Arcane Archer house ruled as a ranger subclass?

[Bryan]

Has anyone tried this?

[Eldariel]

If you give it Extra Attack, it might be okay. Without it, it would be kind of a sorry archer type.

[Misterwhisper]

It would work as well as on a fighter.

The issue is, why would someone take it over, say gloomstalker?

Without some mechanical tweaking, it is just pretty weak.

[Kane0]

I’ve always thought it thematically works better on Ranger than fighter, some adjustment may be mevesayr though

[Damon_Tor]

Rangers already have some Arcane-Archer-like abilities via spells like Hail of Thorns, Ensaring Strike and Lightning Arrow. The Arcane Archer is a "ranger-like fighter" so it seems like it would be redundant if added to the ranger, who already has those capabilities. It be like making a scout a ranger subclass. What's the point?

[Man_Over_Game]

Rangers already have some Arcane-Archer-like abilities via spells like Hail of Thorns, Ensaring Strike and Lightning Arrow. The Arcane Archer is a "ranger-like fighter" so it seems like it would be redundant if added to the ranger, who already has those capabilities.
Expanding on Damon_Tor's point, mechanically, you'll need to decide the problem you're trying to fix, and if something like that isn't already achievable through simpler means.

For example, I can make a spell-shotting Ranger just by adding 2-3 levels of Land Druid. That way, I only miss out on a few Ranger levels rather than my entire subclass identity.

Personally, I think the Arcane Archer was a bad idea to implement in a class that already has a sword-and-sorcery supported option that works with ranged attacks, especially since we already have a class that enhances their ranged attacks with magic (with the Ranger).

Moving garbage from one place to another can be a waste of time, or it can be cleaning up a problem. Which is it?

That could be as simple as "I want a Ranger that focuses on making a big impact on the entire battlefield rather than individual enemies or mobility", which is definitely something that's missing from the Ranger class and isn't duplicated just by adding more spell slots.

[Nifft]

Has anyone tried this?

Yeah, and when we did it, it also helped a notable Ranger problem.

Initially, what we did was let the Arcane Archer Ranger prepare a few additional Wizard spells. This went a long way to fixing the Ranger's awful spell-knowledge mechanic and was the part I remember best, because it helped.

There was also delivering a Touch spell as an arrow attack, and ... cantrips? But not ranged attack cantrips, the character had a bow for that.

It could definitely cast a spell and make a single attack as a bonus action afterwards, which was useful to cast and deliver a touch spell, but I don't recall if we ended up allowing Shocking Grasp to be delivered like that.

(Wasn't my PC but I did like the concept.)