a random crystal in the wild and using that as a soul crystal.

Maybe it's better to think of it as a soul-facing GoPro?

I'm sure there's an involved process. What I mean is that when they say past users memories/experiences are carved into the stones I don't think they mean literally, I think the stone just kind of absorbs those things over time like a sponge, though yes it would have to be specially made to do so.