Ranger's Twin Strike ...

[Jeff Wilder]

I have an archer ranger, with Twin Strike (of course).

Is there anything stopping my ranger from wielding two weapons and using Twin Strike in melee?

In a broader sense, I suppose I'm also asking if there's any meaningful distinction between an archer ranger and a twin-blade ranger, aside from Defensive Mobility and the the ability to wield a larger weapon in the off hand?

 

[Nebten]

Quick answers:
No & Not really. There maybe some powers that add bonuses if are an Archer Ranger, Two Weapon Ranger or Beast Ranger.

Welcome to the Dark Side.

 

[Thanee]

I have an archer ranger, with Twin Strike (of course).

Is there anything stopping my ranger from wielding two weapons and using Twin Strike in melee?

Nope.

Every power says, what kind of attack it is (ranged, melee, etc).

IIRC, Twin Strike is ranged or melee.

In a broader sense, I suppose I'm also asking if there's any meaningful distinction between an archer ranger and a twin-blade ranger, aside from Defensive Mobility and the the ability to wield a larger weapon in the off hand?

Yeah, there are a lot of differences, because many powers later on are either ranged or melee, and so, while there certainly is some overlap, there are also many distinctions. Paragon Path, later on, will also be completely different, whether you are ranged, melee or beast (<- Martial Power) ranger.

Bye
Thanee

 

[IanB]

I have an archer ranger, with Twin Strike (of course).

Is there anything stopping my ranger from wielding two weapons and using Twin Strike in melee?

In a broader sense, I suppose I'm also asking if there's any meaningful distinction between an archer ranger and a twin-blade ranger, aside from Defensive Mobility and the the ability to wield a larger weapon in the off hand?

The archer ranger can indeed use Twin Strike in melee. It is unlikely to be a super effective tactic for an archery focused ranger, simply because you likely won't have a lot of points lying around to get yourself a decent strength, and there's also the matter that you're not likely to be able to afford to keep 2 melee weapons *and* your main ranged weapon at a top tier enhancement bonus without significant sacrifice elsewhere. But yeah the option is definitely there if you find yourself pinned down somewhere or whatever. Also you're likely to end up wanting to focus on one side or the other feat-wise.

Anyway, I am going to go check the temperature in Hell now.

 

[tmatk]

Another factor is switching weapons; to switch from your long bow to your 2 swords costs 3 minor actions, unless your character has the quickdraw feat, or drops the longbow as a free action.

 

[Asmor]

I have an archer ranger, with Twin Strike (of course).

Is there anything stopping my ranger from wielding two weapons and using Twin Strike in melee?

In a broader sense, I suppose I'm also asking if there's any meaningful distinction between an archer ranger and a twin-blade ranger, aside from Defensive Mobility and the the ability to wield a larger weapon in the off hand?

The only difference between a ranger with the archery class feature and one with the dual wielding class feature is that the archery ranger is totally gimped.

I just rolled up an archery ranger and took the dual wielding class feature. No intention whatsoever to use the offhand bit, but toughness > defensive mobility, IMHO.

Other than that, the only difference I'm aware of is which paragon paths you can qualify for.

 

[Mahali]

The only difference between a ranger with the archery class feature and one with the dual wielding class feature is that the archery ranger is totally gimped.

Yeah, it's just awful to do lots of damage at range while keeping a decent AC.

Ranged Rangers are pretty awsome especially if the rest of the part can occupy or control the mobs.

 

[lukelightning]

Note that an archer ranger can't wield two longswords (for example); they'd have to wield a longsword and a shortsword.

 

[Kordeth]

Yeah, it's just awful to do lots of damage at range while keeping a decent AC.

Ranged Rangers are pretty awsome especially if the rest of the part can occupy or control the mobs.

You're missing the point. Ranged rangers aren't gimped, archery fighting style rangers are. If you play a ranged-weapon ranger, you're honestly better off taking the Two-Blade Fighting Style than the Archery Fighting Style: Archery gives you a single bonus feat, which you can take anyways, while Two-Blade gives you a bonus feat you can take anyway and an exclusive class feature (the ability to wield weapons in your off-hand even if they lack the off-hand property). You don't actually lose anything going that route, and a lot of people think Toughness is straight-up better than Defensive Mobility anyways. The only thing you lose going by nothing but PHB 1 is access to the archery-themed paragon paths, but Martial Power introduced some pretty nice ones that don't require Archery Fighting Style, so even that's gone.

Personally, I think making Prime Shot an AFS-exclusive helps with this issue without giving ranged rangers more juice--which they really don't need.

 

[DracoSuave]

Defensive Mobility archers don't get locked down in melee as easily as 'archers' who took toughness. Toughness doesn't do -anything- against the status effects that often accompany certain monsters' basic attacks. Defensive Mobility -does-.

For a flexible ranged+melee guy tho, Toughness/TWF is the right choice, because you're planning to be in melee. TWF goes Str/Dex anyways for the AC boost, so you're good enough with that bow and get that tactical flexibility.

Archer rangers, tho, go Dex/Wis, and they have powers to get them out of melee range where that extra weapon ability you'll never use and Toughness are suboptimal.

The disadvantage of DM is that it doesn't add to a stat on your character sheet. But if you use it once per fight, it'll save you a lot more hps than Toughness ever does. Monsters hit for more than 5 damage these days.