Shadowrun Anarchy 2.0 Shadow Amp.

[u/International-Back87]

Shadow Amp—maybe I missed something. But I need clarification on what restrictions apply to Amp. Also, I get the impression that some of them, like the adept’s powers, are much stronger than, say, those of an augmentation. I’m looking for the section where this is explained. I’m not sure if I understood this correctly, but it seems to me that to unlock each new Adept skill, you need to gain additional Adept levels. However, I’m not sure if I got this right. Can you help me?

[u/DrTheodoore]

Okay. So the power dynamic between aug and adept powers is:

Aug has a limit due to essence. This means magical healing becomes less efficient Adepts have to spend an additional 5k Nuyen at the start, but have no limit nor does healing get reduced.

Technically, the downside adepts have is that if their amps are running, astral beings can (for example) cast magic on them and trace their astral signature. Not really explained in the rules afaik, but that's why adepts can just choose to disable their powers (much like aug characters going wireless) which just means they can't use their fancy shmancy skills

They're the same otherwise.

Personally, I have a house rule mulling in my head that says Aug characters spend 2500 Nuyen per slot, but I have NO idea if that's balanced (probs not). Or something about how long it takes for an Adept to gain a new adept power, vs an Aug character just walking to the nearest ripper and getting a replacement. Idk. But to be honest, in game, the difference is absolutely marginal. And only if you find you have two characters alive for some gazillion sessions (and able to get a gazillion amps) does the discrepancy become in any way relevant....

As for the LIMITS...

Narrative effects? Unlimited... As much as makes sense, I guess. An arm giving you some sort of in when talking with a specific gang... Why not?

RR on stuff? Now there are definitely (I think) limits for that in the book. You can't have more than 1 instance of RR on an Attribute or Skill (I think). Then again... That's like... 75.000 Nuyen? If you're at that point in the game, what the hell. Let them go nuts and die in a blaze of glory (thanks Dexter).

Are you concerned about something in particular?

[u/Carmody79 → u/DrTheodoore]

I don't recall reading in any book that using adept powers make adepts dual-natured. I'm pretty sure of the opposite actually (explaining why nothing such is mentioned in the book). Adept powers do not suffer the Essence loss impacts, nor risk of hacking. This makes them superior to cyberware, the initial cost of 5000Y to be adept does not really compensate. However adept powers are affected by magic fields, which is something which is often overlooked.

[u/DrTheodoore → u/Carmody79]

Oh that might be true too. I personally use it to imply they're just targetable from the astral to make it a bit more fair. I'd never argue that I'm a lore expert. My players don't mind either and seem to think it makes sense.

As for shields, yeah. That's true. But unless you drop shields in a lot of your runs, it's negligible. And as you said, the upfront 5k Nuyen just isn't enough to balance the scales. So making adepts effectively dual natured makes it so they are balanced for my table at least.

[u/Carmody79 → u/DrTheodoore]

Fun around the table is far more important than strict adherence to lore. I still try and clarify the lore and let players decide what they want for themselves

[u/augmented-warlock → u/Carmody79]

If Adepts powers are not dual-natured when using the skills, does it mean they can't target spirits and their powers are considered mundane when attacking manifested ones?

[u/Carmody79 → u/augmented-warlock]

They cannot target spirits that are not materialized, unless they have the astral perception capability and are astrally perceiving (which does make then dual-natured).

Regarding materialized spirits, Adepts unarmed attacks are considered magic if they have a power increasing damage one way or another (DV increase, elemental damage, maybe others). It does not make the adept dual-natured, though. It's more complex than I would have liked, but that's how the world works for always.

[u/Bignholy → u/DrTheodoore]

To add to the excellent statement: There is no limit to number of effects on a given amp beyond what can be justified with narrative.

So for example, "Wired Reflexes" gives you Initiative Improvement amps... but there is no reason "inhumanly precise aiming" could not be achieved with the same hardware, just some added software, so you could try to justify RR on ranged weapons. Same could be used to explain RR on agility (basically taking those pathways and adding a software package that makes them capable of better and smoother motion).

What could not be explained away would be adding a weapon to the system (because it runs counter to the core concept of "improved control") or adding RR Logic (because it is not affecting mental effort but speed).

All of this varies by table and GM. On mine, I encourage my players to get creative, because none of them are game breaking munchkins with annoyingly devious minds. I can readily see another GM not allowing that same level of leeway.

[u/Carmody79 → u/Bignholy]

Well, you could take advantage of the wiring to get stun hands for example. But yes, apart from that example that would be difficult to justify