I like the stunt about being able to use enchanted items, but I think that if someone wants a mortal to use enchanted items, they should not receive the two refresh bonus. It just seems unfair to me that a mortal could (theoretically) throw around magic nearly as effectively as a Focused Practitioner, but at half the power cost and still be up a point thanks to the bonus.

I don't think a Pure Mortal would be able to use Enchanted Items, they wouldn't know how. I haven't read all of the Dresden books yet so if there is an example of a Pure Mortal using one than I shall stand corrected, but I think the whole point of the two bonus refresh is to help mitigate the fact that they have no access to anything supernatural. Inventing a stunt as a loophole seems to be going against the spirit of what the Pure Mortal template is supposed to be, even if it doesn't break any rules.

Now if a Minor Talent, True Believer, etc. wants to get their hands on some Enchanted Items, then yes I like the idea of creating a stunt for that, but I just don't like the idea of mortals throwing around magic and still keeping their two refresh bonus, even if you do make the character owe debts and all sorts of story stuff.

Personally, I think it would be hilarious if your character was very similar to Dresden. You could have NPC's make fun of him for being like Dresden, maybe calling him a wannabee, poser, or groupie. If it goes on long enough you could even have an aspect like "For the last time, I am NOT like Harry Dresden!".

Zone borders essentially subtract from athletics when crossing them. If you rolled a Great Athletics you could normally go four zones. But hang on, there is a fence (lets say border 2) right in front of you, now you can only go two zones after climbing the fence.

An area maneuver affects everyone in the area, so it is unopposed (no one can roll against it), so you only need to roll a Good to do it. Say you have Earth and you want to make the ground shake to throw everyone off balance. Your discipline is a 4 and you want to throw three power into it, you roll a -1 so you are able to control it. Now the zone you cast your spell at has the aspect (with one free tag) Shaking Ground, which you, your allies, AND your enemies can tag, so it is not always a good thing. Remember that this is only when you are not casting a maneuver directly at someone. If you make the ground shake, that's the environment, if you want to make the ground shake only under the enemies, that would be opposed by they're athletics and it is no longer an environment maneuver. I hope this makes sense. Maneuver against the environment = unopposed, maneuver against a person = opposed.

An area blast works similarly, except everyone in the zone rolls against the blast to dodge it, friend and foe. It also soaks up 2 shifts of power to blast an area. Another example: Jim the earth mage sees a pack of wolves running right at him, but luckily they are still one zone away. He decided to try to take them all out at once because if they reach him, he'll be in trouble. He has a Conviction and Discipline at Superb, so he decides to put in power equal to conviction. Normally this would be a Weapon five blast, but because he's blasting an area it gets downgraded to weapon three. Jim rolls and just controls the spell (rolls straight up), then all the wolves roll a Fair dodge. They all get hit with six shifts of damage (the difference between the caster's Superb Discipline  and their Fair dodge plus the weapon three).

Hopefully this answers your question, if not then their are others that are more experienced that I and can either explain it better, or link you to a topic where this was discussed (I did a quick search but didn't find anything).

Well, he's a young kid. Kinda rash and impetuous, but he has a good heart. He is dismayed by how good of a thug his natural power (Half shadow demon) and his kinetic magic makes him.

He prefers to avoid a fight if he can, and if he's going to fight it would be via ambush tactics. He has some serious staying power in a fight, but would rather avoid it. So his tactic involves bursting from the shadows, clocking a target with his bat, and disappearing into the dark again.

But he's not afraid of a stand up fight. He'll slug it out with the best of them, though he's not as tough as some of the baddies out there. He's a natural user of his magic, so without any formal training his power is unrefined, and usually comes in the form of unfocused blasts of force, when with the right training. he could be slinging superthin blades of force or paper thin walls that stop howitzers.

Than I would suggest a veil, a shield, a block (zone border), and either an attack or maneuver depending on how good he is with his bat. You can also leave your rotes blank for one session and keep mental notes of how many times a particular rote would have been useful, or if you have a nice GM he/she will let you change your rotes one or two times so you can "test drive" them.

Edited to add:
Okay, I give up.  What kind of melee weapon has a weapon 4 rating?

One-handed sword with Inhuman Strength? OP never said the weapon's by themselves were weapon 4, just that the warriors had weapon 4, I bit oddly worded but I assume that either his warriors have Inhuman strength or he's just throwing out numbers as an example.

[Edit: I misread Op's first post as well, and now feel quite dumb]

I made a line of stunts (one stunt is a prerequisite for the other 5), and I'm wondering what you think of them. I think that some work better than others and nearly all can be named better (I can never think of a good name for a stunt, even if I can explain why I think the stunt makes sense).

-1: Professional Detective: Add Sleuthing trapping to Investigation **(This is a prerequisite for)
-1: **Make them slip up: You are adept at angering your suspect just enough to make him/her say something they wouldn't have normally. Roll Investigation for Provocation when questioning someone (not for random insults)
-1: **Little Lies: Lying is easier the closer to the truth it is. Roll Investigation for Falsehood and Deception when part of a truth is in the lie
-1: **It’s part of the job: Sometimes looking like someones else is just part of the job. Roll Investigation for creating a disguise (not sure about what the limit on this would be)
-1: **Look behind you…: Following someone is easy, doing it without their knowledge is the trick, and you've got that trick down. Roll Investigation for Shadowing when following a suspect
-1: **I will find out what I want to know: Roll Investigation for Interrogation when interrogating a suspect

All of the ** stunts are using the Sleuthing trapping. A character with these skills would naturally have very high Investigation, giving them a foot in a few social and stealthy trappings, but not enough to make those skills obsolete. These let the character do their job well and allow the player room for specialization. Maybe they want their detective to be fairly combat oriented, or a stealthy, alert infiltrator, or able to talk rings around even the best debaters.

I can't find anywhere where is explicitly states that you can't in the book, but it is my understanding that backlash bypasses armor, natural or otherwise.

I don't compare weapons to each other directly specifically because the system doesn't have enough room to do so (battle axe is more dangerous than longsword, but both are two handed weapons, so both are Weapon 3, etc).

So, for guns: Most pistols, regardless of type, are Weapon 2.  Big ones, DEagle, Magnums, etc. are Weapon 3.  Weapon 4 is reserved for explosives, anti-tank weapons, cannons, etc.  So...is this a battlefield scale weapon?  No?  Then it's Weapon 3.

Even high powered sniper rifles are just Weapon 3.  That extra damage comes from stacking maneuvers and declarations.

If you want it to do more, use Guns to make a declaration, place an aspect.  Now your giant calibre pistol is plot relevant and not just a fancy gun.

Bingo. Yes this is a large gun, but it is still an oversized handgun and therefore weapon three.