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[Kiloku]

Seeing this small steel-clad mute fungal adventurer made me think a bit of how he got to this point. 
He'd had to order a custom built suit of armor, for example (which of course, isn't possible even for speaking player-adventurers, but that's beside the point for now). 

And while difficult, I think it should be possible. I don't think we should straight up have something like Sign Language, as this is usually a more formalized system of communication and even then, it's not often that a non-mute, non-deaf person knows sign language.

A character (including our adventurers) should be able to use various forms of gesture, to express general ideas: 
Plead (To ask for something such as an object, a favor, service from a merchant/tavern keeper), Pointing (to someone, to an object, to a direction, to self), Yes/No with simple movements of the head or the hand, indicate emotions (Urgency, Boredom, Annoyance, Happiness, Delight, Anger, Tiredness, Satisfaction, Affection, etc.), Threaten, Clap, Wave, etc. etc.

All of that could be supported, improved with a "gesturer" skill, that could possibly level up faster for naturally mute creatures such as our mushroomy friend.

An essential part would be to combine and chain gestures before the person you're speaking to can respond. I represent this in the examples below with a plus sign between gestures/actions.

I imagine playing the Plump Helmet Axeman like this:

Find a merchant and start a conversation. Requires PHM to be in sight of the merchant. Alternatively, *poke* the merchant to have them turn to you:
 PHM: *Waves or pokes*
 Merchant: "Hello, Plump helmet man. My name is Urist Panelstopped. How may I be of service?"
 PHM: Point to object > Move cursor to tile where object is > Select object from list
 Merchant: "So you want to buy a =Steel Battle Axe=, is that correct?" [The Merchant understanding correctly what you want may depend on their observation skill and your gesturer skill]
 PHM: *Nods*
 Merchant: "That will be 4570DwarfBucks. How would you like to pay?"
 PHM: Show Object > Select object from inventory > select pouch full of coins and gemstones
 Merchant: "This works out to only 2330DwarfBucks. Please add something else!"
 PHM: Show Object > Select object from inventory > select *Iron Battle Axe*
 Merchant: "Perfect! I will owe you 200DwarfBucks if you accept this exchange. Is that alright?"
 PHM: *Nods*
 (end scene)

Find a bandit robbing a poor farmer:
 PHM: Threaten with held weapon
 Bandit: "I'd like to see you try!"
 [Regular combat ensues, Bandit is wounded]
 PHM: Threaten with held weapon
 Bandit: "I yield, I yield!"
 PHM: *Dismissive gesture+Point toward direction > North, away from the town*
 [Bandit runs northward]
 (end scene)

Find a friendly axedwarf to join your adventures:
 PHM: *Poke*
 Dwarf: "Hello, Plump-helmet Man. My name is Olon Fieldswatered. It is a pleasure to meet you."
 PHM: Point to person > Axedwarf + Point to self
 Dwarf: "You want me to join you? What for?"
 PHM: Show object > =Steel Battle Axe= + Ample gesture towards the world
 Dwarf: "You want to go selling axes? Sorry, I'm not a merchant!"
 PHM: *Shake Head* + Mimic walking
 Dwarf: "Oh! You want to go on adventures? Of course! I will follow you if you lead me to glory and death!"

[DerMeister]

Good idea.

[Shonai_Dweller]

Yeah, the new interrogation interface sounds like it will make this fairly easy to add with it's speech categories of flattery, intimidation, etc.

Criminal: I am a drunk.

Plump Helmet man: [Flattery] ...

Criminal: I'm just out for a walk.

Plump Helmet Man: [Intimidation] ...

Criminal: OK, OK, I admit it! I work for the local necromancer. We're planning to wipe out the local hamlets and......

[Superdorf]

This... is something I didn't know I wanted until this moment.

[VABritto]

This would be a very very good addition even for non-mute characters! Great suggestion!

[ZM5]

It'd give more use to the mannerisms currently in-game as well - if you look at the thoughts/preferences screen you'll notice stuff like "she laughs in a unique way whenever she's annoyed" or "he tenses up when he's nervous". Outside of that screen those are never actually used.

Those could come up during investigations I'd think, perhaps with some changes depending on observer skill or the social awareness attribute. So for example, if you have a high enough awareness attribute you'd notice that the person you're interrogating looks tense and nervous after you ask them a specific question - whereas if your attribute was low you probably wouldn't get notified of them acting differently. On the other side, perhaps a high lying skill, a calm, composed personality or high social awareness would prevent one from giving away that they're nervous or annoyed about something.

[scourge728]

An interesting scenario comes in with modded or the upcoming procgen races, what if one side of the conversation lacks say, a head that can nod, or a hand capable of indicating yes (say, they have tentacles, or are psychic beings with no limbs)