I would buy this argument. Though, I would like to further posit that the murderous urges are the mantle, and his ability to dismiss killing with magic so easily is due to taint. For example, when he kills the guy in the Hunt during the chase scene, and when Harvey dies*. And, for support, I would like to throw in Molly and Harry's conversation in Denny's during Ghost Story. Molly says something along the lines of "It's easy... it shouldn't be so easy..."

*Yes, he gets upset about Harvey, but he shrugs it off pretty easily compared to beginning-of-the-series Harry.

I could have sworn I read a WoJ about this very thing in regards to the Fomor a while back, but for the life of me, I can't find it.

As to why it isn't one of the Laws: "Hey, guys, I've got an Idea! Let's tell ALL OF OUR ENEMIES that they can take away our magic! That'll end well...(Sorry, was in kind of a sarcastic mood...)

Basically: I picked up my Dresden Files RPG rulebooks for the first time in a long time yesterday. And, suddenly it was four in the morning and I was giggling manically as I sketched out a character concept and started resuming talks with my gaming group about seeing if we could start up a campaign. It having been a few years since I last played, I figured I'd run the ramblings of my sleep-deprived, unmedicated(I may have forgotten to take them yesterday... oops...), and multi-tasking mind by you guys to make certain I wasn't being absurd(more than usual...).

The primary issue with my idea is that, when it comes to story, the character's pre-game development depends a lot on starting power level. For example, if we were to begin at "Feet In the Water" I would probably start the character very near the beginning of his story(in my head), perhaps right around when his powers began to develop. If we were to start closer to "Submerged" I would probably make him a little older, with a bit more understanding of magic and the supernatural world in general. This would naturally have a whole range of effects on how the character was written up on the character sheet. So, what I list below(skills, powers, etc) are not necessarily the ones I will be taking. They are merely things I saw that looked cool and that I thought fit with my idea. So...

Name: Nathaniel "Nathan" Graves

Story: It's like Dresden said: Warlocks - most of them, anyway - are just kids. They're untrained, and they don't know any better. They've never heard of the Laws of Magic until some mysterious, hulking figure in a grey cloak steps out of the darkness with a silver sword. One day, this fifteen year old discovers he or she has the ability to do... things... and they get to thinking. Hell, practically the first thing most of them try is the old Jedi Mind Trick. Maybe they ask a teacher for an extension on their homework? From there.. they get a date with the hot cheerleader they've always had a crush on. Then... more. Nathan's story isn't any different.

He got dealt a shit hand, and by the time he knew what was going on... there wasn't any way back. One day, he accidentally did a bit of magic on the way home from school. But, halting a fall against pavement before the impact was only the first step. Floating pebbles came easily. Then he started seeing things. No. Not things... people. People that weren't there. People who were dead. His curiosity piqued. Really, who wouldn't be curious?

The changes weren't immediately obvious to his parents and teachers. He still laughed with his friends, hung out in the basement gaming and working on cosplays for conventions. His friends and he became more secretive. They stayed out later. They stopped playing so many computer games, focusing more on the paper-and-pencil variety. But, well... everyone changes in high school, and damn it but the house's electricity seemed to be on the fritz. Then one of the teachers had a break down and went off the grid.

It was a weird few weeks.

In truth, they probably should have been more concerned, even if they wouldn't believe the truth had they known it. Nathan had done his first bit of magic on his way home from school during sophomore year: halting a fall before he hit the pavement. Just... floating there. Then he had a migraine and a bit of a freak out. But... well... who could blame him for being a bit curious? And, playing a necromancer in his best friend's D&D campaign gave him a very bad kind of curious.

High Concept: Gamer, Cosplayer... Necromancer?
Trouble: In Over My Head

Performance
Alertness
Empathy
Presence
Deceit

Reasoning: He's a nerd and a gamer, which is one reason I love the character so much. And, he would post YouTube vids and stream gameplay before his magic developed. He wasn't a big channel, but he was monitored and making some money at it. Alertness, I feel reflects the awareness he needed while gaming to keep track of the in-game environment. Performance, along with most of his other social skills are about his streaming and his ability to maintain an audience's attention while doing that. Deceit... well, he messed up, and he knows it. He doesn't know exactly how big a trouble he's in for Law breaking. So, he's kind of new to the whole lying to people bit, and mostly does it to keep the fact he's a warlock under wraps.

Craftsmanship
Resources

Reasoning: Why craftsmanship? He makes his own cosplay, that's why. And he's good at it. His stuff has won a few competitions. Yeah... he's a nerd. That's one reason I love this idea so much. Resources would probably in the "fair" tier. After developing magic, he can't really do video games anymore, which was how he was making money(outside of an allowance if the game begins around Feet In the Water).

Conviction
Discipline
Lore

Reasoning: Magic... 'Nuff said. But, Lore would probably be lower than Conviction and Discipline. He's new to this whole magic thing and doesn't really know much outside of the gaming manuals he and his friends have dug through, and the few - usually misleading - books they've checked out of the supernatural section of the library. If he's older, this could probably be a bit higher, but I don't really want him to be the magical compendium of knowledge. He's very much in over his head and unsure where exactly to turn.

Weapons
Guns

Reasoning: He's a nerd, and an American(probably). Where would he be without a basic understanding of how weapons work, and an unusual(to some) interest in swords.

Athletics
Endurance
Investigation or Contacts

Reasoning: These seem useful...

Possible Powers

Lawbreaker (First, Third or Fifth): He's going to develop these at some point, and I'd like to start the game with one of them. I'm just not sure which one yet. First Law will probably happen later on.

Ghost Speaker: Nathan is powerful, even if he's fumbling along untrained. I see this as kind of the beginnings of his Sight coming in.

Evocation and Thaumaturgy:: He's a powerful guy. If he hadn't done what every teenager would do, he'd be White Council material.

Kemmlerian Necromancy: How can I not get this eventually? It fits so well... Plus! As a bonus, It has both Kemmler's and my name in it! Though... that's probably not a good thing.

Refinement: It's kind of a must for magic users eventually.

I've got a few other ideas, too. Like, if I ever die I might come back as a living corpse and just take the -1 for Living Dead or possibly come back as a ghost.

A Few Notes
- Nathan's friends are in on the whole "magic is real thing. Their views are carried. Some think it's cool. Others are a bit afraid. A couple have started trying to learn magic themselves. Though, none of them are quite as powerful.
- Nathan is not a good person. I mean, he is... or was at one point in his early development. But, eventually, the corrupting influence of dark magic and the constant hunt by the White Council to take off his head got to him. He still does what he thinks is helping people... but he's not too scrupulous about his methods later on.

Thoughts?
Suggestions?
Flames?

This is pretty simple actually, though it probably suggests that I need to get a full night's sleep. I was looking through the rules to make sure I can run an upcoming campaign with some of my friends, and got distracted by the spellcasting section. Specifically, I started looking at the elements and thinking of different ways to apply them.

With fire, water, and spirit I didn't have that hard a time thinking of interesting ways to use them. Water we see from both Ramirez and LTW in the series, and then the section specifically mentions entropy. Spirit covers all sorts of things like mind magic, kinetomancy(though personally I think this should fall under fire), and tons of other stuff. Earth magic you can manipulate metal and earth, electromagnetism, gravity, etc. Fire has heat manipulation, lasers, and probably a bunch of other stuff I can't pull out of thin air because I'm running on two or three hours of sleep. But, when I got to air I thought maybe pressure manipulation, and then... I kind of blanked.

So, what interesting things have you guys done with air magic that aren't immediately obvious?

That's generally what we do in my group. Apprentices tend to have Channeling/Ritual or both, rather than full Evocation and Thaumaturgy. The groups I've played with(a while back) started off submerged after the first time.

As for the Blackstaff, there's a write-up for it on pg. 332 of the Paranet Papers. Paraphrasing: It weighs in at [-4] refresh Item of Power, with the usual stuff you'd expect from that. It also means whenever you use the staff to cast a spell that violates the Laws, you're treated as if you've got the full +3 from Lawbreaker and don't have to take a level of it afterwards. It's also happy to help, and acts as a source of sponsored magic for... I think another -2? I'd have to double check to make sure I got all that right...

Good luck, I'm curious to see what you come up with.

May I request an apprentice wizard who is on the run after the mysterious death of their master - the previous Blackstaff? As a result, he or she possesses the staff. It was an idea I had for a friend's campaign that fell through. I'm curious to see what you might do with it.

I'd probably add in some kind of reference to the fact that it only works because of where they are. I mean, the battle taking place where it did had a lot to do with Harry managing to bring down Aurora, since she's immortal and all. Whether that would be another invocation of an aspect about the floating battlefield, or something else... I don't really know. I like what you've done though.

Personally, I always attributed Harry's realization of which relic Nico truely wanted to the shroud, not the knife. Nico had just killed his own daughter, and it's hinted that he knew what was in the vault before the heist. While I honestly doubt it would have worked after what he pulled... I can't help but wonder if Nico's plan was to get the items, get away with his daughter's corpse, bring her back, and be in possession of all the relics*. I don't have any substantial support for this theory other than Harry stuffing the shroud into his duster pocket**, but... *shrug*

It's just a gut feeling.

* I support the "use in a summoning" theory, for these. Though, who I believe they are meant to summon, I'm still undecided.

** Correct me if I'm wrong here. I seam to remember this being the case. But, I don't have hard or softcover versions of the books. I only listen to the audiobooks. As a result, checking for exact details is difficult.