From LSWiki

Contents 1 Bonding Requirements 2 Known Abilities 2.1 Petting the familiar 2.2 Attribute Modifications 2.3 Specialty Bonuses 2.3.1 Tier 1 2.3.2 Tier 2 2.3.3 Tier 3 (19% bond) 2.3.4 Tier 4 (25% bond) 2.3.5 Tier 5 2.3.6 Tier 6 2.4 Charms 2.5 Additional Bonuses and Powers 2.5.1 Combat Maneuvers 2.5.2 Traits granted

Bonding Requirements

"Resilient form" and "fiery spirit" - it appears that some combination of Courage, Resilience, Steadiness, and possibly Pain Tolerance meets the first requirement. Discipline and Tenacity may be other alternatives, but were not required (bonded at zero skill in one case). A large amount of Fire Affinity sufficed for the second requirement, although Twilight has stated there are other means of satisfying that. Phaethon are the obvious choice for bonding this familiar easily, although there are certainly many other combinations that can work just as well.

NB: judging from the Empathic Bonds Book, it seems very likely that this familiar favors the Fire Affinity skill with respect to bond strength improvement. It may be worthwhile to specialize it to a high degree.

Known Abilities

The majestic phoenix is an enchanted avian beast that can be found in Darkhold's dungeon, or possibly other places. It is a ferocious combatant with its deadly beak and claws, and it has wings made of fire, with which it can also attack. It breathes air, and the flames surrounding its body emit significant light. The phoenix is magificently agile and tough, with a large amount of resistance to mundane damage, and when struck it inflicts fire damage on contact. It has a carnivorous diet.

NB: the light emitted by the phoenix can be a significant downside for a character with any degree of light sensitivity.

Petting the familiar

You pet Tempest with your bony right hand.
Your bony right hand is singed by contact with Tempest's orange fire, though 
you are largely unaffected by the attack.

This inflicts a small amount of fire damage on contact. Note that with enough fire affinity (approx 160), this stops applying damage, although it does still exercise the fire affinity skill for training purposes.

Attribute Modifications

The phoenix familiar grants its consort a large bonus to constitution and charisma.

The Phoenix Stat Bonuses seem to provide 1 con and 1 cha per bond percent. Remains to be seen what the maximum bonus is at a bond level of complete.

Specialty Bonuses

Bonus specialty degrees and access are provided as follows:

Tier 1

• Fire Affinity
• Biofeedback
• Recuperation
• Regeneration
• Stamina

Tier 2

• Anatomy
• Diagnosis
• First Aid
• Pyromancy
• Empathy

Tier 3 (19% bond)

• Channeling
• Sky Fieldcraft

Tier 4 (25% bond)

• Homeopathy
• Intimidation

Tier 5

• Courage

At "very healthy" bond strength, the first tier bonus specialties are increased to 2. (30% bond)

Tier 6

• Supernal Durability NB: a bonus spec is granted at "very healthy" bond strength, but 2 access is available immediately on bonding.

At "robust" bond strength, all of the second tier bonus specialties are increased to 2.

At "resilient" bond strength, all of the third tier bonus specialties are increased to 2

At "deep" bond strength, all of the first tier bonus specialties are increased to 3.

Charms

• Urge

Shortly after:

• Call
• Send

At "somewhat frail" bond strength:

• Kinsee

At "fairly healthy" bond strength:

• Convert spell points into Elemental Fire resource energy
• Renew, a self-only healing effect; be aware this charm costs 50 Elemental Fire resource energy rather than spell points

At "robust" bond strength:

• Summon Fire Spirit
• Recall Conjured Followers

Additional Bonuses and Powers

Combat Maneuvers

At "fairly healthy" bond strength, a new attack maneuver called "Gout of White-Hot Flame" is granted. The attack requires elemental fire energy obtained by the Convert charm, also granted at the same tier. The attack does a mix of fire and heat damage. It is fairly accurate, does high damage to a fairly large area, has a moderate activity cost, and a low resource cost. It is primarily based on the Intelligence attribute and the Pyromancy skill.

At "deep" bond strength, a second attack maneuver called "Flare of Extropic Flame" is granted. This attack is similar to Gout of White-Hot Flame, except that it does a mix of fire and extropic damage. This attack also requires spell points and endurance to fire, as well as elemental fire energy.

Both attacks can be fired with the 'perform special attack' command.

Traits granted

At "fairly healthy" bond strength, the consort is granted the Luminescence trait, which grows with bond strength. Be aware that for a character with any degree of light sensitivity, this is a significant liability rather than a benefit.

The phoenix also seems to grant a small luck bonus that scales with bond strength.