IIRC the purpose is to primarily drain off the static charges so the
gnd-cloud potential difference is minimized. A direct strike will
usually just melt whole house wiring, etc. etc.

Not true.

The cloud has SO MUCH charge you don't stand a chance of bleeding it off.

Direct strikes are typically around 20 kA, and can be as high as 100kA.
Both can be adequately carried by the usual AWG6 wire, because the
current pulse only lasts a few microseconds.