Sacred Feather

A Sacred Feather is a consumable item in the Golden Sun series. Like most consumable items, each party member can hold up to 30 sacred feathers in a single inventory slot. When used, a sacred feather reduces the likelihood of monster encounters for a limited time. However, sacred feathers work best against weak monsters and may not drive strong monsters away at all. Sacred feathers can be bought for 70 coins and sold for 52 coins.

Golden Sun Sacred Feathers
In the original Golden Sun game, sacred feathers can be bought from the item vendors in Bilibin, Kolima, Imil, Xian, Altin, Kalay, Tolbi, Lunpa, Suhalla, and Lalivero.

The Lost Age Sacred Feathers
In Golden Sun: The Lost Age, sacred feathers can be bought from the item vendors in Alhafra, Mikasalla, Garoh, Naribwe, Kibombo, Yallam, the Apojii Islands, Izumo, Champa, Shaman Village, Contigo, Loho, and Prox.

Sacred feathers are dropped by Emus, Seabirds, and Seafowls.

Dark Dawn Sacred Feathers
In Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, sacred feathers can be bought from the item vendors in Passaj, Ayuthay, Te Rya Village, Belinsk, Border Town, Port Rago, Saha Town, Harun Village, Yamata City, and Tonfon.

Sacred feathers are dropped by Foul Dirges, Vile Dirges, and Gryphons.

Sacred feathers can also be found in the following locations:
 * Four gravestones can be found outside Harapa's sanctum. Close inspection of the upper-left grave rewards players with a sacred feather.
 * Sacred feathers apparently double as effective bookmarks, because two can be found in bookshelves in Belinsk. The first is located in Belinsk's library, beneath the sanctum, on the right-most bookshelf of the middle row.
 * The second book-bound sacred feather in Belinsk is in the old couple's house on the left-hand side of town. You'll know you've found it if there's a ladder in front of the bookshelf and a Mercury Djinni in the rafters.
 * Border Town's sanctum is located in the basement of the inn. A sacred feather is held within the upper-left crate in the sanctum.

Analysis
Although they appear purely beneficial at first glance, sacred feathers are actually a kind of double-edged sword. On one hand, they can be used to protect a weakened party or to conserve the party's Hit Points and Psynergy Points for boss battles. On the other hand, players will be denying themselves the experience points, coins, and item drops they would otherwise accumulate from the random encounters. That being said, sacred feathers should be used sparingly, ideally when either a player is revisiting a past area and doesn't want to be bothered by weak enemies, or when a player is on the verge of defeat and is limping back to the nearest civilization.

Alternatives
It is worth remembering that the Avoid Psynergy has the same effect as sacred feathers for the relatively small cost of 5 PP. Also, by the time Avoid wears off, players are likely to recover even more PP than it cost to cast Avoid in the first place. However, unlike most utility Psynergies, Avoid is entirely dependent on the character's current class and, as a result, may not always be available - in fact, no party members from the original Golden Sun learn Avoid if kept in their default classes - giving sacred feathers a slight edge over their Psynergy counterpart. Still, when Avoid is available, there is little reason to use sacred feathers instead.