Is coordination the skill you'd use for Acrobatics? Or is Acrobatics a Custom Skill?

Is coordination the skill you'd use for Acrobatics? Or is Acrobatics a Custom Skill?

Page 121: I see "tumble," "balance," "flexibility," "contort his body into an unusual position," "escape from restraints," etc. Yeah, this would cover most uses of Acrobatics (especially as defined in the previous d20 incarnation of SWRPG).

If you're more thinking what actual acrobats might use for climing, swinging, jumping, etc, Athletics might be more where you'd want to be.

Really just depends on what one is trying to do with the skill.

Can Athletics used as Acrobatics make it harder for someone to hit you in combat? I mean a skilled moving target is harder to hit than one who just stands there. A skill check adds setback dice to an attack? Or extra difficulty dice to the attack?

Can Athletics used as Acrobatics make it harder for someone to hit you in combat?

No, at least not in the rules. Not needed IMHO. There are plenty of ways to increase Defence and upgrade the difficulty of incoming attacks through Talents. Because of the way the dice pools are constructed, adding more options just makes the game static. In many ways it's almost always easier for the attacker to hit, and this prevents stalemating in the game.

Can Athletics used as Acrobatics make it harder for someone to hit you in combat? I mean a skilled moving target is harder to hit than one who just stands there. A skill check adds setback dice to an attack? Or extra difficulty dice to the attack?

There's actually a specific talent similar to this in the Performer specialization in the Far Horizons book. Essentially you spend a Destiny Point to add Failures equal to ranks in Coordination to a single check. Since it's called out as "Coordination Dodge", I wouldn't be surprised of an "Athletics Dodge" down the road at some point.

If the GM would allow it, then yeah, I guess somebody could spend their action and make an Athletics/Coordination check to say they were spending their turn ducking, dodging, and just generally moving erratically around to add setbacks or upgrade. But other than the aforementioned talent and some houseruling, there isn't anything. A "skilled moving target" is typically represented by Defense.

To those saying athletics couldn't you're wrong, in fact almost any skill of narrated properly can be used to make you harder to hit. In terms of Athletics maybe you moving so fast over and between cover of through a crowd that getting a shot off my be more difficult or maybe your knowledge of warfare is enough that you might be able to predict common military tactics employed by those storm troopers shooting your way and thus can out manuever them, etc.

All you do in these situations is roll your check vs the difficulty the gm sets and then spend your advantages and/or triumph to add setback dice or upgrade the difficulty of the foes check. Not as efficient as doing the same while firing back usually perhaps but perfectly possible given a good narration of how it would help.

It is true any skill could be narrated to be useful in a combat scenario. However Skill use requires an action. 'Using your knowlege of basic combat tactics, you deduce the optimal route to move through the enemy fire' boom set back die. But the time you spent annalyzing the enemy took an action (skill check), not a maneuver (I move to cover (same effect)) and now you have given up your opportunity to shoot back. Ultimately you can narrate anything you want any way you want and apply dice to rolls in any manner you and your GM agree to, but making a skill check is an action and prevents you from returning fire, the single most effective thing you can do in combat.

It is true any skill could be narrated to be useful in a combat scenario. However Skill use requires an action. 'Using your knowlege of basic combat tactics, you deduce the optimal route to move through the enemy fire' boom set back die. But the time you spent annalyzing the enemy took an action (skill check), not a maneuver (I move to cover (same effect)) and now you have given up your opportunity to shoot back. Ultimately you can narrate anything you want any way you want and apply dice to rolls in any manner you and your GM agree to, but making a skill check is an action and prevents you from returning fire, the single most effective thing you can do in combat.

It's up to the GM to adjudicate fairly, I think. Granting setbacks/difficulty upgrades/proficiency downgrades should be reflected well by how well the PC rolls his Athletics or Coordination check. If he moves to cover AND rolls well in a check to avoid getting hit, treat it as Improved Cover and grant additional defense.

Or you could just take a page out of the Colonist splatbook and mimic Coordination Dodge, but have it cost the player an action instead of a Destiny Point.

Really the imagination is the limit, but IMO the GM should be careful of miserly interpretations of the dice pools.

It is true any skill could be narrated to be useful in a combat scenario. However Skill use requires an action. 'Using your knowlege of basic combat tactics, you deduce the optimal route to move through the enemy fire' boom set back die. But the time you spent annalyzing the enemy took an action (skill check), not a maneuver (I move to cover (same effect)) and now you have given up your opportunity to shoot back. Ultimately you can narrate anything you want any way you want and apply dice to rolls in any manner you and your GM agree to, but making a skill check is an action and prevents you from returning fire, the single most effective thing you can do in combat.

I realize this, this is why I said "Not as efficient as doing the same while firing back"

I should have added a bit perhaps that this is only in terms of a combat oriented character. If your character isn't good at shooting or hitting in melee then sometimes that knowledge war roll or survival roll could be a hell of a lot more useful because not it will likely (if he's more skilled at it than shooting) generate more successes, advantages, and triumph (especially against a foe with adversary or simply high defense). The successes could have other effects to, while a success on your light ranged might hit that Nexu charging at you out of the bushes, the success on a survival check might make you remember that Nexu avoid a certain type of fauna which you just happened to pick earlier and left in your bag which could divert the beast all-together.

My players don't do this often as usually the "I pew pew at it" is just easier and quicker with less thought required, but when they do it often makes the encounters much more engaging. The only potential issue is if your players then exploit this simply to use their highest skill in every situation, thus why how they narrate it given the situation is really (at least for me) the defining feature on whether or not that success will actually do anything in the given situation. Luckily my players have yet to munchkin like that as long as I avoid doing it to them.

Anyways the reason I brought it up was not as a suggestion on how to make that athletics checks a maneuver because that's not what was asked, but rather if using the action acrobatics could help the player be harder to hit... and it can. I mean shooting back is great and all if your intent is to fight, but it shouldn't always be. In my campaigns I like to avoid just the random fighting with the intent to fight situations, they get a few every now and then like the random bar room brawl or opposition they just need to take out because a crime lord hired them to, but more often than not it's sneak in and steal something, if they get caught they don't usually try to stick around and fight, rather the guy with the stuff makes quick dash while his allies lay down some covering fire and try to back out, the intent rarely being just to win the fight but rather to accomplish the goal.

I dunno.. I'm thinking either if you do an Athletics (Acrobatics) check every 2 successes gives you a extra difficulty die. Or maybe instead of difficulty but Setback dice.

If you want something beyond a narrative benefit or what advantage/triumph gives then I think you need to move into the realm of house rules but I don't find it neccessary since the narrative benefit could outright take you out of combat if appropriate or give you allies or remove minions etc and the triumph/advantage as well as cover kind of makes the rest already plentifully covered