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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zappo" data-source="post: 1739883" data-attributes="member: 633">FireLance said that in a well-run campaign, characters have to "rely on roleplaying"* at high levels just as much as they had to at low levels.    I agree, and I can also add another point of view. I say that the problem of finding new ways to challenge powerful characters so that they have to "rely on roleplaying"* isn't limited to D&D. Further, it isn't limited to rules-heavy games. Not only, but it isn't limited to combat-heavy games. I've played in a Mage: the Ascension campaign where the storyteller was very hard pressed to find some problem that we couldn't solve with the right spell.    Not only that, but the "problem" isn't even limited to characters with great personal power. Exceedingly wealthy or politically powerful characters can pose the very same issue. I've played in a Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0 game where I had so much money that going on missions for corporations was simply a silly idea because I could myself hire characters much more powerful than us.    It isn't finished yet. You can make (in almost any system I know) a diplomacy munchkin. You know, +24 Bluff/Diplomacy/Sense motive at 10th level, or 5 dots in Manipulate and all social skills, that sort of stuff. I briefly did this in Vampire many years ago IIRC. So much for social encounters, a roll of the die and it's over unless your DM is of the kind that bans social mechanics in the name of "roleplaying" (a decision which solves an issue by creating several more).    The bottom line is: when you have a big enough hammer, you can treat most problems like nails. It doesn't matter whether your "hammer" is combat, magic, diplomacy, money, whatever; in most campaigns and most systems, sooner or later the PCs will have their "hammer": a mean of solving problems which is grounded in the game's mechanics and is therefore well-known and reliable. The DM will have to adapt.      D&D has nothing special in this regard. Hell, try high level Mage for something really challenging. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f615.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":confused:" title="Confused    :confused:"  data-smilie="5"data-shortname=":confused:" />      * I assume this means "rely on diplomacy"... "Roleplaying" means playing your character's role, which doesn't imply giving speeches. If a PC can end a problem quickly and easily by killing a monster or casting a spell, rather than spending months gathering allies and information, not doing so would be rather poor roleplaying.</blockquote>

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