I'm looking at Coordination and seeing the second most niche skill in the game (after Astrogation), and probably the least used (can't think of many, if any, places in official adventures).

It does have its uses, don't get me wrong, but I feel that I mostly have to work in a strange situation to justify using Coordination.

I guess I need circus troupe campaign.

Anybody have thoughts?

I've used Coordination as a Chase skill for moving through crowded streets, and also for zero-g (microgravity) spacewalks. It can be use for tumbling (including break fall rolls) and wiggling out of bonds. What really seems to devalue Coordination is that so often its just listed as an alternative to using Athletics for the same task.

I've used coordination to stop players from falling, to reach out suddenly and grab something that was thrown to them or flying by, to walk on sloped rooftops in a rain storm, as an alternate player option for mechanics/athletics in situations requiring precise manual dexterity, to manipulate a grabbing crane's controls, and so on.

I agree that it doesn't come up too often, but you can likely find situations where it is useful and the people who have it will be thankful. I try to look at the good skills/talents of my group and make situations where characters can shine using them. Often this helps the ones who don't have such skills consider diversifying their characters.

Yeah, the catching stuff and zero-g movements are pretty good. But I agree that the sticking point is probably Athletics being used in places where Coordination is used.

I think HDs foot chase rule is a solid spot for it. Kind of along that vein, when in the ancient temple with the roof collapsing using it to avoid falling debris maybe. There's probably options to use it in a social check situation for impressing people with some kind of performance, acrobatics and such. It really isn't going to pop up that often where another skill isn't better suited, but maintaining one's balance is enough of an occurrence for it to have a place I think.

If your players aren't using the Coordination skill, it's a sign you're not setting them on fire or dropping them from great heights frequently enough.

Joking aside, here are a few situations that have come up in my campaigns:

Wriggling through a crack in a glacier to get inside the ice cave pirate base beyond? Coordination.

Walking a tightrope between two buildings in order ot break in via the roof? Coordination.

Jumping from an airborne waterspeeder just before it smashes into the criminal syndicate enforcers' speeder truck? Coordination.

Getting some shipping containers floating in space aboard the ship before the angry owners show up? Coordination.

Need to get rid of a swarm of stinging insects attacking you? Coordination.

Several people sharing a single grav chute after jumping out of an airspeeder at altitude? Coordination.

How about, "Holy ****! We're in a minefield!!!"......

Crossing open ground with explosions going off and trying to keep your head down and attached.

It's a good skill for an opposed 'thrown by the Sith' scenario.

The out of control ship, or whatever, and the PCs are getting bounced around inside it.

If your players aren't using the Coordination skill, it's a sign you're not setting them on fire...frequently enough .

Now that you mention it, I haven't been setting anything on fire enough.

There's never enough.

I suspect that Athletics/Coordination usually appear together because those tend to be situations where everyone needs to roll and it avoids penalizing the low-Brawn (very common)/low-Agility (less common) races while still rewarding those who invested in the relevant skills. As such, those skills tend to define a character's style rather than their capability.

Coordination is mostly relevant to infiltration/espionage/escape scenarios though, so if you aren't dealing with those very often, it won't see much use. (I suppose it could have corner-case social uses though - a contortionist act is probably just as popular in the SW universe as it is in ours.)

Part of the problem is that the system has too many skills (i'd say at least 10 more than it needs) and more or less ties each skill to one attribute. For example Athletics and Coordination should really have been one skill with the GM deciding if Brawn or Agility is better suited to the task.