How to roleplay a misanthropic chaotic good character? A good jerk?

[MonkeySage]

My newest character is, to be blunt, a total jerk. :) He doesn't like people, and they tend to distrust and dislike him.

He's an eavesdropper, a drunk, a misanthrope... But he doesn't stand for injustice, probably because at least in that department he knows what it is like to be on the receiving end of injustice. At heart, he is a good person.

He's an extremely intelligent and successful mage.

This character might be a little hard to play.

I was thinking of doing the deadpan thing but... that's kinda hard to do all the time, lol.

[TheIronGolem]

What are you having difficulty with? It seems like you already understand that "good" does not have to include "nice", which is the major hurdle to playing this kind of character. You save people from monsters, then yell at them for inconveniencing you by getting chased by monsters (regardless of whether it's actually their fault).

[InvisibleBison]

Maybe make him be resentful of people for needing his help? He'd really like to spend his time doing his own thing, but because other people can't stop whatever evil/injustice is going on, he has to deal with it, and that really annoys him.

[Nettlekid]

Sounds a little like Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec. Hates authority, hates being told what to do, revels in being able to subvert authority and mess up the system. Doesn't like being dragged into people's personal lives but somehow always puts himself into those situations because he does care in his way, and has a tough love approach where he often just does the thing that helps people without even asking if they want the help, and doing it even if it's something they don't want him to do because he can tell it'll help them in the long run if they can stomach it now.

At the very least, I recommend chastising people for needing his help even as he bends over backwards to do things for them, and constantly going above and beyond the requested service while belittling the recipient the whole while.

[Geddy2112]

Have you ever seen the TV show House? Cause you just described Dr. Greg House to a T.
The dislike of others, jerk attitude, misanthropic drunk who spies on his employees. A brilliant and successful doctor who ignores the system, rules, or order to do the right thing. Deep down a good person, but on the surface highly caustic. Forget the deadpan and just be incredibly sarcastic and condescending to anyone and everyone, particularly to authority and anyone who is inferior to you(which is everyone). Manipulate and screw with people for fun. You could sub in Dr. Perry Cox from scrubs and you would get a fairly similar fit.

All of that said, you should probably not play this character or make them function in a group. Don't play a jerk antihero rogue agent smarmbot etc. in any game without running this by the rest of your table and having their explicit approval. Failure to do so might find the party leaving them behind or killing them outright. I highly doubt your table will find it funny, cute, or interesting. They will likely see your character(and possibly by extension, you) as a total jerk and only drag your awful garbage jerkface around for the metagame agreement that a ttRPG is a team game.
Dr. House, Sherlock Holmes, and similar types are not team players. They specifically work alone with one underling/lackey and a few other people that they help just enough to offset the grief they cause others. They don't have friends and their associates frequently question if they should stop associating with them. The whole "I don't trust anyone or like anyone" is not even remotely appropriate for any team effort to delve a dungeon, or whatever the heck your quest is.

If you really want to do this, you can dial it back towards a Tony Stark/Iron Man once he joins the avengers. You can still be a narcissistic maverick who can be at odds with your friends, but at the end of the day you can actually work with them and they don't outright loathe you.

[scalyfreak]

My newest character is, to be blunt, a total jerk. :) He doesn't like people, and they tend to distrust and dislike him.

He's an eavesdropper, a drunk, a misanthrope... But he doesn't stand for injustice, probably because at least in that department he knows what it is like to be on the receiving end of injustice. At heart, he is a good person.

I recommend the TV show Scrubs for character research and inspiration. Pay particularly close attention to Dr. Perry Cox.

[chainer1216]

The key is sarcasm, snark, and a strong sense of self reliance, a feeling of "im doing this because everyone else is too stupid to do it right."

[gkathellar]

Worry less about alignment. With some exceptions, alignment is not a great starting point for a character - it's a consequence more than it is a cause.

A jerk with a heart of gold is a jerk with a heart of gold. Their being CG comes from that, not the other way around.

[Comissar]

If you've ever read the Discworld series, Granny Weatherwax might be a good character to model off. She's crotchety, abrasive, and has a stubborn streak a mile wide, but she's also very much a force for good. The villagers she witches for don't particularly like her, and even her friends can find her a bit much to handle at times, but they'll always rally behind her when there's serious trouble because she's very often the one best able to handle it.

[Lord Torath]

I recommend the TV show Scrubs for character research and inspiration. Pay particularly close attention to Dr. Perry Cox.

I would also recommend Dr. Cox as inspiration. He sincerely cares, but he just can't bear to show it. He will insult you to your face, and compliment you behind your back.

All of that said, you should probably not play this character or make them function in a group. Don't play a jerk antihero rogue agent smarmbot etc. in any game without running this by the rest of your table and having their explicit approval. Failure to do so might find the party leaving them behind or killing them outright. I highly doubt your table will find it funny, cute, or interesting. They will likely see your character(and possibly by extension, you) as a total jerk and only drag your awful garbage jerkface around for the metagame agreement that a ttRPG is a team game.

Dr. House, Sherlock Holmes, and similar types are not team players. They specifically work alone with one underling/lackey and a few other people that they help just enough to offset the grief they cause others. They don't have friends and their associates frequently question if they should stop associating with them. The whole "I don't trust anyone or like anyone" is not even remotely appropriate for any team effort to delve a dungeon, or whatever the heck your quest is.

If you really want to do this, you can dial it back towards a Tony Stark/Iron Man once he joins the avengers. You can still be a narcissistic maverick who can be at odds with your friends, but at the end of the day you can actually work with them and they don't outright loathe you.

This is also a very good thing to keep in mind. You may be having a great time, but if the rest of the players can't stand your PC, you're not going to be a very welcome member of the group. Get their approval at session zero, and follow up with them every couple of sessions to see if they're still okay with your PC's behavior.

[Ninja-Radish]

There are a number of good guys who are jerks in comics/tv/movies. Wolverine, Batman, Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China, Mal Reynolds from Firefly, Iron Man, and many, many others.

My advice would be to pick out some character quirks and traits you want to rp, such as drunkenness, or sarcasm, or cynicism, etc, and then build a concept around that.

[Winter_Wolf]

Sounds like a lot of rural Alaskans. Get in touch with your grizzled mountain man. It's not that we don't care, we just have a different way of showing it.

[denthor]

avoid fairs, parties to many people the same people and not enough exits. quote Daria.

Your adventuring buddies you can handle small group one on one.

After you finish something your tag line--- There I took care of your problem.. You then "forget" they were supposed to pay you. As you turn and walk away.


You live as far away in the wilderness as you can get and still be accessible you always say yes.
Classic Chaotic Good is the frontiersman that does not like all the rules big cities of 450 people have.

[The Aboleth]

Another route you can go is play it a bit like Wolverine in the movie Logan. He absolutely wants no part of anybody else's problems, but at the end of the day he has a conscience and so ultimately does the right thing anyway even though he pretty much hates it (I'm deliberately being vague to avoid spoilers as it's definitely a lot more complex than that in the movie, but it basically boils down to that simple point).

Basically, play a character who tries everything in his power to avoid doing the right thing--and then do it anyway, because at the end of the day they're a Good person and know it (even if they'll complain about it constantly).

[Winter_Wolf]

Another route you can go is play it a bit like Wolverine in the movie Logan. He absolutely wants no part of anybody else's problems, but at the end of the day he has a conscience and so ultimately does the right thing anyway even though he pretty much hates it (I'm deliberately being vague to avoid spoilers as it's definitely a lot more complex than that in the movie, but it basically boils down to that simple point).

Basically, play a character who tries everything in his power to avoid doing the right thing--and then do it anyway, because at the end of the day they're a Good person and know it (even if they'll complain about it constantly).

Doesn't that just describe every Hugh Jackman rendition of Wolverine?

[The Aboleth]

Doesn't that just describe every Hugh Jackman rendition of Wolverine?

Probably. I bring up Logan because it's the most recent movie and thus the one that's freshest in my memory. I think you can argue he becomes a bit more of a willing team-player the more time he spends with the X-men, but it's been so long since I've seen the first 3 movies that I can't say for sure.

In any case, the events surrounding Logan have really amplified the qualities of Wolverine that I mentioned. He's just so worn down and tired of everyone else's BS in a way that even the original X-men's Wolverine wasn't (from what I can recall, anyway).

[Solaris]

I'm also going to support Drs House and Cox as good inspirations.

Please do note how passionately they believe in doing good and helping people, despite how they act and even openly acknowledge that human beings are awful, stupid creatures. The CG misanthrope doesn't help people because they want to, because they deserve it, or even because they're getting paid. They help people in need because it's the right thing to do.
Also note, they don't mock the patients very often. There's not much call for belittling the hapless peasant because you saved him from getting eaten, just brusquely brush him off and walk away.

Feel free to have a few moments, at least once every other session, where your character lets down his misanthropy just a bit. Both of those example characters do it, because otherwise it's very easy to forget that there's more to the jerk than just the jerk.

[scalyfreak]

Feel free to have a few moments, at least once every other session, where your character lets down his misanthropy just a bit. Both of those example characters do it, because otherwise it's very easy to forget that there's more to the jerk than just the jerk.

The main reason I suggested Scrubs and Dr Cox is that they hit that balance beautifully.

Spoiler: Scrubs spoiler

Show

https://youtu.be/7u3KAaU7kFs

[a_flemish_guy]

another idea would be to be a guy who does good but doesn't believe his actions to have any lasting impact

after you clear a goblin cave: "another tribe will probably be here by next week"

after overthrowing a tyrant: "how long will it be before the next one arrives, a few years? a month?"

after saving a town: "how much do you want to bet that we'll find ruins next time we come around here?"

he'll jump into the fray just as readily as any other good character but he doesn't believe they'll win, he just believes that someone must do so and that someone might just as well be him

he's a sort of a jerk not out of a feeling of arrogance but rather out of a feeling of despair

he doesn't brush of the peasant out of a feeling of superiority towards him but rather because he's likely to be wyrmfood just as soon as he turns his back so why bother being nice?

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Most people can stand a snarky stand up comic once or twice a week. Just remind them it is your character not you and I think you'll be fine.

Heck, I probably watched 100 hours of the show House and for some reason I can't remember the two attractive female docs names but I do remember House so I enjoyed that.

If your partners seem put off dial it back.

[scalyfreak]

Heck, I probably watched 100 hours of the show House and for some reason I can't remember the two attractive female docs names but I do remember House so I enjoyed that.

Allyson Cameron and Lisa Cuddy.

Unless you're talking about the later seasons, then Remy Hadley and Lisa Cuddy.

[Algeh]

My newest character is, to be blunt, a total jerk. :) He doesn't like people, and they tend to distrust and dislike him.

He's an eavesdropper, a drunk, a misanthrope... But he doesn't stand for injustice, probably because at least in that department he knows what it is like to be on the receiving end of injustice. At heart, he is a good person.

He's an extremely intelligent and successful mage.

This character might be a little hard to play.

I was thinking of doing the deadpan thing but... that's kinda hard to do all the time, lol.

I am pretty sure I could accurately roleplay a misanthropic jerk for hours on end. I'm also pretty sure that no one else in that campaign would have much fun, because they'd be stuck at a table with a misanthropic jerk for hours on end.

I'd suggest treading carefully here just because this kind of character can be hard to roleplay in a way that is not annoying to those around you. When you're figuring out how to portray the character, focus your planning on how to alienate people in-universe without alienating the actual humans you are playing this game with. When in doubt, make the choices that don't do as clear of a job conveying your character but allow your fellow gamers to enjoy spending time with you. This is particularly important if this is supposed to be a long-running campaign and/or if some or all of these players don't know you very well and might mistake this for your actual personality.

There are lots of annoying characters I might play in a one-shot with long-term friends, because they will be able to tell which annoying things I'm doing to be in character and which annoying things I'm doing because they are the kind of annoying things I do. Also, a wider variety of party dysfunction can be fun if that's what everyone signed up for tonight and no one else's goals will be derailed by it.

You might want to tone this down to being conveyed in behaviors that mostly come up during "downtime". Maybe your character always camps a bit away from the rest of the party (which is probably a bad idea, but might be in character, and would mostly mean that you would be the one most likely to have bad things happen to you if the camp were to be attacked rather than something that would derail every interaction with the party). Maybe your character is always over-prepared because they assume no one else will remember to bring basic supplies.

[Mystral]

My newest character is, to be blunt, a total jerk. :) He doesn't like people, and they tend to distrust and dislike him.

He's an eavesdropper, a drunk, a misanthrope... But he doesn't stand for injustice, probably because at least in that department he knows what it is like to be on the receiving end of injustice. At heart, he is a good person.

He's an extremely intelligent and successful mage.

Sounds like a dwarf.

Well, except the mage part.

[MonkeySage]

For some perspective, my last character in this very same campaign was an evil witch working for the big bad. He rightfully got his comeuppance when he foolishly decided to spike the paladin's Inflict Potions with his own blood, hoping he'd better appeal to her vampiric nature(she's a dhampir). Trouble is, his ring of conceal alignment only concealed him and his possessions. When his blood left his possession, she could sense evil.

Around the table, we all ended up having a good time of it. No hard feelings in any direction, no saltiness. Actually, I was hoping this character would either be redeemed or killed at some point, and always knew it was a possibility.

This group are all close friends of mine, we know each other pretty well.

So I'm not too worried that my group will project my character's personality on to me. All that said, I do agree that if I just make him a jerk 24/7, he won't be very well liked by the other players.

[Mystral]

For some perspective, my last character in this very same campaign was an evil witch working for the big bad. He rightfully got his comeuppance when he foolishly decided to spike the paladin's Inflict Potions with his own blood, hoping he'd better appeal to her vampiric nature(she's a dhampir). Trouble is, his ring of conceal alignment only concealed him and his possessions. When his blood left his possession, she could sense evil.

Not how sense alignment works.

[Lord Torath]

Not how sense alignment works if you're going by the book.

Fixed that for ya!

[Samzat]

Not how sense alignment works.

But that ruling made a decent ending, so doesnt that count for something?

Also, more on topic
"Thank you so much for saving my nondescript hamlet from destruction"
"You don't need to thank me. No seriously, dont, because you are getting on my nerves."

[Mastikator]

My newest character is, to be blunt, a total jerk. :) He doesn't like people, and they tend to distrust and dislike him.

He's an eavesdropper, a drunk, a misanthrope... But he doesn't stand for injustice, probably because at least in that department he knows what it is like to be on the receiving end of injustice. At heart, he is a good person.

He's an extremely intelligent and successful mage.

This character might be a little hard to play.

I was thinking of doing the deadpan thing but... that's kinda hard to do all the time, lol.

Under (almost) no circumstance should you act this way to the other PCs, they will get fed up with your character. At most give them sass, but don't be a jerk. If you act like a jerk to real human beings they will overlook all the good you've done.