[Hobbes]

If you plan on doing a lot of social infiltrating Pistol is probably going to be the most useful.  Hold outs, Tasers, Ares light fire line for maximum silence, and you can still pack a big ole Fuck Off gun like a Warhawk or Guardian for heavy loads.

If you're planning on being primarily a negotiator/legwork guy that switches to lite gun bunny mode during the run then Automatics.  MPs are concealable enough if you're only lying your way into security areas occasionally. 

[kyoto kid]

...The character already has a few missions under her belt so I cannot swap attributes or skills

At chargen this character used 10 Karma for STR 2 and 10 Karma for EDG 2.  To get her Edge up to 3, I applied career Karma.  Had I "overspent" during chargen, I would not have been able to move her to "career mode" in the character generation programme I use.

What I am looking for is how to make her a bit more useful outside of social situations. Most of the time when the air becomes thick with lead and mana, she gets out of the way and leaves the heavy duty work to the sammys, drone riggers, adepts, and spell slingers. This is not to say she hasn't contributed on her own once in a while but it has been fairly few and far between.  Currently she is armed with a heavy pistol and a light pistol on a hidden arm slide, the latter which I was considering switching to DMSO/drug/ toxin capsule rounds. Since teh R & G errata nixed the complex action for burst fire pistols in R & G, that does make the Guardian more formidable, however the issue I am looking at is cumulative recoil when firing successive bursts.

The character has banked up a decent amount of Karma and resources that I haven't applied yet  and this is how I need to make whatever changes are necessary. Yes, she could also get a few more augmentations though at a cost to her Social Limit. Believe it or nit, I have rolled up to and even surpassed her her limit on a number of occasions using Edge to reroll failures and sometimes even on the raw test (limits are only ignored if you pre-edge a test or are getting support from other team members).

One thing I wish is that there was an option for swapping out skill group points for general ones. Unless you take skills at priority A or  B, what you get seems pretty useless in most situations unless you have other means of increasing the pools though implants and/or qualities.  Also there are some skills within a group that sometimes don't fit the character, like Sneaking From the Stealth Group for my face as she already has a low physical limit.

[Senko]

Ah didn't realize this was a character already running and spending karma from that rather than a theoretical new one.

In that case maybe invest some points in thrown weapons and grenades you've got the pistols for concealablity and in fights you can lob a wide variety of grenades at the opponent where even if you miss you still have a chance to hurt them if you don't roll too high. Fragmentation, Explosive for damage (16P for the exploding ones with 2 pen) then you have paint ones for invisbile foes to make them show up, gas grenades for foes with an open mask that can do a whole range of effects. Alternatively go heavy weapons and lug along a grenade launcher or rocket launcher. Of course if your throwing you can only miss by a maximum of 6 metres while a grenade launcher can miss by something like 30.

[kyoto kid]

...grenade throwing range is based on Strength, not good with only a 2 STR.

I actually considered a Grenade Launcher.  Definitely not quiet but, very effective. With an airburst link, scatter distance becomes less of an issue.

Of course could get really silly and go for something over the top like A Thunderstruck Gauss rifle (only 12F availability).

"...the time for talk is over, meet my 'little friend'"

[Marcus Gideon]

...grenade throwing range is based on Strength, not good with only a 2 STR.

I actually considered a Grenade Launcher.  Definitely not quiet but, very effective. With an airburst link, scatter distance becomes less of an issue.

Of course could get really silly and go for something over the top like A Thunderstruck Gauss rifle (only 12F availability).

"...the time for talk is over, meet my 'little friend'"

Run & Gun errata fixed that. It's 24F now, like it should have been.

[Herr Brackhaus]

Strength of 2 and successive bursts is not a problem unless you use complex actions.

A burst fire weapon can fire 3 rounds as a simple action. A full auto weapon can fire 6 rounds as a simple action. Use a take aim simple action in between bursts, and recoil resets. Simples!

And yeah, even if the thunderstruck was only 12F it's still a highly illegal weapon, and battery packs and gauss rifle rounds are still equally if not more illegal.

[ZombieAcePilot]

A key rule of shadowrun is "Comserve ammo", for a runner. Extra clips add up to higher concealment with any GM worth their salt. So that guardian with all the extra clips so you can blast away at someone? Not so great for hiding anymore. It's especially bad when you consider chemical sniffers. They need 2 hits to detect the gun and get a handy +1 die bonus for each ten rounds of ammo.

Of course you also have the basic issue of shooting your wad. It's a pretty bad one for you since you can't depend on a strength based Melee weapon to carry you once you run dry. While it may seem attractive to use burst or auto in a fight, it can leave you screwed when things go sideways and you end up engaged for an extended duration. Leaving bullet holes in people/property in excess can also be bad for ones rep. Gangers do drive byes with autos. Professionals put a single bullet in the intended persons head (or perhaps two in heart, one in the head).

If you have no problems landing your shots, I'd consider using called shots to vitals for the extra damage. You use a single bullet and gain a net of 2/3 of a DV on average (assuming you hit either way).

In short, options are nice (such as burst fire), but consider if it is really worth it to you to roll around spraying every Corp and hood with bullets.

[kyoto kid]

...grenade throwing range is based on Strength, not good with only a 2 STR.

I actually considered a Grenade Launcher.  Definitely not quiet but, very effective. With an airburst link, scatter distance becomes less of an issue.

Of course could get really silly and go for something over the top like A Thunderstruck Gauss rifle (only 12F availability).

"...the time for talk is over, meet my 'little friend'"

Run & Gun errata fixed that. It's 24F now, like it should have been.

...aww bugger.  Missed the "glitch" sale.

However, as I understand there is one of the Missions where the reward is any piece of gear up to 24 availability.

"Nothin' says lovin' like a big magnetically accelerated projectile "

[ZombieAcePilot]

Nothing says Man Hunt like some nut cake with a gauss rifle.

[kyoto kid]

A key rule of shadowrun is "Comserve ammo", for a runner. Extra clips add up to higher concealment with any GM worth their salt. So that guardian with all the extra clips so you can blast away at someone? Not so great for hiding anymore. It's especially bad when you consider chemical sniffers. They need 2 hits to detect the gun and get a handy +1 die bonus for each ten rounds of ammo.

Of course you also have the basic issue of shooting your wad. It's a pretty bad one for you since you can't depend on a strength based Melee weapon to carry you once you run dry. While it may seem attractive to use burst or auto in a fight, it can leave you screwed when things go sideways and you end up engaged for an extended duration. Leaving bullet holes in people/property in excess can also be bad for ones rep. Gangers do drive byes with autos. Professionals put a single bullet in the intended persons head (or perhaps two in heart, one in the head).

If you have no problems landing your shots, I'd consider using called shots to vitals for the extra damage. You use a single bullet and gain a net of 2/3 of a DV on average (assuming you hit either way).

In short, options are nice (such as burst fire), but consider if it is really worth it to you to roll around spraying every Corp and hood with bullets.

...I agree with your points points about autofire. All silliness in the last post of mine aside, this is sort why I kind of favour the capsule drug/toxin rounds and Stick & Shock.  May not take someone down immediately but still give them a few modifiers and buy some time to get out of the line of fire using full defence.  Another option that crossed my mind (funny no one mentioned it) would be dart weapons and Narcojet as that has an immediate effect. (as long as the target isn't heavily armoured).  Yeah, it's a special ranged weapon, but it appears this character will need at least one other skill for when combat erupts.

Never was one for the "spray and pray" technique. "If you're good, pilgrim, you don't need to throw ammo around like confetti" - [KK the character].

My "Bushido Cowgirl" Adept uses a Ruger Warhawk and a Remington 950, both single shot weapons but both very effective and she's pretty darn good with them.  I think she only had to reload once and that was in a protracted fight. She usually can put someone down in one shot with the Remington (loaded with APDS) without all the bullseye double tap stuff, and at least put someone in a world of hurt with the Ruger. When things get up close & personal, she has her force 4 WF or Wakasashi as well as iajutsu and Riposte martial arts techniques.

Of course she isn't much help negotiating a deal or doing legwork outside of Chicago.

[ZombieAcePilot]

Immediate drug speed is not immediate. It occurs at the end of the round. Further it is harder to get a good pool (no specialties for exotic skills)with a dart gun, and requires more hits than a gun for a basic hit. One hit will not get an armored target. I'd personally go crossbow before I'd go dart gun.

If you do decide you can afford to buy an exotic skill, I'd carefully consider if you wouldn't be better served with a super squirt.

[kyoto kid]

...that is another possibility. My Decker in 3rd ed used to carry one and was pretty effective with it (much to the chagrin of the GM). However, my face could pretty much get the same effect with a LF-75 and capsule rounds as well as have a better chance of succeeding since the LF is semi-automatic and that is her specialisation.

On the flip side of quiet

There's the Ares Sonic Rifle (one of my other Missions characters actually ended up with one as swag)  Ignores all standard armour, causes nausea as well as disorientation, and can affect more than a single target.  Won't take someone down but will effectively put them out of the combat.  Given her connections and her negotiation pool wouldn't be that difficult to get one.

Or....

...the FN AAL Gyrojet (another character of mine in 3rd ed used to have one of those with which she'd put very big holes in the oppos, she really liked the "whoosh...Boom!", it made her giggle).  10 DV and -2 AP makes it pretty tough

[BetaCAV]

A block of C6 discretely stuck to the bottom of the table (or somewhere else inconspicuous) where the negotiation takes place, with a remote trigger, can be used in a variety of ways, preferably after you've gotten 3 steps (or more) towards the door. You did take a couple ranks of Palming for diplomatic work, right?

Finger Grenades, made to dispense gas, could be useful also.

The various squirt guns should also be an option, as there's all kinds of fun and nasty stuff you can hose people with, since Chrome Flesh hit the streets. I would say don't try loading it with CFD-infected nanites, but if that's not obvious, my saying it won't help.

[ZombieAcePilot]

I don't recommend the explosives ultimatum ploy. You negotiate with people because you can't or don't want to leverage them. If you show up to a meet and mr J finds out you had explosives set up, you are a dead mother fucker. If you are meeting with a ganger I'd expect to never go back to that part of town and never stop looking over your shoulder. Again, most people don't like being theatened with a bomb. Unless the person you are meeting is such small potatoes he has no recourse (in which case why did you need a bomb?), this is an awful idea.

"Don't point a gun at anything you aren't willing to kill" is a truism. When you do kill a Mr J or other such power player, you need to do it within the confines of shadow etiquette. If mr J tried to kill you first it is open season, unless he paid you extra as an apology.

[MijRai]

Pretty sure he meant as a failsafe on their side of the discussion, not just saying 'I've rigged the room with explosives, muahaha *cue mustache twirling.*'

If you're afraid they'll turn on you, setting a small charge under their chair or at your escape route (to detonate after you get through) is a wise move.  One of my first Shadowrun games had a Face who liked his booms for just such occasions.