I've actually been toying with a Dragonic Scion (so, yeah, not a lesser dragon either) idea for a bit now and I took it in a completely different direction than you Sancta. I've put natural True Shapeshifting as the focus with a high mental fortitude (Discipline and Conviction) to balance. Fits in with the whole "We are what we wish to be" (one of the aspects I've got tied) nature of Dragons. This also anchors you to being human still at your core.

With the other 5 refresh, you could put into modular abilities (so you can grow claws, become larger, etc.) and keep investing into that power to reflect you getting more "dragony"; at 5 you can shift to a form with Inhuman Strength and claws to do some major damage, Inhuman Toughness and Flight when you need to survive, etc. Think of it as tapping into your dragonic nature but you can't access all of it at once yet. More than that, the inherent weakness is that you need to spend a full round shifting those powers out, which could be thought of as you needing to concentrate to tap into your dragon side.

Either that, or Sancta's suggestion of Sponsored Magic, which would fit nicely with a high Discipline and Conviction to boot.

I want my fellow to be Marked by Power to a Dragon, so I'm thinking of getting the extra point to do so by tying the modular abilities to non-human forms (so, Human Form +1 covering Modular Abilities). It's a nice touch and mean that if you want to tap into your draconic powers, you've gotta look the part and break your disguise cover.

Just my 2c. I'd love to hear thoughts on what I've got as well!

For what it's worth, having played a substantial number of White Wolf Storytelling games (the people who make the World of Darkness series'), the FATE system is much, much simpler to just sit down and play. FATE focuses on narrative ability a lot more, so be prepared to talk about the 'themes' of your character, their enemies and the world around you; exploiting narrative ideas from the aspects that this game runs on, things such as tired and hungry or Never forgive, never forget, is what FATE is about.

While others might disagree, the heavy mechanics of the DFRPG game (dice, the magic system, creating balanced items/stunts/powers, etc.) pale in comparison to other systems. I think that, as long as you're prepared to use the narrative aspect of the game and not be wanting to rely on a die roll for everything, it's a great game to break into tabletop RPG.

I like the idea of a lucky ring or something sentimental being a focus item for someone unable to craft with thaumaturgy. It makes those items so much more important to the character as, if they lose it, it's gonna be really hard to replace. Sounds like good story material to me.

Hey all, new(ish) to the DFRPG but a fan of the FATE system. Anyways, that aside, looking to get into the game a bit more and a few questions regarding True Names have stuck with me since I started lurking the forums/reading the books again. Since from what I could search here didn't turn up quite what I was looking for (and apologies if this has been covered), it was enough to get me off the benches and register to ask:

How much of a True Name do you need to know to make use of it in Thaumaturgy?
Ferrovax in Grave Peril uses only parts of Harry's name to get an effect on him and Demons will apparently trade services for only part of your True Name as spoken by you. If your true name is Bob X and they only get Bob, what sort of mechanical effect (if any) can this reflect? Is it enough to provide a link for the short while before Bob's True Name changes, or do you need the full shebang?

Can places or things have True Names?
Demonreach is a decent example. It's many things, such as an island AND a prison AND has a genius loci, but does 'it' have a name that 'it' holds?

Do adopted names or nicknames do anything?
As an example, is there any way to use 'Ivy' to connect to the Archive if you're Harry or Kincaid if the Archive identifies herself in some small way as 'Ivy'? Obviously a bit overpowered if it counted as the thaumaturgical fetter needed, but could it provide a bonus?

Thanks in advance to those helping me think these through. My personal gut reactions are that nicknames probably don't do much, but that a substantial part of a True Name would count for something. As for locations/objects, I would think that if there is a Genius Loci, it would likely have a True Name of some sort.