How about a full Ranger party?

No I am suggesting you do Two Weapon Fighting BUT if you use the Ranger feats you won't get Greater Two Weapon Fighting until Level 18 so you use your bonus feats and get GTWF at level 12,

 

After installing TemplePlus and reading through d20srd.org and going through my 3.0 builds, I wonder how many would hold "acceptably" in 3.5/ToEE

1) Ranger 6/Assassin X. Dual wield, can be strength based, hide in shadows and Death Attack (if it's implemented in ToEE)

2) Ranger X/Shadowdancer 1 . dual wield, str based, Sneak behind someone, hit them, then HIPS (if it's implemented in ToEE)

3) Ranger 6/Duelist 10 . some Duelist implementations require 1H and not support DW. If the former, then no point at all of having Ranger here. Not sure how this prestige class is implemented in ToEE

 

It takes away from the Ranger theme even more but yes, adding Abj Champion (rather OP Prestige Class, completely outshines Eldritch Knight; there's a reason why they kept it to a 5 lvl max rather than the usual 10) is a good way to add defensive options to a vulnerable character without losing too much BAB.

It's so good that I have to admit I've given in to the somewhat cheesy temptation of Elmo (who has DMPC level all around stats including 16 INT iirc) deciding he learns the arcane arts from my PCs; freely combine with Reckless Offense and Enlarge Person, Power Attack, etc. since with stuff like Abj Champ enhanced Shield, Mirror Image and other arcane buffs you essentially don't have to worry about getting hit.

With the 3-4 suits of Elven Chain available in the game (and the possibility of reducing Arcane Spell Failure of 3e Elven Chain down to zero with Twilight enchantment in Temple Plus), it's hard to pass up going for at least one fighter/mage themed character for the original campaign. Temple Plus makes that option SO much more viable with EK, Abj Champ, and Twilight armor enchantment. Works even better for a Ranger themed character in some ways since Elven Chain is probably the best armor you can put on a Str based Ranger.

 

You convinced me about the abjurer champion. Is there a place to check which prestige classes does Temple Plus implement?

 

The change log has that information and more: https://github.com/GrognardsFromHell/TemplePlus/wiki/Changelog

New Classes: (optional)

• Prestige Classes: Arcane Archer, Arcane Trickster, Assassin, Blackguard, Dwarven Defender, Duelist, Eldritch Knight, Mystic Theurge
• Non-core classes: (enabled with Non-Core Materials option)
• Abjurant Champion
• Beguiler
• Favored Soul
• Fochlucan Lyrist
• Scout
• Stormlord
• Swashbuckler
• Ultimate Magus
• Unseen Seer
• Warmage

 

I didn't look at the non-core classes (frankly not even sure where to find info on them), but I wonder if the following are viable (not looking for "great", just not "terrible" either):

* Ranger 6 / Assassin X, dual wielding and sneak attacks
* Ranger 6/ EMage 5 / Eldritch Knight X, dual wielding
* Ranger 6 / Mage 5 / Arcane Trickster X, also dual wielding and sneak attacks (seems to be a weaker version of the assassin tbf)
* Ranger 6 / Mage 1 / Arcane Archer X, focusing on bows

I suppose in some of these cases Ranger 11 is also doable instead of Ranger 6

 

The Arcane Archer build isn't too bad especially with a strong wood elf. Unfortunately the Arcane Trickster build could not satisfy the requirements of that prestige class