In Breath of Fire IV, the Master Stoll can be found in the Hideout during “Chapter 1 – 3. Missing Princess.” You’ll meet him after Marlok in Synesta sends you to find him.

After catching him, you’ll need to pay him all your zenny to become his apprentice. It’s recommended to spend all your zenny on various items, such as healing herbs, until you’re down to 1 zenny, so that you don’t waste it all. You can then resell those healing herbs to recoup some of the money.

Once under his tutelage, his first skill “Steal” can be unlocked provided you have 80 unique items (including equipment/fishing items; unequipped) in your inventory. There is a way to have enough items when you first meet him, provided you carefully keep 1 of each item and piece of equipment you come across from the beginning of the game. Several of these items and equipment are missable and rare drops, so we’ve put together a table (influenced by this old GameFAQs post) to help players track them. Additionally, unequipping equipment from your characters adds to the count, so ideally you’ll want 2 of one of the latest weapons, such as the Raptor Claws and/or the Steel Bat.

Make sure to learn “Steal” from Stoll prior to going to the “Wharf” location, as that is the point of no return for Chapter 1. You won’t be back in this area for quite some time after that.

The following table shows a total possibility of 81 items that can be uncovered ahead of meeting Stoll.