I'm not saying do as I say or retire your character, I'm saying that if you do certain things you risk retiring your character. Similarly if a character pissed on the leg of the Winter Queen I would feel fully justified in removing that character from the game. I feel that drama and good story comes from limitations, and if there are no limitations on characters then there is simply no reason to have a rule book at all, and don't get me wrong that can be fun to, it just isn't DFRPG.
I think your trying to create a blanket ruling on what *is* DFRPG and what is *not* which I believe is a mistake. To use your example of pissing on the Winter Queens leg, first what is more fun, out right killing that character/rendering it into an NPC, or making the characters life hell, but in a dramatic and sufficiently cool fashion as a result. Maybe instead of killing the PC the Winter Queen decides the PC in question now owes her a HUGE debt because of the insult offered, which mechanically could be represented with a bunch of points of sponsor debt that must be payed off in story.
This not just provides plot hooks, but also creates something interesting out of the situation. Similarly things like Lawbreakers should be used to make the game more interesting for the players in question, NOT arbitrarily punish them which from (again what I can tell I may be wrong) you seem to think is what they exist for. If your using the Lawbreakers to punish characters, then I think their a problem with communication and difference in play style between the GM and the players and that is a much deeper issue that would need to be resolved in entirety.
When did I suggest that killing with a Wardens sword might garner the Law Breaker power? We're not disagreeing on how direct magic has to be to count against the power, we're disagreeing on how far someone can push an attack before the put themselves at risk of killing someone.
The wardens sword is just one example, my point is, is that the grade of the attack in question is just its potency, not its effect. All that is purely apart of the metagame, not all of magic is blasts of fire and bursts of lightning which is what seems to be your point of view (from what I can tell I very well could be wrong), I see no reason why you couldn't do as I suggested above, its just as effective but with far more finesse which so long as it fits the character concept I see no problem with it.
But any noise loud enough to deafen someone permanently (or temporarily but potentially for years) can also potentially kill them.
Umm
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2298/can-a-noise-be-loud-enough-to-kill-youSo its technically possible just REALLY unlikely given the level of noise needed to pull it off. Their is a big "safe" zone for driving someone deaf but not dead atleast according to this article.