Q1) The rogues uncanny dodge has been pumped back a couple levels. Has the Barbarian's changed at all?
A1) No change.
Q2) Does the ranger have to stick with one of the combat paths, or can he choose from the feat from one or the other at each level(2,6,11)?
A2) He picks one at 2nd level; all three feats are set at that time. It's kind of like a wizard picking her specialization.
Q3)Why are the rangers virtual feats still light armor only? I can see wanting to keep the ranger out of full plate, but I see no reason to keep him out of the medium armor that he is proficient with. Not all of us are elves with 20 dexterity.
A3) You're assuming that rangers still gain medium armor proficiency--they don't. To us, the ranger's archetypal look was much better matched by leather, studded leather, or chain shirt than by breastplates. If your dwarf would rather wear chain mail, start with a chain shirt and save up for mithral chain mail.
Q4)Does the ranger TWF apply to shield bashes? Double weapons?
A4) It applies to any use of a weapon in each hand.
Q5) With the loss of power attack for light weapons, where is a weapon finesse TWF character supposed to get any damage from? (Assuming he's using that style because hes a high dex low strength ranger). Does the finesse fighter now have no option but to wait till he can afford 2 extremely expensive weapons? It doesnt seem very fair considering that TWFers, especially rangers who dont get weapon specialization, were already having power issues in 3.0.
A5) How about his incredible number of attacks? We've run the math, and TWF characters don't suffer very much if at all on the "total damage output" measurement. In fact, Power Attack was so much better for TWF characters (and so sub-par for two-handed-weapon wielders) that it all-but-demanded the changes we've instituted. I'm not going to reiterate the math here--it's been explained ad infinitum on various sites and boards, and I'm sure you can find it without too much difficulty.
If, as you say, you're playing a low-Str, high-Dex, weapon-finesse character, you've made the choice to favor accuracy and AC over damage. There's nothing wrong with that choice, but you should allow that if you're accepting a low Str, something has to give.
All else equal, 3.5 rangers aren't intended to be able to deal out as much sheer damage as fighters--that's why they have so much else going for them (skills, spells, class features, etc.).
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Andy Collins
Senior Designer
Wizards of the Coast RPG R&D
