Fwurg

[Brend]

Question for great sithness: Do other Jedi know what Force Powers your character has?

Up till now, I have been playing under the assumption that what is on the wiki is sort of public. Though in play I tend to only go by the rough ratings of skills, and usually don't care about the Force Powers.

What if I wanted my character to learn a secret power in secret? (Yes, those are two things: 'secret power' = a power not known to the Order, 'learn in secret' = learn a power without others knowing you have it.) In the Star Wars universe it is a common feature of those turning dark that they start having secret powers...

What do you think? Should this be possible, or should this not be allowed? And why do you think so?

[Elmer]

I think it should be possible to secretly develop skills unknown to the other jedi. Though it is important to keep in mind how your jedi have learned them. I think you cannot just learn everything, some powers and skills are special in my eyes, like force lightning or mind trick. First you need to know that this is possible, (especially as a padawan) and than you need to learn it somehow. Although I can imagine that a knight or master can experiment in his/her room and learn somethings this way.

Maybe a padawan does not have secret and secretly skills and powers, but a knight and master might have. This emphasizes that a padawan is only a student and still has much to learn while a knight already is fully trained and ready to take on the world :)

[Mercury]

I think there's some confusion as to the nature of Force Powers.

This isn't like you go to a Telekinesis workshop, get a Telekinesis 1 Diploma and then you know Telekinesis 1. The Force doesn't work that way.

Rather, each Jedi is connected with the Force, allowing them to use the Force in certain ways. Force powers represent this, but the Force isn't quantified in 'powers'. There is just the Force and you can use it more or less in certain ways. Put simply, Force Powers are a system mechanic, not something definable that Jedi have.

As such, you cannot know what Force Power a Jedi has. You might know they are capable of certain feats but not that they have a specific power in the sense of a specially quantified unit that is uniform over multiple Jedi.

I dont think Jedi have access to one anothers character sheets. As such, they won't have knowledge of what powers someone has either. However if you're tossing lighting from your hands at a Jedi cackling evilly while declaring the Dark Side is much too powerful to ever be conquered, prepare for a Jedi behind you to toss you down a deep hole.

[Brend]

I think there's some confusion as to the nature of Force Powers.

This is a trap I can easily walk in to. It has been known to happen before. I think I see where this is going, and I like the direction.

As a slight aside:

Rather, each Jedi is connected with the Force, allowing them to use the Force in certain ways. Force powers represent this, but the Force isn't quantified in 'powers'. There is just the Force and you can use it more or less in certain ways. Put simply, Force Powers are a system mechanic, not something definable that Jedi have.

As such, you cannot know what Force Power a Jedi has. You might know they are capable of certain feats but not that they have a specific power in the sense of a specially quantified unit that is uniform over multiple Jedi.

Then how does the whole powers-in-holocrons thing work? Surely there must at least be some way of transfering knowledge from Jedi A to Jedi B through a holocron if they are to have additional value beyond a normal holorecorder?

[Mercury]

There is knowledge that covers Force Powers - which can be transferred and learned from others or from holocrons. But its not "this Holocron teaches you how to do Force Lightning" but rather "This Holocron teaches you a way of interacting with the Force that might cause a user develop the ability to manipulate Force Lightning". I hope I'm making myself clear in that ^_^

[Brend]

That sounds logical; it wouldn't be the first thing that is neigh impossible to quantify while still being able to explain it to someone else who then goes 'Ah, I get it now!'

[Mercury]

My PhD research is on this topic ^_^