I just don't like passive mechanics; archers/xbowmen/throwers should be able to go around shotgunning people without having to worry about being arbitrarily bumped if that's their playstyle, but conversely I should be able to break their nose with my shield without getting a projectile jabbed into one of my eye sockets.
depends on the passive mechanic, f.e. for throwers i would love it, if they would automaticly change weapon modes when someone comes into bump range, i still fuck up so often while pressing the weapon mode switch button
I do like your idear more then the one of Kafein to increase the bump range. I just wanted to point out how i would imagine it, as some may think yeah we are in pike range now and they cant use the bows anymore. While still that seems a viable option to me, too, that different weapon length would have different bump ranges(as they could reach the opponent already with their weapon). The option "only" to buff shields with the nudge being less prone to shots within the animation, seems to me to be more intuitive and perhaps it would get me even to consider more often to use the nudge, then i do now.