[ShadowcatX]

Reading through Shadowrun: Anarchy and I've come upon some questions about amps.

1) Do adepts need to take the awakened amp? The amp only says it allows the possessor to take magical amps, and adept amps are listed separately from magical amps.

2) Attribute boost agility seems very powerful compared to bioware arms (which costs 1 amp point more), I figured it was because of the awakened tax, but now I'm not sure what is going on there. And when you purchase attribute boost do you have to pick what you are doing with it (damage or dice) or can you swap between the two?

3) Bioware arms seems very favorably priced compared to the skill ones like muscle toner. Is that because you are expected to pick it first and then if you want even more rerolls you pick the skill based ones?

[Carmody]

1) yes, but note that the Awakened amp does not count toward the 6 amps limit

2) Bioware amps cost 1 amp point more than equivalent cyberware (but only cost 0,5 Essence) or Magical amps (but do not require to be awakened)
When you purchase attribute boost you select a specific attribute, or damage and cannot change later on.

3) attribute amps are indeed more useful than skill amps, this is especially true for Agility. Please note that only one shadow amp can affect a given roll, so you cannot stack two amps.

[ShadowcatX]

1) Can you direct me to where it says that or what awakened does for the adept?

2) Do you have to choose Agility (damage) or can you choose Agility and then go between dice and damage?

3) If I pick attribute boost agility for damage, can I use bioware arms for agility and get rerolls and boosted damage on firearms?

[Carmody]

1) Adepts are Awakened, this is part of Shadowrun for... always  I agree this may have been stated more clearly in Anarchy, but here are a few quotes that show that you need to be awakened to take adept powers:

Adept Powers: Instead of casting spells, adepts use mana to perform physical magic.

If you’re not Awakened, you can’t access mana to do amazing things like cast spells, summon spirits, or enhance your physical abilities.

You can also take a look at Knox character on p. 104: she is awakened and all her shadow amps are adept powers.

It is not clearly stated that when awakened you can take either spells or adept powers or both. My understanding is that if you want to stick to regular shadowrun you can play a mage by selecting only spells or adept by taking only adept power, though nothing prevent you from taking adept powers and spells

2) To be honest I do not really understand what increasing damage when using agility would mean... I would suggest to select either an attribute (and get associated bonus die) or close combat damage increase

3) I would say yes, however the wording is not clear:

Only one Shadow Amp can affect a roll’s outcome; if two or more could apply to the Test, you must choose one effect to apply.

I would argue that the damage increase does not affect the roll's outcome, but this is debatable.

[ShadowcatX]

1) Did she buy the shadow amp to be awakened though? She has 9 points of shadow amps, and the last point filtered over to her edge. Seems to me, just by RAW (which I know is a horrible way to approach Shadowrun 5, not sure about anarchy yet) that she did not take the awakened quality.

It feels like the lack of care shown to the Shadowrun rules have filtered over to anarchy as well.

2) And on the increasing damage on agility, it's listed on her character sheet as well.

[Navigator]

A) Knox has spent 12 Amp points (2 Awakened, 9 Adept Powers, 1 Edge), this is a known issue. She is clearly marked as Awakened on her Bio & Character Sheet. Someone just forgot that being Awakened doesn't cost an Amp Slot but still costs 2 Amp Points.

B) Attribute Boost - Agility (& Cyber/Bio variants) are God Amps. They mechanically invalidate/overshadow a lot of Amp options.
Because Boost doesn't increase the Attribute, the current wording seems intended to allow someone to improve their Strength rolls (no linked skills) and still have it do something in combat as a consolation prize (because adding dice to Strength rolls doesn't actually increase melee damage).

Unfortunately that wording also allows Adepts choosing Agility to basically make called shots (trade dice to hit for extra damage). Which is a improvement Agility Amps do not need.

[Gingivitis]

What my group has done with these "God Amps" is this:

Any Amp that affects an Attribute (or "all tests"), is to add a mitigating factor in the form of a restriction, a cost, or a cooldown.  Examples:

- Bio or cyber-arms add to Agility-based attacks but not defense (because why?) or Stealth (because how?). [Restriction]
- Pheromones add to "in-person" Charisma-based tests but not Matrix or Commlink (and probably not from Far). [Existing Restriction]
- Chaotic World (spell) costs Drain (1 Stun damage). This spell is really powerful. [Cost]
- Fireball (spell) has a cooldown of 1 Narration. [Cooldown]
- [Attribute] Boost (adept power) has a cooldown of 1 Narration. [Cooldown]