My biclassed ranger/bard (8-6 ratio right now) Arden made me really satisfied in any circumstance he was on, he was mostly an archer, and a multicrafter. That is, mostly it has been time draining, because he made himself his varnishes, arrows, potions and most gear he wore, but it made an excellent RP story until I played him. I even think as ranger 14 instead of multiclass, with the similar build (high dex, high const, archer mostly) he could have been useful in many circumstances more: he mostly played ranged, but that gave him the chance to heal people, or to replace the tanker (given his high HP amount) to give him the chance to recover some. Not a big damage dealer, but pragmatic. Then if you want a pure sneaker, go for rogue, if a pure tanker, fighter and barbarian. For me, as it is now, the ranger is quite pragmatic, and it needs some more tactical sense to be played.
I've played also NWN2 with a ranger, and it follows 3.5 rules: admittedly I felt more powerful.
Tarokka, we are talking about pure rangers only.
It was mentioned in the previous posts quite on a lot of occasions, that a multiclass ranger is quite powerfull, since the additions it gives to other classes is good(8 free feats, to rogues or bards!), or the other classes one takes make those hindrances the ranger suffers neglected.
The problem is if you want to stay pure, as a ranger than you have major problems.
A ranger/rogue a ranger/bard is a very good AC tank because they get tumble, not to mention the extra useage of magical items, since they get umd with the taken non ranger classes. (ofc not everyone does it.)
What you say with the varnishes, potions, arrows and such, is basicly allready in effect for allmost all other classes, even casters, clerics whatnot take several potions with them.
That is why the potion market is dwindling because it is not worth to sell it, because nobody knows when you will ever need one. (And half these guys regularly hunt on herbs to resupply them!)
The ranger could be pragmatic, but sadly it does not have enough things for it.
Its spellcasting abilities are quite limited. Usefull spells of the list on the server are 2-3/per level.
CLW, elemental resist, cats grace, and the sneak bonus giving ones. It is not worht to take offensive spells since your DC will be very low to be of much use.
To have a decent AC you have to sacrifice either feats or con/str/wisdom/int. Beside the charisma all abilities are needed for a ranger. Int for skills, wisdom for spells, dex for AC and range bonus, str, to hit and damage not to mention carry capacity!(heavy consumeable reliance!) Con, well they need hp...
The skill points they gain is not enough, 2 allready go for sneak.
They gain their spells quite late, especially the one that is the most usefull to them, and even that one is considered quite weak opposed to the other same effect giving spells.
Cant remove his own traps! His search is limited to the 30-s range (if i recall well) from which only a rogue is able to notice the traps (even if he cant removeing them spotting them is quite allright!)
A ranger is usually the scout guy of the wilds, a survivalist, for which he would need skill points, a decent ranger in my oppinion needs the following skills on this server:
Ms, hide, heal, parry, discipline/concentration, spot/listen, lore, set traps...even with the optional take one of the two i suggest with /, you will need to be a human ranger with 14 int or any other with 16 to have all these! (On an RP server the skills are quite important!)
Going for metal armor needs 2-3 feats to be able to still dualwield, not to mention the ACP which gives a reduction to your skills. Hard to find a chain shirt that actually gives some back of the reductions.
The animal companion is a joke at most times. It is a true meat shield to cover your escape.
Its so called GMW, the blade thirst only effects slash weapons, makeing pierce specced dual wielders (AKA finesse based), have their only weapon buffing spell effectless on them.
(yeah they should go with dual kukris...) Not to mention it comes to them at a very late time! on level 12!
Not to mention the penalties that will not be eliminated from the dual wielding, the ability to heighten your ab is quite a limited case too.
We all know what the situation is with the multiclassed rangers(they rock), but we are talking about the normal ones. Which is utterly underpowered considering every other class.
It is the problem that the ranger is very ability resiliant which was partially taken away from 3.5, making it a much more usefull and balanced class.