Can you learn Empathy?

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by giomvrck

Hmm... So it's like the third edition? In 3rd, sunglasses gives -1 to Detect Lies. In the third edition, i've noted that Detect Lies skill is exactly what's the name suggests. This include facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye moviments, head nods, shoulder shrugs, vocal tone, pitch and volume, word choice, respiration, style of interaction (this include timing too), skin tone and etc... (Exactly like real life detection - this things i've mentioned are included in FACS, EM-FACS, SCAnS, SCAnR etc). This is why Body Language, for purposes of lie detection, is made at -3 penality - the reason for that is because you are perceiving just body, head and face cues. So, in 4th i do not have understood like this. Because the fact of Body Language and Detect Lies are just equal (with the difference that the former is visual and the latter is voice cues, like alredy explained here and in GURPS Mysteries (which don't even mention visual cues for Detect Lies, as i remember). And a true fairly good detection is based on all cues and the congruence of the facts, too. This is why
i have asked. I'm not understanding.

You can use Detect Lies by any of the many vectors. Social Engineering page 7 points out that Detect Lies suffer a -3 when operating by text alone (neither voice nor other cues). As for Mysteries, take them with a centner or two of salt, since this is a book that in a bunch of places contradicts how things are assumed to work everywhere else (e.g. Mysteries hearing rules are incompatible with all of Basic Set, High Tech, Powers: Enhanced Senses etc.).