ways: have you read any of L. E. Modesitt, Jr's Recluce novels? There are chaos wizards that work like you are suggesting, order wizards with subtle magics of great long term impact, and a few folks that manage to combine the two. Might be of interest for ideas on the why and how of the magic in your game.

Lavecki121: I would read that to mean the player may take other -1/-2 Refresh powers than just the Minor Ability and Psychic Ability lists allow. The rules are explicitly giving the GM the right to bend the Template in therms of power choices, not the 1 power at -1 or -2 limit.

A Pure Mortal gets a +2 Refresh for having no powers. All the other Templates have less restrictions on what Powers they can buy and how much they can spend buying them. Should the Minor Talent Template perhaps receive a +1 Refresh to compensate for these limitations?

Thanks for the input.

All: I fully agree that this Template is not for all games, but in a world where Faeries, wizards, shapechangers, etc are real...well, we have folks in this world who try to play superhero. Nobody'd try this in Harry's world? Not for all games, but certainly possible.

GryMor: Emissary of Power is beholden to someone else for their power. Focused Practitioner is limited to Channeling and/or Ritual. The Scion is not so much a template as a concept with some suggestions. It also doesn't exactly fit the why and wherefore of how this type of character gets their powers. A Scion is the offspring of a human and something else. The idea behind this new Template is to allow a character that has things like Inhuman or Supernatural <ability> or a person to whom literally blending in the shadows or climbing up walls is innate to themselves. These things can be done as a Stunt or high Skill, but are also available as a Power. The Stunts are cheaper, but the Powers are less fallible.

Nick & Ghsdkgb: good points, but they have their own drawbacks.

Ghsdkgb: The upper limit on Refresh spent on initial powers is the Template's drawback. An Emissary of Power has the drawback of being reliant on a superior's good will. The Costumed Vigilante (super powered individual) Template's drawback is a restriction on the amount of initial powers. I went with -6 as an arbitrary limit that allowed a lot of interesting combinations. The -6 limit applies to Powers only, the character can still spend up to their full Refresh limit on Stunts. That being said, the -6 Refresh limit on Powers can be adjusted up or down by the GM to fit the needs of their game. A Minor Talent Template character only allows a max of -2 Refresh spent on a smaller list of Powers, so I figured I had to give the new Template some kind of restriction.

San: PS: I like your idea of no Templates.

The main two objections I am seeing to the template are Wizard's Constitution shouldn't cost anything (per the rules) and the limit on the amount of Powers purchased, but those are easily tweaked. Otherwise, it is an OK template? Could these kinds of characters (Nick Fury, Captain America, ie better than human but not game unbalancingly so, and not in servitude to a supernatural superior. Nick Fury makes his boss mad, they can't pull his powers). Does it break the theme of the Dresdenverse? Would you allow something like this in your game as a GM?

San: How does a Pure Mortal recover from an Extreme Consequence like a maimed beyond recovery limb? How does a Pure Mortal explain away the aches, pains, and extended recovery that comes with now being 40 instead of late 20s? Seems to me like these are things worth having. Why *not* take Wizard's Recovery if it's free? What's the downside? I'm not suggesting that it should be a -1 Power for all templates, but I see it as a reasonable limitation on this particular one. I know we're all adults and should play like it, but then why do we need rules at all? Most of us get attached to our characters, even when they start off as Giovanni Condottiere, Mob Thug (Joe the Human Fighter) and try to wring every bit of good out of characters that we can. Since a lot of Costumed Vigilantes are going to be the party's muscle and meatshield, the ability to not get old and be able to recover from anything short of death or completely destroyed body parts is pretty useful.

(On an aside, am I misunderstanding Extreme Consequences? I know you can remove them at Major Milestones, but does this apply even if there's no logical reason? A character who's arm had been lopped off and not reattached in time, or paralyzed from the waist down could just remove that consequence by declaration or does there have to be a possible explanation? I understand that the Dresdenverse is not Twilight 2000, but we still need to follow the logic/rules of realty of the setting.)

Lavecki121:
But what would a character with no powers gain from taking the Costumed Vigilante template? A Pure Mortal could still take the Secret Identity trouble, wear a spandex bodysuit, mask, and cape. Good point about gaining new powers at milestones.

Tedronai:
That would be up to the GM to establish an appropriate power level. The -6 refresh in power can be adjusted up or down per GM preference, and should not limit purchase of future powers at milestones.

-6 allows combinations like:
Inhuman Strength, Inhuman Speed, Inhuman Toughness (or lose one for Inhuman Recovery)

Supernautral <ability>, Inhuman <ability>

Claws, Supernatural Sense, Inhuman Toughness, Inhuman Recovery

Spider Walk, Supernatural Speed

Supernatural Strength with the Mighty Thews Stunt makes for a character that can lift and throw quite a bit. Don't forget applying Aspects like Good Leverage, High Adrenalin (saving your spouse/kid/parent), etc. With a Superb Might character, supernatural strength, mighty thews, and the right personal and situational aspects firing, a character could get ~+13-15 for lifting, taking a character beyond Legendary and allowing them to lift and throw a car. Like with most games, you can't get everything you want, but you can usually make a character that's really good at the one thing ya just gotta have.