So, we can presume from

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the value of Leanansidhe's Harry Dresden Garden

that:
a) creatures *could* cross into a space with a Threshold and Wards, albeit with the standard Threshold limitations on their power (Block), and
b)

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The creatures that were trying to get behind Dresden's Wards via the NeverNever were probably powerful (or mortal) enough that they wouldn't have been too impacted by the Threshold limiting their powers

Given that Harry has an anemic bachelor threshold, I think that (b) is a fair assumption.

I haven't updated it in a while, but I think the combat link to Rick Neal's page I have in my most recent blogpost is what you're looking for.

http://dfrpg-seattle.blogspot.com/

No, I remember reading somewhere an example combat between 1 PC and 1 NPC in a dark warehouse, where the PC attempted a declaration every exchange. They were simple and believable things like alertness for muzzle flashes to figure out the other location, athletics to declare crates that needed to be maneuvered around, etc.

Amusingly enough, we don't have a single spellcaster in the party.  There's an Ex-Special Forces Sniper (now retired and a Firefighter) whose grandmother taught him to shapeshift -- originally he was just looking for a way to improve his eyesight -- who is relatively nasty in a fight.

Then the Emissary of Morpheus who has been granted great powers... in the dream world. 

Next, the 'mortal' cursed with the Sight who sees far more than he actually wants to see...

And finally the Changeling who would be far happier if both Summer and Winter would leave her alone and let her finish her studies as a medical student.

The Emissary and the Sniper are the two with a flair for combat.  The Changeling just sits back and racks up the Assessments, Declarations, and Manuvers... It's worked well for them so far. 

Awesome group!

This is an excellent point.  "Jack of all Trades, Master of None" characters can have a LOT of skills at lower levels and *always* be able to help a little bit in any situation.  It's not as spotlight-friendly as the combat monster when there's fighting to be done, or as vital as the get-away driver in a car chase...  but the character will almost never be sitting around with no options.  (Such as the combat monster in a battle of wits.)

The changeling in my current group is in denial about her heritage and rarely uses any of her powers.  So most of the time she's relying on her other skills to add lots of detail to scenes, toss out manuvers, and figure out enemy Aspects.  She isn't the nastiest character in the fight...  until she's been sitting quietly to one side for six or seven rounds, building up a boatload of Aspects to trigger all at once.     That, or handing them out to the more combat-oriented characters each round...

Such a character would be the thaumaturge's best friend.

From the text it looks like only control, but I would also give the bonus to power and complexity.

Okay, thank you.  Further questions:

YS252:
"Optionally, instead of block strength, you can opt to have the effect work as Armor or as a zone border instead. If you choose the Armor effect, the armor rating is equal to half (rounded down) the shifts put into the spell. The advantage to doing this is that the Armor effect only ends when the spell duration ends—the armor survives a bypassing attack."

How does this translate into an item.  I can read Harry's coat and it's Armor:2 for 3 uses or something like that.  If I understand how that works that Armor rating expends a use for every attack levied against it, so it lacks this basic advantage above of lasting until the spell duration ends.

Is the advantage and choice here that Armor is reflexive and Block is anticipatory?  Or another way, the Armor would be active if the wearer were hit with an Ambush attack, but the Block would not?

If I'm right, then why choose Armor for an item?  Ever...

Say Harry's Duster is Block:4 or Armor:2, 3x per session. Only one roll can reduce the shifts from an attack, so if 4 is higher than any shield spell or dodge roll, he should use it as a block, otherwise, he should use the armor aspect instead. The reason it shifting is useful is to stack defenses. For example:

Harry uses his shield bracelet to throw up a Block:5 shield. He gets attacked by a Weapon:2 gun shot at +6. His Duster does nothing at Block:4, as it's worse than his shield, but his duster can give him Armor:2; reducing the 3 stress hit to 1 stress.

So, the power is probably there. But how are we doing the mechanics of using it? How would you force a volcano to erupt if you had 5.000 shifts of power available?

#zones*2.... Let's assume that a four zone square is = 1 square NYC block. 20 square NYC blocks = 1 square mile. Let's say it affects an area of 2 square miles. That's 160 zones, or 320 shifts.

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Duration. A volcano erupting causes major problems for humans hanging out for about two days. Let's describe this as a "heat and poison gases" aspect on the area. We'll call it a very powerful maneuver on the scene. 5 shifts for the intense maneuver, and then 6 shifts to bring it from "one scene" to a few days.

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One time damage. I'd say 20 shifts are enough here.

=

351 shifts?