OK, I've read that the calculated cap is 80 (all skills to 100) and that after 50 it slows down. My question is:
How hard is it to get past 50 while RPing for the most part?

Scenario:
On my Nord warrior-type I've maxed Smithing, I'll max 1-Handed, 2-Handed, Heavy Armor, Blocking (most likely), Enchanting, Sneaking (most likely), Lock Picking (most likely) and Alchemy (maybe). Archery might get maxed, but I only use it to thin clusters and pull some away from the clusters - this is why my Sneaking is so high now.

I'd rather not put too much into the magic stuff because it doesn't fit the character.

The reason I'm asking is because I don't want to waste Perks as they stop coming so fast. I primarly dual wield swords, but am leveling 2-Handed and Blocking (with weapon) so I can get my class-less level up. I'd like to put Perks into 2-Handed, but not at the expense of some Enchanting Perks. :\

Well? At some point going OOC is going to be needed if you want to continue to level everything on that level. With everything that you have planned, the wasted perks would probably go into blocking and sneaking. Once you get high enough in sneak to really take the "warrior type" perks...you won't need them. Also maxing both one handed and 2 handed seems a bit redondunt to me, as you're character will RP his way into a favorite weapon/combo. Lock Picking is somewhat boring as well...as you will notice many of the items you get will be less cool than what you have, and become nothing but an abundance of gold anyway.

But! Good news! If you want to go all the way in the tree? Reach level 81 and spend alot of time in jail! Your skills will (theoretically) go down, allowing you more levels!

Once you've maxed all the skills you use in your normal game play, the only way to continue leveling (and gaining perk points) is to start raising skills you don't use.

There's no kind of "barrier" at 50- that's just "about" where most people are when their typical skills are maxed. For some people it's a bit less, for some, a bit more.

It would be hard to reach very high levels without grinding out your skills.

With good perk management you can typically complete builds well before level 50 and have extras for what ever you're into to. Just dont put points into useless or flavor perks like deft hands, gold hunter, or improved lockpicking.

I have RP'd six characters so far. General rules for my RP's is that I only focus on about 4 to 5 perk trees and I never perk more than one craft skill per character. Also they never join more than two or three factions, including the MQ.

Highest level I ever got to was 34. One character I just retired was only 15th level, a Breton pure mage who finished the Mage and Bard quests only.

I'm not really upset about it though. I've had a blast playing each one and wouldn't do it any other way.

I figured after the data patch is finally released I will try to make a heavily RP'd Nord warrior run and while still applying the rules, try to have him or her do every odd quest in ever place you can go. I would like to get at least one character up to the higher levels.

The only reason I'd put Perks into 2-Handed as well as 1-Handed is because I might want the beheading animation.

...and I may use the jail exploit on another character just for the F of it.

Yeah, I don't put Perks into those. If I can sucessfully pick a lock I will, but if not, I move on.

I'm at like 42.9 with very little MQ done and I really only have trouble with magic-using enemies so I use a lot of pots.

If you want to RP a character over level 50 (again as that is the level that most folks max out their primary skills that they started using) I do it as a second career.

"Well, I have mastered the two handed attack and have done all there is, now I will see about being an Archer" is the kind of thought process I use. At least that was how I did it in the Fallouts when they kept raising the level cap.

I think in this game, my characters will just retire before this becomes an issue and I will start over with a character that wants to be an Archer, using my above example.

After I hit the cap on my normal skills, I actively seeked out trainers to help me with the rest.

Role Playing a reason to invest in other skills is pretty simple, you're just diversifying your skillset or experimenting. Either way, you can squeeze out another 31 perks past 50.

If you finish Discerning the Transmundane, you can also squeeze out another level past 80 for an extra perk point.

But, just keep in mind it is going to take quite some time to max out all of your skills and a fortune in septims to pay those greedy trainers.

Perk points were what I was really after, and I didn't really consider just screwing around with skills/spells as ruining my archetype's RP per se.

As long as you spend your perks, (Oh well I screwed around with spells, now I know how to defend/attack against them...etc) , in your archetype's trees then you can easily defend experimentation.

It is VERY slow though, not at first, but once those skills start hitting around 70 +.... omg just kill me now.

You start buying skills which doesnt fit your character from trainers as early as you can afford them.

I RPd in the fashion that assassins were taught in japan. As you get better, you can get closer for your kills, until you are using your bare hands or a dagger. So archery to start, while you build up your crafting choice. Then mid-range, so destruction spells, runes, conjuration, and staves. Then two-handed, then one-handed and possibly block, then dagger.

I build up my sneak the whole time obviously, and by the time I'm using daggers, I have 100 sneak. Smithing, lockpicking, enchantment, etc. all become side notes that way, depending on what you do with the quests. Even a Bosmer or Altmer could run through this way, just adding the lore of not picking flowers, etc.

I would just recommend "playing the game" and not worry too much about your levels and things of that nature. Just explore & do quests until you feel that character is done then go to the next character.

Note: I ended up "breaking" my first character by grinding out levels, using the cookie cutter synergies, etc ... I would assume that most folks that break their characters in that manner will cease having fun ...

or the very least dont grind, until youve progressed very far into game and or theres nothing left to do but grind.

FWIW I don't have to have a character at the max - I have little trouble with melee enemies now and only a little with magic-users (Slow Time FTW - thank you, Fable II for my training ) - I just want to get as much as I can on each character.

I understand there's a major glitch/bug that one can take advantage of that will get all your skills up to 100 in less than an hour RL time, but I'll avoid that for now. After I've honestly played a few characters through I may do it on Master level just to be a Richard, but Bethesda will have probably fixed it by then.

Now, that's an interesting idea - mid-life crisis career change.

I don't mind switching between 1-Handed and 2-Handed and maybe shield at some point - I don't consider that abandoning the RPness (I know you didn't suggest that, but someone else did in another thread), but I would feel a little weird getting my, say, Destruction magic way up on a melee class-less. Now getting Restoration up for Healing and Wards wouldn't even be abandoning the RPness too much either because I'd actually use it against magic-users and would save on pots; however, at this point I've put 0 into Magicka.

Yeah, that's what I want - there are some really cool ones at the tops of some of the trees.

Oh, yeah, I definitely just "play the game" - I've never looked at or requested "builds" because I tend to play classes the way I want (much to the dismay of most people in MMOs). For example, I'm level 43 and wear full Daedric armor, but my Sneak is at 68. I don't Pickpocket or assasinate people in their sleep, but I like listening to the hostile NPCs argue before they aggro and then plinking at them with arrows and using Throw Voice to mess with them.