Affect Mind

Force Power: Affect Mind

Control Difficulty: Very Easy for perceptions; Easy for memories; Moderate for conclusions. Modified by proximity.

Sense Difficulty: The target’s control or Perception roll.

Alter Difficulty: Very Easy for slight, momentary misperceptions, minor changes to distant memories, or if the character doesn’t care one way or another. Easy for brief, visible phenomena, for memories less than a year old, or if the character feels only minor emotion regarding the conclusion he is reaching. Moderate for short hallucinations, for memories less than a day old, or if the target has strict orders about the conclusion. Difficult for slight disguises to facial features, hallucinations which can be sensed with two senses (sight and sound, for example), for memories less than a minute old, or if the matter involving the conclusion is very important to the target. Very Difficult for hallucinations which can be sensed by all five senses, if the memory change is a major one, or if the logic is absolutely clear and coming to the wrong conclusion is virtually impossible.

Effect: The target character’s perceptions are altered so that he senses an illusion or fails to see what the user of the power doesn’t want him to see. This power is used to permanently alter a target character’s memories so that he remembers things incorrectly or fails to remember something. This power can also be used to alter a character’s conclusions so that he comes to an incorrect conclusion. Before making skill rolls, the Jedi must describe exactly what effect she is trying to achieve. The power is normally used on only one target; two or more targets can only be affected if the power is used two or more times. The target character believes he is affected by any successful illusions — a character who thinks he is struck by an illusory object would feel the blow. If he thought he was injured, he would feel pain, or if he thought he had been killed, he would go unconscious. However, the character suffers no true injury.

This power cannot affect droids or recording devices.

Background: The Affect mind technique is commonly called a mind trick or mind touch was an ability of the Force that allowed the practitioner to influence and control the thoughts, behavior and actions of the affected, generally to the user’s advantage.

When using Affect Mind, the practitioner generally adopted a suggestive tone of voice and used a distinctive gesture, waving their hand in front of the target’s face. The affected individual, however, rarely remembers the experience. The mind trick was said to work only on the weak-minded, and there were certain species, including Toydarians and Hutts, that were either highly resistant or immune to it. Additionally, as exemplified by Prime Minister Almec’s Mandalorian Guards, it was also possible to train individuals to resist mind tricks. Mind trick could affect simultaneously different targets, sometimes without the target necessarily needing to hear what the user commands them to do. And sometimes a simple wave of the hand from the user was enough to make it work, as well as giving an order without making a gesture.

However, the force power could be used by a group of Jedi simultaneously to exert a greater collective influence on those who would normally be able to resist a single Jedi’s attempt alone, as demonstrated by Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu and Anakin Skywalker upon the bounty hunter Cad Bane. However, it was shown that concentrating on and attempting to forcibly compel a strong mind into cooperation risked damaging or even destroying the mind of the subject, with Bane experiencing overwhelming pain during the attempt by the three Jedi to influence him.

Some Force-users, though mostly Dark Side users, such as the Inquisitorius and Kylo Ren, were able to pry into the minds of others and force information from prisoners, though Force-sensitives and other mentally-strong and willful individuals could potentially resist it. This technique was thought of as a variation of the mind trick, utilizing the ability’s innate telepathic nature to more deeply interact with and influence the mind of the subject. However, darksiders like the Sith had a stronger version that they used to completely dominate the wills of others, even being able to control them like puppets with sheer concentration alone. After training with a Sith Holocron, Ezra Bridger forced an Imperial walker pilot to turn on his comrades and commit suicide.