Here are your problems, Richard:
1. You seem to think that the problems with ACaEBG come from taking it out of the Sword. They don't. Even if you make ACaEBG require all the other powers and narrative elements of the Sword, the balance problems are still there.
I can live with three unbalanced artifacts. The Knights of the Cross seemed designed for a very high refresh game.
2. You have conflated a passing mention of the Swords being faith-powered into a rule stating that all Sword-like items must be powered by massive Faith.
No - I have looked at something that explain "how this power really works" and gone with it.
Consider:
Everyone of note in the Dresden books know of the Knights of the Cross. From Lea to the Merlin, they look at Micheal and say "that's a Knight of the Cross". If the power was common, then the Knights of the Cross wouldn't be anything but another group of church sponsored hunters.
What makes special? The three unique Swords with their unique power.
The game designers didn't go out looking for a weird power to put in the Swords, they looked at what the Swords do and tried their best to model that power in the game. And (in my opinion) they succeeded.
3. You seem to believe that the Rules As Written includes things that are not rules.
We differ as to whether or not the rules are world specific. If they are, then the setting notes are the explanations how the rules work - making them part of the rules.
I wouldn't take this stand on a GURPs book or a D&D setting, but I rank the DFRPG up there with Empire of the Petaled Throne for games where the setting dominate the system.
4. You seem to believe that anything that does not exist within the canon of the Dresden Files is contrary to the RAW. Which is preposterous, since that makes following the RAW into an impossibility. After all, your PCs probably aren't going to be canon characters. And if they are, then they won't re-enact the canon stories.
No, I believe that Jim has nailed down enough canon to make a world that we can play in. The DV has angels, but not angels who have exercised freewill (those are the Fallen). The DV has 30 Nickleheads, not 40, 20, 50, or any other number. The DV has...
I could go on for quite a while. Let me see if I can explain what I see as the difference playing in the setting and changing the setting from the DV:
The Summer Knight, The Winter Knight, and two Knights of the Cross team up for some mission - that's within the broad lines defined by the DV. They're not going to be the canon Knights, but they are still playing in the DV.
The Summer Knight, the Winter Knight, and seven Knights of the Cross team up - that's not within the broad lines of the DV. It breaks the "3 Knights of the Cross" part of the setting, something that Jim nailed down. It could lead to a fun game, but it's not within the common setting that we have to work with.
And if three players want to all be Summer Knights at the same time, well
under the RAW they can't. That's not to say that a group couldn't have fun with everyone playing Summer Knights, just that doing so isn't within the setting or the RAW. And homebrew can be really great (especial if you can keep the yeast down) but since I don't know your homebrew and you don't know my homebrew (yes, it exist - I just don't post about it on this board) so we don't have a common ground to discuss it. We do have common ground to discuss the published stuff, so that's what I discuss here
unless everyone is making it clear that we're talking about homebrew. Custom powers, custom templates, custom anything - that's great if your table likes it, but it's homebrew. I don't mean that as an insult or to belittle the rule (or whatever), just to separate it from the RAW.
But, if the things you consider the RAW is the whole of your game, then how many steps does it take to cure someone who has been the subject of Domination and turned into a Renfield?
I ask (for the second time) because the rules are silent on this but the setting says that the greatest magical mind in history failed (the original Merlin) as have every Saint who tried. It's impossible in the DV, but it was left out of the rules.
Shrug.
Neither of us are going to change the others mind on this subject. We should accept that and move on to other things.
Richard