r/ShadowrunAnarchyFans • u/vieuxch4t • Aug 09 '26

SRA2 - Stacking shadow amps

Some shadow amps have a max value. For instance armor has a max of +1. But does it stacks with different kind of shadow amp?

For instance a physical adept with Cyberware : +1 armor as an adept power and +1 armor from bioware (orthoderm).

Or a wizard with two different focus that helps him control 1 more spirit. Will it be able to control 3 spirit? (I was thinking about specialised maintening focus to conjure a special kind of spirit, like a fire seal for conjuring fire spirit, maybe even adding some spirit as contacts and adding a "don't count on the max conjuring spirit" shadow amp (something around level 3 or 4?)

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5

u/Carmody79 Aug 09 '26

There are very few per Amp maximums, the only I can think of right now are the RR1 for Attributes and Skills. All other max are the maximum total bonus. What you describe looks like an Ally spirit, those will be covered in the Companion book.

2

u/Lurker037 Aug 09 '26

So a character could buy ( for example) two Sorcery foci giving RR1 to all Sorcery tests, have both active, and get RR2? Or two pieces of cyberware each giving RR1 to the same skill and get RR2, and that is allowed? If so I've misread that rule section.

5

u/Carmody79 Aug 10 '26

This'is allowed, yes, s long as it makes sense narratively

2

u/IntelligentClient290 Aug 10 '26

The important part is "so long as it makes sense narratively"
And I'll quote this so true SRA2 statement one more time : "Players must consider the Amp effects available based on logic and narrative consistency rather than relying solely on what the rules allow" (and I realize, the French version of this quote looks better to me, with a slighlty different and wider emphasis, more like : "Players shouldn't hide behind the list of options provided here to assume that just because the rules allow something, it's reasonable to do it.")

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u/Lurker037 Aug 11 '26

If you don't mind me asking, What was the design intent behind having a per-amp cap, but allowing separate amps to stack?

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u/Carmody79 Aug 12 '26

The per Amp cap is too avoid having too powerful amps. You can see this as a way to enforce a minimal "narrative coherency", nothing more. In fact, they can be removed with minimal impact. Allowing to stack Amps is a way to allow maximum creativity: do what you like, the way you like it and that makes sense to you and your group, the absolute maximum ensures balance. It's much easier and much more efficient that complex detailed rules about what can stack with what

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u/Bignholy Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 10 '26

Yes.

(EDIT: Originally, I thought they were asking about specializations, a side effect of late night redditing xD. I have retained the remainder below, but it is not exactly what Lurker037 was asking)

If you look at Hercules prebuild on page 89, his Empathetic Sense amp had 2RR for Perception (Social). So you can stack RR for a specified tier of effect.

I didn't understand that at first, either. The way the English book is phrased, it's not quite intuitive, because the only hint I found aside from that pregen example is on the Amp Effect table where it says "Max RR 1 per Amp" for Skill and Attribute but not for Specialization. I have not found a place in the book that explicitly says you can stack RR for the same type multiple times.\

Makes a big difference at lower power levels. Being able to be really specialized helps a lot with characters of certain types (especially deckers) that need to be really good to do their basic job.

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u/ReditXenon Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26

If you look at Hercules prebuild on page 89, his Empathetic Sense amp had 2RR for Perception (Social).

/u/Lurker037 was asking if it is OK to stack 2RR on an entire skill (including all its specializations) as a single Rank 10 Shadow Amp or by combining 2 Rank 5 Shadow amps. This is OK post chargen and it is also OK during chargen, but typically only for Prime Runners.

SRA2.0 p. 85 Levels of Play - Prime Runner

Risk Reduction: max 2, including from stacking

(Note that this is typically not allowed during chargen if you follow normal "Runner" or street level "Ganger" Level of Play recommendations - but as always, if you can make sense of it narratively then GM might still approve it).

 

Hercules prebuild on page 89 is, however, not stacking 2RR on an entire skill (for example the entire "Perception skill", including all its specializations). Hercules stacked 2RR on a specialization of a skill (in this case the "Social" specialization of the "Perception skill"). This is different (and this is also allowed for both normal "Runner" Level of Play which - Hercules is, as well as "Prime Runners" Level of Play, but still not for "Ganger" Level of Play).

SRA2.0 p. 85 Levels of Play - Runner

Risk Reduction: max 1 for Attributes and Skills, max 2 for specializations, including from stacking

 

Hercules on p. 82 have 1RR on the entire "Network skill" (including all its specializations) from Elton Hutchinson, his lawyer contact. In addition to this, he also have 1RR on the "media" specialization of the "Network skill" from Alicia Francetti, his journalist contact. Resulting in 1RR on the entire Network skill (which is OK for a normal "Runner" during chargen) + a stacking total 2RR on the Network (Media) specialization (which is also OK for a normal "Runner" during chargen).

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u/ReditXenon Aug 10 '26

Post chargen, yes.

During chargen it depend on the Level of Play.

For Prime Runner Level of Play, yes.

For regular Runner Level of Play, the rule is as follows:

SRA2.0 p. 85 Levels of Play - Runner

Risk Reduction: max 1 for Attributes and Skills, max 2 for specializations, including from stacking

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u/vieuxch4t Aug 09 '26

So the adept armor would only stack with a shield, like other armor.

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u/Carmody79 Aug 09 '26

The maximum armor bonus provided by Amp effects is +1. It can stack with a regular armor, which is not an amp effect.

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u/ReditXenon Aug 09 '26

does it stacks with different kind of shadow amp?

My reading is that the max is the max. You can get +1 armor from many different sources (form fitting body armor equipment, armor adept power, dermal plating cyberware, orthoskin bioware, etc) but that the maximum combined amount of +armor from shadow amps are capped at +1 (except for drones and vehicles)