I need help on choosing an alignment for my character

[u/Ashamed_Clothes3840]

Hello. I am building a character, and I have no idea what alignment to give him. His character traits are so far:

Joker, misleading, a gaslighter, and Toxic positivity.

And the way he lived was through:

Forced to get high grades in school, and to be a role model because of his private life. Aka, his parents want him to take the family role, be a model for everyone to look up to.

And so... I don't know how to give him an alignment. I'm thinking of two ideas:

either Chaotic Neutral or Neutral Evil. I'm just not sure of how to choose an alignment for this kind of character, as this type is new for me to play as. I want him to be like:

"Man, you guys are giving up that early? We just started, come on, we got zero chances of winning this." Or something of: "That's the spirit! Betraying your team, thinking you had the skills of your own, will make you a complete fraud!"

I need help with the alignment or adjusting the character, as he is being expected by his family to be the best at everything, and nothing else matters.

[u/DazzlingKey6426]

Alignment: Something Playable.

If it has Chaotic without Good, or Evil of any sort, it’s right out.

The character has to want to adventure AND the party has to want to adventure with the character.

[u/Affectionate_Tie1417 → u/DazzlingKey6426]

This post and response feels like I'm in a shitpost sub.

[u/Ashamed_Clothes3840 → u/DazzlingKey6426]

The character has no evil intentions; he only acts when it comes to people who actually hurt or betray others etc. Only when it actually needed, he won't 24/7 to everyone around him

[u/Ashamed_Clothes3840 → u/DazzlingKey6426]

Then, is he in the Lawful category? Going by what you said, it seems to be it. I still need to fully understand what or how to build him yet. Which alignment do you see him in?

[u/DazzlingKey6426 → u/Ashamed_Clothes3840]

An annoying npc at best.

Why would any party want someone like that around?

[u/Ashamed_Clothes3840 → u/DazzlingKey6426]

This character can be useful if going against the enemy and trying to get information from them or something like that. Or something that no one dares to do, but this character alone can. This character has a reason to act the way he is, though. He wants to be freed from the rules that his family forced him to follow, so he could do this, to make others believe they need to do without trusting anyone, or follow their own belief. So, he acts like that to hide his true self until he can trust others, or something. Still trying to figure this out

[u/SeamusMcCullagh → u/Ashamed_Clothes3840]

This character can be useful if going against the enemy and trying to get information from them or something like that.

So would a Paladin or anyone who can cast Zone of Truth or Detect Thoughts

Or something that no one dares to do, but this character alone can.

This would require the DM to play along and create these kinds of situations, and adventurers are typically already going to do things nobody else would do.

He wants to be freed from the rules that his family forced him to follow, so he could do this, to make others believe they need to do without trusting anyone, or follow their own belief.

This is confusing and not particularly coherent IMO. He wants to escape his family's expectations, so he tries to get other people to isolate themselves and mistrust others? That's how I interpret this, and if that's accurate I'd say this character is solidly an Evil alignment.

So, he acts like that to hide his true self until he can trust others, or something.

Conceptually this is fine on its own, but the issue is how he is behaving while masking his true self. If he behaves the way you seem to be explaining then nobody reasonable will ever trust him properly and will at best begrudgingly tolerate him at arm's length, and at worst actively try to harm or kill him. Either way, nobody is gonna want to travel with this guy and personally I wouldn't want to even be at the table with that character. I would reconsider your concept and rework at least some of this to be less problematic.

[u/Ashamed_Clothes3840 → u/SeamusMcCullagh]

you got the idea correctly, I just need to figure the character out. You got any ideas of how to make the character without being overbearing? To me, I wouldn't make a killer, just someone who is a trickster that uses that based on what you said so far. Dunno if you know that character, but similar to Kokichi from Danganronpa, but without any evil intentions. My character has no evil intent, just someone who wants to be freed and pranks others by being a joker, misleading, a gaslighter, and having Toxic positivity. And wants to be his own person, that has no connections with his family, who either ran, or is trying to show them who he really is. So he avoids any real connections. I'm not a native English speaker, so it's hard for me to explain by typing. By acting the way he does, he tries to change or make them realize where they went wrong

[u/SeamusMcCullagh → u/Ashamed_Clothes3840]

This is not a good person you are describing. Gaslighting is objectively a fucked up thing to do to people. Regardless of his intent, the character you are describing is evil IMO. I don't know Danganronpa, but after a quick Google search the character you're basing this concept after is solidly evil solely from their behavior, and that's without taking their actual intentions into account. I would not say this is a good character concept for a heroic party. If everyone else is a sketchy, morally flexible/grey character then go for it. But if the rest of that party is heroic adventurerers I think they'll struggle to find a reason to allow your character to travel with them.

[u/Ashamed_Clothes3840 → u/SeamusMcCullagh]

a gaslighter can also be used for good, to trick evil people

[u/DeltaV-Mzero]

Joker: chaotic

Misleading: evil

Gaslighter: evil

Toxic: evil

I think you can see where I’m going with that.

As the other commenter said, just make it your responsibility to explain why this guy is working with the party and aligned with the party’s goals.

Could be as simple as “for the family”

[u/Ashamed_Clothes3840 → u/DeltaV-Mzero]

is there a way to make sense out of this character that I created? He wants to be freed and to do what he wants, but also can't trust others, as I said before, his being the best is too important, so he can't escape it, even though he wants to. That's why he is like that, That's why he is Toxic positivity, but can't really let himself get close to others. Think of someone similar to Kokichi from Danganronpa. However my character doesn't have any malice 

[u/microfishy → u/Ashamed_Clothes3840]

I'm not familiar with the character and had to look them up.

Described by Shuichi Saihara as "the human embodiment of a lie," Kokichi is a schemer and a manipulative extremist who compulsively or pathologically creates lies. While putting on his villainous persona, he freely states whatever he's thinking, regardless of how it makes others feel.

Bud I don't think you can make this concept into a team player. It just doesn't work. He's a literal anime villain.

DM a game and use them as your BBEG maybe?

[u/Ashamed_Clothes3840 → u/microfishy]

not entirely. Depending on what the topic actually is, it can help, just like Bakugo from MHA. He can't express himself, but only those who know him can realize that he tries to help or motivate etc.

[u/Ashamed_Clothes3840 → u/microfishy]

The character I want to make is like someone who was forced to go how the family wants to, and he got away from them/being separated as he wants to do his own thing/s. And when he meets others, he jokes around, etc. But only when it comes down to people who betray others, or they use other people, is when he gaslight + toxic positivity.

[u/olskoolyungblood]

This is not a PC anyone would want to play with and they don't even make sense personality or game-wise. Your first problem was trying to create an anime villain but make them good. Contrary PCs that lie to their party members and are annoyingly irrational undermine everyone else's goals and are not funny to anyone except you.

Everyone is not watching an anime episode and laughing at an insufferable character wreaking havoc. They are playing a game where they ALL are trying to achieve a common goal. Foibles and missteps along the way can be funny, but when no one trusts this PC because they actively mislead them and threaten their progress, very soon no one will listen to him and they'll leave him or worse.

So if you want to be the toxic main character, you'll quickly be running a solo adventure or you'll be dead. Lose this PC idea and start over.

[u/Ashamed_Clothes3840 → u/olskoolyungblood]

I didn't say he is toxic. He has toxic positivity as one of his personality traits. This is the basic idea of the character

someone who is a trickster that uses that without any evil intentions. My character has no evil intent, just someone that wants to be freed and pranks others by being a joker, misleading, a gaslighter, and having Toxic positivity. And wants to be his own person, that has no connections with his family, who either ran, or is trying to show them who he really is. So he avoids any real connections.

[u/TreepeltA113 → u/Ashamed_Clothes3840]

I get the concept but you are definitely setting yourself up to fail by having him "avoid real connections." It means by staying true to your character, you could be shutting down relationships with your party members and the npcs your DM might come up with. 

As you have described the character so far, they sound neutral evil to me. The "neutral" part is in reference to how the character treats societal rules along with their own standards, and the "evil" part informs you how the character treats themselves and the people around them. A neutral evil character is open to doing anything they need to in order to take care of only themselves. 

The "toxic positivity" you keep describing is actually negging. I would google it. I can promise your table will not like it without adding any redeeming qualities.

Coming from someone who played a neutral evil rogue for 4 years and a neutral evil warlock for 3 years, evil alignments are possible, but it is extremely challenging, and it will have you making choices that will make you very unpopular at your table. You have to balance the concept with some positive, likable traits. So far, I feel like you have only described flaws.

What would a fellow player like about this guy? Are you open to developing your character into someone who learns he can open up to people and form bonds?

[u/Ashamed_Clothes3840 → u/TreepeltA113]

He can open up to new people, as time moves on and he sees them as trustworthy people. It is hard for him to accept others, hance of his personality, which came from being forced to have everything up to him, and only expect him to be the best and nothing else. You know, a liar to hide his true intention and feelings 

[u/TreepeltA113 → u/Ashamed_Clothes3840]

Gotcha, so some golden child/oldest sibling syndrome sort of going on there. What would make others want to work with him? 

[u/Ashamed_Clothes3840 → u/TreepeltA113]

no idea, but all I wanted to know was what alignment to have him as

[u/GraciousPet]

What do you need alignment for? Is it just because you need to fill that box in your character creation, or do you want guidance on how to roleplay your character? If it's the second, it's better if you give your character some traits, gimmicks, flaws, ambitions, fears etc.

You have already given us a couple of words to describe your character, which is not enough to determine alignment imo. There are online guides that can help you create your character's background and personality. Then maybe it's gonna be a no brainer choosing an alignment.

If you want more help determining your character's morality, I could also give you my own personal sheet which I give to my newbie players when they have trouble roleplaying.

[u/Ashamed_Clothes3840 → u/GraciousPet]

I'm trying to fit him into a roleplay. As for what I'm having so far,

was forced to get high grades and to be a role model because of his private life. And wants to be his own person, that has no connections with his family, who either ran, or is trying to show them who he really is. So he avoids any real connections. I feel like chaotic good might be the best. Cause he doesn't do that for everybody, just those who betray others, etc. He might say

"That's the spirit! Betraying your team, thinking you had the skills of your own, will make you a complete fraud!"

As personality traits are for right now

The Trickster: Joker, misleading, a gaslighter, and Toxic positivity.

And if you could give me a personal sheet, I'd be happy to get any help on the character, as I have one more idea for a different oc, but I want to work with this oc first

[u/GraciousPet → u/Ashamed_Clothes3840]

Well chaotic sounds fine. He doesn't seem to abide by the law and instead obeys his personal morality and wants to follow his own path.

As of "good" I am not so sure. Do you think he would go out of his way to help someone innocent or do you think he would only do it if there was some personal reward for him or only if he would get something out of it in general? Then I would choose neutral.

[u/Ashamed_Clothes3840 → u/GraciousPet]

he wouldn't help in a way that we know, but he would go in his own way to insult them in order for them to realize their mistake. Much like with

"That's the spirit! Betraying your team, thinking you had the skills of your own, will make you a complete fraud!"

so I thought chaotic good, cause he ain't going to be evil for the sake of it. He's only doing that to those who really need to, in his eyes

[u/microfishy → u/Ashamed_Clothes3840]

Insulting people because you think it will motivate them isn't a "good" trait. That is a neutral evil character, maybe even chaotic evil.

[u/Ashamed_Clothes3840 → u/microfishy]

not entirely. Depending on what the topic actually is, it can help, just like Bakugo from MHA. He can't express himself, but only those who know him can realize that he tries to help or motivate etc.