Situationally Lawful Stupid, Awful Good, And Kleptomaniacal

[Kaodi]

We all know there are certain kinds of characters that are generally just bad news. Some of this has to do with the players. Gamers everywhere cringe at the thought of the lawful stupid or awful good paladin, or kleptomaniac rogue. But can these behaviours be acceptable if they are intentionally limited?

That paladin may ordinarily be a good guy and a valuable companion, but for some reason he has a particular hang up which when confronted with he moves noticeably in the direction of Lawful Stupid. Or maybe he was bullied as a child by older boys and acts out whenever confronted by giants.

The rogue, on the other hand, cooperates with the group very well for the most part, but has a bit of a tense relationship with the wizard because he will compulsively steal books, and only books. Now, perhaps the rogue, not wanting to annoy the wizard too much but unable to stop thinking about that beautiful spellbook, he asks to carry the wizard's spellbook instead. But otherwise, do not let that guy near any libraries, or else they are going to have missing items. And may the gods help you if an Evil Grimoire is left on a pedestal to tempt someone into taking it.

I guess the question is whether it is possible to take a maligned stereotype and turn into a character flaw that comes into play only from time to time; to spice things up a bit once in a while without being constantly disruptive.

 

[Cor Azer]

Any stereotype can be made to work, as long as players and DM put in a good faith effort.

The problem, in my experience, isn't the negative stereotypes like lawful stupid paladins and klepto rogues; it's jerk players who pick them so their 'jerkness' is "in-character".

 

[howandwhy99]

SNIP
But can these behaviours be acceptable if they are intentionally limited?
SNIP
I guess the question is whether it is possible to take a maligned stereotype and turn into a character flaw that comes into play only from time to time; to spice things up a bit once in a while without being constantly disruptive.

Sure, I think so. From time to time conflict is going to arise between members in the player group anyways without someone intentionally attempting to sow discord. I think part of what playing a cooperative game means is allowing the players to resolve these conflicts themselves. Conflicts do not have to relate to Alignment, but I do believe if Chaotic alignments are allowed they will eventually become foes as this is operating antithetically to cooperation.

Also, I think you're forgetting Chaotic Neutral Sociopaths, True Neutral Schizos, Neutral Evil Pyros, and Chaotic Good Party Splitters, Lawful Evil Tyrants, and Chaotic Evil Homicidal Psychopaths.

 

[Pentius]

There are a lot of these character flaws that can create inter-party conflict, and in my experience, whether or not it 'works'(as in, doesn't cause players to be mad at one another) is largely dependent on whether or not the players in question are in on it. Take an example. One of the characters in my signature is rude, crude and rough around the edges. It isn't uncommon for him to grab the party cleric by the collar, shove him around, etc. This is fine, because the cleric's player and I are both in on it, we laugh when it happens, he sets up and points out good moments for me to do it. But if I were to just have that character go around and roughhouse anyone he saw, I'd end up with another player mad at me, and I'd probably deserve it.

Basically, being disruptive depends on the behavior in question being undesired, and usually unexpected as well. If the group is fine with you playing a Lawful Stupid Paladin, or a Kleptorogue, then it becomes an expected and not-disruptive part of play.

 

[Fishbone]

I think many people playing Clerics have had their experiences ruined by Lawful Douchebag Medical Professionals.

"You NEED to heal me NOW."

It is some bizarre paradox where the better you are at healing damage and ability damage and drain and poison and other status effects, the more stupid these players become.

"You NEED to heal me NOW."

Oh, do I? I think it is the worst when the players create military backgrounds for their characters. I'm sorry, I didn't see the wondrous item "General Rank Of a Medical Command" on your character sheet.

 

[ValhallaGH]

"You NEED to heal me NOW."

"I don't need to do anything except look good and praise Lathander. YOU need me to heal you, but I'm under no such compulsion. And since this peasant we're rescuing didn't get crippled by his own stupidity, I'll finish helping him before I try to save you. Try to stay alive for two rounds."

 

[Wombat]

Most people gravitate towards certain character tropes, no matter what system, no matter what setting. Of my four current players, one guy always wants to play an intellectual -- even when he was "playing against type" he still acted like an intellectual. Whenever he gets into Big Intellectual mode, the whole game slows down to a snail's pace, which is fun for him, but not for anyone else. Another one always wants to play the odd person out; I think this reflects his life as a black ex-Marine IT expert. He always finds a way to make his "being out of step" with the rest of the group an issue, although usually a fun one that brings more to the table. One of the women is basically a Coyote-spirit incarnate -- she will always find a way of throwing a monkey wrench into the situation, even if she just does it to herself. She always likes to see a touch (often quite massive touch) of chaos at the table. Again, she does it in such a way that it brings more to the game than it detracts, but you always have to be wary of the landmines she lays down. And the last woman likes to play "Look At ME!" characters, often described as overwhelmingly beautiful, but always with some skill or ability that rounds out the group. So one out of four has a truly annoying trope and the other three, while they are "consistent" and trope-heavy, at least do it in such a way as to not detract from the game.

I've seen the good and the bad this way in games since the 1970s. Some people get with the game, some don't. As a GM, you learn to work with it or, when it gets way out of hand, you bring in the Iron Fist of Let's All Play Nice.