I thought it might be useful to set up a series of threads, one for each Force power, on how as a GM we might rule in certain situations. Some are definitely in the "house rule" category because they might alter what is described in the book, but some are just rules for which there is no clear guidance.

This thread is for Sense, obviously.

House rule 1: remove the "sense current emotional state" ability of the basic power.

House rule 2: replace the "sense current thoughts" ability of the right-side Control upgrade with the "sense current emotional state" ability of the original basic power.

Rationale: it's pretty clear in canon (at least in TCW) that sensing actual thoughts isn't really possible. Padme blatantly says at one point to Anakin "Don't think you can read my mind."

Also, if I know my players, somebody is going to get into a Sabaac game and use it to read everybody's hand...

Rulings:

Sensing living things can be contested by a Force user with Discipline or Cool if they are aware they are being targeted. Force users with Misdirect, Shroud, or Slippery Minded may use those Powers or Talents instead normally.

Sensing emotional state (or thoughts, should you be inclined to keep them) should be contested for Rivals and Nemeses, to what degree depends on whether the contest is passive or active. In passive tests, the target may not know they are being targeted, in which case their native Willpower is used. Active defense uses Discipline or Cool.

Have at it

I'd say keeping the ability to read the surface thoughts of a person is fine for Sense. After all, we see Vader pull it off in Return of the Jedi upon learning about Luke's sister, and there's really not any way he could otherwise know about their connection prior to the Death Star II confrontation.

As for trying to see everyone's sabacc hand, that'd require Magnitude Upgrades, which if the PC has spent the XP to acquire them, I say let the PC use them. Bear in mind that if the PC starts to look like they're being too lucky, they're going to be accused of cheating, and cheating at sabacc in a seedy dive will get you into just as much trouble as openly announcing you're a Rebel to the masses on an Imperial-held Core World, or that you're one of them "Jedi mind-binders responsible for the Clone Wars."

And again, the Force user would have to hope that everyone's thinking the same train of surface thoughts ("what kind of cards do I have in hand?") to be able to pull it off, and even that's not a certainty. Could be that one of the players is really infatuated with that Gand belly dancer and is thinking of various naughty things he'd like to do with her if given the chance. You could ask the player to make a Discipline check opposed by the target's own Discipline as a combined group check (best Willpower score, best Discipline) on top of the Sense power check and the two (or more) Force Points needed. And just because you know what cards the other players have doesn't ensure that you'll win; after all, you could have drawn crap and everyone having drawn much stronger hands... better hope they don't call your bluff. At most, I'd given them a free upgrade on their Cool check due to the extra knowledge they have, but not much more than that.

There's also the point of Force Points needed to pull off that gambit in the first place. If the PC only has one or two Magnitude Upgrades purchased and they're at a table with three or more gamblers, they'll either need 2 Force dice to have a chance of getting everyone, or they'll have to pick and choose which surface thoughts they pick up.

Just saying, Padmé meant that don't read my mind, thing as an integrity thing. It's not to be taken literally that Ani cant read her mind, she just don't want him to.

Also "your thoughts betray you father" - Luke

Forgot all about those Vader scenes, thanks.

For the card game, it was a sort of tongue in cheek example...basically with mind-reading I see a potential for overuse in a variety of cases, which means as a GM needing to decide each time whether the surface thoughts are relevant and what they are...I had to deal with this in WoD games, and it felt like a lot of detail and time spent to little effect. But once the player "has the power" you can't just hand wave it away and say "you're not getting any more out of this".

In any case, for a literal card game...any card player knows you don't have to read the whole table, you only need to read those that haven't folded if the pot is big enough to care about

Well, the sidebar on Sense does cover that there's a big difference between "surface thoughts" and outright mind reading.

If you've read the Harry Potter series, then Snape's description of Leglimancy is fairly close to how Sense is meant to operate. In short, you get a snapshot of what the person is thinking at that particular moment, and it may not always be helpful, so it's ultimately up to the mind-reader to put together the details in to a coherent picture.

One possible option is to permit an allied PC to make a Deception check opposed by the target's Cool to employ the age-old trick of getting the target of a telepathic probe to think about a very specific topic that the PCs want to know about. Or you could allow the Force user to make the check themselves, though perhaps with a setback or upgraded difficulty.

The last session we had a good interpretation of the mind reading part of sense.

My players got themselves into a situation in where they suddenly where on-board a dropship together with some mercenaries. They had talked themselves into it but had no clue what was about to happen so one of the players read the surface thoughts on one of the mercenaries and heard the young mans inner monologue in where he went over the plan and his emotional stress about it. That gave one of the PCs quite a good knowing about what was going on but not the whole picture.

Also surface thoughts can be things like if so and so is dong why them maybe someone else is doing B. Also our minds tend to tangent pretty quickly.

And as to sabacc since the cards change at random intervals. Well... knowing what someones cards are is not necessarily helpful

Also surface thoughts can be things like if so and so is dong why them maybe someone else is doing B. Also our minds tend to tangent pretty quickly.

And as to sabacc since the cards change at random intervals. Well... knowing what someones cards are is not necessarily helpful

True, true. For using the Sense power in sabacc, I'd probably have the Force user just add his Force dice to the gambling roll, and pips count towards Success (or perhaps Advantage). I would also most definitely spend a Destiny point to upgrade that Difficulty

Also surface thoughts can be things like if so and so is dong why them maybe someone else is doing B. Also our minds tend to tangent pretty quickly.

And as to sabacc since the cards change at random intervals. Well... knowing what someones cards are is not necessarily helpful

True, true. For using the Sense power in sabacc, I'd probably have the Force user just add his Force dice to the gambling roll, and pips count towards Success (or perhaps Advantage). I would also most definitely spend a Destiny point to upgrade that Difficulty

And throw in some conflict for using the Force for petty personal gain.

I imagine it would upgrade the difficulty at least once, but most probably twic to involve the use of sense in that case. Largely because the person is attempting to read thoughts, filter out irrilivent thoughts while managing their own hand. Which I think is fair considering the amount of projected successes one can earn on such a check.

That being said I was the guy who played badly, got drunk then hacked the system with a quick slicing check to give myself a winning hand that earned me the entire pot of around 10k while everyone was watching an organised bar brawl that I had engineered hours before! So yeah, creativity should be rewarded accordingly, but simply using sense and claiming additional successes without any real groundwork seems off.

I imagine it would upgrade the difficulty at least once, but most probably twic to involve the use of sense in that case. Largely because the person is attempting to read thoughts, filter out irrilivent thoughts while managing their own hand. Which I think is fair considering the amount of projected successes one can earn on such a check.

That being said I was the guy who played badly, got drunk then hacked the system with a quick slicing check to give myself a winning hand that earned me the entire pot of around 10k while everyone was watching an organised bar brawl that I had engineered hours before! So yeah, creativity should be rewarded accordingly, but simply using sense and claiming additional successes without any real groundwork seems off.

Difficulty upgrade willy-nilly here is not a good idea. I'd only upgrade the difficulty a number of times as warranted by the opposing character's skill and characteristic. Setbacks are for conflicting surface thoughts. Challenge dice are for skill, training, and Destiny Points.

Otherwise, yes, agree completely.