I believe Ranger get's a lot of class skills that make them adept at sneaking about and spotting things, along with some spells to help this (camouflage, mass camouflage, One with the Land) - add that to Trackless Step and they should be the best sneakers on the server to go with that sweet AB and melee ability, especially if they are Shadowdancers. They also get the spell Aid for a bonus to AB and can cast Greater Magic Fang on the pet. Dual wield with parry - isn't that any good? I heard good things about it on this server, and with the high attack tables like Fighters, they should be pretty good with it By the way, they also get elemental protection, freedom and invisibility purge. Ever tried using grease, or entangle to slow down things chasing you? It's pretty effective if they aren't immune.
I guess my point is, they get access to a number of decent spells (unlike other melee classes) can sneak and spot/listen very well (unlike other melee classes) while still keeping a high AB and free dual wield (which for others, costs about 3 feats). If your that concerned about losing a few DEX points when your flatfooted, cross class to a class that has uncanny dodge, or go sword and board. I used to play rangers a lot on my old server and they were one of the more powerful melee types, especially when they had access to items they could buff themselves with. If AC was an issue, they just wouldn't dual wield, as dual wielding in its very nature means no shield - lower AC, so you can't expect to play frontliner while dual wielding.
first of all.
Grease and engtangle are useless spells since the DC is somewhere like 12 or 13 maybe fourteen. Not to mention that ranger caster level is only half of the actual caster level.
(so even your buffs wont last long! cats grace on level 10 is considered a level 5 lasting cats grace.)
Grease and entangle are awesome for a druid, since they can easily get it up to 20+dc. But a rangers grease or even entangle hell even a zombie can save it with 50% chance! unless you take transmu focuses which than wil give you like +4 to dc, still very limited effect, and you wasted two feats you could have used better ( you can know entangle and knockoff skeletons and juju zombies, congrats!).
I doubt any ranger will take the Aid spell up since they get blade thirst on the same level, which is a bit more effective(+3 enchantment vs +2 ab and 8 hp?
. Greater magic fang to use on the animal companion, well no sense. Since the animal companion is weak. VERY weak. You cannot buff it up beside wasting a shitload of potions or items on it, and even than not even half as good as any familiar, nor a druids companion. GMF is useless, MF is sometimes okay but that is all.
Secondly that few dex points really hurt, because it lowers a lot of your skills and beside your ac your reflex saves. And your only save focuse is fort. You get your reflex from the startup dex bonus and addon dex points, and the cats grace spell.
They only have 4 skills points per level, not 6 like in 3.5
Whereas they have at least 7 or more skills they would require, and are all class skills. Discipline, parry, ms, hide, spot, search, listen, concentration, heal, animal empathy, not to mention set traps rocks for them. Of course they cannot remove their own traps thereafter. i made my ranger with 14 int and i still have to sacrifice 2-3 skills per level as of not putting any point in it. Animal empathy is one of them. It is better to SNEAK around as a ranger than to fight most of the stuff you meet. Their high attack table is not as good as fighters, since they require more abilities, than fighters or barbs, and receive less feats than ftgs. In 3.0 they do not receive extra AB against Favoured enemies, just damage 1 point /5 levels. So you get +3 damage on level 10, which is not even magical, or bypassing and is easily reduced or soaked. (At bow you dont need mighty for this to apply, that is a good thing though.) They cant enhance their str, their will, nor their endurance with spells. (which they should but that is nwns fault.)
They are skill(int) and spell(wis) dependant. Dex, str, con, wis, int these are all their main abilities...The decent spells, laughable.
The usefull spells on the server :
level 1: camouflage, cure light wounds, magic fang(actually lasts for at best 2 battle turns when your animal comp dies...), ultravision(limited useage), resist elements
level 2: cats grace, one with the land, and prot from elements
level 3: blade thirst and maybe cmw
level 4: polymorph self, csw and fom.
That is it. Not to mention as a ranger you get a lot less spell slots, even with the caliban bracers, which is good that it gives 1/1 spell slots, but the reflex save reduction is a damn hit.
(compare it with justaurocorps, or whatever that armors name is.)
You only get favoured enemy as bonus feat, dual wield while wearing light armor(for medium you have to take the feats up, waste 2 feats...), you get itwf for free, no armor or any restriction.
Usefull is the tempest rebuttal, i strongly discourage anyone to make a dex based ranger, starting with more dex than 15(!) at start since it is not worth it. Tempest rebuttal is how you can max out your damage dealing capabilities in melee. (Or any double blade you find and can keep:P) finesse is a bad road for a ranger to take. The rapier rule that got applied in 3.5 does not work here, that if you wield two rapiers one is considered medium and the other one a small one.
On the traps, yes they are usefull, but here is a little something, setting them up breaks stealth, breaks invisibility, and the best buyable traps are average traps. Crafting traps require skillpoints again which you lack.
I am talking about pure rangers, i dont cross class. You can make every class good with cross classing. Because than it is not a class, but x-classed.
SD is prestige, and i dont think that for any good alligned ranger SD is a good idea, or assasin for the matter.
On winters post, about stalking, hunting and such. Try it, half the monsters have such SERIOUS listen and spot skills, that you best go with invisibility and sneak, and even than they notice you. The sneak nerf really hits the rangers badly, not to mention all those listen and spot bonus items. I especially loved when i picked up a body that slightly encumbered me (with bulls potion 20 str i had 266 carry weight with corpse i got to 278 ) i got -50 to ms and hide. Setting up traps applies, if you have room to fallback, set your traps up, and than lure them in. Enter a cave, and most times this is not an option.
As i was told once by someone who plays a ranger longer than i have: If you have sneak, you cannot sneak past the things you should avoid, but you can sneak past the things you can defeat with ease. I aggree with this sentence in 60%...there are exceptions, but most times, everyone notices you, even if you dont slam a door, dont go close, are not glowing, and have maxed out your sneaking skills.
about their ranging capabilities, a druid is the best archer. seriously:(
Zen archery and high wisdom and best wisdom bonus giving spell that stacks with owls....(30 wisdom means +10 ab with bow.)