[Jayde Moon]

So, the Amp system is great, but I find some limitations in terms of 'spread' of powers, especially when it comes to magic.  Since you can only take up to 6 amps, you could only ever know 6 spells.  If you want to spread your abilities, maybe have a focus, maybe initiate, etc... you really end up limit yourself in spells.  Same with adept abilities.  The catalog lists Wall Running as a level 1 Amp.  You get to run up/across vertical surfaces during a movement.  Period.  So... you are taking up one of your 6 Amp slots on a 1 point Amp with limited improvement potential...

Basically, each spell is it's own Amp.  Each Adept Ability is it's own Amp.

Howeve,r the Amps are meant to be flexible in how they are built and advanced...

What are people's thoughts on rolling up spells or adept powers into single Amps?

This is sort of in effect for Combat Spells, you have Lightning Bolt for 2 Amps, and can add 1 Amp Level to make it an AOE for Ball Lightning.

So instead of Light Body, Wall Running, Leave No Trace etc being separate Amps, there is one Amp for Preternatural Movement (1) and you can start adding to it.  +1 Amp Level for Wall Running, +1 Amp Level (up to 3) to add die to your jumping tests.  +1 Amp Level for Leave No Trace.

Rolling up invasive mind spells into some sort of 'mind control' Amp.  1 Amp Level gives you the base 'Analyze Truth' +1 Amp Level to Confuse Target, +1 Amp Level per die to increase Intimidation/Negotiation?

Instead of 1 Amp per foci that can do a single thing, you have one Amp Slot used on all of your Foci, adding Amp Points to increase their abilities (narrated however you narrate it).

Is this missing the point or is this in keeping with the spirit of Anarchy?

[Carmody]

That's definitely how I plan to play it.
the amp would not be lightning bolt, but lightning mastery, which can perform touch spell, LOS spell, area spell, elementary armor, or whatever, as long as the amp level is high enough.

[Gingivitis]

My players and I have switched wholly to Anarchy from SR5.  I don't see us going back.  That means in order to have any longevity and development in character, finding ways to improve and grow without undue burdens is going to be important.

I like your idea a lot.  I don't think this misses the spirit of Anarchy, in fact there is precidence in combining Shadow Amp effects with Custom Cyber Suites and Custom Cybereyes, etc.  As long as you work it out between your players and GM, it should be fine and not break the game.

I'd say an amp can still only add 3 to a roll or allow 3 rerolls max. So no spells that add 3 to Stealth and 3 to escape artist and 3 to defense all at once.

I would also say that a mage can "dial back" with some effort.  Turn your fire ball into a fire bolt, say.  You would have to declare before the roll and maybe take a -2 to represent the effort.  That way you don't have to buy 2 separate spells that do the same thing.  You could buy fire bolt and then spend karma to improve it, why not cast it at its previously known "lower level?"

[Shadowjack]

This is fine imo because the karma costs quickly get very high once you start stacking bonuses. As long as it makes sense I think it is okay. The advantage to spreading out over multiple amps is that the cost is lower and you can improve totally different aspect of your character.

I agree with Gingivitis that a max of +3 dice and +3 rerolls on a single skill, from a single amp, is ideal. As long as you follow that I think you'll be okay.

[complexmath]

I think the limit of 6 amps is more of a suggested guideline than a hard rule. We certainly aren't playing with that limit in place, though I'm not sure whether any characters have actually exceeded it yet.

I'm of a similar mind in terms of combining multiple SR5 things into a single amp. Where my Rigger had a laundry list of cyberware in SR5, for example, he has a handful of amps that encompass all of that in Anarchy. RCI notwithstanding, all of his brain mods fall into a single amp called "headware", for example.

On spell amps, I think you ultimately want to separate them based on their mechanical differences. Like if you have 5 spells that do the same amount of physical damage, if you wanted to you could make them one amp called "badass combat magic" and let the player narrate how it looks according to the situation. And scaling is a thing too. Like I have one character with telekinetic powers, and she has one amp that encompasses punch/clout/blast. These are all the same spell but with different requirements (touch, ranged single, ranged aoe), so depending on the amp level you've purchased you have access to progressively better versions of the spell.

[Stoneglobe]

I'm very much of the opinion that effects can stack on amps and this seems to be the exact spirit of Anarchy. Also their examples within the game support this as several of their pre-gens have cyberarm suites that do multiple things. I think that provided it's logical for something to be stacked then stack away.

Jayde Moon's Preternatural Movement Amp is a perfect example of this. Nothing about it screams that they don't belong together and it's an almost natural progression.

The tough one is spells but all of the different elemental effects are kind of irrelevant most of the time so having a single spell that covers touch, LOS ans AOE seems the natural progression as well. It just costs more Amp points through the add special effect option.

Also given that a lot of time you can add the die bonus to a stat rather than a skill you can achieve some pretty wide ranging benefits cheaply and easily.