Force Power: Sense Force Ripples
Sense Difficulty: Moderate or opposed control, Perception, or willpower roll; modified by proximity; penalty may be applied as well
Required Powers: Concentration, danger sense, life detection, receptive telepathy, sense Force
Game Note: This power may be kept up.
Time to Use: One round
Effect: After having trouble sensing the presence of the Dark Nest with the Force, Luke Skywalker and Jacen Solo developed this technique to overcome this difficulty. While the Gorog could hide themselves from detection in the Force, they could not mask their intention to harm their enemies. Their intentions created “ripples” in the Force, which Luke Skywalker and Jacen Solo learned to detect and use to locate the Dark Nest. When they tracked the “ripples” to their source, they would first detect an emptiness, then a vague uneasiness from the emptiness, and then an empty hole from the vague uneasiness. Luke Skywalker and Jacen Solo likely drew inspiration from how the Jedi detected the Yuuzhan Vong with the Force – rather than directly searching for the Yuuzhan Vong with the Force, the Jedi searched for the voids in the Force that indicated the presence of the Yuuzhan Vongs or their creatures.
In GM terms, on the surface, using this power would be no different from using life detection or receptive telepathy; however, since Force ripples were designed to detect those who could hide their presence in the Force by utilizing an indirect means of locating these individuals. Because of this, the GM must apply a penalty to the target’s opposed difficulty roll.
| Is target Force-sensitive | Penalty |
| Yes | -1D |
| No | -2D |
Game Note: The penalty is automatically applied if the target is not Force-sensitive. If the target is Force-sensitive, the penalty might or might not be applied. Whether or not the penalty is applied to Force-sensitive targets depends on the Force power the target uses to hide his or her presence in the Force. The GM applies the penalty when the following powers are used: Force scattering, Force stealth, and Force stealth on another. The penalty is not applied when the following powers are used: advanced Force stealth, the art of the small (control), block Force sense, cloak of doubt, immerse, and immerse another.
Several other powers can hide an individual’s presence in the Force; specifically, false light side aura, pall of the dark side, a spell of concealment, and spirit mist. Luke Skywalker and Jacen Solo have yet to encounter these powers, so the effectiveness of sense Force ripples against these powers is uncertain. It is likely, though, that sense Force ripples will work against false light side aura and spell of concealment while failing against the pall of the dark side and spirit mist.