Uncommon to popular belief, the Ranger is not just an elven archer. The Ranger has become much more versatile over the 5 editions of D&D, letting him focus on his Wilderness training. The Ranger can ultimately serve as the traditional ranged combatant or as a close combat expert.

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This split is determined by his Combat Style, which you must choose at the beginning of the game. As soon as you start your game you can turn your ranger into a close combatant (Flurry + Exploit Weakness) or make him an archer (Running Shot + Ranged Combat Expert + range). Best of all, both Combat Styles are immune to Outwit!

From wikipedia: Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR). The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997.