Thinking about risk vs reward with ranged defence, had you considered letting players choose between a low-agility "fortify" stance that gives an easier window for success but guarantees some damage taken or AP deduction and a high-agility "dodge" stance that gives a hard to execute opportunity for avoiding all damage?
It feels like melee combat is primarily geared toward picking the right counter for the enemy state (purple attack for purple stance, red defence for red attack, etc.). So far, it feels like the opportunities for strategy within combat are limited to character position and skill usage. With melee combat feeling reflexive, having a strategic decision to make during ranged combat could make for an interesting combination.