Uses of rangers...

[D*Ranged]

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1. Use him as front - liners: Give him/her a good str + Dex + Con for that. U lose the ability of hide in shadows because u cant do that when wearing an armour more than studded leather.

2. Archer - Like Kivan, but better stats than him.
(Yeah, I know, he's very good with a bow/spear/halberd...)

3. As a semi - thief: No backstabs but sneak around and give ur spellcasters where to dump fireball, stinking cloud, cloudkill etc.)

Any more uses?

[Lord Brass]

They are outstanding as Cleric/Rangers. My personal opinion is that like paladins, they're not very good. Their special abilities can be obtained elsewhere from another character class (or multi-class) and obtained much better. They are good atmosphere characters, however, and I rarely make up a party based on any powergaming reasons.

Try Cleric/Rangers if you haven't already. So much better than Fighter/Clerics (except Dwarven Fighter/Clerics that is).

[D*Ranged]

Originally posted by Lord Brass: They are outstanding as Cleric/Rangers. My personal opinion is that like paladins, they're not very good. Their special abilities can be obtained elsewhere from another character class (or multi-class) and obtained much better. They are good atmosphere characters, however, and I rarely make up a party based on any powergaming reasons. Try Cleric/Rangers if you haven't already. So much better than Fighter/Clerics (except Dwarven Fighter/Clerics that is).

But I hear Cleric/Rangers level up VERY slowly...besides, I currently play with an elven ranger. AND elves can't be a Cleric/Ranger.

[Chris77Se]

Originally posted by D*Ranged: quote: Originally posted by Lord Brass: They are outstanding as Cleric/Rangers. My personal opinion is that like paladins, they're not very good. Their special abilities can be obtained elsewhere from another character class (or multi-class) and obtained much better. They are good atmosphere characters, however, and I rarely make up a party based on any powergaming reasons. Try Cleric/Rangers if you haven't already. So much better than Fighter/Clerics (except Dwarven Fighter/Clerics that is).

But I hear Cleric/Rangers level up VERY slowly...besides, I currently play with an elven ranger. AND elves can't be a Cleric/Ranger.[/QUOTE]The main advantage (or better: this is the reason, why this classcombination rocks ) of a cleric/ranger is, that he can cast druid spells. And not only the ones the ranger is allowed to cast but also the spells of Level 4 and higher. So you have a caharcter, who can cast druid AND cleric spells to the 7th level (at least in BG2).
Otherwise the other guys are right, rangers and paladins in BG1 are pretty useless. They level slower than normal fighters, the special abilities are of no use, they can only put two points in any weapon skill.

Chris