In Shadowrun Returns I played an Elf Mage shaman with charisma near the top along with spell casting. I had both shaman and mage spells and one or two physical adept passive resistances.

In Dragonfall i played Trollington, the physical adept troll. Trollington always picked the most reckless course of action in every situation. So basically trollington ran in with guns blazing. Still haven't finished Dragonfall, when I do, i will try a different character on the director's cut.

Actually one of my most favourite SRR builds has been exactly that - an Elf decker/ranged weapon dude. Though in DF I took a backseat decking-wise to Blitz so I could use the best weapons. Well actually that wasn't necessary but I also invested a bit into charisma for a fair number of etiquettes (security, gang and socialite I think).

Security is pretty damn handy - though high charisma on its own can sometimes do the same or similar. Gang has its uses on occasion, while socialite means I get to grab something extra tasty in one of the missions in DF.

Decking is actually slightly handier in DF:DC than "original" DF since they added a couple of extra items for deckers only (and in those missions, you're the only decker).

I've played a Human Mage (with a shotgun in case) through SR and am finishing DF with an Ork Adept (katana wielder).
A Mage is really strong starting mid game, an Adept can be quite strong but needs more boosts and attention ('cause he's running into melee), and lacks AoE abilities (grenades aren't that great past early missions).
I think I'd play HK with an elven Decker/Sniper ... 1:40 hr to go ! :)

In all 3 games I prefer playing male elf decker with a few points given into drone control and lots into charisma (a bit of conjuring for spirit interactions).
That way it's harder because my protagonist is very weak if not in matrix and very interesting at the same time because I have more dialog options and can talk my way out, sell stuff for more nuyen.
In Returns and Dragonfall I had to sacrifice 2 etiquettes mainly street and gangs. However in last iteration I can finally have them all! ;)))
When I'm bored I just maxed out quickness, ranged weapons and pistol. Making 3 shots and 2 shots with high critical making this game insanely easy even on hardest difficulty.

SRR - Basic Shaman (haste I), + decent decker/rigger build
Dragonfall - Full Cyber Rifle Street Samurai with Spirit Summoning
Hong Kong - Adept with swords + Spirit Summoning

Spirit Summoning - if you use that Spirit Control Totem on ley line it's CD is 2 instead of 3 so equal with its duration and you can control any spirit even with 0 Spirit Control for whole fight.
As a leader its wise to put points in Charisma regardles of build but for just 6 karma (Summoning 1+2+3) you can have good ally in many combats.

Adept + good armor + Buffs from gobblet + Drugs + cyber auto dodge = unstopable

So you have 3 AP, 4 with Haste (sometimes +3 from Cram - 1 for actualy taking drug), also you can have two swords one does additional AP dmg to enemy (to stun lock them) and second one gives you +1 AP in next turn if you kill an enemy.

With Stride and Qi Focus (2 hits for 2 AP with Crit rate x2) you can stunlock and kill whole teams by yourself.

Elven decker with some skills in rifles. The Matrix is better this time around, doesn't force you into tedious combat all the time. I also like the hacking-within-hacking minigame. So far I have 3 etiequettes – Academic, Corporate and Shadowrunner – and I think I chose well as the checks for them crop up most of the time.