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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cadfan" data-source="post: 4371814" data-attributes="member: 40961">Fair enough, sort of.The following ignores criticals, which are ever so slightly in favor of Split the Tree, but not by a lot.TWF Ranger, 18 str, using 1d10 proficiency 2 weapons, hitting on a 11+:Expected damage: .5*(5.5*2+4) + .5*(5.5*2+4) + .5*.5*(5.5*2+4) + .5*.5*(5.5*2+4) + 3.5 = 7.5 + 7.5 + 3.75 + 3.75 = 26Archery Ranger, 18 dex, using a 1d10 proficiency 2 weapon, hitting on an 11+:2*.75*(5.5*2+4) + .75*3.5 = 25.125.That's it.  Meanwhile,1. "Must be adjacent to target" is as much a targeting restriction as "targets two foes within 3 of one another, the former is arguably the more restrictive of the two, and it carries the most risk of personal harm.2. If you change the axes to longswords and include the extra proficiency bonus, it actually makes things worse, because Miss: Half rewards high damage and low accuracy disproportionately in comparison to other power attributes.Expected damage: .55*(4.5*2+4) + .55*(4.5*2+4) + .45*.5*(4.5*2+4) + .45*.5*(4.5*2+4) + 3.5 = 7.15 + 7.15 + 2.925 + 2.925 + 3.5 = 20.15.3. If you give the TWF ranger proficiency in bastard swords and the archery ranger the boosted hunter's quarry, you get 25.845 for the archery ranger, andExpected damage: .55*(5.5*2+4) + .55*(5.5*2+4) + .45*.5*(5.5*2+4) + .45*.5*(5.5*2+4) + 3.5 = 8.25 + 8.25 + 3.375 + 3.375 + 3.5 = 26.75.which still fails to create a lead of an entire point of damage.Eventually, as you add feats (or as you increase the AC of the target, the opposite being true as it decreases), the TWF ranger will pull ahead due to the availability of four damage boosting feats (bastard swords, weapon focus, two weapon fighting, lethal hunter), and the lack of damage boosting ranged feats.  The archery ranger still receives benefits from feats, of course, they just won't be damage boosts.But 2 targets in 3 spaces of one another is a trivial thing to find in an encounter with multiple foes, and you get to pick the targets you most want dead.  So you can pick off bloodied foes, or foes with low AC.  Choosing to go after foes with low AC makes it even easier for you to beat the expected damage of the melee Ranger, as the lower the AC becomes, the more Split the Tree moves ahead.</blockquote>

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