Crafting and gathering are two of the surest ways to make some easy cash in Final Fantasy 14, but there's another kind of currency you can rack up while leveling your Disciple of the Hand and Land jobs: Scrips.
You earn Scrips by turning crafted and gathered collectables in at Scrip Exchanges, which are located in Limsa Lominsa, Gridania, Ul'dah, Mor Dhona, Idyllshire, Rhalgr's Reach, Eulmore, and Radz-at-Han. Scrips can be exchanged for exclusive tools, gear, crafting materials, and more, so if you're determined to max out one or more Disciples of the Hand or Land, you'll want to get acquainted with them as soon as possible. Here's how to get started.
Updated on May 20, 2023: We've updated this guide on how to collect and gather scrips in FF14 for readability, so you can find what you're looking for as easily as possible.
How To Unlock Scrips
You unlock the quest to start accumulating Crafter's and Gatherer’s Scrips upon reaching level 50, at which point you can pick up the quest 'Inscrutable Tastes' from Morgayne in Foundation.
The quest will lead you back to Lydirona at Revenant's Toll. A few words are exchanged, and you're good to go. You'll now have the ability to craft and gather collectables, which can be turned in to Rowena’s Collectable Appraisers for White and Purple Scrips.
Prior to the launch of Endwalker, there was another shade to seek: Yellow Scrips.
If you happen to still have some in your inventory, check Revenant Toll's Scrip Exchange in particular.
As of this writing, you can still fork them over and receive White Scrips in their stead.
How To Gather Scrips
Collectable items are distinctly different from the items you craft or gather normally. Gatherers will seek out specific nodes containing collectables in them.
Once such a node has been located, tap the button or key that corresponds to normal gathering actions — simply interact with the node's listed collectable as though it were any other item.
This triggers something of a minigame where you'll be tasked with boosting the prospective collectable's Collectability rating as high as possible before plucking it with the aptly named Collect command. You'll do this via commands such as Scour, Brazen Woodsman, and Meticulous Woodsman.
Each of these abilities increases the item's wear. While a low wear rating won't affect quality (in fact, the goal is to drive it as low as it takes to achieve peak Collectability) the minigame will end unsuccessfully should you attempt to continue boosting the item past the obvious limits of its durability.
Once upon a time, crafting collectables involved a similar enough system. Things have been simplified in recent patches to the point that these highly sought-after items merely denote themselves as such through flavor text.
Their recipes will often require higher stats to succeed with, but otherwise they're not a whole lot different from run-of-the-mill woodwork.
If you're under-geared and crafting collectables seems tough, pay close attention to Inner Quiet in particular. This is handily the best ability for ensuring smooth construction.
Since it’s possible for collectables to have such a wide range of Collectability ratings, they will never stack and can’t be quick-synthesized or gathered in especially large amounts.
If you’re planning to devote a lot of time to acquiring Scrips, take care to clear up plenty of inventory space beforehand.
How To Unlock Scrip Exchange
Collectable Appraisers can be found in most major locations. A pair of prerequisites are involved in gaining access to each subsequent station as you progress through Final Fantasy 14, but they're both quite reasonable.
The first prerequisite, which is all it takes to unlock Idyllshire's Collectable Appraiser, is completion of the 'Go West, Craftsman' quest. Pick this one up from Lydirona in Revenant’s Toll.
The remaining unlocks — Rhalgr's Reach for Stormblood, Eulmore for Shadowbringers, and Radz-at-Han for Endwalker — will become available automatically at a certain point in the main story, so long as 'Go West, Craftsman' is complete.