I'm not sure I agree with this sentiment. In fact, I think some characters should be hand to hand combat types.
Look at the movies. Yes, Chewbacca used his bowcaster, but what made him fearsome in close was the fact he could throw people around with his bare hands (paws). In KOTOR1, I felt that Zaalbar was pretty much useless without a weapon since he did very little (if any?) damage when he was bare handed.
I think characters like Zaalbar, and other "strong" species should be able to dish out some serious damage in hand to hand. And I think with Obsidian implementing this, they just might.