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The Axe weapon group has this critical specialization:
Choose one creature adjacent to the initial target and within reach. If its AC is lower than your attack roll result for the critical hit, you deal damage to that creature equal to the result of the weapon damage die you rolled (including extra dice for its striking rune, if any). This amount isn't doubled, and no bonuses or other additional dice apply to this damage.
So if I use an Axe weapon with Hand of the Apprentice and I crit a faraway enemy, can I damage an adjacent creature, or is that creature disqualified because they are beyond my character's reach?
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*flips over Magic 8 Ball*
The answer is unclear.
For myself, I would rule that the second creature has to be adjacent to the primary target of your Hand of the Apprentice Axe attack and within the range of the spell.
No just spells either, I ran into this when a player decided to throw a hatchet and landed a crit.
FWIW I agree with Finoan on this one.
Yeah, this affects several different things.
I think that to generalize the wording, it could use a rather simple errata.
Choose one creature adjacent to the initial targetand within reachthat would also be a valid target for the initial attack.
As for Weapon Storm, I can see that one not working with Axe specialization. It specifies that the crit spec effect only affects a target if they crit fail their save.
So if a creature crit fails, then only that creature should be affected by the crit spec.
The adjacent creature is likely already being affected by the spell, so they shouldn't be affected by the spell a second time. And if they aren't already affected by the spell it is because they are outside of the spell's area and wouldn't be a valid target within reach range.
Fair enough. I've got a shifting rune, so there are plenty of other options.