Electronic manipulation power

By baterax, in Star Wars: Force and Destiny RPG

Hey!

So, watching Clone Wars, I saw Obi-Wan use the Force twice now, to manipulate electronic stuff.

One time he used it to open a door while he was disguised as a bounty hunter, and the other time he shut off a droid...

Which power in the books would you guys suggest we use for this mechanic?

Move with the fine manipulation Control upgrade in both instances, as he wasn't manipulating electricity but rather the control panels in both instances.

Hmmm in the droid's case, yes.

But I disagree about the control panel. He 'hacked' it. The bounty hunter tried to input a code and it had been changed. Obi broke into it electronically.

I mean, the real point of this question is: If a player wants to attempt this in my game, what power should they have to be able to do it?

If I understand what scene you are referring to, he at least used Move. Disregarding the issue of whether he was 'hacking' or just used Move for whatever reason, you could probably represent the process of hacking with Force by using Seek.

Or he used forsee, to enter the password that he entered, in the future.

Think about that one a moment. XD

Not having seen the scenes you are referring to my initial thoughts were also that it was likely just Move, with (Computer? Mechanics?) Skill checks associated.

Edited by emsquared

I don't understand the reasoning behind Move for that, I'm surprised more than two of you seem to think this way.

Think about any kind of electronic password-input panel in real life.

Is messing with the parts inside in any way, going to help you open it?

No, it won't.

Foresee is great food for thought but I don't think that would apply here because "always in motion, the future is".

And Seek is finding people or objects, BUT it makes a little more sense than Move. Hmmmm

It's move because Obi-Wan dressed as Rako Hardeen simply used fine manipulation on the code box to move the visble gear on top to the unlocked position without entering a password. Yes it was a digital password but he was manipulating a Physical Lock, hence why it's move.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/star-wars-the-clone-wars-s4e15-deception/82216816/found the scene in question at 19:02 in the video.

Edited by Shlambate

He didn't do anything with the digital panel, none of the other force powers make any sense in this situation. All he did was move the mechanical part of the lock into the unlocked position.

He didn't do anything with the digital panel, none of the other force powers make any sense in this situation. All he did was move the mechanical part of the lock into the unlocked position.

Hence why it in my opinion is move with fine manipulation of the inner parts to make the gear move. But yes all he did was move it into the unlocked position.

Yeah, Move power combined with a Mechanics check perhaps. I'd allow a similar result when using the "Mental Tools" talent.

Edit: I can see how, at first blush, it might look like he's "mind-tricking" the lock. But that's not what he's doing, really. There's a mechanical locking mechanism that is controlled by an electronic keypad. Obi-Wan simply bypassed the keypad and used the Force on the lock itself.

Edited by awayputurwpn

Probably a Skulduggery check, with a couple of Boost dice added because he can telekinetically manipulate the mechanisms directly.

...what? Not every use of the Force requires a Force power check.

Probably a Skulduggery check, with a couple of Boost dice added because he can telekinetically manipulate the mechanisms directly.

...what? Not every use of the Force requires a Force power check.

I wouldn't go there automatically. It kind of steps on the toes of the Mental Tools talent (the one I mentioned above). Plus that, sometimes players like to flex their character's Force Muscles ;)

Hmmmm ok now I see why Obi-Wan would have used Move.

But that still doesn't answer my gameplay question.

I like the Skulduggery idea, because for a Jedi to use the Force to manipulate electronics, he'd have to actually know what he was doing, much like in X-Men. Magneto and Jean Grey were rebuilding the X Mansion with their powers, but they don't have degrees in engineering or architecture to be able to do that.

But still, Skulduggery would only cover half of the task... There's still no power in the books that technically does this. Another example would be to manipulate a droid's memory banks...

One again, Obi was NOT manipulating the programming, circuitry, or electronics of the lock, ONLY the portions that were purely mechanical. That's very easily covered by the "Fine Manipulation" upgrade of the Move power. So a Skulduggery check to pick the lock, with some Boosts for the benefit the Force provides, but some Setbacks because he doesn't have any tools to directly observe what he's doing and has to do it entirely "by feel" (no Setbacks if he has Mental Tools).

For the droid I'm not so sure. I don't remember that scene, myself. If he is actually manipulating it's programing with the Force then that's a power we don't have yet, but I doubt that's what he was doing. They were very conservative with what they showed the Force to be capable of in that show.

Edited by Absol197

There's an old Force power in the WEG edition of the game, "Electronic Manipulation." I looked it up on Wookieepedia, and apparently it was a dark side power (I didn't remember that much about it) that required the user to funnel their rage into the computer/electronic device to reprogram it.

I'm okay not having stuff like that in my game :) But if you like, perhaps you could just homebrew a use of the Influence power that works on machines. Just call it a control upgrade or something, maybe?

Droids everywhere, beware!!

Delving into something close to my college age self held near and dear for a moment...

In Knights of the Old Republic, there was the disrupt droid power. It was visibly much like the lower tiers of shock and lightning, but only worked on droids, and would stun them into being temporarily faded.

For this system, key, just color influence.

As for those episodes. Move. All the way. Obi-Wan doesn't like droids, never did, so I doubt he bothered to figure anything about them beyond how to make the beeping stop.

There's an old Force power in the WEG edition of the game, "Electronic Manipulation." I looked it up on Wookieepedia, and apparently it was a dark side power (I didn't remember that much about it) that required the user to funnel their rage into the computer/electronic device to reprogram it.

I'm okay not having stuff like that in my game :) But if you like, perhaps you could just homebrew a use of the Influence power that works on machines. Just call it a control upgrade or something, maybe?

Droids everywhere, beware!!

Yup I remember this, I play and gamemaster SW since the D6 days. I never thought that made ANY sense. How would manipulating electronics be an innate Dark Side power? Nope, for me. In my game, it wasn't. But it WAS available for use. In things like, hacking access panels.

Baterax do you remember what episode your referring to with Obi wan where he turns off the droid? I remember a scene in the malevolence trilogy in which he closes droidekas but I can't find the scene you mention.

For those curious https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qrnMLd_92_g. This would just be move on the the droidekas but I don't think your referring to the droidekas

As for those episodes. Move. All the way. Obi-Wan doesn't like droids, never did, so I doubt he bothered to figure anything about them beyond how to make the beeping stop.

Since the OP seems disappointed in the lack of a Force power designed as he sees it, I offer an alternative: wait for new sourcebooks to cover this possible power.

To date, both new sourcebooks for Force and Destiny offer a new Force Power, so with four books remaining (and adventures- Chronicles of the Gatekeeper offered ANOTHER Force Power), you question might just be a matter of patience.

In the meanwhile, others have made suggestions that should fill the gap well.

Baterax do you remember what episode your referring to with Obi wan where he turns off the droid? I remember a scene in the malevolence trilogy in which he closes droidekas but I can't find the scene you mention.

For those curious https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qrnMLd_92_g. This would just be move on the the droidekas but I don't think your referring to the droidekas

As for those episodes. Move. All the way. Obi-Wan doesn't like droids, never did, so I doubt he bothered to figure anything about them beyond how to make the beeping stop.

I should have remebered that! Doh.

I think it's the same one where he opens the lock... or the next one, or the one before it. It's around there...

Since the OP seems disappointed in the lack of a Force power designed as he sees it, I offer an alternative: wait for new sourcebooks to cover this possible power.

To date, both new sourcebooks for Force and Destiny offer a new Force Power, so with four books remaining (and adventures- Chronicles of the Gatekeeper offered ANOTHER Force Power), you question might just be a matter of patience.

In the meanwhile, others have made suggestions that should fill the gap well.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. It should show up somewhere soon. Maybe in the Sentinels book, since it would sound to me like a roguish power and Sentinels are this systems' rogues...