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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35773
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I'm going to preface this with the fact that this is more game design advice than writing advice.

Is Bob also a swordsman or melee fighter? Consider classing them differently. If Bob's the world's best melee fighter, Dave could be the best ranged fighter. This is honestly a killer combination in most games, it allows Dave to help by thinning the crowd of enemies, or weakening a strong enemy while allowing Bob to go all out. A great example of this is Ike and Soren from the Fire Emblem series, a powerful swordsman and mage, respectively.

Speaking of Fire Emblem, one thing that series does well is that it rewards you for having pairs of characters fight together. If your game does not do this and only awards experience for time spent fighting/enemies killed, obviously your players will always use Bob and only use Dave when necessary, seeing Dave as someone who is 'stealing' experience from their main fighter, Bob. Consider bonus xp or powerups for things like two characters assisting in the same kill, or fighting near each other.

Original score: 1