One of my players owns this charge suit:

https://star-wars-rpg-ffg.fandom.com/wiki/Corellian_Arms_%22Storm%22_Charge_Suit

Which states the following: " If an attacker using MELEE gets a despair result "

He fights a lightsaber combatant, if he gets hit by the lightsaber does the charge suit effect applies?

According to my understanding weapon damage sources are taken out from the skill the weapons state is used by. Meaning that although both a vibrosword and a lightsaber can be considered melee weapons cuz you use them on an engaged contact fight; The game and the star wars logic considers both weapons a different kind of damage source, since MELEE is tied to solid contact weapons and Lightsaber to the energy blades.

I back that up cuz even in game Categories Melee Weapons and Lightsabers are not the same thing and also cuz other game sources like the description of Parry which says:

"When the character suffers a hit from a Brawl, Melee or Lightsaber..."

And the description of the Koromondain SVT-300 Stun Cloak which states:

"When wearer is hit by a melee or brawl attack"

Both state every hit type as a different damage source although all of them are bassically direct contact with weapons.

...

According to him, if he gets hit by an attack by the logic of having a dude smacking him with any sort of contact its considered to be melee and the effect of the suit should apply.

Which is right in this situation?

So for the Storm Charge suit, the core of the problem is that there's confusion between M elee the skill and m elee as a state of combat being engaged with the target and hitting them with a weapon that requires close-quarters physical contact to be effective.

Looking at the armor's text in Dangerous Covenants, it uses lower-case melee, indicating by default that any attack made with a close-quarters weapon (i.e. clubs, fists, staves, swords, etc) triggers the armor's effects. However, the armor was created well before Force and Destiny was released, and at this point in the game's life lightsabers were intended to be incredibly rare artifacts of the time before the Empire. So it could be debated if a hit from a lightsaber would trigger the armor's effects or not. Personally, I'd lean towards "yes, lightsabers fall into the realm of melee attacks" and thus agree with your player.

For the Stun Cloak, that's a bit thornier, given that it says melee or brawl, but also doesn't capitalize those terms, which is most often used to denote when a skill is being talked about as opposed to it being a general term. My take would be the same as the Storm charge armor, and that the wearer of the stun cloak could trigger the effects if struck with a lightsaber.

Now, one of my reasons for this is that I feel lightsabers are already special enough (need a unique skill to use well, frequently have the Breach and Sunder qualities, can't be Sundered) without getting a free pass just because they're not under the Melee or Brawl skills with regards to the special effects like the two items mentioned.

Might take would be that as it only triggers on a Despair, then yes, lightsabre attacks would be effected. As the Despair clearly indicates something went wrong, maybe the attacker had to grab the person, launch a kick, shove them, or make some other form of contact that wasn't with their big glowy death wand.

Or the attacked managed to touch the attacker, as one roll is more than just one swing this could work also.

And we see a lot of punches and kicks in lightsaber combat in the Movies as well.

Yes, this would apply to lightsabers as well. The idea behind the charge suit is that if you're close enough to touch the target, you're close enough to get zapped. If you need in-universe support, we've seen lightning zip along lightsabers and shock Jedi in the movies and TV shows.

The unfortunate shockee still get their soak, just as they would for the shock gloves. And if it reduces the damage to 0 then I wouldn't apply the two despair disoriented effect, if two despair had been rolled.

As always, it's best to go back to the original source for clarification. The description on the wiki is a poor one and not what the book says.

Dangerous Covenants page 50:

Quote

If the wearer of the charge suit is hit by a melee attack and the attack generates [despair], the attacker is automatically hit by an attack dealing 8 damage. This damage is applied to the target's strain threshold.

…

A Lightsaber attack is a melee attack, so they run the risk of being shocked.