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If you've got the Arms & Equipment guide they have a weapon called a stump knife (they're essentially daggers) that can be used by people missing hands.
I can see coming up with an item that'd let you fire a bow even though you're missing a hand. Though I can't make any recommendations as to how to go about it (beyond suggesting you talk to your DM about it).
Also, at higher levels you can always pay to have a regeneration spell cast on you to restore the missing hand. Assuming you can find a caster, that is.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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I don't see why he couldn't use a classic hook hand for two weapon fighting, or some sort of dagger on his stump. I seem to vaugely recall rules for something like that - not sure if it was in a Dragon article or complete scoundrel or something.
I'd think that using a prostetic to fire/load a bow or crossbow would be a bit of a stretch, but a one handed ranger could still use the "archery" combat style with one handed thrown weapons, though to do so effectively would require the quick draw feat.
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If you've got the Arms & Equipment guide they have a weapon called a stump knife (they're essentially daggers) that can be used by people missing hands.
I can see coming up with an item that'd let you fire a bow even though you're missing a hand. Though I can't make any recommendations as to how to go about it (beyond suggesting you talk to your DM about it).
Also, at higher levels you can always pay to have a regeneration spell cast on you to restore the missing hand. Assuming you can find a caster, that is.
The stump knife is the melee weapon of choice and was designed exactly for this.
There are basically hand attachments for bows that let you draw and fire a release with what is essentially a prosthetic hand.
Contributor
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An easier bow prosthetic would be one that grips the bow for you, leaving your remaining hand to load the arrow and pull and release the string. Not there are handedness rules per se in D&D, but archery is is less dependent on handedness than most people realize, so it doesn't really matter which hand he is missing.
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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If his prosthetic attachment was the bow, he could also have blade fixtures on it, so that it would function as a melee wapon without having to "change attachments."
There were rules for blade-tipped bows somewhere (A&E Guide or an issue of Dragon).
Following along with this train of thought - depends on the level of technology you allow in your game.
If somewhat technologically advanced - a prosthetic hand is attached to the stump, and the bow telescopes out from the center of the hand, with points telescoping up and down from the top and bottom of the hand, respectively, creating the bow. The ranger then just uses the other normal hand to draw the bow and fire. It should probably take one round to either fully telescope or collapse.
If it's a largely magic-based game you run - something akin to a glove of storing, made into the shape of a fist, with a bow that "appears" from the hand attached to it. Making the bow "appear" would probably be a free action.
In either case, the fist prosthetic could inflict bludgeoning damage in fist form as a light mace when used to strike.
Maybe he has a ghost of a hand, and needs to get a ring or gauntlet of ghost-touch.
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This is what I was looking for earlier
"Amputee adapter device (below-elbow). This device is designed for the amputee using a prosthesis/terminal device with hook fingers. One end of the device is held by the hook fingers and the other end has a notch that allows the archers to draw the string. Upon full draw the archer is able to release the string/arrow given slight rotation of the prothesis."
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As has been mentioned, it does depend on whether or not your campaign is slanted more towards magic or technology, although I can offer you something which fits both.
Instead of a hook hand or stump knife, I would get the best of both worlds, go for a kukri or shortened kopesh type of weapon. Have it attached so that its parallel to his hand when he stands with his arms at his sides. Then, depending on your preference for either crossbows or true bows, you can use them without removing the blade.
In the case of long/shortbows, you would simply need notches to set the bow into place as part of your prosthetic. This may or may not be considered a move action, depending on your DM's view of how long that should take.
In the case of crossbows, you may look into seeing if your DM will allow your character(or a weaponsmith, if your character has no skill ranks) invent a prosthetic that incorperates a crossbow into its overall design. This design would boil down to a crossbow which has a front mounted blade on it, which is attached to your arm.
Read Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar series especially the later novells. One of the main characters Fafred lost his left arm and fought quite well and even learned to do trick shots with his great bow that he was unable to do previously.
Thank you, I was going to mention this if nobody else did. Now granted, Fafhred in some cases is more of a Barbarian than a Ranger but regardless how he is able to use a bow is an inspiration for those ranger players, like me, that favor the archery style on how losing an hand does not mean we should dump our focus and turn to Captain Hook for inspiration. If your ranger was already a melee specialist than the stump knife is a good option. Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar series is a great source of inspiration. Heck in 2nd Ed. it was even a campaign setting at one point. If I were to make up a required reading list for anyone interested in learning the origins of the game and sources you can always take inspiration from for your own campaigns, Tolkien Middle Earth series would top the list followed close behind by Lankhmar and then the Black Company, much of Mercedes Lackey's works and the Sword Dancer series. R.A. Salvatore has a few good series outside Drizzt to consider as well. Michael Moorcock's Elric saga is also worth reading. Simon Green's Hawk and Fisher series was a fun read for me and I would recommend it to anyone.
I didn't really like that the stump dagger was an exotic weapon.
My suggestion, use the stats for a punching dagger and a locked gauntlet or a bow and a locked gauntlet, just say the locked gauntlet in this case is some kind of mechanism that holds the weapon in place.
Maybe he has a ghost of a hand, and needs to get a ring or gauntlet of ghost-touch.
Now that's a cool idea!
If lower magic, my two cents would be a prosthetic holder for a bow, but have it weighted for a club effect.
edit: Wasn't there bayonet entry for stuff like bard instruments in one of the Complete books? That could be used to add a blade to the prosthetic when desired.