Like other entries in the "Playing Your Best" series, I will be limiting this post to the Player's Handbook.
The ranger is an interesting class in D&D 3.5. The ranger is part fighter, part druid, and has many skills suitable for scouting. Rangers get the track feat, favored enemies, wild empathy, and a combat style. It is the combat style that we're going to be focusing on in this post.
At level 2, the ranger can choose either archer or two-weapon fighting as their combat style. The chosen combat style improves at 6th and 11th levels, and once chosen, cannot be changed. The effects of the chosen combat style gives the ranger the effects of certain feats while wearing light or no armor, but does not actually grant the ranger the feat as a bonus feat.
Many players mistakenly choose their combat style based on what they want their ranger's primary method of combat to be, and why wouldn't they? That's how it's presented in the book. If you want your ranger to be an archer, you choose archery, and if you want your ranger to be a dual-wielder, you choose two-weapon fighting, but this would be a mistake.
Never be a Dual-Wielder
Two-Weapon fighting in D&D is a topic I have discussed before, but it bears repeating in this post. A character wielding two weapons gets to make extra attacks per round, which, of course, means more chances to hit your target, but even with the two-weapon fighting feat, and a light off-hand weapon, you take a -2 penalty to each attack. There are no light weapons that deal more than 1d6 damage, and there are no one-handed weapons you can wield in your other hand that deal more than 1d8 damage. Your off-hand only adds half of your strength bonus to damage.
Let's assume a character with a +3 strength bonus and +2 base attack (since the ranger gets combat style at level 2).
If you wielded a great sword, you would make one attack per round with a +5 attack bonus that deals 2d6+4 damage. On average, you would hit a target of AC 16 50% of the time and deal an average of 11 damage per hit.
If you wielded a longsword and short sword, you would make two attacks at +3, one deals 1d8+3 damage and the other 1d6+1 damage. On average, against a target of AC 16, you would hit with one attack 40% of the time, and both attacks 16% of the time, dealing an average of either 8, 4, or 12 damage.
So, to figure out damage per round (DPR), we'll take average damage, multiple by chance to hit, which gives the greatsword 6.5 DPR, and the dual-wielder 4.8 DPR.
Archery
The ranger's archery combat style gives the ranger the effects of the rapid shot, many shot, and improved precise shot feats. This does NOT give the ranger the actual feats, since the ranger loses the ability if he wears medium or heavy armor, but thankfully, there are no feats in the PHB that require these feats, except for the fact that many shot requires rapid shot. If you want to focus on archery as a ranger, you can take other archery feats (point-blank shot, far shot, etc.) and just add your combat style as you level up. This is a decent way to make an archer, but if you just want to be an archer, you're better off being a fighter. So, if your goal is to make an archer, don't play a ranger, but if your goal is to be a ranger, and you want to focus on archery, then this is a perfectly fine way to go.
Don't be an Archer
The other option is to focus on fighting with a two-handed weapon, or sword and board, and use your combat style to give you the effects of archery feats, while you use your actual feats to focus on melee combat or other options, this way you have a decent option for both ranged and melee combat.
Sadly, I've never liked the ranger class. As you can see, the combat style is lack-luster, with really only one good option. They get an animal companion, but not until level 4, and their companion is based on half their level, and the companion must be chosen from a small list, which means they aren't effective for combat. They get spells as early as level 4, but not many. They get a decent variety of skills, but not as many as the rogue. They get the track feat for free, but unlike the rogue, whose trapfinding is a class ability, any character can take the track feat, so it's not exclusive to the ranger class. In a future post, I'll further explore the ranger class and discuss the pros and cons of the class as a whole.
