[Basic] Skill of the week: Acrobatics

[johndallman]

(And Aerobatics and Aquabatics) There's a lot of good stuff about Acrobatics in Martial Arts and Action 3: Furious Fists, but one of the most important things comes from this recent Kromm posting:

Originally Posted by Kromm

Something to bear in mind is that GURPS' Acrobatics skill could fairly be called Combat Mobility. It covers acrobatic attacks, feints, movement, etc. in a fight, and lets you stand quickly in combat; is rolled for Acrobatic Dodge; is the basis for the Acrobatic Stand technique and an option for Breakfall, Evade, Quick Mount, and Roll with Blow; provides the recovery roll for Drop Kick, Flying Jump Kick, Jump Kick, and Pole-Vault Kick; and lets you resist Sweep and Trip. While it does also encompass gymnastics and circus feats, those aren't its core, so they'll be at a penalty. If someone wanted a variant that erased up to -x on noncombat stunts like walking ropes, I suppose I would allow it; it and the combat version would default either way at -x, meaning that all combat techniques and tricks would be at -x when using it. Call x = 3, make the new skill Acrobatics Sport or Acrobatics Art, and give it to most realistic performers.

The only particularly odd thing I've ever done with Acrobatics is take an optional specialisation. This is not RAW, but I was a lot less familiar with 4e at the time. The specialisation was "Follow closely", for a character with pretty good invisibility and stealth, who wanted to get through doors very close to people without giving himself away. Fairly obviously, this should be a Technique: it probably defaults to full skill and then takes penalties depending on the size of the door, the speed of movement, and so on. I'm not sure if it's Average or Hard.

What weird things have you done with Acrobatics?

Edit: Here's a subsequent thread on Acrobatic Dodge.