Ideas and specific actions for this character

[Seppo87]

brief introduction:
I feel more confident when roleplaying if I decide in advance what can be considered standard behaviors and reactions. While identifying the biggest goals and motivations is helpful, I like to go a little more into detail with specific actions, phrases, tendencies etc that can be used when appropriate.
This is by no means the best way of doing it, it's just the way I find more comfortable.
If you feel like it, contribute. The wider the list, the happier I'll be :smallsmile:

This is the character idea:
Human, melee focused Legion Mystic (Dragonlance)
Chaotic Good
Middle age
Looks like this:
http://oi60.tinypic.com/nly0rc.jpg

Characters that I would like him to resemble:
-Joseph Joestar
-Monkey D. Garp
-Takamura Mamoru (when he was young)
-Obi-Wan Kenobi
-Mr. Wolf (or at least he tries too hard at being like this. I don't mind if he fails, might be even funnier)

Tropes:
-Eccentric mentor
-Boisterous bruiser
-Crouching moron, hidden badass
-Badass grandpa

Note: The Legion of Steel is a knightly order without strict ranks. It's very flexible and allows its member to take independent actions, as long as they are aligned with the main goals.
The basic ideal is to have the strength of doing what's best (aka good)

The character is high level, high ranked and quite old so his self-confidence is somewhat justified. He was like that when he was young as well tho.

Imagine you want to play this (you probably don't, but that's ok) how would you develop it? What would you imagine him to do?

[I picture hims as lighthearted, hot-blooded, occasionally wise when absolutely required.
A recurring topic is his age. He doesn't like to be old, so he tries to make it look like it makes him better than youngsters. Occasionally will try "a new look" that is apparently trendy among the kids.
He's stupid-good and will give his life away if needed. He will never ask for a reward. Hates formalities. Can't keep himself from wasting money on trivial stuff. Will inevitably end up in a brawl if provoked]

You're given a free hand

[DeadMech]

I'll take a crack. Since this almost feels a bit natural seeing as even as a kid I was an old man at heart or so people told me.

I don't know who most of the example characters your listed are but I imagine this guy as a bit of a mentor. Even if the people around him don't. His primary goal at this point is probably to help protect and guide the next generation until such time that they can carry the torch.

Of course one of the ironic things about age is that the less time you have left on your clock, the less in a rush you are over little things. If someone needs to learn something you help them but you aren't afraid to to make it difficult. You aren't going to spoon feed a student. They have to put it together on their own in the end so that the lesson actually sinks in.

You're also probably a bit settled into your routines. You rise bright and early, you never skip the most important meal of the day unless the world is literally ending (and if it is you're complaining about missing your morning tea). You wash up and trim the beard meticulously because no man should face the world with a badly groomed beard.

Something else fun about being older is that you begin to stop caring what other people think of you. Well partially. Mid life crisis is a thing. You may or may not be past that stage. Maybe you keep spending money on vases trying to keep up with the Jones across the street. Maybe you're flirting with women half your age who in your twenties you wouldn't have had the confidence to approach. Maybe you go drinking with the younger crowd forgetting that you don't have the same endurance you once did.

Being older he probably also has a number of longtime friends. People he sits down with to play cards or chest with. Probably uses language around them that makes his younger companions uncomfortable. Throwing around racial slurs back and forth between himself and the lizardman he used to work or serve with. Another some cranky paladin type he argues law and chaos with, tells off at the end of it, and offers to buy drinks for the next time they meet.

Actually at this point he might be married and have kids. That's something that I've almost never role played before. If he is then he probably talks big but is hen pecked to a degree. Overall he's probably pretty happy with things. Certainly past the honeymoon phase. One nice thing about having a family is that even generally unlikable men can be humanized and softened if they are shown to be good loving fathers.

[Seppo87]

Thank you for answering. This is exactly the kind of detail I'd like to add to my list. I'll definitely add the morning tea and the beard trimming.
About flirting with young women, that's for granted. But not because he didn't have the confidence. He simply never stopped doing it.

[thatryanguy]

Based on the info you've given, I kind of picture an attitude more like Shanks than Garp, at least insofar as his need to rise to challenges is concerned. I see him being laid back, and while his appearance and presence are constantly drawing the attention of younger hot-heads who want to assert a position of dominance over him, he'd rather take a few blows and worry about the collateral damage than bother putting them in their place -until they threaten something/someone that matters to him.

As for a family/kids, I'd agree except for the fact that a loving, doting father and husband wouldn't constantly be off on adventures. A wife with whom he separated once the kids had grown and come into their own (Head of the guards who's a hardass, but has a blind eye of sorts to adventurer shenanigans, a novelist/barkeep who is drawn to the kinds of stories that her father used to always share, etc.) could be solid fluff and story hooks.

He also might have a couple of seemingly irrational phobias, based on past encounters - he saw a number of his friends trapped/eaten by a giant spider, so goes out of his way to crush any spiders he sees - hates travelling over deep water due to having once run into a Kraken or the likes that was wounded but escaped, again with heavy casualties on his side - gets nervous around people with tattoos, after being mentally controlled by someone whose magic ink writhed and crawled along their skin in hypnotic patterns - etc.