How to Play an Arrogant Jerk WHILE Still Being Likeable
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- Опубліковано 12 бер 2023
- Playing an arrogant jerk in TTRPGs is difficult... but not impossible! You just have to keep a few things in mind
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Hello! My name is Jay, and I am a long-time veteran of storytelling and a semi-seasoned DM! I began playing Dungeons and Dragons roughly 5 years ago and began my first ever game as the DM. I figured things out by watching online games and fumbling my way through the rules, and never looked back! I've fallen in love with TTRPG's in general and want to share my experience and thoughts with the world and community I love so much. I currently DM two separate games regularly, and continue to learn every day.
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A way I like to play the arrogant jerk character is that they genuinely care even if they don't admit it to themselves. The arrogance is a front to protect their feelings. It works well with support characters because their actions are lifting up the party even when they're verbally putting them down.
My idea: a Gaston type. He knows himself well, and doesn’t trust others and their skills. But when the others show skills he doesn’t have, he recognizes that power, then builds them up and supports them.
The jerkiness isn’t him being arrogant. It’s him knowing who to trust with what.
NO ONE EATS EGGS LIKE GASTON
Holy jesus, that's eye-opening as hell! Ty for that!
It's like I've always said about The Sixth Doctor from Doctor Who. He's the type to walk into a room and wants everyone to notice him immediately and to stand out, not so much for the attention (though, dont get me wrong. It is), but simply so everyone who wants to engage with this strange man can be an option, if he decides to engage back.
I have but what name to sum this. Escanor.
Most prideful man alive, but was always there for friends. He never put them down, always took on the BBEGs when the others couldn't handle it, and cared about their physical and emotional wellbeing.
Escanor is such a fun and unique example!
Escanor a top tier character
@@tatersalad76 *after taking his own strike, reversed back at him* I see, no wonder it hurt so much, as expected from myself.
My very first character was based on Gaston. I wanted him to be an arrogant jerk who only cared about his own fame and status while also role-playing against type by making him a monk. My aim was to always have him grow out of it and begin to become more selfless as a person.
Thankfully my DM gave me that opportunity. Near the end of the campaign, my character's father appeared and offered him everything he had ever wanted and more, to be recognized as his heir, to have a place in the kingdom, and to be the most important person in the room.
However, my character ultimately chose to stay with the party to defeat the demon invasion happening on the other side of the world and settled down in a quiet role as a servant of a kingdom that was not even his own home to protect the life he had made for himself with his friends and allies.
Rest in Peace Ellion Ollaris. Chaotic Stupid Elf Monk.
Honestly loving the amount of Gaston mentions I'm seeing here
If your character is acting in a way you wouldn't, then narrate why theyre doing it and the vibe their action gives off.
Instead of looking at a player and saying:
I shoulder past you and growl. "OUT OF MY WAY WEAKLING."
Say:
I look at your successful lock pick with a worried squint before getting angry. I shoulder past you like a jerk and growl "OUT OF MY WAY WEAKLING."
In character, the exact same thing happened. But in the second one 'like a jerk' lets the other players know this is only in character, and not an actual fight or insult. With the narrorated reaction, they also get a thread they can grab at for character developement (in this case, that the brute is self conscious. They could bring it up, and after some plot, it could be revealed the brute is worried about being worthless.)
These extra lines help keep everyone on the same page.
This is a great point. Adding contextual narration shows the actions are for story purposes and not to be taken personally.
Dude, AWESOME advice. 10/10, can't elaborate more. This is so true
@@PlayYourRole Thanks!
Doing stuff like this, I somehow managed to make my: chaotic evil, asshole, loner werewolf; the most liked PC at an adventures league table of 6. It does wonders.
The fact that you used Vegeta from DBZA instead of the original just makes me so happy ❤
I big thing to keep in mind when taking archetypes from other stories is that those stories have a single writer/team. And they do not only control the jerks (or whatever other archetype it may apply to), but also how the main cast reacts. How the "NPCs" react. And all of this includes things like subtle tells, assumptions, that moment they catch the jerk in a vulnerable situation where they think nobody is around. They control when things escalate and probably more importantly deescalate. In some cases they may already have in mind exactly how the redemption is going to take place and will make sure it's in time for the main cast to accept said redemption. They control how important the characters are that the jerk pisses off so that the jerk doesn't unintentionally derail the story when pissing off the wrong person. They also control the "backing it up" part.
When a player is playing such a character, the player has none of this control or knowledge. Even the "backing it up" part can horribly fail if the dice don't cooperate. And all of this can result in a lot of unwanted inner-party conflict, GM having to run damage control, etc. One solution is being completely open and honest about the character and the intended character arc they are supposed to follow. Of course this can somewhat ruin the idea because that's all basically "Spoilers!". A better solution in my opinion is to only play such characters in a group that knows and trusts you, and this is general advice I'd give to anyone who wants to play any kind of somewhat negative archetype character.
This is a great insight! I totally agree - it can be really tricky to translate a "jerk" character from a favorite story for this exact reason. Focusing on one or two small quirks that are irritating and making them into opportunity for other players to react may be more constructive. For example, the "jerk" character may be a "survival of the fittest type while another character is a bleeding heart who wants to help everyone. That sets up interesting and engaging conflict and is an opportunity for the soft-hearted character to disagree and argue with someone.
Maybe modeling interactions more off RPGs like Dragon Age or Mass Effect, where each companion has a certain ethos and way of interacting that players can react to, might be a better way to approach it...
I find dramatic irony even more interesting than surprises. So Id recommend the open communication method.
"I big thing to keep in mind when taking archetypes from other stories is that those stories have a single writer/team. And they do not only control the jerks (or whatever other archetype it may apply to), but also how the main cast reacts" - THIS right here. They can write all the other characters to be tolerant of one being a jerk, but that doesn't mean it'll happen in a TTRPG game.
Here before the title change let's go
Yup. Same.
What title change? The title never changed. What do you mean?
@Jay Martin - Play Your Role I know your secrets Jay, jokes aside amazing video that makes really good points, keep it up
Now I'm not sure whether title's already been renamed or yet not
@@PlayYourRole gaslight, girl boss monster, something something
I tend to love the jerks and mean characters that most ppl hate. I find them funny, and unpredictable at times. As long as they have a soft side, then they are more likeable.
After watching this video I realized that the character I'm playing now in a persona based campaign with the pbta system was similar to what you described, and it turned out well, he was a rich guy who always stayed positive and wanted to be the center of attention, but his family cut off all his funds due to an incident that occurred in the past, the reason why it went well was because my character in addition to being strong, always collaborated with the group to advance the plot and did not treat anyone badly, I even had a couple of conversations in roll with the other pcs telling me that at first they don't like mi character because they thought he was too arrogant but now they are happy that he was their friend, and of roll the other players said they liked how my character had a lot of development.
I think the reason why people tend to love the arrogant asshole is for two reasons; either they want to see them get their inevitable comeuppance, or the one I believe to be moreso true, they are exactly the type of person that those watching/reading wish we could be to a certain extent. But there does need to be that extra added depth of their character that deep down inside... They hate themselves and wish they could be different. It's basically the "they're really not like this, you just got to get to know them" type of person that we always try to see in people that are in fact just jerks. This type of character can be really fun to play as long as you separate yourself from the character and the rest of the players are on board. Y'know there's tons of characters that we "love to hate" in wrestling too. Just sayin. Another great video from you Jay!
All facts here ngl
I really needed this video like half a year ago .. been playing a type of asshole character, nobody likes her. Not the party, not the NPCs, not the players and I don't either anymore. So yes, if you want to play such a character you really need to make up to the PCs in other ways or just face the fact that you created a character that shouldn't be in a party.
My goal for now is redemption and possibly salvaging the situation I got myself into
I don't know what it is about narcissistic jerks with squishy insides that make those characters some of my favorite. Tony is definitely one of the best examples. My friend and I have become horrified to realize we've completely fallen for The Rookie's Tim Bradford - a cocky jerk who just seems to live to torment Lucy Chen, AND YET he turns into one of the squishiest characters by season 5. We are horrified by how much we love him, but we see his confidence, while well-earned, is also a mask for the trauma he went through. I think I just love seeing their transformation. Like with Tony, he went from a genius, billionaire, philanthopist, playboy to...pretty much the same thing except for the playboy, lol. But ultimately into a hero. That makes his journey awesome.
So true! It can add some REALLY fun dynamics
I also want to point out that #1 on his list was "Communication". I don't think this was random. I once went from a table that knew me and my RP style very well to one that didn't and forgot ( somehow ) to communicate that the womanizing lecherous rogue that I was playing had a planned arch in which he would change his way of seeing his relationship with women. I was out before I realized what had gone wrong. I'm normally not that stupid. But here I sit, no doubt someone's "that guy" story on one of the Facebook groups.
These are the content I enjoy from you. Not necessarily new to me, but they stir up old ideas and encourage me to further develop them.
I've really been enjoying diving back into them, ngl. It's been so fun!
Exactly! There are so many video essays that say the exact same thing as this video, but it's how in-depth he goes about it, and the examples he gives that really makes it more eye-opening and inspires me to write w/ a subject that I thought I knew everything about before watching said video!
Not me thinking you’d use Constantine as the example. John is the quintessential arrogant prick. Then I remembered we have to *like* the person, 😂, Tony is definitely more loved than John. (Though I still side with the Hellblazer, lol).
Damn I can actually visit Constantine at some point in the future ngl
"Your character have to be unhappy with the way they are acting"
*Gilgamesh has entered the chat*
(To be fair, he wouldn't work in any group tho. But still, here we have an arrogan jerk that a lot of people love for the sheer magnitude of his character)
Yeahhhh this is about making it work with a group, but Gilgamesh IS a great example of this sort of archetype
Damn, you reminded me of my Half Elf Bladesinger I played. Was a complete narcassistic asshole to the party in-character, but he'd go out of his way to protect his party members as they gave him the validation to look past his ancestry of the prejudice of being caught between Elven and Human cultures, and have the comradery he never was able to have beforehand.
Thank you for the trip down memory lane. I loved that campaign!
See also, Dr. House.
Ohhhh also a great example!
There's one other way to pull off asshole characters: Pure, raw charisma. That's really really difficult to do though
Yeah for sure, it requires some IRL charisma which can be real challenging
A great version of this in a ttrpg was Barnby from Oxventure's presents blades in the dark. Mike made him meant to be a jerk but one that we would like and not hate.
I keep seeing Oxventure popping up I really outta take a look at it
Markus is my favorite character that i've played. his arrogant. talks to much and boast to much about himself but he never won a fight, the only thing his proud of and he never won one. fault of the dm a little though also my fault since he never seemed to learn. after i stopped playing Markus i've made him into a more realized character, he realizes his own faults and that deep down all he ever wanted was his parents to like him. he spent an insane amount of years alone in a place called the void and after it all he wanted was to see his parents and sister, to say he loved them. he never got to cause he was ate by an elder god or something like that DMPC. just bad writing on his part that time since i got to play him again. he also wanted to be a god in the begining of this story but now all he wants is someone anyone to be his friend.
markus never had his highest high only his lowest low. which also made me depressed playing him cause he never won.
i now use him as a npc, see if the player will fight him or talk to him. his powerful, does whatever he wants still. but now i use him to teach martial arts and do other things. i hope one day to play him again this time as he was intended. thank you good sir
I have a hexblade/college of swords bard bounty hunter that acts kinda like vegeta, but his party is his family, so he goes ballistic like vegeta when beerus threatened bulma
In one of my campaigns we have a player that plays something of a jerk. Not fully. Kinda arrogant and a little selfish really. However the backstory behind my character and his character is that mine was his teacher growing up. Just little things like teaching about potions or nature, or camping, etc., small things like that. So my character lets a lot of that behavior go because he watched the other pc grow up and understands the stuff between the lines of what is said and the motivations of the other pc. That’s one aspect. The other is that the other pc is rather protective of anything he considers “his.” Which does, by the way, include the party. This means he is brutal when it comes to those he views as “outsiders” attacking the party. He also doesn’t like to bite the hand that feeds him. If his character is shown kindness, he returns it in kind and even more. Now, to be fair, this is him wishing to repay “debts” but he is motivated a bit by sincerity too. So yeah this pc comes off as a jerk but the kind that isn’t out to get you or make your life hell. He just has his own thing going is all. The player also makes this pc easy enough to convince if the ones doing the convincing are certain members of the party, with mine having the strongest pull due to the status he had held for most of the life of this pc. This means though that of the party goes Murder hobo, he is definitely going to commit war crimes, lol. However it makes him a good “jerk” character to have in the party to contrast the various personalities. Mine is something of an enabler, the Paladin is a bit too rigidly righteous sometimes (only sometimes), and the bard is a bit naive and edging on childish (but not a grating way). However, despite my character being the enabler he is also the “party mom” in terms of role and so does try to steer the party towards good, of sorts, motives. He is more neutral though. His own main motivation has just been focused on survival and making sure his loved ones are cared for and safe too. He has lost his home and family before and doesn’t want that to happen again with his found family, so it’s something of a trauma of his (he is put together with the idea that he has ptsd and sometimes struggles with it). Part of this manifests as his enabling behavior but it’s also his codependency on the party. The wizard, our “jerk character,” does recognize this in his former teacher and goes easy on him. It’s why he will follow the lead of my character if my character actually expresses a desire, since my character isn’t always known to be good about that (it’s actually how he ended up a teacher in their hometown as he was bullied into it by children who wanted to be his students, as before he was more of a playmate and minder than a true teacher in the community). Anyway! It’s been fun to have a “jerk” character in the story. Especially with the nuance that the player adds to him. This is a rather rp heavy campaign despite the combat so it’s been good to play in this campaign and explore themes that I haven’t in other campaigns. It’s part of why I wrote dealing with ptsd into my character. By the way, intend to have there be a “resolution” regarding it but one that makes sense. The party has agreed to help here and there is some background stuff going on with the story that will add to his character’s “resolution” regarding it, it basically he is designed to explore ptsd, burnout, and the idea of staying strong for the ones you love despite wanting to fall apart yourself. He IS a strong character (he has damn good stats that I rolled) but I rarely play him as aware of that. He is a quiet strength type. It’s just been fun to play this campaign. I honestly look forward to the next session each week. Lol I wish I could have more than one a week!
Glad you used the best version of DBZ
I mean, it's hard not to think of TFS versions of characters I won't lie
Yondu is a wonderful example of this
Oh true! I loved Yondus exploration in the comics and the MCU didn't do a bad job with it either
There's a difference between calling another player a slur and saying "my character is gonna call your character a slur."
Glad i was so early today :)
AYYYEEE welcome aboard
I’ve played an arrogant character before (she had the soldier background with the flaw “I don’t respect anyone who isn’t a proven warrior”), but she never had a chance to shine. She got her butt whooped by simple bandits early on (dice were not on my side), and we never met up for the next session (real life stuff). 😞
i actually played an arrogant jerk in the last campaign i was in.
And it was very much a case of compensating. In his case it was to build a wall around himself because this wasn't his first party. Or his first journey and he had lost people and so he did not want to get close to the party for fear they would die or that he'd get attached.
This got to the point where when he realised he was getting attached anyways? he turned up the jer factor to 11 in an attempt to make the party IC Kick him out. This did not work as the party had grown to actually like having him around since despite being a bit of a Jerk? he'd shown that he cared.
Thus he became less of a jerk to the party and even ended up adopting the young rogue in the party and went over to being the slightly over-protective father figure.
Honestly playing Abreon was a lot of fun and the others seemed to quite enjoy it too.
I'd like to add: If you're planning an arch, you need the kind of table that'll let your character have the kind of character arch this type of character needs. And it's best when another player helps facilitate emotional growth. So, find the RP-heavy player and let them know what you need, and see if they're on board. The GM has enough to do. No need to bother them with it. Probably best not to try this at all with a really large table where camera time for each player is limited.
Having support from other players at the table is DEFINITELY crucial to this, I for sure agree
This title is tripping me up
What title? I've no idea what you're talking about
I really wanna play a character based of the Jim Carey version of the grinch I just don’t know how to pull it off
Not quite the same thing, but I just got done playing a character that everyone loved to hate. Think Stinkmeaner from the Boondocks but a Priest. From the deepest depths of his heart he wished ill on everyone and everything around him. But he's the only healer in the party. Thus too useful to try and kill off. The thing that kept it fun was trying to come with the more and more outta pocket shit to say. Kinda like a murder hobo, but in dialogue. Also DM'd a game with a character called Cog-nac The Barbarian. At first he was a throw away gag chara, but I added him as a way to pad out the party cause we really needed another PC. Cause I didn't feel like scaling everything down. They killed him in a bar fight after the 1st dun. So I just had him come back every new town with a story of how he survived. Since they would kill him every time. Each time he would be friendly, and forgive them. Till the last boss fight, half way through he crashes through the ceiling. Kills the boss and takes their power.
I think there is another way that's similar but its slightly different.
I believe you
A while back I played a real asshole character and I'm proud to say I did pretty much exactly what you advised!
He was a Hexadin. Min-maxed to hell and back. By level 6 he was nigh unkillable and dealing damage in the hundreds in a single round on a regular basis. He was seemingly driven only by wanton bloodlust and thirst for power. But here's the thing - he was an adorable two foot tall mousefolk.
Not only that, but the youngest of 27 children. He was always the little guy, even among little guys. But he hated being seen like that. So he sought power from a cursed ass sword that spoke in his head. And he made sure everyone knew that despite his appearance, he was not one to be trifled with. But when it started damaging his relationships with the party that he had grown to cherish, he doubted if this was the right path.
Eventually his doubt boiled over, and he abandoned the sword, losing the all that power he had desperately valued. But for the first time he was able to lean on his friends and be humbled.
From that point on he was much more agreeable. Up until the moment his former patron picked a new champion and he had to give his life to destroy them both.
RIP Boopysnoot. You beautiful bastard.
I always LOVE hearing about other peoples characters, it just makes me so happy to see other people diving into their own roleplay! Thanks for sharing!
Typo in the title
"without while"
Damn it I've been made a fool
@@PlayYourRole lol
Better to catch it early than have it on full display for days
Haven't watched yet, but I bet you're gonna say just be actually funny instead of cringe. Easy.
Actually no but humor was definitely something I should have touched on haha
I immediately thought of Bakugo as an example of someone who is such a jerk, but also very good at what he does. What sold his character was when we get to see his parents... it made everything make sense. I also think that in the context of Japanese culture, it was easier to see him barking at people and sounding critical/negative, but realizing that that's the only way he has of showing concern for people. So one takeaway could be a "jerk" character who speaks gruffly and harshly, but shows through their actions that they do care about others. One character idea I saw was someone playing a cleric who would berate and smack people around, but secretly tell the DM that they were casting Bless and heal spells while doing it, so it became flavor for their style of helping the party. Great video!
Yeah ngl Bakugo is a classic, I had to at least mention him once
Sorry but nothing they added, like the intro to the parents, will justify his behavior at the start of the series for me. He literally told Deku to go take a swan dive off the roof OR ELSE he'd kill him himself. There's no "secret affection" in that statement and it wouldn't be justified even if there were, no matter how much people try to justify it. Deku got powers eventually due to plot but what about all of the other people Bakugo treated that way? The only time Bakugo becomes remotely tolerable is when he realizes he's no longer the big fish and, even if he were, the room of 20+ classmates and their teacher isn't going to let him treat people that way because they have basic empathy. He didn't change by choice, he realized he was just going to keep getting ignored and knocked down to the lowest rung on the social ladder until he played nice. Unlike Endeavor, Bakugo hasn't tried AT ALL to make it up to people for his shitty behavior. When talking to the kid from the next generation of quirk users, he outwardly shows some self reflection but even then he doesn't do anything with that knowledge. He just continues being the "asshole but not quite AS MUCH of an asshole" role.
@@TheMightyBattleSquid You're right, it doesn't justify his behavior. But I understood more of why he was the way he was. I also think he's a terrible person, but as a GM I appreciate what went into the character and how different people read him differently.
Don't secretly tell the DM-openly describe it to the table when it happens! Maybe I gravitate towards very rp-heavy tables, but I've found that the vast majority of players are delighted to go along with the bit. Also, keeping secrets from other players is the number one way to ruffle feathers and start drama that bleeds into the irl table, even if you're intentions are good. Good intentions don't absolve you from pissing people off, and keeping secrets is a completely reasonable thing for people to get pissed at, especially if the situation at hand has already created negative emotions.
I think one of the biggest logical fallacies in the TTRPG space is that the most immersion always equals the most fun. True, other PCs not realizing that your cleric is helping them may be the most "realistic" way for these scenarios to play out, but the player is gonna have to learn that a healing spell has been cast on them sooner rather than later. Instead of playing telephone and having the DM tell the other player they've been buffed, rp the moment by describing it-"My cleric chastises your rogue for stealing the potion and swats their arm, but they feel magically rejuvenated after being lightly hit. They've been healed for 12 hp." Now the rogue's player can immediately rp their response, and bam, you've established an interesting scene for other players to participate in!
Sure, directly describing game mechanics like that may feel arbitrary, but it clearly communicates your intentions and smoothly paves the way for future interactions. In my opinion, this is loads more fun than being annoyed that another PC is being mean to my PC then confused when the DM tells me I've suddenly been healed. Communication in TTRPGs is tricky, largely because your own ideas are obvious to you but will likely elude other players because they have no way of automatically knowing your motives, planned outcomes, or specific ways of envisioning things, so you can never assume that others are on the same page as you.
I really like your idea, and conveying it as clearly as possible to others at the table is what will really make it shine!
@@cookiescream8004 Great thoughts! It wasn't my idea; I'd just heard about it. You have good suggestions on how someone could do it.