I'm having some trouble building a ranged character. I'm level 4-5, and I just left Khorinas and am having a lot of trouble surviving. The bandits in the cave were only beaten by pure luck and a glitch where the strongest one couldn't see me, but was still within range. And that's pretty much the same as everything else.

I have 35% 1H, 15% Bow, 15 STR (due to belt), 20 DEX, and skinning.

I'm not sure which quests to focus on and the reload factor is starting to become a burden more than a "finally a challenging game" aspect. Any tips or suggestions?

The ranged build is the easiest to play.
Just invest in dex at the begin. Do not invest in bow skill too much in the beginning. 34% will be enough for some time ( 29 to 34 increase for 5 points). Just invest in dex. Just go close to a monster and shoot with the bow. If you play it all perfect you can have at level 30 90% bow skill and the dragon bow as well. The rest of the game is then a piece of cake. Work with the dex potions and tablets later on. Also use pray to get +10 dex later on.

Is it recommended to put points to 1H Sword? And how it affects to damage or how it works overall? Can I get more hits of the skill is higher? I'm asking this since bow skill doesn't add any more damage.

The bow skill only affects chance to hit and effective range, damage is only increased by DEX which is why it is recommended to add to DEX ASAP. @OP, At level 5 you should have 40 DEX.

So, If I'm using dex sword and want to make my menee combat more effective should I try bump dex or 1h sword skill? I know it's stupid guestion, since probably I want to do both :)

Unfortunately, while a DEX sword requires DEX to wield, it still depends on STR for damage. So, you will need either more STR or more skill to increase your chance of a critical.

Oh crap.. huh time to hunt good str items next i guess..

Here you've got some basic links for G2 FAQ (mostly courtesy of me / shameless self-advertising):

Attribute/skill bonuses
Praying
Weapon proficiencies and damage increases (overally a thread with many Q&As)

... and also many other threads, like the bunch by bushwhacker2k etc.

BTW, If you believe you'll have more questions during your playthrough, don't hesitate to start your own thread(s), because a 1897-day necro is really a sight to behold. :)

I really hate answering any more since it's been so long but, on the positive side, I believe the dex swords do more damage on their own then what one could use so early on in a regular sword. It takes a long time to be able to use a 100 damage regular sword (although, due to the higher strentgh one would have with a regular sword, the equal effective point would be earlier then the 100 damage point).