The problem is skills have to follow the pyramid and you'd be losing a skill point to boost a skill....

Unless I'm not understanding. 

Let's say I have +5 weapons, I could lower my weapons to 4 (assuming my skill pyramid can handle another +4 skill) to buy a stunt that lets me dodge with weapons rather than althleics.  It's not quite as good as it used to be because my weapons skill is lower but it's still better than my athletics...

Is that what you mean?

I could see it useful when you get a significant milestone and your pyramid is shaped in a way that all you can do is pick up a skill at +1. 

It's a way to get around the skill pyramid, yes. It's also a characterization thing. If a character is good at using, for example, revolvers, that doesn't mean that they're good at using sniper rifles. However, because the Guns skill applies to both equally, the only way to represent that is either stunts or aspects.

Instead you use it to boost one of your other skills by +2(in a certain circumstance)
I don't know....it sounds abusable if you use it that way.  Why take a skill at +1 when you can boost one to + 7.   You know?

The other problem is the refresh economy.  You could end up with way more stunts than your refresh allows which should normally put you over the tipping point of free will.   And refresh is how you maintain game balance too.  You'll end up with way more stunts than your 'level'.

It might be abusable, yes. That's why I asked about cost. It might be less abusable if it costs multiple skill points per stunt, or if you can only buy a limited number of stunts per skill this way, or if the price increased depending on how many stunts you buy this way. I'm not sure what would work.

I think you're messing around with major game balance for no apparent reason besides "why not?", which is fine if that's what you want, but I try not to arbitrary mess with rules unless there's a good reason to for game balance or ease of play, etc.

The RAW relationship between refresh/skill points works quite well. I see absolutely no reason to mess with it. And like Taran said, doing so basically throws the whole refresh economy out the window.

Sounds like a min-maxer's wet dream.

I'm doing this because stunts can be important for characterization, but are so expensive for some character builds that you can't use them that way. For example, Harry Dresden should have the Infuriate stunt. It's clearly written for him, it's perfect for his character, but he doesn't have it because he doesn't have the refresh for it, and because of this his ability to piss people off is nowhere on his character sheet, even though IMO it's nearly as important to his character as his Epic Wiseass tendencies.

Right, alertness not athletics.   My mistake.

Ah. Alertness makes much more sense. So the Legendary Initiative is just another typo.

So is his  athletics at 4?

Yes.

On a related note, has anyone designed an "inhuman reflexes"-type power? Harry mentions in the books that supernatural beings like vampires don't miss when aiming guns (among other things) which seems like it should be a power rather than a skill, but I can't figure out how to create one that doesn't feel unbalanced.

So, I was just reading my copy of Paranet Papers, and I noticed that one of the characters had "inhuman reflexes" on their character sheet, but I couldn't find an official description of the power? Is it there and I just missed it, or is it in one of the other books, or online, or what?

What point are we talking?  Murphy is clearly keeping in touch with Butters, Elaine, and the Carpenters to some extent post-Changes.  Prior to that his friends were far more fragmented, but after they were forced to band to together somewhat

They were all involved in the fight in SmF, so they are aware of each other at least then.  Daniel is clearly familiar with them by GS.  Can't really say much more after that.

We're talking about the time up to Proven Guilty. In later books, I agree that everyone is much more interconnected.

I think the fundamental issue for wizards is the degree to which "magic" represents a raw will-to-power:  utilizing force of will to make the universe conform.  That sort of mental process would perhaps be very reinforcing to the parts of the mind/brain/etc where the Shadow resides...  Abandon it, and the Shadow "starves" -- normal un-Enshadowed neural pathways get reinforced, etc.

The problem with this is that it seems to imply that a shadow would have little to no effect on someone who wasn't a wizard, and that the shadow would be wiped away from them--which seems highly unlikely.

Our concepts of "self" as largely autonomous and self-aware are a bit illusory.  People who fight a lot actually reinforce the neural pathways leading to conflict, and engage in it more-readily... all while "feeling" they are "the same" and just as likely to choose a peaceful solution "if they wanted to."  The become LESS CAPABLE of achieving peaceful resolutions, or holding to a peaceful position when challenged.

In Harry's case, he was getting more and more angry/violent/scary without even noticing it, under the influence of Lasciel's Shadow.  It was a spiral deeper and deeper into the abyss (or The Abyss, if you will).

True, but how would Michael know that? Harry had been avoiding him since he got the shadow.

Does anyone have a copy of White Night to look up what Lash said when Harry pointed out how long he'd resisted her? I have a feeling it will resolve some of the questions about whether a shadow had ever been evicted before--or will at least give us more to talk about

I think no mortal had PREVIOUSLY resisted a Shadow ON THEIR OWN.  The support of the Church may well have allowed a mortal to resist that long, but the Denarians were probably keeping track of Harry enough to know that he hadn't gone to the Church for help (rather the opposite -- Harry AVOIDED the Church & even Michael).  I suspect that the prior Denarian experience of "resisting a Shadow on one's own" looks an awful lot like suicide...  So, they were confident that Lasciel's Shadow had brought Harry largely to heel.

I reiterate my basic positions:
Humans change, and grow, and heal.
Humans have free will; for them redemption is at once incredibly hard... and the simplest thing in the world.
A shadow of one of the Fallen is PART of the human host, but an unnaturally forced part.
I suggest that (if the Shadow doesn't succeed in tempting/bargaining/coercing the host to take up the coin) healing from the Shadow is a normal, natural thing; the Church strategy is just based upon giving the mortal time to heal.

I'm somewhat skeptical about the Church thing--if it were true, you'd think that Michael would have mentioned Harry's situation to Father Forthill, and he would then have told Michael. Of course, it's possible that Michael didn't tell Father Forthill, but if the Church had a way of evicting shadows, then one would expect the Knights would at least be told to tell their handler in the Church if they ran into an Enshadowed who wanted to be freed.

Also, not all injuries heal (unless you're a wizard ).