Quote Originally Posted by Anonymouswizard View Post
Not true. Pretty much all versions of Storyteller that eliminate extra actions ends up with a similar result. Heck run Storyteller 2e and don't give the antagonists extra actions to burn on defence, they'll go down FAST if they've not heavily invested into Soak just due to the realities of splitting dice pools.

An exception is Storypath, which is explicitly built for pulp action over horror. Ganging up is still effective, but defence penalties aren't so severe.



Except it does when antagonists are built properly. A party of random mortals won't take down a Gauru form Uratha without a lot of luck or tactics (and even Dalu form could be problematic). You seem to insist that antagonists have to be built one way as glass cannons and then complain when the system has glass cannons go down fast.

Do you want a vampire who just shrugs off wounds and keeps coming at you no matter what? Give them Stamina, Resilience, Vitae reserves to use Resilience's active effects, and maybe body armour. And that's just using the systems in Requiem, not making a vampire via the Horror rules.



As we've established there is not a consensus on that.



Because of the way combat works in a game primarily focused on politics? Even though it does when you build encounters with more than 'one dude, high attack zero defence'.

Hell, both the Sabbat and Belial's Brood act in packs specifically so that neonate on neonate combat works without either side having too much of a 'gang up' bonus. Then elders tend to have at least one Discipline that makes them hard to hurt in some way, if not to just sidestep actually fighting with you entirely.

Oh yeah, it's not just the PCs who can escape and regroup. Throw a point or two of armour on your bad guy then give them a 'screw this I'm out of here' power.

But my point is: use the tools the game gives you. Ventrue are the least combat focused Clan of kindred who'd probably go down in a straight up brawl. Ventrue also get access to Resilience, so it's going to be a long and bloody brawl as you beat them to a pulp multiple times (I'm assuming you've taken measures to deal with Dominate and the Ventrue doesn't have immediate access to any familiars or should animals).

If you want an antagonist to act like X then give them what they need to act like X. Don't refuse to give it to them and then whine when the combat system works as intended.

Like 1e had it bad, Fighting Styles were ridiculously powerful and there was little point in developing your powers for combat. Heck Resilience was an utter joke. But 2e intentionally scaled back the power of mortal methods and buffed a lot of powers, to the point where Resilience is high tier.
You keep misunderstanding me; high offense low defense is the only way the system *does* work.

Athletics is just too powerful as a defensive skill, especially when combined with the ability to swap to total defense after being targeted.


Now, I don't know Forsaken. So it may work totally differently.

But in my last game I put four kids up against a werewolf cribbed from Apocalypse; 7 strength, 4 dex, 6 stamina, regeneration, 3 dots of all its combat skills. In Apocalypse, this werewolf would have torn the kids to pieces without a second thought. But in Chronicles, it could not lay a finger on them, and without the ability to soak, they were able to whittle it down to death after only a few rounds in spite of its regeneration.

I was pretty sure I was running the combat wrong, but I was told this is the intended outcome.