My experience with RPGs probably really started with things like Secret of Mana, Mario RPG, and sort of the Final Fantasy games, along with some adventure/RPG games like the Quest for Glory series. I remember playing Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, which had "classes" only as a kind of array of skills. Quest for Glory was the first game I played where you straight-up picked a class at the start, but WoW was, I think, the first game that was a full on RPG with very clear distinctions between classes.
So, the Warrior left an impression on me. I always preferred a bit of magic with my melee, but I also tend to gravitate toward the tough, heavily-armored classes. In WoW, all three of the Warrior's specializations are built around Strength and melee combat (two DPS and one tank).
In D&D, the equivalent of the Warrior is the Fighter (you could argue that the Barbarian is a bit like a Fury Warrior too). So, it did not even occur to me when I was first reading the class that you could build an entirely archery-focused Fighter. My assumption was that if you wanted to fight with a bow and arrow, you'd go with the Ranger. But, in point of fact, the class is actually built to work with both. (The Archery fighting style should have been a hint).
That said, not every feature works perfectly for both play styles. I think the general assumption is that most fighters are going to go with a melee, typically strength-based build (notably in the new season of Critical Role, Liam O'Brien's character Orym, a Halfling Battlemaster Fighter, is melee-focused but is also dexterity-based.)
The central mechanics of a Fighter are profoundly simple - you get extra Ability Score Improvements (7 over the course of your leveling as opposed to the standard 5), and then just Second Wind, Action Surge, and Indomitable, on top of a wide selection of Fighting Styles that you take at level 1. The base class features only iterate on these ideas, giving you more uses of Action Surge and Indomitable and then, uniquely, giving you more Extra Attacks after the first one at 5th level.
As such, they work perfectly for both melee and raged builds. Picking Archery as your fighting style will certainly push you toward ranged combat, while Great Weapon Fighting, Dueling, as well as a couple that involve using a shield will work primarily for melee (while Two Weapon Fighting is also usually a melee option, I did run a high-level one-shot in which a player took the Dual Wielder feat along with the Gunner feat and then dual-wielded Revolvers.)
So, the question I think becomes one of subclass. Naturally, the Arcane Archer wears its intended role on its sleeve, but what can we say about the other subclasses?
I'm not going to go through an exhaustive list of every feature of every subclass (especially since I already did that earlier this year) but I figure for each subclass option, I wanted to point out features that favored one or the other.
Battle Master:
This is a very customizable subclass. The broad subclass features don't have any real melee or ranged bias, so it's all about maneuvers.
Here, Feinting Attack, Lunging Attack, Parry, Riposte, Sweeping Attack, Brace and Grappling Strike all either strongly benefit a melee build or simply only work on melee attacks. There aren't any that are clearly built for a ranged build, though I'd argue some are more potent when used from range, such as Goading Attack - usually used as a bit of a taunt in melee, now, if you're very far away from the target, it's just a flat disadvantage on the enemy's attack rolls.
Given that you can pick and choose these maneuvers, there's nothing forcing you to take useless melee ones as a ranged Battlemaster, but it's clear that they're assuming more who take this subclass will go melee than ranged.
Still, it works for both, and the DC of your maneuvers is based on either your Strength or your Dexterity, whichever is higher, which is pretty open.
Champion:
The only slight edge a melee build (and specifically a strength-based one) gets here is Remarkable Athlete. But this subclass works great for either variety.
Eldritch Knight:
While I think an EK gets a huge amount of value out of the SCAG cantrips like Green-Flame Blade, which is melee-only, there's nothing inherent to the subclass here that doesn't work for a ranged player, so I'd say this is open for both.
Purple Dragon Knight:
I'm not even going to bother looking this up. This is maybe my least favorite subclass in the game, and its whole deal is just letting the party benefit from your base fighter features, which means it probably works for both, but honestly, who would even roll one of these up to know?
Arcane Archer:
The Arcane Archer is explicitly built around ranged combat, making it somewhat unusual for the generally-assumed-to-be-melee Fighter. This is the only subclass that has to go ranged, as your Arcane Shots must be fired not only from a ranged weapon, but actually explicitly from a shortbow or longbow. So yeah, no Crossbow Expert or Gunner feat for you. (Frankly, I think this is just kind of a worse Battlemaster, even if some of the shot options are cool).
Cavalier:
The Cavalier's Unwavering Mark specifically refers to melee weapon attacks, rather than ranged, which means that an entire feature here straight-up just doesn't work for a ranged build. Likewise, Warding Maneuver can only be used if you have a melee weapon or shield in hand. Hold the Line buffs Opportunity attacks. Interestingly, Ferocious Charger actually works if you just run at least 10 feet toward someone before making your attack - it doesn't say you have to run into melee (but the DC is set by your Strength modifier, rather than Dexterity).
And then Vigilant Defender is also all about opportunity attacks. So yeah, Cavalier really doesn't work at range at all.
Samurai:
Fun little historical fact - Samurai were expected to be expert archers. Basically, if your enemy got close enough to you that you had to draw a blade, you'd screwed up. But how does this subclass hold up?
Well, thankfully, this is totally agnostic to melee and ranged builds. No feature requires you to be in melee or at range.
Echo Knight:
This subclass' Unleash Incarnation feature unfortunately only allows your echo to make a melee attack, not just an attack. So, your little extra damage boost is melee-only. Other than that, no other feature is affected, but Unleash Incarnation is really the primary source of additional damage for this subclass (the rest is defensive utility and amazing maneuverability - which is honestly not as important for a ranged character anyway). So I would say there is a definite melee bias here.
Psi Warrior:
Actually, surprisingly, I don't see a single feature here that requires you be in melee to use it. Admittedly, it's less useful to knock someone prone (with Telekinetic Thrust at 7th level) at range, but it can be helpful situationally. So this is build-agnostic.
Rune Knight:
The Rune Knight has a delightfully diverse set of non-combat abilities (rivaled only probably by the Samurai,) but how melee-focused are its combat abilities? The DC of your rune effects is based on Constitution, rather than Strength or Dexterity, so while a ranged character might not prioritize maxing out Con as much as a melee tank, this is pretty open to both builds.
The frost rune's invocation buffs Strength and Con checks and saves, but I don't think that's really a bias toward one or the other combat style (it's just the saving throws that a Fighter get proficiency with.)
Mainly, some of the rune invocations require that you be within 30 feet of the target, which is easier for a melee character, but I don't know that I'd say that makes it useless for a ranged character (indeed, a ranged character might most want to use something that charms a foe and incapacitates them when it gets into melee range.)
I guess the extra 5 feet of reach when you get Runic Juggernaut at 18th level doesn't help a ranged character, but honestly, that's so minor - the fact that the Giant's Might damage works on both melee and ranged attacks means that I think this subclass works great for both styles.
Final Tally:
Only the Arcane Archer and Cavalier really have a truly strict requirement that you be either ranged or melee, respectively, though I think we can also say that an Echo Knight is losing out on a key feature if they go with a ranged build. I was pleasantly surprised, though, to see that the other subclasses had no such strict bias. I still think a lot of the Rune Knight's rune invocations are going to be easier to pull off if you're in melee, but you could still get full use of the subclass as a Rune Archer. Again, there are Battle Master maneuvers you won't be able to use as a ranged character, but you can easily just not take them and you'll be fully functional for your version of that subclass.
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