Careful Attack/Sure Strike houserules

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

See Careful Attack/Sure Strike Analysis for the reasoning behind these houserules.

Careful Attack replacement:

On Your Heels Ranger Attack 1
You weave a dizzying pattern with your weapon, or fire a volley of missiles, keeping your enemy from guessing where the next blow will land.
At-Will Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee or Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding two melee weapons or a ranged weapon.
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC (melee) or Dexterity vs. AC
(ranged).
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage (melee) or 1[W] + Dexterity modifier damage (ranged), and the target grants you combat advantage until the end of your next turn.
Increase damage to 2[W] (melee) or 2[W] (ranged) at 21st level.

Granting combat advantage doesn't immediately seem overpowering to me. Other opinions?

As a Sure Strike replacement:

Hampering Blow Fighter Attack 1
You aim a strike at your opponents knees or ankle, seeking to slow him down.
At-Will Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage (melee), and the target is slowed until the end of your next turn.
Increase damage to 2[W] (melee) at 21st level.

Hampering Blow somewhat steps on the toes of Steel Serpent Strike (Fighter Encounter 1) and Dance of Steel (Fighter Encounter 3). Although I'm noticing that, oddly, Steel Serpent Strike is more powerful than Dance of Steel?!!? Since those two powers need some rejiggering anyway, I can safely work Hampering Blow into the mix.

 

[Mengu]

My version of Careful Attack is over here.

I was also initially granting combat advantage until end of next turn, but for an at-will power, I decided that was way too powerful, considering you can get 4+ attacks between an action point and some encounter/daily powers, benefitting from that combat advantage. There are no at-will powers that grant combat advantage. Only encounter/daily powers do that. So I changed my version to a +2 to next attack roll made before the end of your next turn. This is more in line with an at-will power like Lance of Faith. And it is still quite useful for setting up a better hit chance with encounter/daily powers.

Hampering Blow dips a little bit into controller role territory, when given as an at-will power, so I'd be hesitant to do that. And it's not overly useful compared to other fighter attacks, its utility is a bit too situational. You also might want to remove the part where it says "1[W] + Dexterity modifier damage (ranged)."

I'll think on an alternative for Sure Strike...

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

I hear what you're saying... I'm not 100% satisfied with any of our replacement powers. The Dual Lunge being used as a basic attack seems like it's wandering into dangerous territory (much as my On Your Heels granting combat advantage). I think we might have a winner if we combine On Your Heels with Well-Aimed Attack:

Well-Aimed Attack At Your Heels Ranger Attack 1
You take your time striking the enemy, weaving a dizzying pattern with your weapon, or firing a volley of missiles, keeping your foe from guessing where the next blow will land.
At-Will Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee or Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding two melee weapons or a ranged weapon.
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC (melee) or Dexterity vs. AC
(ranged).
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage (melee) or 1[W] + Dexterity modifier damage (ranged), and the target grants you combat advantage on your next attack.
Increase damage to 2[W] (melee) or 2[W] (ranged) at 21st level.