Ranger/Rogue help!

[SMac8988]

Hello all. I have been away from 3.5 for a number of years and in my currently 5e game I am playing a beast master, theif. And was wondering does a ranger/rogue transfer well back?

My character does close combat with two short swords, halfling with a wolf.

I know it's feat intensive, but just curious how well it worked back in the day?

[Zaq]

Ranger doesn't do a lot on its own in 3.5. I mean, I guess if you really want to get TWF on a Rogue by spending levels instead of spending feats, Ranger will hurt your skill points less than Fighter will, but Ranger itself doesn't do much. (Wildshape Ranger is another story, but that's not what you're talking about, I would think.)

You might look into Swift Hunter, which is a feat that combines Ranger with Scout. Scouts have a fair bit in common with Rogues (both of them are skillful and sneaky characters who do precision damage, but a Scout's precision damage, called Skirmish, is based on your movement rather than on catching the enemy in a bad spot), and Swift Hunter basically lets you use Ranger levels (which have better BAB than Scout levels do, although Ranger levels have worse skills) instead of Scout levels to advance Skirmish. That said, TWF doesn't work well with Skirmish unless you invest in getting free movement (which usually means a level of Barbarian for Pounce or a level of Cleric for Travel Devotion—both of those are entirely possible, but it's still a hurdle you have to overcome), so Swift Hunter builds usually go for archery over melee.

A Ranger's animal companion is really weak in 3.5 even if you go full Ranger; if you mix Ranger with anything else, the animal companion is basically a bloodstain waiting to happen. Anyone (Ranger or not) can take a feat called Wild Cohort to gain the service of a pet who functions much like an animal companion, but who requires less investment. It's generally considered wise to trade away a Ranger's animal companion for an alternate class feature and then use Wild Cohort on a replacement if you want to have a pet.

Ranger isn't a totally worthless class in 3.5 (it got a lot of support, so you can dig up stuff for it to do), but it really doesn't do very much on its own, at least not out of the box. You'd be better served by trying to figure out what you want the character to actually do and then finding a class that will meet your needs than by just matching names and hoping that everything works out.

[SMac8988]

I'd like decent damage as a halfling, with a riding wolf who won't die instantly. I feel 3.5 is such a let down when it comes to the marital classes....

[Extra Anchovies]

It sounds like what you want is a Halfling Outrider. A Paladin 5/Beastmaster 1 with Devoted Tracker can make their special mount their animal companion, giving their mount the benefits of a 5th-level Paladin's mount and a 4th-level Druid's companion. Halfling Outrider stacks with both, so at 16th level your mount gets the benefits of a 15th-level Paladin's mount and a 14th-level Druid's companion. That's +16 HD, +18 natural armor, +8 Strength, +4 Dex, Int 9, +10 ft speed, improved evasion, share saving throws, multiattack, and both link and empathic link. Yes, your mount has more Hit Dice than you, and is basically untouchable between Mounted Combat (which should be kept in reserve to avoid touch attacks) and the crazy natural armor bonus.

This eats up a lot of your feats - without flaws, you need to be a Strongheart Halfling and your first four feats are locked down as Mounted Combat, Skill Focus (Handle Animal), Mounted Archery, and Devoted Tracker. It's worth it, though.

Sources:
Complete Warrior: Halfling Outrider
Complete Adventurer: Beastmaster, Devoted Tracker

[Gwazi Magnum]

The other two seem have to have 3.5 material covered, not much for me to add there.

Though if you're allowed to use Pathfinder Material you might want to grab Unchained Rogue, at least the first three levels of it. Free DEX to Attack and Damage to two weapon fighting (full modifiers to off-hand last I checked) can be pretty terrifying, and it's something you'll scale well with being a Halfling. And if you take the Animal Cohort feat mentioned above you don't even need to worry about classes for your wolf, so you can then grab another class like Fighter to cover your feats in two-weapon fighting as well as gaining some reliable accuracy (and if you get PF for that too, weapon mastery which just makes two weapon fighting even more terrifying). And considering you want to do two weapon fighting AND riding (so mounted combat)? You're going to get quite feat intensive.

Edit: Also in 3.5 there's the Strongheart Halfling (http://alcyius.com/dndtools/races/forgotten-realms-campaign-setting--19/strongheart-halfling--81/index.html) who loses the +1 to Saving Throws but gains an additional feat which you will be in desperate need of.

[Rebel7284]

I also believe that a Swift Hunter build can be a great approximation of a Ranger/Rogue and Wild Cohort is indeed great.

Other ideas (less appealing to me than swift hunter, but can help inspire)
- Swift and Deadly hunter variant Druid may be an option too, a bit more casting, but hey, casting is good. :)
- Rogue/Wizard/Unseen Seer can take Obtain Familiar and Improved Familiar for a Winter Wolf, although the low HP can be dangerous (but hey, you're a wizard, you can buff it to high heaven).
- Leadership for various intelligent wolves.