[Ner0]

I'm thinking about a melee focused character, and I'm worried that they'll not be able to compete with ranged characters. Firearms and magical attacks in the setting seem to be superior in many ways, range + high damage and what not. Are melee focused characters underpowered? Can they keep up with a cybered out street sam or gun adept? How can you get one to close the gap into melee range with out getting chewed up?

I like the idea but I'm just concerned about the viability. Help me better understand melee/unarmed characters/combat in SR4 please.

[Medicineman]

if You combine different Aspects you can create a viable Melee Fighter.
The ingredients should be:  Adept ( or cybered up with Cyberarms, Spurs and Cyberarmor), Tough (Ork or Troll with maximised Armor or Cyberarmor ) unnoticed (sneaky , Chamaleonsuit or Adept with high Infiltration skill)
and/or Fast (surge with celerity or Raptor Legs, or Cyberraptorlegs with Skimmerdisc or Retractable Cyberblades)
And maybe you should invest in the Throwing Skill also ( for Grenades or  (poisoned) Shuriken , which are silent )
Also Awesome is a right built Nartaki with 4 Blades ( or 1-2 Blades & 1-2 Clubs)
( a dedicated built but not a One-Trick Pony ! )

with a combined Dance
Medicineman

[Top Dog]

You know what they say: don't bring a knife to a gunfight. And everything is a gunfight in Shadowrun.

That said, it's workable. You absolutely need strength and movement speed; being tougher than your ranged brethren is usually also a good idea since people usually shoot the crazy person in their middle first. That will cost you a lot of investment. Ranged can do much of the same with much less investment. On the other hand, Melee gives you some perks; for example, you're probably always able to fight (albeit with less effectiveness) while the gun guy is useless without one. A dedicated build can walk around with more potential damage than many a firearm.

You should really, really get a ranged weapon on the side though, because sometimes you just can't close into melee and you don't want to sit that out. Throwing works, but so does a backup firearms skill. Getting Unarmed is also a good idea, for when you're unarmed.

If you're fast enough, closing the gap is usually not that big a deal. But it's often not instant - also a place where ranged weapons come in. That's very GM-dependant though - if your GM is a fan of starting encounters at long-range versus close-up inside buildings, for example, the relative power shifts a lot. Since so much of your damage comes from STR, you should really consider Troll or Orc; other metahumans make the damage very low indeed compared to guns, but with high STR and decent weapons, Melee can do a lot.

So viable, yes. But ranged can do the same, with it's own (very significant) perks, and leave you with more opportunities to diversify in other skillsets.

[Longes]

Since so much of your damage comes from STR, you should really consider Troll or Orc; other metahumans make the damage very low indeed compared to guns, but with high STR and decent weapons, Melee can do a lot.

This is wrong. You get 1 die of damage for every two points of STR. You get (on average) 1 die of damage for every three dice of attack stats (Agility + Skill), and, obviously, you don't do any damage if you miss. What this means is that Agility, Muscle Toner and Skill are much more important than Strength. Once you've maxed those out, you start investing into Critical Strike (1:1 damage enhancer) and Bone Density. And only then do you start putting points into Strength. Strength gives the least bang for the buck in terms of damage. Summed up, best metatypes for Melee are Orc (no agility penalty, free body and strength), Elf (free agility and higher maximums, Reach on Wakyamby) and Pixie (Mind Over Matter (Logic -> Agility), and all the damage buffs you can stack)

[Aryeonos]

Not sure if you're still looking but I dug this cat (literal) up that I played a while ago, I liked it allot so I made it an occasional NPC. Since I never got to play hir again. *Sigh*

[spoiler]
== Info ==
Street Name: LeapordTaur
Name: Unnamed Character
Movement: 40/200
Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 2
Public Awareness: 0
Centaur
Composure: 7
Judge Intentions: 7
Lift/Carry: 12 (105 kg/70 kg)
Memory: 6
Nuyen: 10

== Attributes ==
BOD: 5
AGI: 5 (6)
REA: 4 (5)
STR: 6 (7)
CHA: 3
INT: 4
LOG: 2
WIL: 4
EDG: 1
MAG: 8

== Derived Attributes ==
Essence:                   6
Initiative:                8 (9)
IP:                        1 (2)
Astral Initiative:         8
Astral IP:                 3
Matrix Initiative:         4
Matrix IP:                 1
Physical Damage Track:     11
Stun Damage Track:         10

== Active Skills ==
Animal Handling            : 0                      Pool: 3
Animal Training            : 0                      Pool: 3
Archery                    : 0                      Pool: 5
Armorer                    : 0                      Pool: 1
Artisan                    : 0                      Pool: 3
Automatics                 : 0                      Pool: 5
Blades                     : 0                      Pool: 5
Climbing                   : 4                      Pool: 11
Clubs                      : 0                      Pool: 5
Computer                   : 0                      Pool: 1
Con                        : 0                      Pool: 2
Cybercombat                : 0                      Pool: 1
Data Search                : 0                      Pool: 1
Demolitions                : 0                      Pool: 1
Disguise                   : 0                      Pool: 3
Diving                     : 0                      Pool: 4
Dodge                      : 0                      Pool: 4
Escape Artist              : 0                      Pool: 5
Etiquette                  : 0                      Pool: 2
First Aid                  : 0                      Pool: 1
Flight                     : 4                      Pool: 11
Forgery                    : 0                      Pool: 5
Gunnery                    : 0                      Pool: 5
Gymnastics                 : 4                      Pool: 14
Hacking                    : 0                      Pool: 1
Heavy Weapons              : 0                      Pool: 5
Infiltration               : 3 [Wilderness]         Pool: 9 (11)
Instruction                : 0                      Pool: 2
Intimidation               : 0                      Pool: 2
Leadership                 : 0                      Pool: 2
Leadership, Command        : 0                      Pool: 1
Leadership, Direct Fire    : 0                      Pool: 3
Locksmith                  : 0                      Pool: 5
Longarms                   : 0                      Pool: 5
Navigation                 : 0                      Pool: 3
Negotiation                : 0                      Pool: 2
Palming                    : 0                      Pool: 5
Parachuting                : 0                      Pool: 4
Perception                 : 4 [Visual]             Pool: 8 (10)
Pilot Ground Craft         : 0                      Pool: 4
Pilot Watercraft           : 0                      Pool: 4
Pistols                    : 0                      Pool: 5
Riding                     : 0                      Pool: 4
Running                    : 4                      Pool: 11
Shadowing                  : 0                      Pool: 3
Survival                   : 1 [Jungle]             Pool: 5 (7)
Swimming                   : 4                      Pool: 11
Throwing Weapons           : 0                      Pool: 5
Tracking                   : 2 [Jungle]             Pool: 6 (
Unarmed Combat             : 6 [Martial Arts]       Pool: 14 (16)

== Knowledge Skills ==
                           : 0                      Pool: 0

== Qualities ==
Adept
Animal Pelage (Camo Fur)
Balance Receptor
Celerity
Changeling (Class III SURGE)
Critter Spook
Distinctive Style
Elongated Limbs
Extravagant Eyes
Fangs
Functional Tail (Balance)
Nocturnal
Poor Self Control (Combat Monster)
Poor Self Control (Vindictive)
Retractable Claws
Satyr Legs
Striking Skin Pigmentation
Uncouth
Uneducated

== Powers ==
Critical Strike Rating: 6
Great Leap Rating: 3
Improved Ability (Combat) (Unarmed Combat) Rating: 2
Improved Ability (Non-Combat) (Gymnastics) Rating: 2
Improved Physical Attribute (AGI) Rating: 1
Improved Physical Attribute (STR) Rating: 1
Improved Reflexes 1
Killing Hands
Penetrating Strike Rating: 3

== Critter Powers ==
Enhanced Senses (Low-Light Vision, Thermographic Vision)
Magic Sense
Natural Weapon (Kick: DV (STR/2)P, AP 0)
Sapience

== Lifestyles ==
Street  1 months

== Armor ==
Camouflage Suit           8/6

== Weapons ==
AK-147 Carbine
   +Foregrip
   +Sling
   +Stock
   Pool: 5   DV: 5P   AP: -   RC: 5
Combat Axe
   Pool: 5   DV: 8P   AP: -1   RC: 1
Fangs
   Pool: 14   DV: 3P   AP: -   RC: 1
Retractable Claws
   Pool: 14   DV: 4P   AP: -   RC: 1
Unarmed Attack
   Pool: 14   DV: 10P   AP: -3   RC: 1

== Martial Arts ==
Capoeira
   ++1 die on Attacks to Knockdown
Riposte
Sweep

== Gear ==
Ammo: Regular Ammo (Assault Rifles) x17
[/spoiler]
Downsides, illiterate, computer illiterate, a liability in social situations pretty much can't go into cities, and limited in skills. Upside, 200 meter run, reach 3 on your foreclaw attacks at 12P damage and a dicepool of 14.

I have others with close to 20 dicepool in their chosen weapon, My hacker/streetsam/face (Very mild facey abilities) used a minowire whip, and one of my NPCs used a stun staff as a foci giving her 20 dice pool, plus spells to recharge the staff.
But generally despite your method, I like to suppress with machine pistols or rifles as you close the gap then go ape on them with your weapon of choice. If you can hack, cause distractions ahead of time to make the situation harder on your enemies mess with their environment so they cant shoot or defend well. If you have magic on your side fog and cloud spells that suppress or obscure their vision are great. But most importantly use teamwork to help you get up close and murder the shit out of your enemies.

[Magnaric]

Just going to add something here as well. Melee is absolutely doable, but what you have to think about is survivability. When dealing with enemies with guns, of which they will be the majority, the two methods of surviving are to avoid getting hit entirely, or be able to eat the damage with armour.

For avoiding damage, Reaction is your friend. It is not at all unreasonable to get a 4E character's reaction to 8 or 9, and sometimes even 10+. Combine this with a high Intuition for a solid initiative, and going first becomes much more common. Throw in the Adrenaline Surge quality from Runner's Companion, and you will ALMOST ALWAYS go first, which let's you do things like run to cover and throw a smoke grenade/flash-bang, activate your chameleon coating, etc.

Assuming you have that first action, or better yet the element of surprise, something to consider is distraction. Too many characters try to kill as fast as possible or rush headlong into combat and get turned into swiss cheese because that's what happens when you're trying to stab 6 people with guns. But look at comic heroes such as Batman. Smoke bombs, attacking from stealth, using shadows or turning the room pitch black, all of these give him an insane advantage because it doesn't matter how big your gun is if you can't see your target to shoot at it. That first turn? Try activating chameleon coating, running to cover, tossing a flash-bang, and then take the next 2 passes to circle around or draw the enemies into a better kill zone.

Now, as for the second option where you're not fast enough or sneaky enough to avoid getting hit, you pretty much have to be able to soak damage reliably and often. To that effect, armour and body is your friend. Qualities like Toughness or metagenetic improvements to Body, species like Ork, Troll, Giant, or Minotaur, and the plethora of cyberware and bioware out there can make for some obscene damage resistance rolls (I've seen numbers in the 30s more than I'd like to admit). Heck, SWAT armour is rated R so it's technically legal for anyone with the proper license to own. Just get a good (rating 5 or 6) SIN and license that says you're a private security consultant or bounty hunter, and you'll be good in most situations. Add a ballistic shield and you'll be laughing as bullets bounce harmlessly off you.

So, that's my lengthy 2¥ worth. Speed + Going First + Dodging Bullets OR Being Invisible OR Being Mr Tank plate McMurderface, or any other combination of those and you can very easily make chop suey of the gun-toting masses of the 6th world.

[NovaHot1]

Being a melee/unarmed character is absolutely viable in this setting. Now, that said, you should still put at least 3 points in ONE firearms skill. I played a Phys Ad based on the Drunken Master (Jackie Chan version) and he was a regular human that regularly wiped the floor with armored up orks and trolls. I also had probably a 5 in Longarms by time I got him to 100 karma because he carried a shotgun for when he needed to close the distance without getting shot up. I know that's not exactly what you're asking, but most of my fights were straight unarmed. He'd have invisibility cast on him by the group's mage and he'd sneak into the middle of the other side and just start opening up a can of whoopass. It was a blast.

[Mirikon]

Long story short, yes, you can make a viable melee fighter. You do want to have SOME kind of ranged attack, however. You know, for those times when someone is shooting at you from the second floor balcony and you can't get to the stairs.

For a melee build, I would pin Agility, Reaction, and Intuition as your key stats, though you'll want to have a Body, Strength, and Willpower of at least 3 in each. Agility is what allows you to hit, and all those net hits add directly to damage. It doesn't matter if you can punch a hole in a tank if you can't hit it. Reaction and Intuition are key, not only for being your Initiative score, but also for being your ranged defense pool. This is VERY important, as 'not getting hit' is one of the key points in surviving a gunfight.

Now, you can do a damn fine martial artist build as an unaugmented mundane, but let's face it, you're going to be in a lot of trouble once you move past street-level foes. So let's just assume you're going either with augmentation or magic. Either way, you have two routes to pick from. Because of the costs (nuyen/essence with 'ware, karma/PP with magic), it is hard to do both, or at least do both well. The two routes are Offense and Defense. Armor is no longer capped by Body, so in this case Defense means Not Getting Hit. Either route, you want to have at least a +2d6 to initiative, but going the Defense route means you get the wired reflexes, the Reaction Enhancers, dermal plating, and so on. That'll eat up most of your essence, to say nothing of nuyen. Going Offense means increasing AGI and STR, getting as many bonuses to your primary combat skill as you can, improving accuracy as much as possible, and in general just making sure you harder and more often. This can eat a good bit of nuyen, but is not as essence-dependent when talking ware. On the magic side of things, Adept/Mystic Adept is the way you want to go for a melee-focused character, though some Magicians, especially Possession tradition mages, can do some nasty things in melee. There are plenty of combat-focused powers to choose from, but again you're going to be going with the Offense and Defense routes, because you only have so much karma/PP to spend.

Which way you choose to go depends on the character and your playstyle. Are you going to be the chromed-out razorboy, or the ninja assassin?