You can have one of my old favorites, Grumtag the half Orc fighter. Son of a woman that was captured by orcs and later rescued by a Mage that employed her as kitchen help, Grumtag was a refreshing mixture of civilized understanding and Orc outlook. Raised among orcs until he was ten, he believed it was wise to obey the strong and ignore the weak. He would refuse to help a powerful mage in his group when she broke her arm, for example, because she was helpless. He loved her like a sister, so he would teach her some tough love! He was long suffering, patient, hardy, and resourceful. But when you were thinking he was such a friendly ugly brute he would take your dagger - because you should know better than leave your stuff unguarded. You could have it back if you were strong enough to beat him. He would never let anybody hurt his group, but if you paid him to turn over the merchant the group rescued, that would be fair game. A skewered but well defined sense of honor guided him - like a pirate's code. Think of a few alarming rules of honor, like "it is dishonorable to grow old and slow down your family, let me free you from your burden", and you get the picture. He had a job as a bouncer, did some smuggling, was muscle for hire, but he had a fair amount of brains, more than people gave him credit for. He was true neutral with lawful tendencies (given a non-human definition of law) I had a couple of characters that everyone loved to hate: a self serving chaotic neutral female wizard/ thief that was lazy, disliked children and was basically a thieving, paranoid, conniving rebel. She was also very smart, good looking, and true to her (few) friends and never forgot someone who helped her, as much as she never forgot to come back later to take revenge on those who wronged her. She was outspoken and brutally honest when not running some con. She was tall and strong, with a large, generous mouth and raven black hair, had a temper and was fundamentally a force of nature. She had a dragon's readiness to acquire riches and knowledge, but never held to money for long, spending it quickly. She was superstitious but not religious. She was ready to fight for freedom and despised social conventions, had no love for authority but despised peasants and their pathetic limited lives just as much as she hated their controlling lords and priests. She had, however, a soft spot in her heart for some lost causes. Think of her as a crazier female version of the count of monte cristo (from the book). Her father was a Mage that served a lord but when he died the lord tried to evict her from dad's tower and take his stuff, giving it to his new pet Mage. She freed a demon from a pentagram in the basement and set the town on fire. Last time I saw her she had a half demon for a lover. High intelligence, very low wisdom, as Chaotic neutral as they come. The other hated character was not from a fantasy game, Jason came from a game of Vampire, but I think he would fit in. He was the most likable guy in the world, although despised because of his "low birth". In a fantasy game he could be an upjumped lord, a commoner that came into a nobility title by marrying someone. He was a sociopath, obsessed with being liked, a seducer and a con man. He was always offering to help the downtrodden and working hard to ingratiate himself with the ladies. He was a great actor, a consummate liar, had a different story for everyone, and an amazing number of women that he groomed to help him in a pinch: an old lady that shared his love of birds (he hated them) who sheltered him when he needed a hideout, a police officer that thought he was her immortal lover (he gave her the Highlander story) who gave him information, a rich woman to whom he promised the cure for aids (by drinking his blood) who gave him money. He did all this while spying on his party for their enemies until he literally backstabbed one of them with the victim's own sword. Ironically, Jason had been conned and turned into a vampire by the only woman he ever truly loved. If you take the vampiric and modern aspects of the story away it is still an interesting character. He was an ex-cop, private investigator, androgynous guy from Eastern European extraction, but behind his soft, sensitive facade he was really tough: could take a beating like no one, was fearless and had absolutely no remorse. Always looking out for number one, chaotic evil, but adorable, so sensitive! My DM liked him because he had a real personality - would despair, rage, and plot when alone, but become a fragile but noble paladin when playing to the crowd. In D&D terms he would be a thief with high charisma and constitution. Good luck!
