Let us speak of Godbound.
How can we make melee combatants actually relevant in the face of ranged combatants? Melee has several issues.
Problem #1: 30-foot movement speed by default and no charge action. Melee characters have difficulty closing in, unless they spend a precious gift on improving their mobility. From afar, they can use their action on a Smite (Effort for the scene if they purchased it, Effort for the day otherwise), but then they are not using their melee gifts. Meanwhile, a ranged character can take a shot immediately.
Problem #2: No penalty for firing point-blank. If an enemy is harassing you up close, there is no penalty at all for attacking with a ranged weapon regardless.
Problem #3: Melee weapons have no advantages over ranged weapons. The strongest melee weapon is a heavy weapon: 1d10 damage, Strength-based. Meanwhile, a pair of knives or daggers deals 1d10 damage, Strength- or Dexterity-based, and can be thrown up to 120 feet ( plus.google.com
Problem #4: Bolt of Invincible Skill and Unerring Blade are roughly equal to one another, but Thirsting Razor is inferior to Feathered Tempest (spreads overflow to any target in range), and Cutting the Crimson Road (affects only enemies that are chumps anyway) is vastly inferior to Rain of Sorrow (affects any Mob and doles out even greater damage). Seeing how these gifts cost the same, melee is receiving a far worse deal.
Problem #5: With the advent of lineages (and, to a lesser extent, fae PCs) in Ancalia: The Broken Towers, acquiring off-Word lesser gifts is easier than ever. This means that a ranged character can pick the coveted Nine Iron Walls, which was supposed to be Sword-exclusive.
Problem #6: Ranged builds enable sniping cheese with Bow's The Inexorable Shaft (greater) and the Sun's Creation's First Light (greater). Melee has no equivalent cheese build to pursue.
