4E Called Shots

This morning on that At-Will webchat there was a discussion about how to develop called-shots for 4E. most of the discussion revolved around how powerful they should. Encounter long was right out. But would it be useful if a called shot only lasted until the end your next turn?  Perhaps but it couldn't impose a condition like daze, even stun would be terribly powerful.  Another question was how often could it be used. Some wanted it to be at-will. Others suggested it as an encounter. Finally the idea floated up to use it with an action point, I liked this idea because it is an under utilized item in the rules and in the economy of actions.

While I am still not sure this kind of thing is appropriate for 4E I wanted to take a crack at trying to write up a way to do it. So below is my idea. It isn't refined or play tested but it is a mostly complete and coherent rule. and an argument for adding it to the game.

Called Shot: Sometimes in a fight you are less concerned with damaging an enemy so much as restricting its abilities. This is the domain of controllers. But 4E has allowed everyone a chance to heal with second wind, encounter or daily powers can let other classes deal lots of damage like strikers, and many classes can make themselves a better target than another to help act a little like a defender. So why can't every class have some built in control? The mechanism for this is going to be termed a Called Shot.


To perform a Called Shot the player must expend an action. All bonuses for using an action point are provided as usual with the exception of the granted additional standard action. Instead the player may apply an additional affect from the called shot list. The Action Point must be used before the PC makes an attack and may be applied to any kind of attack. This additional affect on the target remains until it makes a save. The use of an Action Point in this way counts towards the one use of an Action Point per an encounter.

Called Shot List:
Attacker using called shot gain +1 to attack
Attacker using called shot gain +3 per tier to damage
Target take halves it current movement speed
Target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls
Target takes a -5 penalty to damage