n00b with some questions

[Deadmanwalking]

Killer Blow really isn't worth it, mechanically. If I were you I might take Armed Arts (Club, Something Else) instead, skip Weapons, and get something like Discipline, Lore, or Scholarship.

And Helps The Hopeless is worth being an Aspect if you see it as a major motivating force for the character. By default, wirth Monster With A Heart Of Gold, he's just generally nice to everyone and would help somebody he saw in trouble, but with Helps The Hopeless the down and out are his particular charge and he likely patrols the bad part of town looking for ways to be helpful.

[DFJunkie]

Or you could take Giant Meat Paws (or Fist Like A Canned Ham, etc.) as a derivation of the Claws power.  It's damaging natural weapons, they don't have to be sharp.

[Steed]

I totally missed Armed Arts while I was reading stunts.  Simple, often improvised weapons is why I gave him the Weapons skill, but this works so much better, since I don't see him using them all that often unless he is really pressed for a little extra oomph.  So I'm switching Killer Blow for Armed Arts, and I subbed in Scholarship for Weapons.  I considered Discipline, but I don't picture him being disciplined enough to actually have the skill at anything beyond the baseline Mediocre level.  I picture this guy as only being around for about a year, so he's still working on that whole "emotional restraint" thing.  You could also make the same argument for Scholarship, considering he hasn't exactly had a teacher, but he did have all that time with the textbooks, and as I've bumped Alertness up to Fair and lowered Scholarship to Average, I think it's a good representation of his roughly high school level booksmarts.  Whereas he hasn't had a huge amount of exposure to overtly disciplined people.  He lives in the red light district, which exists mostly because people can't be disciplined enough to resist the temptations it offers.  If he develops along a certain path, I could absolutely see him getting Discipline as the result of a massive story and a Significant or greater milestone, but I don't see him starting with it.  Also, he does have Lore at Average, which I think fits his one year of fighting supernatural things that prey on his charges.

I also see what you mean about Helps the Hopeless, DMW, and that's what I was imagining for him, so I think that's going to be the Aspect he gets for his First Story.  And I've now edited those changes into the quote block on the previous page.

[Deadmanwalking]

Cool. Glad I could help. 

Though do bear in mind that you need to pick two weapons for Armed Arts. Some GMs might allow "Improvised Weapons" as one of them, and I'm sure most would agree that "Bludgeons" or "Clubs" covers most of those he's likely to use, but you still do need to specfy them.

[CMEast]

No pain, No gain works well with Recovery and Toughness (though I'd be tempted to increase recovery to supernatural), but I'd probably take DFJunkies advice and get a Claws variant rather than Killer Blow. Armed arts is good too though it doesn't include improvised weapons afaik.

On skills, I think DMW is right about dropping weapons, you'll find Fists more effect (you can always buy knuckle dusters of some kind). I'd probably increase alertness up a level as that's a useful skill, and then take Deceit for it's 'Disguise' trapping which might help you look normal and avoid unwanted attention. Scholarship works too (dating online might be his only chance at happiness).

[Deadmanwalking]

Armed arts is good too though it doesn't include improvised weapons afaik.

Well, I don't see why it wouldn't if you pick appropriate weapons. I mean, just for example, a chair leg surely fally under "Clubs" doesn't it?

[Steed]

Okay, I did a little more tweaking after reading the advice you guys gave.  I selected improvised weapons and knives as his Armed Arts weapons.  I also chose to drop Contacts and replace it with Deceit, for the Disguise trapping.  I figure that he's been doing his thing for a year-ish, and he's got Presence at Fair largely for the Reputation trapping, so it's feasible, I think, that people in need of help would seek out "the big brute that helps people" rather than him needing Contacts.  Especially in that sort of neighborhood, where not everyone can go to the cops when they need help.  Thanks again, everyone!  I think we're nearing the final product, with the exception of the stuff I want to save for when I actually find a game for him.

ETA:  I added in the Stress tracks and consequences.  Somehow I get the feeling I calculated something wrong there, even though it seems like I followed the instructions in the book.  Should he be that physically durable?

[Deadmanwalking]

ETA:  I added in the Stress tracks and consequences.  Somehow I get the feeling I calculated something wrong there, even though it seems like I followed the instructions in the book.  Should he be that physically durable?

No, that's right. Though bear in mind that none of Supernatural Toughness applies to fire, which makes noting the difference worthwhile. That's usually done this way:

Physical: OOOO(OOOO)

[Steed]

Aha, knew I forgot something!  Thank you.  I'll edit that in now.

[Drachasor]

The Catch is tricky.  I can see the argument that not everyone knows to kill the undead with fire, but at the same time, this guy is going to be very obvious.  He'll be a mass of stitches and slightly askew proportions, and while people not in the know would likely rationalize it as, "Geez, that dude must have been in some horrible accident!" anyone even a little in the know would look at him and think, "That dude is stitched together from bits of other people.  What's that phrase?  Kill it with what?  Something with an F...OH YEAH."  Plus, it is very easily researched even for people not in the know, considering Frankenstein is a bit of a pop culture icon.  So I do lean more toward having his Catch being a +4.  I don't see it going farther than that, though.

How hard it is to realize the catch is honestly a decision the group has to reach within some reasonable limits (obviously access is +2).  That's because you are DEFINING how hard it is to research the fact in the campaign.  If it is easy to research your catch, then that's a +2.  If it is hard (requires books that are not easy to obtain), then it is +1.  I suppose one could even say for a unique monster that it could be +0, since research won't help.  So really with Frankenstein it could be any level, you just have to decide what level it is and play consistently at that level.