I am wondering if anyone else has considered ways to make the ranged character more effective/dramatic for story purposes instead of just someone who plinks in order to slowly edge the target toward kill-able for someone else.
My homebrew solution is that the standard ranger build for archer-type rangers is 5 Ranger (hunter)/ 7 Rogue (assassin) after level 12 there is a bit more variety (an extra level of ranger for Greater favored enemy, up to 6 more levels of ranger for the Volley, an extra level of rogue for an ASI, 2 levels of fighter for action surge, or up to 8 levels of druid, wizard or sorcerer for spell casting.
At Level 8 you pretty much can have everything you would want for an archer Ranger 5 /Rogue 3 with sharpshooter. High burst, and sustained ranged damage. With a good poison nothing in your level range can survive a surprise round. hunters mark + sneak attack + autocrit + poison plus a second attack and most likely initiative on the next round...
With 2 levels of fighter at level 14, a surprise attack with action surge, all crits will deflate even bloated 200hp monsters in a single round.
So the standard Ranger hunter conclave in my world teaches starting 3 levels of rogue with survival, nature, stealth and perception (pick two for expertise) then do 5 levels of ranger the the other 4 levels of rogue Since these are Ranger run schools thief tools gets traded out for herbalism. This simulates apprentice rangers learning to hunt game and do quick ranged take downs. For PCs this means that they have a few levels to figure out the world and pick a relevant full-flavor favored enemy.
Of course Rangers being a naturally independent and freedom loving group, there is nothing to say that some can't start ranger. If they do they usually go 5 levels of ranger then rogue. But in my world there aren't any Hunter Rangers with more than 11 levels of ranger. There is no reason for it.
What I like about my solution is minimal rule changes (thief tools=>herbalism), and Ranger becomes a class of total awesomeness.