Knights of the New Republic
Force Powers are broken into three loose categories: Alter, Control, and Sense. In general, powers in the Alter category enable the user to cause a direct impact on the physical world, generally through some application of telekinesis or raw energy manipulation. Control abilities generally involve directing the Force to enhance the user’s own natural abilities, such as enhancing the body’s strength or speed. Powers from the Sense category are generally more passive, enabling the user to use the Force to glean information from one’s surroundings that extends beyond the normal senses. Many of these powers are, fundamentally, specific applications of more general abilities, and, as such, allow for the use of the Alternative Ability modifier to make them more affordable.
Battle Meditation (16/32): A rare and legendary power, this is the ability to bolster one’s allies in combat. For the few that can learn to do this at all, it is generally only useful in small-scale conflicts. However, a select few throughout history have unlocked this power’s true potential, and used it to sway the course of massive battles.
- Dark Battle Meditation (13/26): A closely related, and, for most, inextricably linked ability, this is the power to weaken one’s enemies in combat.
Beast Control (33): A power far more common – though by no means exclusive – amongst adherents of the Dark Side than the Light, since it involves overt domination, which followers of the Light tend to find distasteful, this ability enables the user to manipulate the mind of a non-sentient (and sometimes even semi-sentient) creature and compel it to do one’s bidding. This power is especially common amongst low-technology Force traditions, which will use it to control mounts.
Cure Others (22): The subtle art of directing the Force to purge another’s body of sickness and disease. Few devotees to the ways of the Dark Side learn such abilities.
Detoxify Others (22): Similar to Cure Others, this ability purges another’s body of poisons and toxins. Also like Cure Others, it is a power rarely displayed by those steeped in the Dark Side.
Emotion Control (10): Related to the more common Mind Trick, this is the ability for a Force user to directly impose a particular emotional state on a target. The Jedi tend to frown on most uses of this power, both for the tinges of overt domination, and for the fact that it is widely believed that one using this ability must first feel the emotion being imposed, which is itself discouraged by the Order. Nevertheless, it can also be used to impose a state of calm, and as such is not actively discouraged when one displays a talent for it. Unsurprisingly, this ability is far more common amongst the Sith, and other, less strict Force Traditions.
Force Barrier (2/4/6): A method of shaping the Force into a nearly-invisible barrier of energy that will absorb incoming attacks for a short time.
Force Choke (18/36/53): This is actually a specific application of the more general telekinesis most Force users manifest to varying degrees. Essentially, it enables the user to strangle a chosen victim from a distance by pressing their airway closed. It is an ability most often associated with the Dark Side, though skilled and careful Jedi have been known to use it on occasion to disable a foe without killing them.
Force Cloak (29/56): This effect is actually achieved through two distinct forms, though the external effect is often broadly indistinguishable. The easier, though somewhat less effective method, is actually a specialized form of Mind Trick, wherein one is instructing the minds of those nearby to take no notice of the user. The drawback of this technique is it has no effect at all on electronic observers, such as droids and security systems. The other method is more elemental, and thus more universal, though it has its own drawback: the user actually uses the Force to bend light (and sometimes other bands of the electromagnetic spectrum) around them, which creates near-perfect concealment. It does not, however, directly mask one’s presence in the Force itself, so another Force user looking for someone hidden might conceivably detect them, if not pinpoint their exact location.
Force Combustion (5/9/13): A rarer, though hardly less devastating, form of focusing raw Force energy than Force Lightning. This power manifests as super-heated flames, most often emerging, like Lightning, from the user’s hands. The most common version appears much like the fires emitted by a high-powered flame-thrower, but adepts have been known to have the ability to create huge gouts of fire across a wide area, or even create walls and rings of fire that can burn for a time without apparent fuel. As with Force Lightning, the sheer destructive power of this ability means it is rarely used by Jedi, and is far more common amongst Dark Side adepts.
Force Concealment (4/7/10): Allows one to mask their presence in the Force. If successful, one will appear as only a normal member of one’s species to other Force Sensitives. Though not, in itself, a particularly inimical ability, it has historically been a technique used by the Sith to conceal their existence from the Jedi.
Force Lightning (5/9/14): The channeling of raw Force power into bolts of pure electrical energy, most often emerging from the wielder’s hands. Although most commonly associated with Dark Side adepts, there have been rare Jedi who have learned to generate similar effects as well.
Force Pull (1/2/3): One of the most basic Force techniques, generally taught to beginners, is the ability to draw objects, generally small ones, to the hand from a distance. Generally this is broadened and developed into a broader range of movement later in one’s training.
Force Push (5/9/14): Another specific application of telekinesis, this time a powerful surge of kinetic energy. In itself it generally does little direct injury, but anything caught in the blast of is often hurled back, usually at great speed, and if it should impact with a stationary object, considerable indirect damage can result.
Force Repulse (7/13/19): Another application of telekinesis, this is a spherical wave of kinetic energy that radiates out from the user, designed to hurl everything in the vicinity back.
Force Scream (12/24): This ability rarely presents as a properly controlled power at all. Force Scream most often manifests as an involuntary reaction, typically by a powerful darksider, to extreme emotional trauma. A cry of rage, pain, or fear, powerfully augmented by the Force, is released in all directions. Depending on the power of the user, its effects can be devastating to everything in the vicinity, and the ripple in the currents of the Force itself may be felt by those sensitive to it across vast distances of space. However, occasionally a Force User might learn to harness something very like this power deliberately, and use it as a directed weapon. Such a one is almost always devoted to the Dark Side, since the channeling of violent emotion is virtually a prerequisite.
Heal Others (32): This power manipulates the flow of the Force within the body of another to heal them of wounds and injuries, though it cannot regenerate lost limbs or other body parts. It is rare for a follower of the Dark Side to learn to use the Force in this way—the weak deserve their fate, and the strong use adversity to grow more powerful.
Induce Fear (21/28/35): A favorite trick of the Sith, this is the ability to inflict terror on another. The reactions to this power inevitably vary widely from one subject to another, but can range from momentary paralysis, abject panic, to even permanent derangement.
Mind Sending (17): Some Force sensitives can learn to project their thoughts into the minds of others. This is generally much easier when the user is very familiar with the target of such a sending, and it is easier still if they are within view. It is extremely rare for even the most gifted in this area to be able to make their thoughts heard by those that are not sensitive to the currents of the Force at all.
Mind Trick (10): The Force can have a powerful effect on the weak-minded. This ability enables one to convince another to do or believe something they otherwise would not. It must be possible to communicate with the target, and they cannot be convinced to do something that would obviously endanger them. Some species of sentients are naturally resistant to such efforts, and nearly all other Force users will be as well. While most Jedi learn to use this power at least to some degree, it’s overuse is discouraged, as the air of manipulation conflicts with the Jedi code of ethical conduct save in extreme situations.
Move Object (4/8/12): Perhaps the most obvious application of Force training, this is the ability to lift and transport objects using only one’s control of the Force. The utility of this power varies widely between individuals—some may only make small objects float across short distances slowly, while others can throw truly enormous objects with considerable speed across great distances.
Project Debris (8/16): A specialized form of telekinesis where the user grasps fistfuls of small objects, such as pebbles or bits of shrapnel, and hurls them at a target. With particular skill, these projectiles can achieve incredible speeds, and rival that of a high-power slugthrower.
Steal Energy (12/14/16): The dark art of leeching the vitality of another to replenish one’s own flagging energy reserves. Some of the especially talented can even learn to do this from a distance! Such an ability is, almost by nature, a tool of the Dark Side alone.
Steal Life (19/22/25): Steal Energy’s blacker cousin, this power enables the wielder to drain the very life force of another to heal oneself. Such an ability is anathema to followers of the Light.
Beast Speech (17): Some Force users can use the Force to converse with animals that lack true sentience. This ability cannot be used to compel obedience or even truly read the mind of a beast, simply converse with it, within the bounds of its capacity to understand the subject under discussion.
Breath Control (2/4/6/7): A technique that subtly slows one’s metabolism, enabling the user to survive for an extended period without needing to breathe.
Channeling the Force: One of the most fundamental hallmarks of a true Force adept is the ability to channel power beyond that of one’s own body’s physical reserves to achieve truly incredible feats. Almost anyone with even minimal training can do simple things like sense the feelings of someone standing before them, or lifting small objects telekinetically, but to be able to perform the feats that make the Jedi and Sith legendary virtually requires having access to far more raw power than any body can hold in reserve. Regardless of the user’s ideology, all trained Force Adepts are capable of accomplishing this through three methods. One’s willingness to use one method over another is, at bottom, a large part of what distinguishes different Force traditions from each other.
- Focus Emotions (25/38): Perhaps the easiest means of gaining access to extra power for a Force user is transforming one’s own emotional energy into fuel. Nearly any Force user who has learned to control the Force at all can do this almost instinctively when they are in extreme circumstances. The inevitable risk of doing this, however, is drawing on strong emotions tends to create a dangerous feedback loop within the user, causing the emotions to magnify steadily as they are drawn upon. It requires great focus and strength of will to prevent this from warping one’s thinking and driving one to terrible or self-destructive acts. The seduction, of course, is it can become an almost inexhaustible source of power, and a strong adept can become virtually unstoppable while in this state.
- Siphon Darkness (20/30): Considered anathema by virtually all Force Traditions that claim to reject the Dark Side, this technique involves drawing on the strong emotions of others in one’s vicinity. Though it is not theoretically necessary that these emotions be of a “dark” variety, it is nearly unheard of for one who uses such a method to draw on anything else. For a powerful adept willing to use this technique, instilling fear and hatred is far and away the most expedient means of generating the required power. For those willing to use it – or heedless of the dangers – this can be an even greater source of energy than one’s own emotions, but it carries with it an equivalently greater risk to the balance of the user’s mind.
- Channel Light (20/30): Possibly the hardest method to truly master, this technique requires that the user be able to maintain a steadfast state of calm and peace of mind. Given that a Force user generally needs the boost in power in extreme circumstances, this is no small feat. However, if it can be achieved – and maintained – the power available is no less than the other methods of Force Channeling, and it is perhaps the purest expression of the art as well. This is because this technique is that of quite literally drawing on the omnipresent energy of the Force itself. As all adepts know, the Force is everywhere – “it surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.” To use this method is to tap into that energy and give it direction. However, it is difficult, if not impossible, to bend the Force to one’s will like this for petty, selfish, or malicious reasons – the mental clarity and harmony necessary is antithetical to such urges.
Mastering any of these techniques takes practice, of course. With time, however, a skilled adept can gain quick access to impressive amounts of energy and unleash them to truly incredible effect.
- Energy Reserve (Force Channeling) (1/2/3/3/4): No one’s body can contain, much less control, truly unlimited power. Beginners in the art of channeling the Force can only control a small amount of extra energy at a time. With practice, though, they can learn to focus even larger amounts to boost their abilities. The legends of some of the greatest Force users of the past suggest that the upper limit of this capacity is conceivably incredibly vast. However, even the greatest cannot hold such power within themselves for long – no matter how large one’s capacity to focus the energy of the Force, it cannot be stored long-term – it must be used in short order or lost back into the Force.
Force Deflection (6): Actually a nearly-subconscious form of precognition combined with a subtle enhancement to one’s reactions, this ability uses the Force to allow the user to anticipate incoming attacks a fraction of a second before they come, and interpose one’s weapon in time to deflect it. This is chiefly taught as part of certain lightsaber forms.
Force Imbuement (9/18/36): Not truly a single power, but a cluster of several abilities of a related nature. An adept that can use one or more Force Imbuements has learned to channel the Force through one’s own body to manifest particular effects upon their own limbs or the items wielded as weapons. While the general knowledge of how to do this can cross disciplines, each particular imbuement requires specific training as well. Particularly skilled practitioners can learn to apply multiple effects simultaneously.
- Annihilating Attack (Imbue 2): The user channels pure Force energy into their weapon or attacking limb, causing it to glow with an energy appropriate to their state of mind. Any physical object that comes into contact with the weapon suffers damage as though against an energy weapon. This ability can be used both offensively and defensively.
- Electric Attack (Imbue 3): Essentially a specialized form of Force Lightning. The user imbues their physical attack with the same energies as the iconic Dark Side power.
- Forceful Attack (Imbue 1): A specialized form of Force Push. This combines any normal melee attack with a telekinetic shove.
- Force-Guided Weapon (Imbue 2): Actually a highly specialized form of Telekinesis, this is the art of controlling the path of a thrown weapon after it has left the hand. This enables a skilled user to strike distant targets with uncanny precision, and even, depending on the weapon, to strike multiple targets on a single throw.
(: contrary to the base rules for this ability, additional targets may be selected after the first. All targets must be declared before rolling to activate the ability. Each additional target after the first is a cumulative -2. Multiple targets may be hit on the same turn, provided they are within range. If a target moves out of range, or dies, before the attack can reach them, that and all subsequent attacks are canceled and the weapon must either be dropped, or immediately begin returning to the wielder.
As usual, a Concentrate maneuver must be taken for each additional turn that is required. An additional -1 must be applied to enable the weapon to return to the wielder when finished, and the weapon must travel the distance as normal to do so, even if this means it takes additional Concentrate maneuvers. Treat the maximum range of the weapon as the total distance the weapon can travel before it must drop. A cumulative -1 may be applied for each additional 1/2D of range.
Note also that a thrown weapon does not enjoy the benefits of Altered Time Rate once it has left the thrower’s hand! A user of this power may spend only one of his ATR actions per turn on the Concentrate maneuver to move the thrown weapon.)
- Incendiary Attack (Imbue 3): A specialized form of Force Combustion. This ability wreathes a melee attack in flames.
- Penetrating Attack (Imbue 3): A variation of Annihilating Attack, designed to hone an attack’s armor penetration to great extremes.
Force Jump (9/17/26): The technique of channeling the Force into the muscles of one’s legs, briefly increasing their strength dramatically and enabling the user to leap amazing heights and distances.
Force Move (17/34/51): Enables the user to increase one’s top running speed for a short time. Variations can also be learned enabling the user to swim more quickly, or, for those users with natural wings, even fly faster.
Force Speed (65): The harnessing of the Force to dramatically increase one’s physical and mental speed. This technique is unusually exhausting to maintain for a prolonged period, however.
Heal Self (6/15/30): With focus and meditation, a trained Force User can learn to control the energies of their own body well enough to accelerate, sometimes dramatically, the rate of healing from injury. It is not, however, possible to regenerate lost limbs or body parts.
Silence (6/12/18): The user wraps themselves in a muffling shroud of the Force, dampening all sound they might produce, and enabling them to move unheard.
Combat Precognition (11/21/42): Although those trained in using the Force shy away from the term, this is essentially a sort of controlled luck. A Force user with this technique can gain a flash of insight into the very immediate future, and avoid a dangerous or deadly situation in the nick of time. The future is always in motion, however, and such an ability cannot be used often.
Force Detection (34): An exotic ability, the user has learned to cast waves of Force energy before them and interpret its reverberations to use as a scanning sense. The primary value of this technique is in detecting things concealed from detection by other means, such as the field of a cloaking device, or the influence of Force Cloak’s more advanced form. The primary drawback to this technique is that it is extremely difficult to use without detection oneself, if another Force user is open to the currents of the Force.
Force Link (13): Some Force users with a strong personal connection can develop a sort of permanent channel in the Force between their minds. Such a bond is rarely formed intentionally, but sometimes in a moment of extremity or great stress, it can spring spontaneously into existence. Once this happens, people linked in this way can very nearly share each other’s minds: seeing through their eyes, hearing through their ears, and even being able to listen to one another’s thoughts. There are legends of such a level of sharing, run unchecked, driving the linked ones mad. Fortunately, such a bond almost never develops unless those involved are already well-trained in the Force, and it rarely takes such people long to learn at least some measure of control over this new connection.
Force Sight (4): The ability to sense concentrations of Force energy, particularly other Force Sensitives in the vicinity, even when they are concealed from one’s other senses. Unlike Force Detection, this is an entirely passive sense, merely the act of reading the currents that are already present.
Force Translation (33): Many who are sensitive to the Force find themselves using it to instinctively understand the speech of beings with whom they share no common language. This is actually an unconscious form of mind reading, though it is generally limited to the thoughts the target intends to convey aloud. It does not endow the user with any ability to impart meaning on another, however—if the subject does not understand the users language, then the communication goes only one way.
Foresight (18): With focus and meditation, a Force user can open one’s mind to the broader flow of the Force, and get impressions of people and events removed from one’s current position in time and space. These impressions are rarely clear, and never certain, but the careful user can sometimes learn things of great advantage.
Hyperspace Navigation (3): One taps into the Force to sense the currents and obstructions of hyperspace, allowing one to plot a faster, or safer, route to one’s destination.
Illusion Sense (3/5/7): A technique developed chiefly in response to Force Cloak, this is primarily a refinement of Force Sight, in which the user focuses on the currents of the Force being used to conceal the true shape of things, or conjure false images. It is only effective against illusions and mind-based concealment, however – if a foe is using the Force to actually manipulate the electromagnetic spectrum, this ability is of no help at all.
Mind Reading (21): Some Force users can learn to listen in on the surface thoughts of others. This is difficult with a subject of strong will, and it is not possible to use this ability to extract any information from the subject actively—the user can only perceive things the subject is already thinking about.
Sense Life (8): A related, though more general, ability to Force Sight. The Force concentrates to some degree in nearly all life forms, and this technique enables the user to use that fact to detect that life. It is generally difficult, however, to distinguish with very much precision between one life form and another, or to use this sense to pinpoint a particular living thing’s location.