The Force is a character attribute in Star Wars: Rebellion that some characters can use to raise their other abilities and to counter enemy Force users.

Effects

The manual describes the Force as a power that certain characters harness to improve their other abilities. A character with enough Force strength can also spot enemy Force users on missions and thwart them when both are in one system, and heals more quickly than other characters. The manual adds that Force-strong characters can help find traitors on their own side (see Traitors).

Force levels

A Force user has one of five levels: Novice, Trainee, Jedi Student, Jedi Knight or Jedi Master. Some characters are strong in the Force without knowing it. The Character Status window lists a Force ranking, which tells how much Force study the character has had, if any.

Discovering Force users

Luke Skywalker can discover potential Force users among Alliance characters, and Darth Vader can do the same among Imperial characters. A discovery requires Luke or Vader to share a system or ship with the potential user, and the player is then sent a message.

Vader can make such discoveries from the start of the game. Luke cannot at first, because he is not yet strong enough in the Force, and he is able to find potential Force users earlier than he is able to teach them through a Jedi Training mission.

Once a character is found to be Force-aware, the character starts at Novice, and leadership, combat and espionage all rise immediately. The player can raise these further by sending the character on a Jedi Training mission with Luke or Vader. The mission is a teaching mission and can start on a friendly system that has Force-aware characters together with Luke or Vader. It is aborted if the system is bombarded or assaulted. The in-game encyclopedia likewise states that the characters involved may come out with increased Force abilities, and adds that the training counts as foiled if control of the system passes to the enemy.

After a successful mission, a Force-aware character may gain a small amount of Force ability, usually too little to reach the next level.

Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa

Luke is a Trainee in every new game. Later he goes by himself to Dagobah for instruction from Yoda, and if that succeeds he comes back with a higher ranking. The manual states that the only thing that makes the training fail is an interruption caused by Han Solo being captured by bounty hunters and taken to Jabba's palace.

Leia Organa always has Force potential. It stays hidden until Luke tells her of their parentage, which sets her apart from other potential Force users.

Luke and Leia each have an Evasion Force bonus and an Encounter Force bonus. Evading capture gives a slight increase in Force abilities. Meeting Darth Vader or the Emperor without being captured gives a more substantial increase. Leia must be Force-aware to receive either increase. Luke's encounter with Vader can also lead to the Final Battle.

Game data

In the vanilla v1.02 game data for the six Major characters, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine have the IsKnownJedi flag set. Leia Organa has a JediProbability of 100 and IsKnownJedi of 0, while Mon Mothma and Han Solo have a JediProbability of 0.