This is and probably always will be a problem in Shadowrun.
The issue is that Awakened characters can grow exponentially as karma is gained while Mundanes are capped to a maximum of 9/10* essence worth of cyberware.
But people also forget that while mages can continually grow in "power", that growth is also very limited! They (awakened) end up with "tall" characters, who are often hyper focused in a very narrow window (Spellcasting, Summoning). Awakened have to funnel their Karma down a specific, and narrow pathway for that power - initiations, spells, Power Points, and supporting skills.
Mundanes on the other hand
seem to plateau fast, as they run out of Essence, and never really grow... But this is also not really true. Mundanes limit of Essence and how low it is in terms of expansion forces mundanes to expand outwards. They (mundanes) end up with "wide" characters, who are often competent in many avenues of the game while also focusing in on a particular role. Because the primary limitation is Essence for Their "Buffs", Mundanes generally have a heap of Karma that can be spent on a wide range of skills above and beyond those of the "primary" role.
In short by the late game, you have Awakened who are hyper focused, and Mundanes who are generally "Specialized Generalists" (They have a Specialty - Be that combat, decking, rigging, face- and then a bunch of competent skills in a wide array of talents).
IF all members of your group have been earning the same amount of Karma, then you should see that reflected in their stats and skills: With the Awakened spending the majority of their karma on Initiations, spells, possibly Quickenings. While the Mundanes are spending their Karma on skills.
And speaking from experience here, your Mundane characters should be almost TWICE as engaged and better effective in all areas of the game than then the Awakened who should excel in one area, but be weak in others.... In Theory.
In Practice, this is going to depend on your table, how involved your players are in all areas of the game, or how limited you are running the game. If you players are basically just Meat Puppets sitting on the couch until combat comes up, then yea you could have an issue.... (you know the player type... They contribute nothing to any part of the game other than Combat. Sitting there quietly, often reading their phone while Leg work, or Social Work is being done, waiting for the moment they get to roll their 68 combat dice....)
My advice, before you go looking at changing the all the systems in the game, take a look at what you doing in your runs and table and see if their is room to give the Mundane players more 'feel' to their characters in areas where the Awakened aren't favored. Be that stealth, social, legwork areas of the game. Also: Make sure you understand the LIMITS of magic!
Magic can do A LOT in Shadowrun: but it can't do everything! And it is not an automatic "I Win" button (And this is coming from someone who plays Mages! I had a character going for 25+ years in the same campaign with over 14,000 karma!).
Invisibility (improved) doesn't make the mage immune to detection! The player is invisible, they still make noise, they still have to open doors, have mass, and displace air. MEANING: Just cause guards can't see the mage, doesn't mean the guards aren't aware that they are under attack or have an intruder, it just means they can see the attacker/intruder. BIG Difference!
Spirits are powerful. They are also Sapient, meaning they are functionally people, with their own Wants, Needs, Desires, Hopes and Dreams.... Most players want to treat spirits as a giant "I Win" button that they can summon up to beat the crap out of their enemy and absorb damage for them... My question to you is: If every time I called you up and asked for a favor you ended up shot, stabbed, punched in the nose, and kicked in junk... How long until you stopped answering my calls? Same thing for Spirits. If the players abuse spirits (by getting them shot, stabbed punch in the nose and kicked in the junk), Then Spirits are within their right to just
ignore the summons! (See Street Magic). Also Remember that Spirits attributes are linked to Force. So when that mage summons a Force 12 Spirit, that is a Spirit that is smarter than the character, and may take offense at being summoned! (Hence the x2force Ming mentioned).
Spirits can also be absolute jerks
Imagine a Mage that has a rep for hurting Spirits, he then summons a Spirit of air. He orders the Spirit of Air to get him out of a fire fight and away from danger. So the Spirit Flies him 100 meters Straight UP! "You are away from the firefight, and out of danger. Service complete." And drops the mage! *splat*
WARDS!! They are cheap. They are effective. The Corps use them. Learn to love them to make you players hate them
A Simple Ward, or worse -a series of Wards- are a royal pain in the ass for the awakened (Especially Adepts!!). While they don't do damage, or keep people out, they DO set off alarm bells for the casting mage the instant they are interacted with** Which allows the mage to knwo that the facility is under magic attack, and respond accordingly. Usually with a wave of Spirits, followed by magical assets enroute.
*I listed Essence at 9/10 because of Deltaware, and the Transhumanism trait. Deltaware makes Ware cost half as much essence, and Tranhumanism gives you 1 point of ware functionally for free.
** there are ways to bypass wards with out setting them off, but they take time, and time is not always on a Runner's side.
