Assuming 250bp for stats, and no Mind Over Matter, what sort of stat pools (final) should a semi-optimized/competent character be looking at? I'm still a bit shakey on how large of pools are needed for different types of things. Some actions seem to require very small innate pools, due to gear, while others require large innate pools.
I'm assuming this is for the face/sneak adept that doesn't completely suck at combat. How much do care about being a "pure" i.e. non-augmented adept?
Dice pools vary wildly from group to group. The archetypes on the higher end of the dice pool spectrum, but I will use them as a reference.
To face, you want your Con and Negotiation to be at least in the 12 range. That'll allow to you beat the Mr. Johnson in the book in an opposed Con check more often than not. Obviously more dice is better, but that's the lowest check I would call a face. Charisma 5, Influence 4, and some combination of Kinesics and Tailored Pheromones should do it. If you use emotoys, I wouldn't count them towards this because your opposition will be using it as well. If you can SURGE and live with distinctive features, glamour is amazingly good deal.
To sneak, you want a good infiltration check. Here more dice is always better. You'll also want to make it harder for others to see you. Ruthenium coatings give a -4 to spot you. Spirits with concealment can give out -4 to -10 penalties. Therefore I can't really give you a good value for how good your roll should be.
If you're going to sneak around, you have to deal with security measures. Some such as cameras or drones might be defeated by good infiltration checks (depending on the GM). To defeat others like cyberware scanners, you need hacker support. However, one you'll likely always encounter is the maglock, be it passkey, bioinformatic, or other.
There's two ways to quietly deal with a maglock. The first is to use a widget like a maglock passkey or cellular glove maker. Widgets are pricey, unreliable (typically they can roll at most 6 dice against rating), and often require materials (you need a fingerprint to make a fake fingerprint glove). For this reason, I generally recommend against relying on them.
The other way is to directly manipulate the maglock via hardware. You'll likely need a hardware kit but that's cheap and easy to carry. To bypass a maglock, you'll need to make at least 2 hardware + logic (Maglock Rating x 2, 1 Combat Turn) tests, one to open the case and the other to mess around with the insides. You may want to do a third test to put the case back on.
Since the most badass maglock you'll normally see is a rating 6 maglock, you'll need to make 12 hits on an extended test. If you roll 12 dice, you'll get 4 hits on average and thus take you 6 combat turns (18 seconds) to bypass such a maglock (3 turns to remove the case and 3 turns to mess around with the wires) . If you want to leave no signs, you'll need another 3 turns (9 seconds) to put the case back on. Overall, that means it'll take you 27 seconds to get though a door. That's either forever or no time at all. If you only have 9 dice, it'll take you slightly longer, 12 turns or 36 seconds which isn't that much worse.
Do keep in mind whatever rules your GM uses on extended tests. If he caps your attempts by your skill, you'll likely have only 4 or so attempts to successfully pass each test. If you have -1 after every roll instead, you might take longer as your dice pool shrinks (typically I would suggest stopping at 3-5 or so dice for fear of glitching).
The biggest issue is the anti-tamper system. A rating 4 anti-tamper system, the toughest you'll normally encounter, requires a special hardware roll with a threshold of 4 to bypass. To hit that on average, you'll need 12 dice. However in my experience most GMs don't use them. I'll say 10 hardware dice pool and a good edge score can handle the worst maglocks can throw at you.
Now as for combat, you want to be able to hurt people and survive. Since you're more of a lover than a fighter, you don't need great rolls to attack, but defense is always good. I would see about getting a 5 body. That'll give you 5 body and 12/11 armor. That should see you though defense wise. As for attacking, I'll be good with a pistol. Since the highest defense check you'll normally see is 9, you'll want a 12 or so. If you can assume tacnet, that makes things easy. Otherwise, pistols 4 (specialization +2) + agility 4 + smartlink 2 will see you though. This is one of the reasons why cyberlimbs of aweosme are so good is that you can get a decent attack roll easy.
Getting an extra IP is a really good idea. Most fights typically last 2-3 passes so you'll want to help in that second pass. You can live with not going in the third pass especially if you know you'll often have more combatable backup. For an adept, the two core ways for IP is the Adept power Improved Reflexes or Synaptic Boosters. You can also take Cram for +1 reaction and +1 IP instead. A lot of people don't like drugs so I can understand passing on that.
