Your next v3.5 ranger - 2weapons or bow?

[Ligon Flarius]

Almost 23 years later, I think this thread is now in the wrong forum?

this is hilarious. Tells us how cool this game is (for some). But how's this the wrong forum?

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

this is hilarious. Tells us how cool this game is (for some). But how's this the wrong forum?

Seems to be just an observation that there is now a forum specifically for older versions of D&D.

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

I voted "more than about the weapon choice." But my druthers as a player is for archery, if forced to choose. If I had a "two weapon combat" character conception, I'd want it to be a swashbuckler type, and a ranger based build for that would end up as a "ranger in name only" sort of character. Maybe an Urban Ranger from the UA rules, if the DM allowed that.

Now my preference as a GM and house-rule-writer is to get away from those baked-in class-feature choices. In my Brotherhood of Rangers game, the PCs are all OtherClass-Ranger gestalts, and I allow them to take bonus feats instead of combat styles, animal companions, or favored enemies.

 

[Celebrim]

Around the time this post was originally written, I divided the Ranger into two classes - the Explorer a jack-of-all-trades focused on movement ability, navigation, and two-handed fighting and the Hunter focused on ranged weapons and killing things. Potentially shared stealth and survival, but they covered two very different idea. NPCs Explorers were often sailors, messengers, teamsters, guides or translators, while NPC hunters were often assassins, rat catchers, magistrates, undead slayers and well hunters. The goal of both classes was to cut down on the baggage Ranger was carrying around as an awkward and I think anti-mythological attempt to be Middle Earth "Rangers", which were in D&D terms more Cavaliers that had been forced to hide in the wilderness (Aragorn himself being a Paladin). The D&D class has I think struggled to find a niche for itself that isn't Aragorn in part because it's trying to be too many narrow things all at once. Why does everyone who hunts or tracks have to be a nature loving paragon with shamanistic magic?

Since I think 3e's most iconic Ranger ability was "most favored enemy", and the range weapon loving Hunter kept that ability I answered the poll with "will be a master of archery one day". But Ranger per se in my game didn't survive much past the time this poll was written.