How safe is the standard client really? What are the things I should do to keep it on the down low with Jagex?

It all depends on how you go about botting. If you get an f2p account fresh off tutorial island and try and bot for 3 hours on a free script it probably won't last long. If you use good breaks and have some quests done on the account with a decent script then you are talking a longer life span for the account. It is never 100% safe but i would HIGHLY recommend you look into the mirror client it is a worthwhile investment and will result in a significantly lower ban rate from the results we have seen. You can read about it here - http://osbot.org/forum/topic/66338-reducing-banning-rates-behind-the-scenes-at-osbot-27-febuary-2015/

Avoid hotspot areas such as yews.

Avoid botting for long periods of time.

Try to maintain human-like characteristics. No human tends to make an account and fish for 7 days without trying any other skill.

Upgrade to Mirror :P!

Questing could make it look less like a bot.

depends on ur luck tbh

i would advise getting mirror client 

Buy VIP and get mirror

If you don't have a flagged ip and you bot safely, you should be good for a while. Don't bot long hours, take breaks, and don't bot while weath is at work(he gets off 6pm jagex time).

Personally I've had 0 luck with the standard client, banned after a few hours of botting always. Mirror client is the opposite story though, I've never been banned just using the mirror client.

I used standard client for a loong time because I didn't have enough money to buy vip. I managed to get 99 fletching,99 cooking on mirror using free scripts and 99 hunter using FrostHunter(paid script), but I basically babysat right by my computer and added random inputs every few minutes while I was doing something else. I recently just got vip and mirror and have been botting czar without even having to be sitting right next to my computer.

Your choice. Bot smart=any client works

I used standard client for a loong time because I didn't have enough money to buy vip. I managed to get 99 fletching,99 cooking on mirror using free scripts and 99 hunter using FrostHunter(paid script), but I basically babysat right by my computer and added random inputs every few minutes while I was doing something else. I recently just got vip and mirror and have been botting czar without even having to be sitting right next to my computer.

Your choice. Bot smart=any client works

 

Agreed

Yeah the mirror client is the way to go!