User blog comment:Beatdown/Warrior Of The Chief God? Chapter 1: For What They Fight For/@comment-76.184.240.236-20141215090446

If you're wanting to make endearing anti-heroes, I think I can offer a few general writing suggestions. I don't know if these will be any good, but I'll give it a shot. I'm writing this from a mostly "show, don't tell" standpoint, so I'm going to use specific examples of how to make a character interesting. These are not unique, and I don't know if I'm going overboard.

Take Gabriel, for instance. He's my favorite of the four because there's potential for a complex, multifaceted character here. He had a little sister, who he was close to, be transformed into a lesser succubus and had to watch her die. Let's play with this a little. When you're writing the story (or RP, whichever these characters are meant for), show that behind Gabriel's cold, emotionless exterior is a brave young man who will help anyone in need at the drop of a hat.

Also, since the lore specifies that lesser succubi are women who have been defiled by a succubus, we can give the character a very special hatred of monsters, succubi in particular. Whenever he sees one, show him transform from this cool, collected assassin to the human embodiment of rage.

Let's play around with this, shall we? Let's say Gabriel comes across a succubus who admits to transforming his sister in a mocking tone. He understandibly flies into a bloodrage and starts trying to kill the succubus with his bare hands. After beating the succubus to a pulp, Gabriel is about to deliver the killing blow when he hears what sounds like a little girl crying for her mother. He investigates some nearby cover and finds a succubus in the form of a child, who tugs on his pant leg and tearfully begs him to spare her mother's life. After a few minutes of deliberation, Gabriel is reminded of his little sister, puts away his swords, and assumes a defiant pose, head down, eyes closed, arms crossed. He says to the downed succubus, "I can never forgive you for what you've done, but I can't bring myself to do to you as you did to me." He turns to the child and says "Get your mother and do not come back here again. Do it, before I change my mind."

In this example, we have a monster hunter having his chance at revenge, but decides to not take it because he grapples with the decision and decides that getting his revenge would make him no better than the monster who was responsible for his sister's demise. It's the fact that he has to think it through that makes him endearing as a hero and not a callous asshole.

Here's a link, if you're interested in outside resources for writing morally abiguous characters.

http://www.springhole.net/writing/writing-sympathetic-morally-ambiguous-characters.htm