What's up with Liches (4e)?

[Indon]

First off, roleplaying does not mean one must say everything the character is saying, just as it is not required to describe exactly what your character is doing when he's, say, fighting someone. One can indeed be roleplaying perfectly without ever actually saying anything 'in character'. It would be unusual, but it would still be roleplaying. The actions are what matters with roleplaying, whether the player is able to have their character act as their character would, rather than how the player would.

I think you're trying to make the character acting/method acting distinction?

[Prophaniti]

This is an interesting statement. I've always thought of roleplaying as 'First-Person'. You take on the role of the character, and act them out as if you were an actor on a stage playing a role.

Your statement would tell me that you think people can roleplay in 'Third-Person'.
Well, I did say it would be unusual. Provided the player was still able to make their character act believably I would still qualify it as roleplaying. I've never had a player unwilling to even try speaking in-character, but if one was and had a reason besides 'I don't want to', I would not penalize them for it.

I think you're trying to make the character acting/method acting distinction?
Something like that, yes.

The standard argument of "I'm not charming, but I want my character to be", falls apart once it gets to the point of "I say something witty" takes the place of actual character and nobody can actually experience this charming person.
What if you're dumb but you want to play a wizard, can you just say "I do something smart" every time there's a problem?Yes, the argument does fall apart when it gets to that point of simplification. One can still make a much more detailed ooc description, however, including details of what they say or how they say it, without actually having to recite verbatim what they say in-character.

Again, all I'm saying is that it doesn't seem fair to penalize players for not being able to adequately (or sometimes even marginally) imitate what they want their character to say or do. This applies equally to combat, social interaction, and any other aspect of the game, thus rules are equally helpful (I'll not say necessary) in all situations. They should not be so meticulously layed out that it leaves no room to improvise, nor should they be so vague that everything you do is improvising. They should be there as tools to assist adjudication, so everyone has a fair chance for their character to be good at what they are supposed to be good at, without their real life shortcomings or strengths being a factor.