For familiars, I used teaching, exposure and practice aswel.
With the bonding, they gave up their immortalities in exchange of the possibility of evolving.
If this was not the case, no magical being would agree to become your familiar.
Just a question....
In your sagas, all creatures with might are immortal? Certainly not IMS. Just checking 
Xavi
No that was just an early morning brain malfunction. Six pawns is the proper amount.
IMS yes if they don't have flaws against it, but rare are those who have (some familiars, not all).
They can be killed because they are not invincible, and they can regrowth themselves (especially demons, faeries and angels) if you let the vis. For magical beings it's more complicated.
And metagame reason: a familiar is described in core rulebook to evolve while being with the magus. It say nothing about vis which is a ROP M rule.
One of Ranulf's themes was don't do with one spell what you can do with two spells of much lower level. With this in mind I'm thinking of ways for Ranulf and Artisano to work together with regard to Crafter of Ignem and Master of Ignem.
One thing that I could see Artisano doing is sitting on Ranulf's staff and casting a target group version of Boreal flames on a multi cast PoF. Sadly this wouldn't be wise as the resultant spells would have a penetration of -2.
Is it possible to counter spell a counter spell? Naturally this would be poor sportsmanship in a Dimicatio but I can imagine someone trying to counterspell an ignem spell of Ranulf. Could Artisano counter this counter if ignem was an appropriate form to do it? I'd think so.
Artisano could pull off discourse of glowing tongues so he could communicate with Ranulf.
Boreal Flames?
Boreal flames is a spell invented by Ranulf to face creatures that are resistant to fire. It is in MoH.
Does converting the POFs into boreal POFs cause them to have the penetration of the Boreal Flames spell? From your comment it seems so, but could it be argued that the BF effect just affects the flames (needs to penetrate th MR of the POFs, that is nonexistant) but that you are hit by the full POF penetration? Late night, so I might be way off the mark here.
Cheers,
Xavi
As far as combat is concerned, Ranulf can throw a pillum of fire or five with enough penetration to get through almost all magic resistance he's be liable to face (at this point he has penetration of 62 + die roll without confidence or vis). On the other hand:
• He has no way of dealing with invisible targets,
• or targets that are warded against fire,
• or targets with high soak (he can wizard's boost his multi cast PoF but that still only raises the damage to +20).
Now the sensible thing for Ranulf to do is invent a version of invisible sling of Vilano with a larger target, make an enchanted device to carry around shrunken boulders and raise his finesse, (perhaps also grab a spell mastery for targeting it). But there are two problems with this plan; First, Ranulf has poor vision and his targeting rolls will suffer greatly. Second and more importantly, that's not his style. This is a fellow who bivouacs in a tent of flames rather than canvas despite having a creo herbam score of 24. He thinks of his combat ability as a duty to be met rather than a opportunity to kick ass. Because of this mindset, he's going to go about improving his combat ability in the same way he does everything else. With ignem, (specifically pillum of fire), vim, and by using spells in groups rather than individually. (If anyone missed it, one of my other themes for Ranulf was using lots of spells layered on top of one another. I see this all of the time in play but I didn't see it nearly as much in the published material).
Dealing with invisible creatures is tough for Ranulf because he has a major deficiency in intellego and poor eyesight. He can cast the following spell as a non-fatiguing spont. The spell is also something that Aresano could pull off. ( It might need a muto requisite. That's something that I'd appreciate feedback on.)
Wading in the Currents of Smoke
ReIg 15
R: Voice, D: diamater, T: Ind
The fire targeted by this spell generates an inordinate amount of smoke and the smoke that it generates is especially heavy. This smoke rapidly spreads out over an area cantered on the target fire filling about 15 square paces per turn to a around knee height. The feet and legs of invisible creatures would typically (if anything involving invisible targets cold be described as typical) be apparent as holes in this carpet of smoke.
(Base 4, +2 Voice, +1 Diameter)
Another way to deal with invisible targets is to attack an entire area not bothering to sense the targets first. Another way to sense invisible targets is to see their outline in a wall of fire as it passes over them. Ranulf's spell Stockade of Infernos creates six ten-pace long walls of fire. If he could get these fires to move to his will then he'd have a heck of a tool for targeting large areas of ground. The first hurdle of implementing this plan is that Stockade of Infernos is a duration concentration spell.
Ranulf spends one season prepping his talisman with an additional 20 pawns of vis (or 16 if you don't think that puissant magic theory should add to the allowable vis use per season) this maxes out his talisman's capacity at 45 pawns of vis 21 of which are filled at present.
Ranulf then spends three seasons investing a variant of maintain the demanding spell in his talisman. (while he could have gotten by with a duration diameter effect with only two season of work being able to make any duration conc. spell last as if it were duration sun was too good to pass on. Remember Ranulf isn't thrilled with the task of upgrading his combat abilities and would rather work on utility spells)
Mindful Talisman
ReVi 47
Pen +0, 6x per day , Item maintains concentration
R: Touch, D: Conc., T: Ind
With the above exceptions Mindful Talisman acts as Maintain the Demanding Spell it can sustain concentration spells of up to level 40. Unlike casting Maintain the Demanding Spell activating Mindful Talisman while maintaining a spell requires an intelligence + concentration roll of only trivial difficult (ease factor 3).
(Base 30, +1 touch, +1 concentration, modifications: +5 levels item maintains concentration, +3 levels six uses per day )
While instilling this effect Ranulf's staff gains the following attunements
+2 project bolt or missile
+4 leadership in war
Ranulf then spends one season inventing the following spell (I could use feedback on the base level)
Parade Ground of Conflagrations
ReIg 30
R: Voice, D: Conc., T: Group
A group of fires targeted by this spell can be moved according to the whim of the caster. Affected fires move no faster than the speed of a running human (44 paces per round when using the optional movement rules from Lords of Men) . The fires can move along any solid surfaces or the surfaces of flammable liquids. The affected fires can not jump or move away from a surface. Any non-magical fires removed from their fuel extinguish themselves in one round or perhaps two rounds in the case of exceptionally large or hot fires. Ranulf developed this spell for use in conjunction with Stockade of Infernos but he has frequently found other uses for it such as extinguishing several fires at once by removing them from their fuel or moving the creations of the Fasting Hearth spell.
(Base 5, +2 Voice, +1 Concentration, +2 group)
That was a year and a season doing combat things, Ranulf then spends some time working on spells he sees as more useful (note that he still can't deal with fire resistant, high soak or for that matter flying invisible foes, but he's not particularly concerned about it).
Well, as ReIg 3 says "move fire quickly through space" i doubt you have underestimated it at least.
Add a Creo Requisite to keep the fires from going out to easy or quickly?
Might it do better with Range Sight?
Wouldn't it have been easier to simply invent a Diameter duration version of Movable (+1 magnitude) stockade of infernos? Given his totals, he might have been able to pull it off in a single season, I guess.
I liked the smoke spell!! For some reason we never use smoke with ignem. Not that anyone is much skilled with ignem right now IMS (nobody has been in the past few sagas) but it is a feature we tend to ignore that is certainly a cool use of Ignem.
Another detection spell might be to have a (low damage) version of last flight of the phoenix cast forcelessly. The problem with the smoke spell is that it can be quite messy if people RUN or move through it. Ever run through a typical rock n' roll smoke screen in a concert? (it is what you are describing). It can be quite messy really fast, so targeting might not be that easy in a moving situation.
Cheers,
Xavi
I was going to chime in with this being a nice spell, probably needing a Muto req. ("Smoke that dense? Knee high? Slightly unnatural to me, not very though").
Then it hit me that smoke is Auram, if we go by existing spells, like Wreaths of Foul Smoke og Infernal Smoke of Death. 
Another possibility: Have Artisano throw a PoF-like effect at the target, as if coming from Ranulf or his talisman. This may be low-level, it just needs to look right.
If the target wastes his counterspell on this (and how does he knows this ain't dangerous?), he's up to grabs for Ranulf 
Serf's parma, but wouldn't this be Auram? (Ah, fried by Tellus 
)
Another possibility would be to use CrIg to just send of waves of weak flames from his body (like last flame of the phoenix) or, if wanting to avoid collateral damage, waves of light. Anything resisting would clearly appear as such.
Ah, I read you (Edit: And Xavi) had a similar idea Enchant it in the Talisman, and he's good to go!
Ok, Mindful Talisman is a way better idea, agreed...
For Fire Resistant Targets, why don't make a variant of Pit of the Gaping Earth, Mutoing the earth under them into fire? With a Momentary duration, they fall, and the Fire becomes earth again before it has a chance to be put out by the lack of fuel.
For invisible target, consider the light-based last flight of the phoenix. If bright enough (base 5 IIRC, same as Flash of the Scarlet Flames? I do'nt recall) he might also blind people, which, while still avoiding collateral damage, can be a nice bonus.
Nice ones. Both the Muto spell and the light one have multiple uses, perfect for the character.
Question: if you muto a wall into fire to pass through it, does the effect need to penetrate in order for Ranulf to cross the wall?
I would make the effect able to affect stone as well, so it is a "free passage" spell as well as a weapon.
the light alternative for invisibility detection is just great. However, it does not work in mundanes using a magical hiding cloak, since they do not have MR. Or does it?
Lol...
I would say no as the actual change happened regardless.
I agree, the spell changes the wall; Ranulf's Parma just keeps the wall-that-is-now-a-fire from touching him, it does not prevent Ranulf from touching, or pushing through, the wall.
BUT!
I suddenly realized that, because Parma keeps magical stuff away from the magus, but not the magus away from magical stuff, Ranulf would get burned (barring some protection from fire) if trying to pass through the wall of fire. For the same reason, if you create a large fire around a target protected by magic resistance, the target does not get burned as long as he stays absolutely immobile - but as soon as he moves some body part into the fire, that part should get burned...
Actually, I think Rego Ignem is just right if the smoke the fire is forced to generate is "natural" (thick smoke like what you'd get out of a damp material is ok ... though I'm not sure heavy smoke is natural). Remember, Auram is a "weather" phenomenon, including a patch of mist or poisonous vapours.
The fire would bend aside i rather think.
That would have been easier I hadn't thought of that. Yet I'm going to keep it that way it is. Certainly doing a single spell saves a round in a combat situation and it would make Ranulf a more dangerous combatant But the spell as it is has uses beyond moving around his stockade of infernos, it also has higher penetration (which is a small matter compared to the free round), at level 40 he can keep concentration up all day with his talisman but instilling maintain the demanding spell that can handle a level 45 spell for for all day isn't doable with his present art scores in a reasonable amount of time. furthermore it occurs to me that with three activations per day for Mindful Talisman he could cast stockade of infernos, have the staff concentrate for him, cast Parade Ground of Conflagrations have the staff take conetration for this spell as well (or perhaps cast the level 30 version of maintain the demanding spell that he knows) then cast another stockade of infernos etc. Ranulf could have two or three sets of fire walls moving to his whims without having to make the concentration roll for maintaining two spells at once rather than just one that he could do if his spell were level 45. Doing something with three spell instead of one is very much in character for Ranulf and he'd take two good utility spells over one badass combat spell any day. But you are right, a level 45 moving flame wall spell would be easier.
For that matter if Ranulf cast Mein of Heilios (he could wizard's reach it to a nearby object if he didn't want to wear the spell of ultimate shininess on his body) Invisible creatures would likely produce very distinct shadows.
But would a muto ignem spell allow the fire to produce unnatural smoke...no the smoke is Auram I can make it with ignem but I'd need Auram to control it or modify it.
Like Mien of Helios
I'd argue that momentary duration may only bury them up to their ankles or knees but duration concentration could certainly work. Ranulf already knows a spell to turn dirt into fire so he could research it with a similar spells bonus. But it isn't his style and it would take a targeting roll which Ranulf's poor eyesight flaw and low perception score would hinder greatly (finesse 3, -2 perception -3 poor eyesight flaw for a total of -2) .