combat rebalancing

Reformulated part 3

3. Make SCE work "at the same time as other strikes" - meaning opponents strike will be dealt and just after it the combat will end.

GreyB wrote:

Round 2

See reformulated 3. Was too drunk to gee clear at the first try

So combat "matrix" will be those:
First strike(FS) beats dodge(D) and SCE, but is easily prevented (P).
Environmental damage (ED) beats everything but can be D
D can be beaten by additional strikes(AS) and presses(P)
AS and P are beaten by SCE
But SCE are not so good against regular strikes.

-2 pool appears because when you can move pool to torporised vampires(using transfers) you'll do it, instead of present whining about crosstable rescue or just sitting there doing nothing.

I see no point in those changes except number 5 which is more intuitive than current rule for agro damage.
Best thing we can do with first strike rules is to remove them. It's niche rules which bring only misunderstandings.

alek wrote:

I see no point in those changes except number 5 which is more intuitive than current rule for agro damage.
Best thing we can do with first strike rules is to remove them. It's niche rules which bring only misunderstandings.

How to resolve aggravated damage and first strike may not be intuitive, but one can reasonably find out how they work from the rulebook. This is not the case for environmental damage. The term environmental damage has somehow entered the lexicon of the game, with myriad rulings that use "environmental damage" to refer to damage that is not from a strike. The term environmental damage does not exist in the rulebook or detailed play summary. Having rulings use a term that is not defined in the rulebook, I think, is a bigger issue than how intuitive first strike or aggravated damage are. It makes applying rulings a nightmare for casual players because they have nothing in the rulebook outlining what environmental damage actually is.

It sounds to me like the op wants his dom weenies discplineless dodges to be the end all answer to everything that the opponent might do.

Absolutely terrible.
1) and are pure combat disciplines. Removing their signature cards is not "rebalancing", it is nerfing them into oblivion.
2) Who cares? Do you really think you can have more dodges than I have Aid from Bats?
3) That completely wallpapers S:CE. If there was any point in planning further ahead than the first strike, then we would actually see some second round in play.

The rest is debatable.