Force Power: Sense Force
Sense Difficulty: Moderate for an area; Difficult for sensing details or specific objects/Force-users within the area. Modified by proximity.
Effect: This power is used to sense the ambient Force within a place. It cannot be used to specifically detect sentient beings, but there are many forms of life and many areas of the galaxy intertwined with the Force which can be sensed with this power. Sense Force will tell a character the rough magnitude of the Force in an area or object (rich, moderate or poor in the Force), the rough type and quantity of life-forms (“many insects,” “only microbes and bacteria,” “teeming with plant and animal life, including higher predators”) and whether the area or object tends toward the dark side or the light (for example, the tree on Dagobah which Luke Skywalker entered is a “dark side nexus” rich in the negative energies of the dark side of the Force). An area rich in negative or positive energies may indicate past events or the activities of past inhabitants. The Jedi may also receive “vague premonitions” about the area, such as “I sense something wrong,” or “I sense a great impending tragedy.”
Background: Sense Force, also known as See Force or in traditional High Galactic as tactus otium, was a Sense-based Force power. It allowed an individual to sense the ambient Force in a given area. It could not be used to detect sentient beings, but allowed an individual to sense the magnitude of Force in an area or object, and even if that Force was aligned with the dark side of the Force, or the light.
To practice and hone this ability, Padawans of the Jedi Order had to relax their perceptions so that everything surrounding them becomes a blur. With a lot of patience and practice, the Force would reveal itself and let the practitioner see an area’s Force signature and revealing whether it is sickly, beneficial or malevolent.
In some places where the dark side of the Force is quite strong, this sense provides the Force-sensitive with a bit of a warning before approaching the site.
During his Jedi training on the swamp-planet Dagobah, Luke Skywalker used this Sense-based Force power when approaching the Dark Side Cave on Dagobah. He later commented on it in the The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force.
Being guided by the voice of Qui-Gon Jinn’s spirit, Master Yoda also came across the Dark Side Cave where he had a vision of the future Great Jedi Purge and an illusion of Darth Sidious telling him to join him.
Qui-Gon Jinn has been practicing this ability on Coruscant and appeared amazed by the amount of life at the planet.