Kinesics

What it is: Kinesics is the art of empathy and non-vocal communication.When you use it: Use Kinesics to read body language, tells, social cues, and other subconscious indicators. It can also be used to emote more effectively. Kinesics is used defensively whenever someone is trying to deceive you; make an Opposed Test against that person’s Deception or Impersonation skill. Though synthetic morphs are also designed to emote, reading them is not as easy. Apply a –30 modifier when judging a synthetic morph inhabited by a character or AGI. Likewise, standard AIs are also difficult to read; apply a –60 modifier when judging a synthetic morph or pod operated by an AI.Judging Emotions and IntentionsTranshumans are empathic beings, and so you can attempt to gauge the demeanor and/or intent of someone you are dealing with by rolling a Kinesics Test. This attempt to read someone is far from exact, however, and it is easy to misjudge. The gamemaster should make this test in secret and only allow a hint if successful—it is not possible to read someone with absolute certainty. If the person being judged is intentionally trying to deceive the character, this should be an Opposed Test against their Deception skill.Nonvocal CommunicationExperts in Kinesics can effectively communicate with each other simply by posture, stances, gestures, demeanors, and looks. Such communication is necessarily limited in the amount of information it can convey, but feelings, attitudes, affirmation/negation, and simple concepts may be passed. To effectively communicate complex concepts, the gamemaster may require successful Kinesics Tests from both parties, applying modifiers as appropriate.