I may start playing again in September and I might try my hand at a ranger, it's a strong class that I never gave a real chance. I am thinking about a good aligned archer (possibly knight) and would like some input on the available races. What do you all suggest and why? Thanks.
Ranger Discussion
Slith Avatar Praetorian, Archer or Beastmaster
The arrow selection or the ability to follow just about -anyone-.
Slith for the auto-trip.
Avatar for ownage.
Praetorian cause its all you can be 
Slith can be ranger?
Slith can be ranger?
Owned.
You're bad and you should feel bad. Hahaha
I thought tracker was the path you follow people with. D:
Bimpni believes in gimpage. He also loves to answer questions. Even when he's wrong. He's just happy he got to say something.
Gnomes and Humans are underrated.
Gnome Warmaster or Human Knight.
Gnomes are underrated? Obviously... Dont play a tiny sized always dispellable class that relys on melee combat and carrying gear around?
Are they tiny sized? They're small sized last I checked - just like halflings. Faeries are the only tiny sized race.
And there has been two slith rangers in the past. One in Nexus and the other in Watcher. Both had a little gimpage though.
Putting this thread back on the railway...!
If you are fast at PK I say Halfling Ranger Archer Praet
If you want even more of a boost go Avatar.
Halfers magic resist owns. High Dex makes the class.
Rangers are about dex and speed and fast damage output.
Halflings are very capable of doing this.
If you are not super fast at PK I suggest an Ogre Tracker for Shieldthrow Lag.
Its easy to equip to counter your magic resist. Huge HP, Giant sized damage, being able to dual wield a two hander makes it easier to exploit vulns with better weapons. Knight Praetorian and you will be just fine.
And there has been two slith rangers in the past. One in Nexus and the other in Watcher. Both had a little gimpage though.
The one in nexus was pretty beastly. Even with the gimpage.
Meh Ive had a good halfling... I didnt like it. There is a distinct lack of 'good' staffs out there.
I must not have been around for those two sliths. Just out of curiosity what skills got gimped?
Praet staff pwns. Just sayin.
Meh Ive had a good halfling... I didnt like it. There is a distinct lack of 'good' staffs out there.
Staff of Retribution (socketable)
Pincer Staff (socketable)
Frigid Staff (socketable)
In addition to those three -- plus ranger staff and Chaosbane -- I can't see how you can say that finding a nice staff is a problem for good-aligned rangers.
As far as what's what between races, I would say that Ogre is naturally the stronger of the two (better against melee) whereas Halfling would be the more survivable of the two (better against casters/communers). Especially given that Avatars can now go up to Elder in Knight, I would also contend that a Ranger Praetorian Avatar could easily be one of the strongest combos available.
I must not have been around for those two sliths. Just out of curiosity what skills got gimped?
Dunno about the nexus one, but the warder one lost herb and camp (iirc).
So it seems the most pk viable races are ogre and halfling... From an RP standpoint I feel like an elf, human or half-elf makes more sense for the archer path. How much does mana play a role for archer rangers? As a halfling or ogre would I be running out of mana a lot? I guess an elf would have the highest mana pool but I also feel like they would be pretty squishy and easily bashlocked to death by any giant melee (or is that what sleepy arrows counter?). I think it would be fun to try a half-elf for the RP and for the fastest ranking/training and a favourable pk range... If I were to try for avatar I also think a half-elf would end up with some pretty decent stats. The archer RP quite interests me, if I were going to go for something with more PK prowess I suppose I could always restring a halfling or ogre...
Definitely ogre. Better weapons are the finishers, your ranged potential is the same as every other race, and being dispelled isn't what kills you--laglocks with a low max HP do. Ogres are more survivable and have better damage output.
I concur with celerity. If you fear the low hp go Ogre. You can wield a combo of very powerful weapons and get super high hit/dam and saves if you equip right.
Mana plays little role in rangers. Camping regens a ton of mana.
I rarely use thunderstorm as an archer. That would be the only resason for high mana.