Are ranged rangers better than melee ones?

[Minigiant]

They are about equal. The TWF ranger has better feats, and multiclass better. The ranged ranger is less reliant on stats and party make up. TWF rangers are better for hunting down the annoying enemies. While archer rangers are good at plain old killing.

 

[vigormortis]

That's the problem. You'll fall behind the purist. If you go Str/Dex your Wis isn't going to be optimal meaning you'll miss out on high exploit modifiers. Don't pretend like it won't add up quickly. At 1st level you'll be straggling next to the purist (Fox's Cunning and Two-Fanged Strike).

I don't think you ever use wisdom to actually hit anything though, nor are any of the powers that use wisdom affected by having a mediocre wisdom score. Fox's Cunning IMO loses to Evasive Strike as a level 1 choice, and evasive strike allows you to shift 1 already. If you have a Wis 12, you can shift 2, which is often enough to get CA on an opponent or position yourself for a ranged attack.

Wis is good, but purists losing out on strength or dexterity are losing an edge in melee or range that limits their versatility, something wisdom doesn't make up for.

 

[Danceofmasks]

Could always dump dex heavily, go str/wis, and wear heavy armour.
Sure, it costs a lot of feats, but it would be so awesome for a 2WF character in plate interrupt-shifting all over the place.

 

[vigormortis]

The -2 skill check and lack of Dex means you lose the ability to sneak around, but yeah, plate armored dual wielding rangers sound fun. With so much armor you probably don't care who notices you.

 

[James McMurray]

They should have made magic bows create their own arrows. Or at least an ever full quiver as a low level item. even as a 1st level item, you're paying the price of 10,800 arrows to avoid the annoyance of bookkeeping your ammo.

 

[Cadfan]

There are mixed opinions on this.

Some people adamantly insist that the ranged ranger is better because he needs only dex and wis, while the melee ranger needs str, dex, and wis.

Other people adamantly insist that the melee ranger is better, because he can use Proficiency: Bastard Swords, Weapon Focus: Heavy Blades, and Two Weapon Fighting until he's attacking with a proficiency 3, 1d10 weapon, with +2 to damage on his main hand and +1 on his off hand, at heroic tier. And then he can get Two Weapon Defense, for extra protection.

My take on it is that they're pretty balanced. The ranged ranger is a bit more efficient in terms of ability scores and feats, and can project damage really, really well. The melee ranger is a bit stat spread (though he can remedy that with Armor Proficiency: Chain, costs him 1 feat and 1 point of movement in exchange for the ability to dump dex, everyone forget this for some reason), but has good feat choices and acts as a secondary Defender for the party. That can't be underestimated. Having a Ranger around loosens up a lot of the pressure on the Fighter by giving him a partner who can benefit from the Fighter's marking powers, and who occasionally absorbs damage, spreading it out amongst the party.

 

[Benly]

Personally I'm fond of a house rule that lets a character make more arrows with a fairly easy Nature or Dungeoneering check during extended rests. A guy needs to do something during his watch and it's not odd to think a professional bowman and hunter knows how to make arrows.

 

[bardolph]

Unfortunately, it doesn't matter what kind of ranged weapon you use - all the ranger powers are Dexterity-based for ranged attacks. "heavy thrown" only affects basic attacks, not powers.

I'm not sure that's a good rule, but it is the rule.

Can you cite the page # for this reference?

 

[Agrias Oaks]

Can you cite the page # for this reference?

Every ranged attack power for a ranger has 'Dex vs X', as such, the thrown weapon bonuses would be effectively useless. A ranger does IMO benefit more from carrying around a bow instead of a throwing weapon to use while in Melee.

 

[bardolph]

The melee ranger is a bit stat spread (though he can remedy that with Armor Proficiency: Chain, costs him 1 feat and 1 point of movement in exchange for the ability to dump dex, everyone forget this for some reason), but has good feat choices and acts as a secondary Defender for the party. That can't be underestimated.

A TWF Dwarf won't even take a movement penalty.

I'd say that it really depends on the party composition. A ranged ranger can get more attack power for less investment in feats and ability scores. However, the party will need a solid front line in order to give the archer this opportunity. If the front line is lacking, then ranged strikers will often get engaged by Brutes and Soldiers. An archer flanked by two soldiers is in quite a pickle, and if this happens on a regular basis, you may regret passing up the Two-Blade focus.