Does misdirection have feeling?

By LordBritish, in Star Wars: Force and Destiny RPG

My query is on the Misdirect force power, more precisely to get a feel on what people feels they can and cannot do with it.

Now, obviously a misdirection cannot physically move anything, a force projected Rancor couldn't throw a person, but can a force illusion.

  • Convey a sense of touch? Like the golden dice Luke gave Leia. Can a misdirection convey a sense of feeling as long as one is actively aware of the contact?
  • Disallow physical entry? E.g. I project a steel wall.
  • Restrain? Can an successful misdirection hold someone captive? Or could it only give the threat of being captive?
  • Communicate silently? On a few occasions me and one other PC have conducted entire silent conversations using misdirection.

Just a curiosity really.

3 hours ago, LordBritish said:

Convey a sense of touch? Like the golden dice Luke gave Leia. Can a misdirection convey a sense of feeling as long as one is actively aware of the contact?

I don't see why not, there is precedent for it in the scene you are describing. I would be very careful with this application, as it could be utilized by a very clever gamer to get out of a lot of problems...or into them. But yeah, assuming Leia actually felt them, and wasn't just reflexively closing her hand around the familiar object, knowing it was an illusion anyway. Though I can also be fine with the "optical/auditory only" interpretation as well. Since visual/audio stimulus can be completely external, and duplicated pretty easily, it is easier to trick in my mind, than making someone think they are actually feeling something. That smacks of direct brain stimulation to say "you feel this", but illusions can simply be an actual visual/audio thing you conjure, and can be seen without having to hijack the nervous system if you will.

Still, if it makes for a better story, go for it.

3 hours ago, LordBritish said:

Disallow physical entry? E.g. I project a steel wall. 

No, definitely not. It might inadvertently disallow entry, by tricking the person into thinking there isn't a doorway there, but to my mind, they are actually passing through the illusion, they would still be able to pass through. It's an ILLUSION, not a tangible, fabricated construct :P

3 hours ago, LordBritish said:

Restrain? Can an successful misdirection hold someone captive? Or could it only give the threat of being captive?

Depends on how you mean. For example, an illusion of a ring of fire around them, making them too scared to try and pass, would work I think. But if you mean something like Illusion Handcuffs, again, no. It's not a magical construct, it's an illusion. You're not the Green Lantern with this power :P

3 hours ago, LordBritish said:

Communicate silently? On a few occasions me and one other PC have conducted entire silent conversations using misdirection.

Well that's quite clever. I mean, yeah I don't see why not. Just using it to make an illusion of yourself near an ally to whisper in their ear seems fine to me. It's not using the power in an unusual manner, like your above examples of physical objects for restraint and such. It's still an audio/visual illusion, you're just using it to convey something directly, instead of misdirection. I mean, there's nothing saying you can't make an illusion of a person in a crowd yelling "He's got a gun!" or "The building is on fire! Everyone out!" , so I don't see why you can't make a similar illusion that says "Psst, hey! Bob, I've distracted the guards, you've got about 10 seconds to get through the checkpoint, move!"

It depends on the Control Upgrades you have but essentially you can describe the misdirection as anything. Obi Wan's sound of a pebble that caused the Stormtroopers to look away as he was crossing the walkway to the shield generator is an example of the Basic power plus a Magnitude and Range upgrade.

On 8/3/2018 at 5:50 AM, LordBritish said:
  1. Convey a sense of touch? Like the golden dice Luke gave Leia. Can a misdirection convey a sense of feeling as long as one is actively aware of the contact?
  2. Disallow physical entry? E.g. I project a steel wall.
  3. Restrain? Can an successful misdirection hold someone captive? Or could it only give the threat of being captive?
  4. Communicate silently? On a few occasions me and one other PC have conducted entire silent conversations using misdirection.

1) Not touch specifically but you can get the same effect with a sound or flash of something. As for Luke giving Leia those dice, I'm going to go with that really happened (deadly Hollywood logic) and he somehow transported those dice to her. I don't like it and it makes no sense but RJ screwed up so much lore in TLJ I can't put it past him..../rant

2 & 3) KungFuFerret's explanation works.

4) Yes but you'd need the Control Upgrade to alter the appearance of the person (you aren't hiding your mouth you are changing it's appearance to not moving), and a Duration Upgrade if the conversation is of any length. Also this is assuming you are just doing yourself, if not then you are going to need a Strength Upgrade for the other person.

Edited by FuriousGreg
18 hours ago, FuriousGreg said:

1) Not touch specifically but you can get the same effect with a sound or flash of something. As for Luke giving Leia those dice, I'm going to go with that really happened (deadly Hollywood logic) and he somehow transported those dice to her . I don't like it and it makes no sense but RJ screwed up so much lore in TLJ I can't put it past him..../rant

One issue with the bolded bit, we see a scene later, when Ben enters the facility and is looking around, he spots the dice, and reaches down to touch them, and they fade when he touches them, like an illusion. So I don't think the film suggests they were transported there.

My personal feel of that is that Leia knew it was an illusion of Luke she was seeing, and that she didn't feel the dice, but she still felt the emotional weight of what they represented. And how she closed her hand over them because of her memories of Han. My opinion is she knew they were fake, but it didn't really matter. The feelings they reminded her of, and the moment with her brother were what was important, and that was all she needed. That emotional connection, not the object itself.

2 hours ago, KungFuFerret said:

One issue with the bolded bit, we see a scene later, when Ben enters the facility and is looking around, he spots the dice, and reaches down to touch them, and they fade when he touches them, like an illusion. So I don't think the film suggests they were transported there.

My personal feel of that is that Leia knew it was an illusion of Luke she was seeing, and that she didn't feel the dice, but she still felt the emotional weight of what they represented. And how she closed her hand over them because of her memories of Han. My opinion is she knew they were fake, but it didn't really matter. The feelings they reminded her of, and the moment with her brother were what was important, and that was all she needed. That emotional connection, not the object itself.

The moment she "touches" the dice, the two exchange a significant look. I figure that's the moment Leia understood the nature of Luke's presence.

2 minutes ago, Stan Fresh said:

The moment she "touches" the dice, the two exchange a significant look. I figure that's the moment Leia understood the nature of Luke's presence.

*nods* Yeah I think the same. It would make sense, as that would be the moment that she would go "Hey, I don't feel the weight or shape of these dice, I don't feel the warmth from Luke's hand, this is a projection."

On 8/13/2018 at 9:52 AM, KungFuFerret said:

One issue with the bolded bit, we see a scene later, when Ben enters the facility and is looking around, he spots the dice, and reaches down to touch them, and they fade when he touches them, like an illusion. So I don't think the film suggests they were transported there. 

I missed that... I guess I was still in shock as to how f'n bad the film was I forgot.

11 minutes ago, FuriousGreg said:

I missed that... I guess I was still in shock as to how f'n bad the film was I forgot.

Sorry you didn't like it.

On 8/12/2018 at 1:46 PM, FuriousGreg said:

Not touch specifically but you can get the same effect with a sound or flash of something. As for Luke giving Leia those dice, I'm going to go with that really happened (deadly Hollywood logic) and he somehow transported those dice to her. I don't like it and it makes no sense but RJ screwed up so much lore in TLJ I can't put it past him..../rant

(Man, I know this is going to derail this topic, but I simply must ask...)

What lore do you feel Rian Johnson screwed up in TLJ? I'm genuinely curious here. My complaints with the movie are almost entirely down to editting and tone, and I have yet to hear a valid complaint about lore that hasn't been addressed already, in either the movie itself or the supporting material.

Edited by Underachiever599

*Returns a week later with a bag of popcorn, starts crunching.*

I will be talking a little later, just been so busy lately.

6 hours ago, LordBritish said:

*Returns a week later with a bag of popcorn, starts crunching.*

I will be talking a little later, just been so busy lately.

It's okay I'm not biting... :P

Another thread maybe but not here.