Rangers: Leave them alone!?

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[Spatula]

Re: The 3e Ranger and Ambidexterity & Two-Weapon Fighting

There was a study done (in Sword & Fist?) where it was shown that Fighter with shield & sword did better damage than Fighter with two weapons or two-handed damage.

Two weapons, yes, two-handed weapons, no. Using a two-handed sword will always do more damage on average than using a single one-handed sword. Of course, your armor class is lower because you have no shield.

In order to make best use of his skills, a Ranger must be using light armor (otherwise the Max. Dex. penalty adversely affects Hide and Move Silently).

The armor check penalty, you mean. The max. dex bonus doesn't affect your skills, just your AC if your dex bonus is higher than what your armor allows.

Ambidexterity and Two-weapon fighting actually help keep a Ranger weaker, by making sure he gets no shield bonus.

The Shield Expert from S&F gets around this problem nicely.

It does, however, give him an extra attack/round, almost guaranteeing him a hit, and nothing says they HAVE to use it. They can always ignore it and take Medium armor and a shield, if they don't mind not being stealthy, and moving slower. So, it's a trade-off.

Shields don't slow you down, unless they push you over your weight limit. Also, a masterwork light shield has no armor check penalty, so it doesn't affect your skills.

 

[Spatula]

Re: "...and infiltration and spying."

Yes, they are adept at scouting... and infiltration, and spying. At least in the 1e version. I understand that you don't like the idea, but...

Please answer the following, for me:

• Rangers have Pass Without Trace. How does this apply to scouting, as opposed to sneaking in?
• Why do Rangers get Detect Chaos/Evil/Good/Law when they don't need "social" skills.
• Why in the world do Rangers get Nondetection, historically a third-level Illusionist's spell, and even in 3e a spell of the Trickery Sphere? Doesn't Nondetection imply that someone, somewhere, is trying to detect you? How is this used outside of infiltration?
• Why do 3e Rangers get Polymorph Self? Doesn't that give a bonus to disguise checks?
  [/list=4]

• 1. So enemies can't see that scouts have been looking around, and can't follow you if you get caught scouting.
  
  2. So they can tell enemies from non-combatants while scouting.
  
  3. So they can't be detected with magic while scouting in enemy territory.
  
  4. So they can turn into Trolls (or some other large beastie) and kick the snot out of their enemies.

 

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