I feel like doing something different from my usual build. I've never used unarmed or melee. Yesterday I saw that the deathclaw gauntlet hits criticals every time if you have 10 luck, finesse, and ninja perk, this combined with better criticals perk and some other critical damage enhancing perks, plus the deathclaw gauntlets ignore dr would make it very powerful right? So I was thinking of making an unarmed+melee character with explosive for backup, any suggestions for when to choose which perks, starting special, and how to get good weapons? It looks like this would be a very fun type of character to play but I have no idea how to do it.

I just started playing a melee character a few weeks ago: Rachel B Riddike (kind of obvious who she is inspired by). She started with basically the best club she lay her hands on, then quickly moved to a combat knife (not the best damage, but very quick, so lots of hits), then finally the Shishkebab. I have to say I love the latter, as the flaming blade looks cool, and it is fun to set everything you hit on fire. I did find a mod that removes the motorcycle tank from your back, because I got sick of it blocking my view.

As far as stat-wise, I put more points into Strength, and obviously poured a lot into the melee weapons skill. Hitting is pretty much guaranteed, but the higher your skill, the more damage you do. At first level it was pretty tough, as you get beat on a lot. Even mole rats were a challenge when I was using the police baton from the vault security guards. But once I got the knife (and a few levels), things got easier. The hardest part is getting close. It is a good idea to use stealth a lot to sneak up on people. Or if you are spotted, find something to hide behind and let them come to you. In buildings just duck behind a corner and wait. Once they come up, smack them! You do not need to use v.a.t.s., but I seem to get more criticals when I do. So I usually use when I am making a sneak attack or lying in wait for someone like that. Often it is a one-hit kill.

For a backup, I use heavy weapons, because sometimes they are across the Potomac, on top of a building, etc... The Rock-It Launcher is Rachel's main ranged weapon. There is just something so perverse about killing people with tin cans, that it is perfect for her. Sometimes she uses the missile launcher because it is fun to blow things up, or the minigun, just because it is easier to aim at targets very far away than the Rock-It Launcher.

For perks, I mostly used them to raise my strength and endurance (you take a lot of hits, especially early on). There is one that raises your DR (called toughness I think?). There is also one I found a mod for called http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1190 that works the same was the Iron Fist perk, only for Melee Weapons instead of Unarmed, adding extra damage to all your attacks.

One of the bonuses to this kind of character is that you save a lot of money, as you can sell all the guns and ammo you come across, and you never have to buy any.

I forgot to mention I'm playing on the xbox so no mods Anyway I was thinking of focusing on melee early on and using mainly the deathclaw gauntlet with a couple grenades or mines thrown in in case things get tough later on. I play on normal difficulty, I heard that playing melee, unarmed uses up a lot of stimpaks is that really true? Will I save enough money selling ammo to be able to buy enough stimpaks to survive? I mainly want to know what my starting S.P.E.C.I.A.L. should be and in what order I should take perks, maybe something like this:

Level 2 and 3: Intense training to put points into either str or luck
Level 4 and 5: Educated and comprehension in that order just because I always take them.
Level 6 and 7: Iron fist and toughness, iron fist is obvious and toughness so I take less damage
Level 8 and 9: Demolition expert twice, to up my explosives and because there was nothing better.
Level 10 and 11: Finesse and mysterious stranger, finesse for criticals and mysterious stranger because its awesome.
Level 12 and 13: Silent running and fast metabolism
Level 14 and 15: Light step and demolition expert
Level 16 and 17: Better criticals and action boy
Level 18 and 19: Paralyzing palm and pyromaniac
Level 20: ninja

Any suggestions for my special and are the above perks a good choices?

A few suggestions on Unarmed/Melee characters...

First of all, you have to have your Melee Weapons skill above 80 to get this perk, even if you'll be focusing on Unarmed attacks. Ergo, both will have to be high if you're going with a lot of Unarmed hits. If you really want to go with Ninja, you might want to focus on Unarmed instead. Or, if Unarmed is your thing, consider Paralyzing Palm instead. I consider maxing both out to be sort of redundant.

Second, you probably want a backup plan for hitting enemies who won't get close. My usual default character pairs Unarmed with Energy Weapons, but Small Guns or Big Guns would work OK as well.

Third, Sneak and Medicine should be boosted as well: Sneak so you can get close undetected Ninja or no, and Medicine so you can patch yourself up more efficiently. Also, Robotics Expert might be a good perk to pair with a high sneak, since it allows you to deactivate robots