Any creative non combat ideas for it? Cool has gambling, curious what others have come up with.

Sports? "You notice one of the opposing players sneaking down the sidelines."

Noting a change in tone in a social encounter: "The protocol droid hands the Hutt a message. The Hutt looks at you, and you know he knows..."

Hacking: "As you're reading the data graph, a subtle pattern begins to emerge."

I use Vigilance when I'm rolling for whether or not a player notices something going on in the background, in a situation where they wouldn't ordinarily be on guard. I.e., noticing that someone snuck onto their ship to plant a tracking device.

I considered allowing it for gambling as well, where Cool is the poker face, Vigilance would be the card counter. That's probably the easiest way to 'level the ground' between the two.

I use it for remembering something form the past or as a passive perception check.

I find that Vigilance is underused. When I GM I use vigilance for various things:

1. Resourcefulness; did you bring the right tools? Do you have enough scrap to fix the speeder bike?
2. Sudden events; I generally rule that perception is used for observing things that are currently happening, i.e. watching someone get pick pocketed. Vigilance, on the other hand, is used for immediate events, i.e. someones pickpocketing you.

A good example where both Perception and Vigilance could be used is a plane/starship crash. Perception would be used to notice the trail of smoke behind one of the thrusters. Vigilance would be used to suddenly brace for impact.

In general terms, Perception is for "observation", while Vigilance is for "preparedness". So, Perception let's you notice something, while Vigilance let's you do something about it Checkmate's crash scenario is a good example of this. Perception might let you notice a booby trap, while Vigilance would give you nearby rock or tree to dive for cover. Perception would let you notice that a baby is about to cry, while Vigilance would give you the foresight to have a spare diaper in your pack With Perception, you notice the femme fatale putting the strange powder in the champagne flute. With Vigilance, you pull out your antidote kit.

You can also think of Perception dealing with the cause, while Vigilance deals with the effect.

Creative uses for Vigilance? How about:

-Party's ship takes a crit that affects the engines. First person to make it back to the engine compartment needs to roll Vigilance to remember where the nearest fire extinguisher or breath mask is to keep from taking strain from smoke.

-A firefight breaks out in an unfamiliar building. If the party stays in one place for too long, reinforcements might overwhelm them. Vigilance can be used to remember where the nearest exit is, so the party can escape in as short a time as possible.

-If you want to have one of the bad guys sneak onto the PCs ship while they are at a meeting or whatnot, have the goon/goons roll Skullduggery using the Vigilance of the PC who was last aboard as the difficulty (i.e. Did they remember to close and lock all of the hatches and secure all of the access panels when they left?).

In general terms, Perception is for "observation", while Vigilance is for "preparedness". So, Perception let's you notice something, while Vigilance let's you do something about it Checkmate's crash scenario is a good example of this. Perception might let you notice a booby trap, while Vigilance would give you nearby rock or tree to dive for cover. Perception would let you notice that a baby is about to cry, while Vigilance would give you the foresight to have a spare diaper in your pack With Perception, you notice the femme fatale putting the strange powder in the champagne flute. With Vigilance, you pull out your antidote kit.

You can also think of Perception dealing with the cause, while Vigilance deals with the effect.

This is the best description of the two skills I've seen on these boards yet. All too often I see...

Player: Perception is silly, I'll just put all my ranks in vigilance.

Player (moments later): How'd they get the jump on me?

Me: Well, it's easy when your character is essentially blind, deaf, anosmic, and ageusic! However, you are able to react to the surprise really well! Kick their butts!

Vigilance is such an awesome skill on it's own. I mean, seriously, It's so awesome to get captured and then have the vigilant character's player go "It's a good thing that my character always keeps his microcutters tucked away ever since that time we all got captured by those scavengers!"