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Hello everyone. I am joining a new 3.5 campaign soon and am in need of some help creating a character. We are limited to only Player Handbook 1 and 2. And classes are limited to only the core classes in PH1. I was planning on either going with a Ranger or a Rogue that specializes in ranged sneak attacks. The race will be Elf Which would be the better class and what feats would be good to take. I am thinking that the feats will be similar between the two classes, but the ranger will most likely have more due to the free ranged feats.

Other members in our party will be Paladin, Barbarian, and Wizard.

I would also like to try and keep the character a pure Ranger or Rogue. I don't know too much about multi-classing yet so if it is needed could someone explain how it works?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Well if you are wanting to use sneak attack (as in extra damage) then you will have to take Rogue, as Rangers do not have access to sneak attack. The Ranger can be very powerful as an archer, but the Rogue can be more of a Jack of all trades. Regardless of which you choose, Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot are, in my mind, must haves.

Multiclassing is easy-

Really the only thing you need to pay attention to when multiclassing is the difference between "Character level" and "Class level" as there is a difference. Character level refers to all levels combined (i.e. a 4th level rogue 4th level ranger is an 8th level character), and class levels refer to only individual classes.

Once you know that, then the multiclassing section on the SRD-
Multiclass Characters :: d20srd.org

Is a breeze.



All in all, the classes are about equal in terms of their abilities. Sneak attack is nice but doesn't always come in handy (most of the time, unless you have the feat Improved Feint, sneak attack is only ever useful during the first round of combat and against someone subject to sneak attack, so Elementals, golems, undead, oozes and abberations are out). And the rangers favored enemy is nice but it only ever works on up to five different kinds.

However, even so, Ranger is better because of the free feats, the animal companion, and the base attack bonus.

Though even if the Ranger is better, having two levels of Rogue to start and then going ranger is the best way to go about it. Evasion is always, and I mean ALWAYS a good ability.

Rangers get Evasion as well (albeit later), so go with an odd Rogue level, to get that extra Sneak Attack dice.
Be sure to trade in the Animal Companion for the Ranger alternate class feature from PHBII. The Animal Companion will be too weak to be of any (combat) use. The Wizard's familiar is better at scouting. (Not to mention the wizard itself.)
I also concur that Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot are must-haves.
An elf gets multiclass XP penalties when his class Rogue & Ranger levels are more than one apart. (See Syberis' link). Keep that in mind when playing an elf. Wood Elves (from the Monster Manual, maybe your DM allows them, it's also Core) get Ranger as a favoured class.
If you're limited to PHB & PHBII, four levels of Fighter are decent: extra feats, and Weapon Specialisation, which opens up Ranged Weapon Specialisation. That's 6 extra damage on each shot, which will equal 36 extra damage by the high levels.
The Prestige Class (they don't get XP penalties for multiclassing, btw) [url="http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/resources/systems/pennpaper/dnd35/soveliorsage/horizonWalker.html"]Horizon Walker[/url] offers some useful mobility for an archer.
If you really want to dish out sneak attacks, melee is a better option, since flanking is easier to achieve over the entire combat, especially coupled with (the Ranger's) Two Weapon Fighting.