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The default answer among most people to my previous question seems to be that Obi-Wan was referring to becoming a force ghost. Now whilst this seems pretty cool, you are now hindered into well Kyle Jones says it best

Force Immortality seems like a bust to me. Obi-Wan could get around the galaxy without a starship, true, but the fine print of the immortality contract restricted him to visiting only a few close friends. Seems like being alive with a good galactic cellphone plan would be an all-around better deal. And of course there were the women... – Kyle Jones

So what gives? Are you inherently more powerful as a force ghost?

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AncientSwordRage
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"Become more powerful than you could possibly imagine" should be taken with a grain of salt. This is the kind of mystico-cryptic phrase old wizards like to say to their nemesis to plant the seed of doubt in their soul. Imagine it from the point of view of Vader, you are about to strike down your old Master, and he inexplicably disappears after he threatened you!

Obi-Wan, as a force ghost, was quite helpless: After the battle of Yavin, it took him 3 years to re-contact Luke and direct him on Dagobah. After that, he warn him that:

If you choose to face Vader, you will do it alone. I cannot interfere.

His power was achieved trough his teaching and advice to Luke.

So, I would say yes, it make you more powerful, from a certain point of view.

Kevin
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DavRob60
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    +1 for "a certain point of view". Your ability to influence the physical world is more limited, but by becoming closer to the Force, which is among other things an incomprehensibly huge store of information, you gain powers that mere mortals couldn't dream of. – KeithS Mar 29 '12 at 19:40
  • Is the reason he could not interfere due to no power or because it was Luke's decision and destiny and not his? – Tango Aug 26 '16 at 17:12
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Yes, it makes you more powerful than pretty much everyone else. If you focus on how things are presented in the original movies, then everything is far more lame than it was intended to be. The power of the Force Ghost ability is expanded on again and again throughout the newer movies and in other various media in the extended universe.

It was a lost technique, rediscovered by Qui'Gon, which he then taught to Yoda. It makes you immortal, allows you to go wherever you want and communicate with the living, and if you have mastered it sufficiently you can even interact with the physical world. Life after death...that's pretty potent stuff.

One Sith Lord's mastery of the technique forced the living to seal his spirit inside his tomb because he had become so much more powerful after becoming a Force Ghost.

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    Becoming a Force Ghost is more of a Light Side trick and generally results in one's disembodied soul becoming connected to but not completely absorbed by the Force itself. What the Sith do is generally called "essence transfer", where the practitioner uses the Force to bind their soul to another living thing or to an inanimate object, thus maintaining a link to the physical world and not succumbing to Chaos. It's a different skill meant to avoid the afterlife instead of accepting it. – KeithS Mar 29 '12 at 19:51
  • @KeithS According to the Star Wars wiki becoming a Force Ghost is prized by the Sith. Do you have an extra resource? –  Mar 29 '12 at 21:22
  • Wookiepedia states that most Sith used essence transfer, or some other dark ritual, to keep their disembodied soul from being lost to Chaos. Check the Wookiepedia page on Force Ghosts; the page says that the Sith used "similar" (but different) methods. – KeithS Mar 29 '12 at 21:34
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This is explained by the fact that you have to remember what the main goal of (many of) the Sith was. It was eternal life.

That was what Plagueis, Sidious, and even Vader (who wanted to prevent Padme from dying) strived for, and Palpatine did achieve it to an extent.

As such, the ability for your consciousness to survive post-body-death as a Force Ghost would indeed be the most powerful thing that a Sith would think of.

“An infinite mystery is the Force.” Yoda lifted his head and turned his gaze out into the wheel of stars. “Much to learn, there still is.”
And you will have time to learn it.
“Infinite knowledge …” Yoda shook his head. “Infinite time, does that require.”
With my help, you can learn to join with the Force, yet retain consciousness. You can join your light to it forever. Perhaps, in time, even your physical self.
Yoda did not move. “Eternal life …”
The ultimate goal of the Sith, yet they can never achieve it; it comes only by the release of self, not the exaltation of self. It comes through compassion, not greed. Love is the answer to the darkness.
“Become one with the Force, yet influence still to have …” Yoda mused. “A power greater than all, it is.”
It cannot be granted; it can only be taught. It is yours to learn, if you wish it.
("Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith", novelization by Matthew Stover)

And, from a Sith viewpoint (From James Luceno's "Darthe Plagueis"):

... Had Plagueis unlocked the key to immortality, and survived after all? ...
The Muun might have lived another hundred years unchanged. He might have lived forever had he succeeded fully in his quest.

...

... and had devoted two standard decades to day-and-night experimentation with midi-chlorian manipulation and attempts to wrest a few last secrets from the Force, so that he — and presumably his human apprentice — might live forever.

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