I still think, especially with the play you've already done, that actually removing the PC from play is the best idea. Otherwise, you're going against the spirit of the world, IMO.

However, if you want to go the "still a playable character" route, hacking the Hunger track to represent his temptation to use the power of the Coin is a good way to go.

Butcher has proven that the Denarians can work at cross-purposes with one another. I'd make the one they captured a lower-level thug trying to get himself up the ranks of his Nicklehead buddies, trying to scalp a prize before the REAL Denarians show up.

Basically, I'd have the more-powerful Denarian show up and kill the one they have captured, take his coin to give to a "more worthy" host, and then proceed to hand the PCs their a$$es.

I would, however, leave the PCs alive intentionally, and let them KNOW they were left alive intentionally, and hint towards some future plot they will be important for.

You don't even have to know what that plot IS. It's Schoedinger's Plot.

This character brought to you by Billy Joel.

Template: Focused Practitioner
High Concept: Ex-Con Blue Collar Wizard [I chose not to conform to the song lyrics for this one, because the HC is specifically supposed to be related to the Template]
Trouble: Angry Young Man
Background: Uptown Girl
Rising Conflict: An Innocent Man
The Story: Only The Good Die Young
Guest Star 1: Shades of Grey
Guest Star 2: Keeping The Faith

William Joel is a former member of the White Council, stripped of his status after being framed for the (entirely mundane) murder of another wizard--who just happened to be his wife as well. Convicted by the mortal authorities and sentenced to prison, William languished in prison for 25 years, basically never growing a day older because of his Wizard's Constitution. When he was paroled about six months ago, he immediately recovered what magical equipment he had managed to stash before his imprisonment and began rebuilding his magical skills--which is why he's statted at 10 Refresh and not what he would have been before he went to prison. Forgotten and forsaken by the Council, William now works as an antique vehicle mechanic, specializing in old war-era jeeps and motorcycles.

Background: William Joel did not kill his wife. He doesn't know who did, but he's going to find out. Will grew up in Brooklyn during WWII and wasn't found by the White Council until his early teens; when he was finally found, though, he took to spellcasting with a vengeance, often taking unique views vastly different from the more tradition-bound members of the Council. He fell in love with Christie Brinks shortly after his graduation to full-fledged Wizard and they lived happily for a long time.

Rising: William took a trip in 1985 to do some research in the then-Soviet Union on some Czar-era ruins of mystical importance. He took the Ways to get there, and when he returned his wife was dead, killed with one of William's own ritual knives. Mentally destroyed, he called the police--who promptly arrested William for the murder. Because William had used the Ways, there was no travel record of him being gone, and he had no alibi a mortal detective would believe. The White Council investigated and found no evidence that William used magic to kill his wife, so the Merlin left him to the tender mercies of the mortal judicial system. William Joel wouldn't see the outside of prison walls for 25 years.

The Story: Six months after his parole, William works as an antique car and motorcycle mechanic by day and trying to regain his magical expertise by night. When another wizard ends up slain on his doorstep by dark sorcery--using the same knife that killed his wife-- William must re-enter the supernatural community that has forsaken him in order to clear his name before either the mortal police, Warden Harry Dresden, or the actual murderer can put him away for good.

Guest Star 1: Something involving William having to return to Brooklyn-- and the descendants of the mobsters he grew up alongside-- to get the job done.

Guest Star 2: Something about a crisis of faith, angry with God for all the bad crap that has happened to him. [Building towards taking True Faith powers]

A military-style Camelbak (google it) filled with coffee at all times would be an interesting character quirk. As would interactions with people form other parts of the world inquiring about the coffee there. A Wizard Coffee Snob, in other words. Bonus points if he's been around long enough to invest in a world-spanning Coffee Empire specifically to increase it's availability wherever he goes. .

Focus items-- enchanted pool queue instead of a staff. Lucky metal dice as an earring, bracelet, or necklace pendant for earth magics. The first $1k chip he ever won, from a casino that doesn't exist anymore (preferably if it was blown up or demolished, too) for Entropy spells. Green felt Roulette mat as the focus for a lot of his Thaumaturgy spells.

I think that because of the Fate Point economy, it's important for the players to know the total difficulty necessary for a roll to succeed, so they know whether or not to spend a FP. Because bad things have to happen to your character in order to get FP, making a player spend one in a situation it's not important to do so in seems excessively cruel to me.

I'm working on a fantasy game using DFRPG rules, and the issue I keep running into is that easy access to healing magic completely removes the "sting" from the system for one major reason: when stress tracks reset at the end of a scene, the adverse effects of any magic castings are removed unless the caster himself takes consequences from the casting. It's a revolving door of healing-- the caster heals up his buddies, takes some C's doing it, then heals himself of those C's.

I haven't figured out how to make it work yet. I'm not sure that I'm going to. It might be that I'm just going to let the C-slot be taken up, but allow it to be reworded as a C of the next lower level. Broken Leg to Limping Badly, Broken Ribs to Sore Ribs, etc. Otherwise it just makes things too easy.