[DamienHollow]

Mine has always been riggers. From my Nimrod equipped speed freak to my Adept submariner, i have never failed to be entertained by the trouble I can get into, i mean cause. The ability to be in more than one place at once, in expendable bodies, loaded tot he brim with functionality never looses it's appeal. I'll never forget this discussion.

The party has just jumped back into my submersible Cartel Courier and we are pulling out when we see security piling into a Sea-cop.
"You round the peninsula and immediately spot a boat at the dock. Security is scrambling to get her ready."
"What kind of boat?"
"A Seacop..."
"How far away is it?"
"About one hundred meters. Throw you're composure test for Thrill Seeker..."
"... Crit Glitch..."
"Okay, so what are you going to do. And it had better be good."
"Look there! It be the great white beast! Balls to the walls, boys! Ramming speed! Diesel boats forever!"
"Did you seriously just reference Moby Dick, Army of Darkness, and Down Periscope all in one battle cry?"
"I think so..."
"... I am never letting you take that quality ever again."

[Reiper]

Sniper/Face

It isn't exactly the best combo, since if things go south during my con attempts, I don't have much to fall back upon (I wouldn't be carrying my sniper rifle around fully assembled during a con obviously), but I do love being able to pull off some cons where nobody gets killed or I'm able to get someone else to do my dirty work for me, and as a sniper, I just like their combat. Nothing real flashy, just get down to business and put some bullets in some heads.

[emsquared]

I'll second the Face/Shooter combo - pistols for me (granted its one of two types I've played in SR4A).

You always have something you can do. You can have expert level pools in both disciplines AND stealth. Just makes for a very diverse and effective character.

[Solo]

Face/shooter/infiltration

Can get out of pretty much any situation. try to be discreet about stuff, if that does work, talk/bully your way out of it or else spray the baddies and run!

[Henzington]

I have to agree pistols/face/inflitration. I imagine myself as michael weston. I actually like orc for this even though they have slightly lower charisma because orc get free points in body.

[Chronicler]

I haven't played him yet, but I've got a feeling that I'm going to enjoy the Elf Shinto Shaman/Face that I recently rolled up.

[FlyDog]

Usually street sam/face.  I'm usually the most outspoken IRL in our group.  And I'm kind of a gun nut, so it fits.

[Pyromaster13]

Though I haven't played many, I'm a little keen about mages.  I tend to be a blasty utility mage, but who isn't. Though grabbing some underrated spells and peppering on some creativity helps keep things interesting.

[Mirikon]

I don't really do 'builds', so much as 'characters'. But if I had to pick, I'd go with a dual-wielding possession mage using twin swords, or catgirls. I've also been toying with the idea of an AI face, but the lack of good anthroform drones (that aren't cyborg bodies) makes that difficult. What I really need for that character is something like a generic 'stress relief' robot that the AI could take over.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

I've played - or built for others, which has usually included some pretty in-depth characterization work - just about everything.  My first character was the classic elven decker (The Wyrm Ouroboros), but I've done quite a bit more - a black panther shapeshifter shaman, his invisible way adept son, a shaman Malibu Barbie surfer chick, a shaman-ganger, a giant demolitions expert with Vory ties ... quite a bit.

Suki, however, is I think my favorite.  When she started out, she was pretty much second best - at everything.  There was a better gunman, a better driver/rigger, a better hacker, a better swordsman, a better negotiator.  She wasn't magical at all (yet) ... but when it came down to it, she was better at most things than everyone else, and everyone knew she was smart enough not to take a person on in their area of expertise.  Because she wasn't the Pro from Dover, though, it meant that she knew a fair amount about everything, and how they all could work together.  She came up with the plans, she was the one the team looked to for direction when things deviated from the plan, she was the team leader.  She's the one who built the cover company (Praesidium Services, Ltd.) and everything else.

So her original 'build' might, I suppose, be termed a samurai/shooter/face/infiltrator.  She's grown well beyond that point, though, and at this point she's probably best defined as a troubleshooter, and especially a mage- and spirit-killer.

[emsquared]

Of course I don't "do" a build either. I just write out years 6 - 20 of this persons life that I have in my head and these numbers magically appear on my character sheet, I don't really know what they mean, but I guess they have to be there.
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Okay. Sorry for the snark, but if you're gonna use that kind of affected pedantry to condescend the OP (and others), only to follow it up with one of the most PG of power-gamer builds, well... Frankly you have it comin'.

[Mirikon]

Emsquared, that's because you don't know the story of how that character came to be. See, I came to Shadowrun by way of D&D, M&M, and Hero System, and the possession mage is an homage to a character I played in a superhero RPG who had ice-type abilities and had a magic sword. That character was in turn an alt-universe version of a character I'd originally played on an X-men MUSH years before. And even in Shadowrun, that character has changed over time as I become more familiar with the setting, and got the opportunity to read through the earlier edition books. Two of my characters are deliberate homages to one of my favorite anime series of all time. Another came to life as I read the Shutdown book, and I filled in the numbers to fit the concept.

However, coming from a D&D background, 'build' has a certain connotation to me, usually involving multiclassing several times and picking feats in a certain order, etc. My characters in classless systems are all more organic, as I come up with a concept complete with background and personality, and then mold the numbers to fit.

[emsquared]

What's because I don't know the story? The fact that that is probably the no. 2 most abusive power-gamer build? No. It is a PG build because Possession and dual wield are both over-powered alone, combine them and you have, well... And don't get me wrong Mirkon, I like you and your posts and input 99.9% of the time, but the dichotomy of what was going on in this instance just astounded me. I'm not judging you, or even accusing,  I just wanted to point out that disparity in logic that appeared to be going on.

I apologize for the massive derail, Hollow. Might I say, I think it's interesting how often facing has come up. And to expand on my original answer, I should have said Face-Adept/Shooter. Commanding Voice = giggles galore.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Wheaton's Law, emsquared.  That was thoroughly uncalled-for.

And what 'dichotomy' and 'disparity in logic' are you talking about, exactly?  Your belief about how certain things fall out in-system - and believe you me, I know that those things are unbalancing, but hey, I also know that some of them are unbalancing in real life as well - does nothing to allow you to spill such venom.  Suki's a dual-wielder - though in her case, it's a pistol in the left and a katana in the right, so she can shoot you unconscious and lop off your head with a coup as she goes past.  She could dual-wield dai-sho, and sure she's done so in the past, but how often do you run into that sort of thing on the street, especially when you can't cast spells worth a damn?

[Shadowjack]

Sorry to butt in but would someone be so kind as to explain to me how this very over powered build works? I am just curious and I don't recognize any of the terms and I don't have time to sift through my pdfs or books.