re: strength and dex.
I can see the point you're making about the differences in the strikes. In
the 3rd ed combat system, one of the differences is that damage is rolled
by [set damage]+[success-1]. So, hitting accurately really counts. All the
damage rolls have been reduced by one though, to compensate for this a
little. ie: claws roll Dex + Brawl, damage Str + sucesses - 1 (instead of
Str +1). There are other differences of course, like lethal and nonlethal
damage (punching vs stabbing/shooting). If folks were interested in moving
to this system, I'd think about it, but I prefer to stay with the familiar
one.

As it stands: yep, I do regard Strength as not just brute force, but as
a measure of muscle fitness/strength/responsiveness, so I'm happy to keep
things as is when it comes to rolling damage.

I think that I could be ok with a maneuver or two that let you roll Str
+ sucesses damage - say a higher difficulty (7 or maybe 8) and damage -1 +
sucesses -1, as per the 3rd ed rules. I'd be a bit concerned that it could
be out of proportion with the rest of combat, and might reserve the right
to pull it again :)