[Senko]

I'm putting together a mage character and have taken a melee (unarmed) and firearms skill at 4. I can't cast spells at everything (drain) so I wanted other ways to fight back, I took unharmed at 4 because I don't draw attention walking around with a weapon but can still protect myself up close (somwhat str 2 doesn't help there:D ). Still I'm not sure what to take as my main weapon on runs. My opinion on the options are . . .

Bow/Crossbows/Throwing Knifes: Rather obvious, a bit difficult to use one would think and cumbersome and some is based on strength which is bad for me.
Pistol: Lots of range with moderate damage/accuracy/special effects e.g. Tasers, also fairly easy to explain or conceal if needed.
Automatics: Heavy assault option but limited accuracy without help and a bit hard to justify in day to day travel if stopped.
Longarms: Appeals to me personally up on a building far away looking through a scope (non-digital) to target spells/shot and AOE for the shotguns plus easy to use in theory point at target, pull trigger, semi-easy to justify owning.

Right now I'm leaning towards pistols although as I said long arms is tempting and appeals to me personally. I can only afford 1 at 4 for skill rating, although I suppose I could go with pistols and longarms at 2. What do people think would work well with a mage as their primary weapon? Shotgun for runs seems better and it allows the option of using sniper rifles if needed but pistols offer more accuracy (than a shotgun), easier to use indoors (than a siper rifle) and you can walk around the streets with a taser without raising eyebrows.

[OneofSorrow]

This is all up to personal preference but when I make a mage the main thing you are going to worry about is a bunch of people wanting to scrag you first so you don't want to draw attention to yourself.  That being said when you aren't throwing spells you are going to want to be able to support your team too so I suggest either longarms for shotguns.  If something gets close to you, you can lay some serious hurt on it and depending on the setting of the choke you can apply dodge debuffs to the target that way your Samurai or Adepts can hit the thing bothering you.  Pistols are a close second for me because they are concealable and the Ares Predator or Light Fire 70 is a reliable gun. 

[Senko]

I admit part of my thinking was everyone wants to kill the mage first so if I'm carrying a BIG gun I'll look less like a mage or more like a Street Sam poseur till I cast my first spell. Longarms and Pistols are my choices but I only have enough skills to take one. I suppose I could drop my 2 karma purchased skills and take 1 at 4 and the other at 2.

[Namikaze]

I admit part of my thinking was everyone wants to kill the mage first so if I'm carrying a BIG gun I'll look less like a mage or more like a Street Sam poseur till I cast my first spell. Longarms and Pistols are my choices but I only have enough skills to take one. I suppose I could drop my 2 karma purchased skills and take 1 at 4 and the other at 2.

This is the same logic one of my players used.  Turns out, his gun was so useless he resorted to magic and painted a big neon sign on himself anyway.  IMO, a mage's firearm choice is secondary unless the mage is focused on non-combat spells.

[Michael Chandra]

If you have Alchemy, I'd consider Throwing Knives: Put a Command Preparation in it a few hours in advance, recover from the drain, and have a spell you can set off. (Note that setting off an offensive preparation through Command is an attack action and so doesn't combine with another attack action in the same action phase.)

Without it, I'd go Automatics and grab an SMG, if you can afford the palming. That way you can spray and pray you hit something. And that way you can switch to an Alpha on a big run where you don't care much about the low profile.

[Senko]

Nope no alchemy or any of the ones from that block. I've posted the full concept so far here http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=16272.0 if you want to get a better idea of who this choice is for. Currently I'm going with longarms 4, pistols 2.

[Michael Chandra]

Well if you're taking Ambidextrous anyway, just grab 2 Gasvented Pistols and start firing like crazy, draining their defense pools so others can hit better.

[Senko]

hmmmmm . . ..

[SunRunner]

If your only dabbling in Fire arms then you should take automatics. It lets you use SMG and Machine pistols for conceal options, and you always have an AR for when you can go loud and bring the pain. Right now your going pistol 2 and long arm 4, you could just roll them both into automatics 6 and gain a little bit more effectiveness.

Automatics is the most versatile of the fire arms weapon skills. Its not the best at anything as pistols will give you better conceal and Long arms gives better range, but at the end of the day with automatics you have an option for pretty much all range bands and acceptable options for damage. Also as a side benefits most corp security will be carrying an automatic so if you have to pick up something then automatics is the best bet for being usable or recovering ammo.

[Xenon]

Unarmed suck at low str unless you use magic touch range spells or shock gloves.

automatics let you use suppressive fire which is great area denial and debuffing - that last an entire combat turn and generate no recoil (good for low initiative and low strength characters). you can also use machine pistol for concealability, smgs because they look cool and assault rifles for firepower.

slipped by SunRunner

[tequila]

I second automatics.  Versatile group of weapons and you'll look more like a Sam at first glance so opposing group don't guess you're the mage and try to geek you first.

[ve4grm]

Ok, first off, with low strength, you're screwed in unarmed, but shock gloves are awesome. I'd either pick up some shock gloves, or drop the unarmed. Instead of unarmed, you can take either Blades with a combat knife, or Clubs with a collapsible baton. Personally, I'd do the shock gloves.

Pistols are good for concealment, and Tasers are the least illegal firearm to own. Electric damage can be very nice, too. Pistols can also be used with concealable holsters, and arm slides, which up their utility.

Automatics are a good choice. They come in all sizes, though even machine pistols are bigger than any normal pistol. This gives you a big range of damage, and concealability, at the cost that all are restricted, and none are as concealable as pistols. With a 2 Agility, accuracy is not a problem for you. You will rarely, if ever, hit that limit. The biggest advantage to automatics, though, is burst fire and full auto. Your attack pool is going to be low to mediocre. Burst and Full Auto increases the chance that you'll land a shot, by decreasing the opponent's defense pool.

Longarms are a solid choice, but not for sniper rifles. No, for a mage, you're going to want shotguns. High damage, even higher with flechette. Decent armour piercing with slugs. Choke settings for AoE, and also for decreasing defense pools like burst fire does for automatics.

All are good choices.

[farothel]

I mostly take just pistols for my mage characters (4th edition) to have a secondary choice, as I often don't have enough points to put a lot in something that is secondary.  Take pistols quite high, buy an Ares Predator (which comes with build-in smartgun system) and if needed, shoot at things with that.  If you need electricity damage, put stick and shock rounds in it.

[Whiskeyjack]

With a combat pool of 5-7 with guns, your best bet is things like suppressing fire (p. 179) versus actually trying to directly shoot someone. But even then, a person in a suppressive fire zone gets to roll defense vs your hits to see if they're hit, and most serious combatants are going to beat that pretty easily.

So maybe go with shotgun. More ammo efficient than auto fire, more likely to be legal than an AR.

[Xenon]

They come in all sizes, though even machine pistols are bigger than any normal pistol.

...but they are not bigger than heavy pistols
(when you use a collapsed folding stock)

The biggest advantage to automatics, though, is burst fire and full auto...

As long as you can handle the recoil maybe...
But seriously, the biggest advantage of automatics for a low strength low meat initiative character is Suppressive fire

With a combat pool of 5-7 with guns, your best bet is things like suppressing fire (p. 179) versus actually trying to directly shoot someone. But even then, a person in a suppressive fire zone gets to roll defense vs your hits to see if they're hit, and most serious combatants are going to beat that pretty easily.

Doesn't really matter if you hit or not (hitting is always good of course but....)
You use it for area denial and debuffing that last all IPs of an entire combat turn
You use it because you don't need to compensate for recoil
(even if you only have one IP yourself and even if you have very low recoil compensation due to low strength).

SR5 p. 179 Suppressive Fire
Anyone in the suppressive fire zone or immediately adjacent to it takes a dice pool penalty to all actions equal to the shooter’s hits...