So, I'm going through Neverwinter Nights 2 a second time, this time with the expansion. I was wondering if anyone knew of a good ranged/melee hybrid class or build(basically does most of its damage at range but can finish off enemies in melee and doesn't instantly die when something breathes within 10 feet of it).

My first idea was a Ranger, but they seem kind of squishy and not that good at melee if you concentrate on ranged, which isn't that good anyway from what I read.

Right now I'm thinking either some kind of Eldritch Knight(I have no clue how to play this kind of build so I would need help) or a caster-style Cleric. A Warlock with battle caster and medium armor seems like it might be decent, even though it technically wouldn't be using melee if someone got close, but instead would just spam their infinite use spells. A Stormlord with throwing axes and a spear as backup also looked interesting, but like the Eldritch Knight I would need some pointers on how to play this class.

I used a Ranger the first time I played through the game, and if there's one thing I've learned from subsequent playthroughs and reading opinions on the game then it's that you really can't make a bad character unless you make a horrendous cock-up of the whole process. If you wanted to be able to survive in melee as a Ranger, an option might be to choose the Two-Weapon Fighting Style at level 2 but keep engaging your enemies with your bow until your BAB is high enough to hit stuff with melee weapons. There's also the Divine Champion PrC. That might work well with a Ranger, although you'd have to compare the BAB and HP gain of both of them, since I've not played a DC ever.

If you're playing a Wizard/Fighter (or Sorcerer/Fighter), then there's no reason not to take levels in Eldritch Knight as far as I can tell. Your BAB is high, and you continue to gain spell levels as if you were still progressing in your caster class. Bear in mind that if you choose that Prestige Class, you're pretty much going to be stuck with the Eldrtich Knight armour sold by Deekin if you want to engage in melee, since it's good medium armour with the arcane spell failure chance removed. Only Bards and Warlocks can get the armoured caster feats, and I don't think they transfer to the spells of other classes.

I got the expansion myself recently, and have played through all of the original and a small chunk of Mask of the Betrayer with a character I started as a Sorcerer. My plan at the beginning was to take a few levels of Fighter (to get Weapon Specialisation) as well, and add in the Red Dragon Disciple PrC for the insane stat bonuses and Blind Fight feat. The spells I chose as a Sorcerer were mostly buffs with a few direct damage spells (as well as Darkness, which is fun to combine with Blind Fight), with a plan to pretty much buff up and charge in. Later I realised the path I took also qualified me for the Eldritch Knight PrC, so I've started levelling completely in that since it combines the best of both worlds. I'll be honest, though, the character sucked a bit towards the end of the original compaign, but is recently becoming very good indeed.

To be honest, a good class might be the Cleric. Get yourself a good crossbow (or even Sling + Shield) and a backup melee weapon, nice set of armour, load up on buffing spells (BUll's Strength and Bear's Endurance are good ones, and the expansion adds Mass versions of them as well), and you'd be good to go. Remember, only a fool memorises healing spells!

Everyone wants to be a ranger duh.

Anyways, cue Burrie and Dalf.

I rarely if ever play melee. I always like to be a spellcaster particularly sorcerer. I don't mult-class sorcerer really. If I do, it's RDD. I tried once with Eldritch Knight and I wasted levels.

I haven't played the expansion yet.

uhhh there's really no solid build that will do that. since the level cap is 30 in nwn2 i think and you have alignment restrictions try cleric/fighter/monk for more melee, or monk/1 wiz/arcane archer(cant do bard because of alignment).

.....Cleric using buffs to improve sling or crossbow does more ranged damage than an offensive spellcasting Cleric?

Of course, there is Zen Archery, so maybe....

As a Cleric you'd naturally be raising your WIS score as much as possible, so Zen Archery might be an option. I think that'll only affect your Attack Bonus, though, and not damage. The only buff I can think of (other than the likes of Bless, Prayer, Battletide, etc.) would be Owl's Wisdom in conjunction with Zen Archery. Cat's Grace is the usual, but that'd make Zen Archery a moot point and would be severely limited by your armour's Max Dexterity Bonus anyway.

Comparing ranged damage to spellcasting, you also have to consider a few things. One, the number of shots you can get off compared to the number of people you can hit with a spell in the same amount of time. Secondly, how many offensive spells you want to memorise and how much space you need to reserve for buffing spells (which can make a significant difference). To be honest, though, you only need to plan one battle in advance due to the ease with which you can rest in the original*.

I guess the main thing I can say is that if you want a character that attacks primarily through ranged weapons but can also enter close combat, use a Ranger. They really aren't as fragile as you might think. Or just go with a Fighter. Weapon Specialisation would be a massive boon, along with the likes of Improved and Power Critical. You could then always branch out into a PrC for some variety if you felt the need, like Divine Champion or Neverwinter Nine (Weapon Master won't apply to ranged weapons).

* Bear in mind that in Mask of the Betrayer, resting has changed to the customary 8 hours. Or you can wait until dusk, but that wom't re-memorise spells.

I have NWN2, but I played NWN as a Paladin & I think I started NWN2 that way as well..maybe I should try something else..

I did some more research and found a couple ways I could do thing.

First, Favored Soul actually looks like it could be really close to what I want, provided they didn't fix the "bug" that allows FS to use their charisma to determine difficulty class of their spells instead of wisdom, as was intended. If it's the case that they didn't fix it, I could worship a god of a melee weapon like a longsword(I get free weapon feats with this) and basically become a divine sorcerer with medium armor, sword, and shield.

Second option, go Fighter and specialize in Throwing Axes, grab Cleric levels until I get to casting level 3, then take Stormlord for the nice buffs to Throwing Axes(and spears). Then, since my primary class is Fighter and I will have lots of feats, I can take Monkey Grip if I'm feeling frisky and go Spartan on people with a spear and shield when they enter melee. Or go 2 handed spear, either way.

I've heard that, due to the animations used for dual wielding, if you use a weapon like a spear with Monkey Grip then you end up looking like you're trying to bludgeon your enemies with the shaft. And if that isn't the best sentence I've ever said, I don't know what is.