Oooo I like the enchanted item!

The defensive block, while cool, is something I'm thinking of handling in a different manner for another character I have in mind. You see the ability to block stuff with a lightsaber is really more about reflexes than item itself, it seems to me. So I'm kicking around a hyper-aware "Jedi Reflexes" version of defense, a la Elaine. Someone mentioned a "Jedi Knight" build earlier in this thread so now I'm gonna come up with a "sorcerer" who's got all this skill but no frame of reference. He's a nerd, so he builds all his magical mojo around the notion that he must be a Jedi. Hilarity ensues. Until he whoops someone's ass. Because he's a Jedi, and they're badass. The little nerd that could.

So you get a limited skill set that'll grow into a major, focused talent.

Ah well, since I'm not conjuring a literal sword so much as a physical shape to contain fire wouldn't that change things a bit? This is, again, kinda the crux of the thing. The whole "sword" meme is really throwing off the perception of the result. It's a fuego spell in a tube you can hit people with. So the damage would be dependant on the power you put into it on creation I would think.

Well I think the place to start is to stat up the individual first. Who are they without the coin? Make THAT person at least submerged, since they're probably pretty old (but if not, then lower down the totem pole). Once you've done that add in "Demonic Presence" and whatever the hell (heh) you like because after that Denerians are not uniform. Really what's great about them in specific (and fairly representative of the system as a whole) is that you can just add as much or as little to them as you need and it works like a dream.

Yeah but a potion is just "magic liquid." Why couldn't it apply to ink? If the magic Harry inscribes into his coat makes the coat an item why can't the same process work for my skin? I'm fine with all the size rules applying. But all the things it takes to do magic are inherrently there for tattoos. And when is a tattoo ruined? Well any breaking of the skin would disrupt the spell and it wouldn't work until that break had completely healed. If it NEVER heals, that's a ruined tattoo.

If magic and blood and identity are entertwined then what can be more enchanted then a tattoo. They are slow to make And require pain blood and discipline and focus. And they're really permanent. As has been mentioned if some one "loses"' their tattoo there's a physical scar that one can't just draw over. Unlike an item which can be rebuilt.

First: Reward good behavior. Punish bad. No seriously. Are they playing their aspects? Even if they're doing it to amass fate points, reward that. Dole it out like candy (unless it becomes a problem, then, you know...ease off). Are they overconfident? Then allow them to do something stupid. When you smack them down, they'll learn, as long as the smacking was a totally predictable consequence of their actions...

Second: Come up with a plan. But get ready to throw it out. Only write the story that has happened so far "off camera." The off camera story can be, and should be as detailed as possible. That way, when they ask you about clues or rumors, you know EXACTLY what happened and you, therefore, can more readily infer what clues were left behind or who would be in the know to talk about it. The flip side of that coin is the players are going to take your ball and ruuuuuuuuun with it down so many WEEEEIRD alleyways that you may as well not even plan for what happens "on camera." So plan out the things they didn't do, and let it unfold before them.

Thirdly: Going back to punishing the wicked...don't forget what your players did. Some of the most fun, or the best lessons can come from when they either must explain their actions to an authority figure, or that authority figure tells them how it looks from the sidelines. Sometimes that point of viewing can be jarring when it turns out you look like a right monster. It's also reeeally funny.

Fourth: HAVE FUN!
Good luck!

For instance, could your "focus item" be a tattoo? Or a series of them? How about an enchanted item slot? Is there something inherently bad or unbalancing about this idea? What other "creative" focus items have you guys come up with? Which ones did you shoot down?

That sounds fairly elegant and much closer to what I want. My only nit-pick is being made of fire isn't mostly flavor since I want it be able to make doors for me, you know...where there were none before. But I imagine that'd just be adding more shifts to power?