How to Play a "Crouching Moron, Hidden Bad*ss" Like the Powerhouse They Are

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How do you play an unassuming BADASS WITHOUT getting everyone killed?
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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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[@happyninja42]

I would argue that a lot of the time the "faker" isn't actually faking it at all. It's just that is how they WANT to live their lives. Given the choice, they would much rather do nothing but make/drink tea, play paisho, talk about silly things, and basically just enjoy living a life, without the need for drama and trauma, and violence. They're not so much hiding who they are, but actually being who they WANT to be. Another example of this, I think is Vash the Stampede. The goofy, loveable dork version of Vash, is in a lot of ways, his REAL nature. He's kind of framed like Superman, with the dork being his Clark Kent persona, and you see it pop up every once in a while, but in reality, that's how Vash wants to live his life. He doesn't want to have to have the "mirror shades seriousness" mode on at all. But he's forced into that state due to his ethics and morals, not allowing him to sit by when others are in danger. But when left to his own devices, without any outside pressure to be the Defender, he's going to be a goofball, going to geek out over donuts, and basically just live his boring life. That is the goal for a lot of crouching moron, hidden badasses. They did awesome, badass things in the past, because they had no other choice. They don't want to be That Person, as it's not truly who they are. It's something they are capable of becoming when the need arises, but it's not their default state. Especially with Iroh, we see exactly why he is like that as well. He knows what the cost of being a "powerful fire bender" can be, and that is the cost of his son's life. And he doesn't want that.

[@Broomer52]

I have a character like this in DnD. Some of us decided to Roll for Backstory. My character had a pretty unremarkable life for a while being born into a family of sheep herders. He’s completely average in every possible way, no tragic backstory, he’s very basic looking that you couldn’t point him out in a crowd, he’s a Grilled Chicken of Humanity, bland and basic. Then one day he got talked into stealing something turned out to be really good at it, became a Kingpins favorite robber, he got out of doge after accidentally starting a fire. Gets drunk one day and ends up marrying a horrifically ugly woman and as it turns out she’s the avatar of a Night Goddess and I have two sons one who was born under a moonlit night as a storm rolled in and wolves howling in the distance to proclaim his birth and another son born under a supernaturally beautiful day. He somehow manages to accidentally join the army where he again falls backwards into glory as he became a war hero. He eventually leaves and for reasons even he’s not completely sure if he somehow manages to join an adventuring group made of a Hafling Barbarian, a Gnoll, Kung Fu Frog Man, a Wizard Rabbit Man and an Artificer. He’s a man who wants to live an average life but for reasons beyond his control he keeps accidentally going on wild adventures. I just make sure to keep the awkward Hapless man personality and whenever things go crazy the man practically Jack Sparrows his way through problems and by the power of the Dice Gods has impeccable aim with a Bow

[@aaronbourque5494]

Another way of doing it is The Darkwing Duck: they actually ARE incredibly competent and capable, they just get in their own way a lot because of a personality defect (unbelievably massive ego in DW's case). In fact, this MIGHT be the easiest "Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass" to play in a TTRPG, because you're at the whim of the dice. Dice say fail, you play it as a comedic moment where your character TRIED to do something cool and/or effective, but tripped over your own feet or got in your own way by taking too long to brag about what you were gonna do before you could do it. But the dice say SUCCESS, and you say your catchphase, your theme song's playing in your head, and you just whallop the big bad for more than half their HP, or take out most of their minions, through a genuinely clever strategy AND maybe being good enough to accomplish the things you claim you can do.

[@tbgold07]

Vash the Stampede is always been my favorite example

[@srvfan17]

My personal inspiration for this specific trope is Shawn Spencer from Psych. He's extremely goofy most of the time, but it's mostly because he's trying to downplay his own abilities to avoid drawing too much suspicion to his deception. My favorite example is the premier of the season after someone important to him is shot in the previous season's finale, and he stops goofing off and running his mouth bc he's on the warpath and he's absolutely terrifying and completely ruthless. It's amazing, and it's so impactful bc we've never seen him go this far or get this serious before, and he's usually the one who keeps the more serious characters from going too far or getting too in their own heads. If you haven't seen Psych you should watch it, it's amazing and it's a mystery show that dunks on cops at every chance, which is so based actually

[@happyninja42]

Another detail about this trope, is that these characters are often still very effective out of combat as well, but it's often by being so goofy or silly, that they charm people despite their antics. So if you are worried about how you can still be useful to your party, remember that people love Uncle Iroh, and Vash the Stampede when they are in the Adorkable Mode, because they are still very charming, disarming, funny, and easy-going. This would translate to having a decent social stat, and at LEAST one decent social skill. If they are actually putting on an act for their "moron" mode, give them some talent with Performance, and have them do some prat falls in the tavern to the amusement of all, but instead of it being an amazing performance, the goal is "and my character ends up at the foot of the stage, with a tankard of ale upended on his head" kind of threat defusion. Iroh is great at this, making people just stop wanting to fight, sometimes literally, and just sit down and talk with him about life, over a cup of tea. Being a goofball, doesn't mean being incompetent.

[@the_flying_airplane5335]

This is also super fun to do with antagonists! Make an enemy who seems a bit flighty or incapable, one that the party would probably not consider worth their time. Then, when the party has their backs turned, activate bad-ass mode. Makes for a great reveal, I’ve had players be completely stunned when it turned out that all the ineptitude was just an act.

[@LoudAngryJerk]

I made a character like this named Hoog. He was a big, lovable idiot of a gray-alien (like, UFOs, area 51 type alien) who could shapeshift. One memorable moment was when he had a discussion on the nature of certain protests within a city. In one of his salient moments, he brought up the reason why they were protesting was because the kobolds and orcs were tired of being treated as second class citizens. One of the other characters brought up that was a good point, but also that they didn't expect such insight from Hoog because, well he's kind a dumb. He acknowledges this, then says "I know, but I've been reading." then, in a library full of philosophical works and treatises on the human condition, he brings out the specific book he'd been reading, Jurassic park.

[@bebgab1971]

what if im just a crouching moron

[@happyninja42]

.....stand up?

[@bebgab1971]

@@happyninja42 now I’m just a moron :(

[@happyninja42]

@@bebgab1971 but at least you're not killing your knees with all that crouching *sage nod*

[@BiggerinRealLife]

I absolutely love this character trope. I was playing with a party for the first time, and they all knew each other and I was new, so I leaned into this heavily. I played a tiefling rogue who ran into everything, tripped over their own feet, always talked with their mouth full, was startled by magic, and took nothing seriously except vengeance. They hear anyone wronged you? First question: “so we’re killing them?” Happy go lucky tiny little airhead who turned into a murder demon when their friends needed help. Instantly endeared myself to this already established party and one of the funniest characters for me, personally, to play.

[@kyrose2878]

I love this trope! My current and first long running PC is a monk and the "manchild" variant, and I absolutely love playing him. He's always cracking jokes and being dumb, but when it comes time to fight he's one of the most consistently powerful in the party due to some good luck when rolling for stats and in fights. He even keeps up the goofy antics during combat, which has definitely landed him on some villains' shitlists. I actually took the drunken master subclass to play into his unpredictability. I flavored it as him not having a set style and instead relying on his instincts and natural talent since he never bothered to train. My DM and I are planning for him to get his "talent can only take you so far" wake-up calls and when that happens he starts training and as a result changes subclasses.

[@KefkeWren]

I think the narration is the most important part. In a TTRPG, you're going to have a lot more combat "screen time" than in a show or a book. More of the story is expected to be combat, and more of the combat is expected to involve the whole party. Which means that to be "not a badass" most of the time, you need to fluff your combat as being "moron moments" until the time is right.

[@SummerOtaku]

Plastic man is such a good example…he was always a joke to me but yeah that injustice annual where he saves his son and does so so much was mind blowing

[@suburbansurvival8239]

Zenitsu could never hope to be on Po or Iroh's level.

[@bruinbird4227]

I didn't realize it, but on a recent character I made for a westmarch. I apparently made one of these. This dorky guy who, effectively, is a big ol' golden retriever of a man. Who, well, as the archetype suggests, can kick some serious butt! (as is being exemplified in an arc that just started for us)

[@arrowrandoman]

It wasn't until this video that I realized my PC fits the shounen character version of this trope. He's a modified Warforged with amnesia that's basically the Iron Giant. He's genuine and straightforward, awkwardly so even. Once in combat though, he's focused and kind of scary. When the quiet focus continues out of combat, it becomes unsettling to the party since they've gotten used to NV (my PC) being rather lively and talkative out of battle. We had a moment in the last session where people in the party were actually afraid of what NV would do, and it made me realize I can keep that for future moments if I can play him right.

[@loganfrandrup6590]

I'm actually just starting as a player in a new campagin today, just a cowardly kobold that becomes braver when he is in his element protecting his animal companion mount and his allies. This is my personal favorite character trope and it never gets old to me:)

[@Tigersight0]

I did this with a D&D character once. She had only 2 modes. 1: running in circles throwing light and sparkles in every direction most of the time, and 2: EXPLOSIONS. Something made her snap one time and not fight as... tactically (or conservatively with her spells) as she normally did. She was as much of a danger to herself and her party as she was to *literally anything else.*

[@a.z.pantera5577]

My favorite of this trope, in terms of One Piece, is Brook. Its easy to view him as some senile weirdo who happens to be a skeleton asking to see women's underwear. But then you see him fight, and he's an absurdly fast swordsman, a literal spellcasting Bard, and who also uses necromancy to eject souls from their hosts and conjure ice from the Underworld. Not to mention, he has one of the saddest backstories of any of the Straw Hats.

[@neversparky]

I think one of my favorite ways to do this is to have super lopsided stats. For example, an Orcish Eldritch knight with both brains and brawn in abundance, but turns into a comic relief whenever the poor lad has to rely on his awful charisma in social situations

[@mobgabriel1767]

*van helsing serious face intensifies*

[@Khailward]

OSP fan spotted in the wild

[@deadmanmouse2463]

I play a barbarian/monk multi class that has a 6 in Int and Cha. I lean into this a lot. Outside of combat he is clueless he doesn't understand religion or social norms at all but when the fighting begins he turns on. The party loves him as the resident lovable meathead

[@shrekatemyonions]

The last character I played was like this, generally being kinda stupid and the butt of a few jokes. However, he was a fighter, so it was another story when combat started. In one example, he tanked a magic spear impaling his chest that dealt enough damage to reasonably knock one of the spellcasters down, and later when a party member upcast sleep on the culprit he oneshot their remaining HP with an action surge.

[@ajd2393]

You can totally do a split personality in D&D. I currently have a bard with 3 personalities. Went variant human and took mask of many faces so each personality has it's own unique look.

[@risperdude]

WIIIIIFEEEEE! Come Home! Jay needs you!

[@iduno3592]

The campaign fell apart and I never got to really explore this character, but I was really excited to play them He was an aasimar rune knight, who appeared human with the various transformation abilities flavoured as a draconic transformation (he was descended from bahamut). But any time he was in a serious fight he would get stressed and pass out, which he felt very ashamed of as a knight. What he didn't know was that when he passed out his draconic guardian spirit took over and he transformed. And I had planned that throughout the campaign eventually he would form a connection with this spirit and they would merge together and he would remain conscious during his transformations. Personally I think those kinds of transformation abilities are quite good for playing a character with a separate personality that takes over during combat, like moon knight, without it meaning you have to reduce your combat effectiveness. Things like rage, form of dread, giant's might, honestly U could even do it with wild shape if U want

[@lollostones]

How would you play an "adrenaline junkie", who lives on the edge, and loves danger, without derailing the campaign?

[@elib6465]

A way you can play the second fiddle character is basically make Sokka. He is a very capable warrior but compared to the benders and the avatar he's not as powerful. So in a party if people who have strange and powerful abilities you play a person with no magic whatsoever. This also doesn't have to be just a combat focused character. You can tailor your character to being the face of the party. Like they excell in combat and while you aren't a slouch you're better at talking your way out of a fight.

[@relicking9207]

I like combining this with "Super-powered Evil Side", not really something one can play at a table

[@catherineelmore2004]

Was that *William Shatner* with Columbo?!

[@Bokmoh]

Ngl bro... I think I saw your wife with the squirrel

[@Neutral_Tired]

This doesn't really fit the "crouching moron, hidden badass" archetype but I did have a fun concept for a secons fiddle character that was basically the bodyguard to one of the mage PCs. He'd be big, quiet and usually defer to the mage's judgement so most people would assume he's just the muscle, paid to hit things not to think. But I'd make him a Battlemaster Fighter, give him high mental stats and just generally make him deceptively competent and independant. He mostly chooses to do what the mage says because he trusts them but he's not bound to their service or anything and is fully capable of acting without them whenever he feels like it

[@manuelmialdea5127]

I've noticed a lot of people calling Iroh a war criminal but we don't have any proof he committed war crimes. We was a general and a bad person because of the cause behind of his allegiance but just throwing war criminal around kind of takes away the weight of the term.

[@ghurcbghurcb]

But you know who in Avatar IS a war criminal? Sokka! In "The Northern Air Temple" he used enemy insignia placed on the hot air baloon to gain tactical advantage. And that's a war crime!

[@mobgabriel1767]

i mean using incendiary weapons is a warcrime but that makes essentially all firebenders war criminals and considering some of the bending tecniques in avatar you can probably just say that bending is a warcrime heck we don't even have proof that he was bad by fire nation general standards

[@grinninggoblin3698]

​@@ghurcbghurcbOH crap you're right, that's Perfidy!

[@alexseloterio8720]

Bocchi The Rock mentioned

[@grinninggoblin3698]

I don't think Iroh is a war criminal, he was a general who led a siege. He didn't utilize child soldiers, he didn't torture prisoners or send prisoners into battle ( that was a different fire nation general), destroying the wall was necessary to defeating the Earth kingdom, and he performed no biological experimentation. I don't know what you're talking about

[@MephobiaMan]

Zenitzu (or however you spell his name) is by far my least favorite character in anime

[@Rubymagicalgirl88]

I genuinely dislike Zenitsu his goofball antics are more frustrating than charming to me.

[@blablablubb7623]

Yeah. He's just kinda pointless. Every other character has a reason to be in the group and fight demons and for some reason they drag Zenitsu with them and he does not want to be here, the others are annoyed by his bs and he has nothing to contrinute until he passes out which basically replaces him with a different character who says little and fights well (Zenitsu's opposite). Also, while Nezuko's age is extremly ambigous, she clearly does not have the mental capabilities to form a human relationship (she seems on par with a dog) which makes his attraction to her really uncomfortable

[@EclipseClemens]

Iroh is not a war criminal because there is no Geneva in the setting, silly. There's not such a thing as a war crime at all. Even if we pretend there is a Hague and war crimes, which we shouldn't, what EVIDENCE of war crimes do you actually have?

[@grinninggoblin3698]

Agreed, he committed no acts of torture (though when he was a prisoner, the earth kingdom soldiers tried to crush his hands. He barely used his hands in the escape attempt so that seems like unnecessary and permanent bodily damage to a prisoner), didn't send prisoners into battle (that was a different general), didn't hurt civilians, didn't take hostages, didn't pillage (unless you count the knife and doll?), didn't commit genocide (Sozin tried that later), didn't attack those who had already surrendered, and didn't utilize child soldiers (Zuko wasn't a soldier, but Mei and Ty Lee might be?, and he didn't use biological weapons... There are admittedly far more war crimes committed in ATLA than I imagined, but iroh didn't do them.

[@noahthehoneyboy6294]

Technically flamethrowers, napalm, and white phosphorus are war crimes. So there is a precedent for fire based warfare being banned

[@num1otori143]

Technically using weapons that cause burns is a warcrime, flamethrower, incinderary rounds, things like that. So all Firebenders are war criminals but I belive that would be unfair to single out Iro for that one. Great video.

[@bieladv8673]

Im making this comment before watching the vid just cuz i can't understand how a person would talk about Zenitsu as a "crouching moro, hidden badass" when that guy is just one of the worst written character of an already poorly written show... ill reply to myself after watching the full vid just to confirm if this guy has just a horrible take or i fell for the click bait

[@jdoesstuff6950]

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