What in the [EDITED]?! Thats blatantly not what Frank said. So blatantly that I'm going to call you a troll. Go fuck some other forum up.
Insisting that a dwarf has to get the same bonuses to "ranger stuff" as an elf gets to "ranger stuff" or dwarves might as well be told "NO! No ranger for you!" is bull. So dwarves don't benefit from being archer-rangers and may actually be hindered as archer-rangers. OH NO!
As stated, I'm not saying that elves should get +2 to "
all rolls when being a ranger", I'm saying that elves should do better at the scout-and-tracker skills that are one of the important things rangers (as distinct from some other class) do.
Dwarves, meanwhile, get something equivalant somewhere else.
So yes, dwarves are inferior at being archer-rangers.
On the other hand, elves are inferior at two-handed overwhelm, which dwarves do well.
Two-handed overwhelm doesn't particularly favor rangers (though its not useless), but it is a pretty good style for a fighter (which presumably means something better than "generic combat guy", but there's zillions of ways to do that).
So dwarves "make better fighters". They can wear heavier armor with less consequences and trade blows with something twice as big as them and come out covered in its blood.
So elves are
better at the tracker and scout stuff, which means a lot to rangers. Dwarves are better at the tough and forceful stuff, which means less to rangers, and they might even be poor archers (though if they are, that needs to be compensated for with something they do well that's equally important in combat).
Making it so that no race can ever be unplayable or less than ideal at anything would suck. Making it so any race is unplayable most of the time (6+ out of 10 cases is enough to be most) would suck.
Note to the curious and thoughtful: "Elves make good rangers" is A) influenced by having been playing Warcraft 2 when I typed it and B) picking something other than "wizard" until we sort out how the wizard class relates to the other classes other than as the guy who dominates the game.
If elves make better rogues or ninja or whatever, that's okay.
In most areas (6/10 or so), elves have advantages in some ways and disadvantages in others the same as everyone else.
However, being able to run in heavy armor and laugh at the fatigue this should cause (and the encumbrance-slowing-movement factor) that dwarves get doesn't help them at being rangers.
Rangers need minimal encumbrance. Dwarves may be able to shrug off the burden of plate, but its still a burden rangers avoid. That's 50 pounds they could carry for something more useful then a bonus to AC they won't need if they're doing their job.
So as long as dwarves don't wind up as "unable to face level appropriate things (which could be done even if they'd be a good race for rangers if rangers don't add up to anything useful enough)", designing them so that some options are not wise needs to be balanced with "and some are", not by making them have no weaknesses to overcome by doing something that doesn't rely on ____ (whatever their weakness/es are).
"Being an adventurer and useful at that" is not tied solely to being good at whatever class you pick. You can make an excellent fighter in 3e as written and be miserably incompetent because fighters suck. if you're good at something useful, or useful at something good, you can contribute most of the time, like everyone else.
And just while making notes instead of saying what this post is intended to explain: It reads better as "Edited". Four letter words get overlooked a little more easily.
A note that I'm going to put in bold because I want to make it more visible.
Drow doing better (than normal) when wearing chainmail bikinis is one thing. Drow doing better than other races when wearing them (at whatever wearing them is supposed to do) is one thing. Drow being "better at being an adventurer than you" is so fething stupid that it needs to die a death too painful to be described. If elves make good archers, then nonelves need equally useful combat skills. If elves make good scouts, then nonelves need equally useful noncombat skills. And if elves are better adventurers, either we fethed up or they need a LA.Trust in the Emperor, but always check your ammunition.
