Myself, I play a variety of characters. The majority? Some variety of Good, but...that can vary a lot depending on what I want to play today. Sometimes I'll play a Lawful and orderly hero. Sometimes a dedicated rebel out for a good cause. Sometimes a benevolent hero who is just going to do right...without much care one way or the other for either order or freedom, so long as they're helping people. And...sometimes I feel like playing something else.
Not so often, but a few of my favorite characters were Neutral to downright villainous. One was a vengeful literal bastard Tiefling with a chip on their shoulder the size of...well, the entire pantheon determined to not only get Tieflings their own Deity, namely, themself, but also to depose, slaughter and replace the entire pantheon with a new and superior one that was... less screwed up. In the end... was extremely ruthless and brutal, killed fellow party members when they made the mistake of getting in the way of their goals, but in the end, actually probably ended up long term making the world they lived in a better place... reforming a badly screwed up pantheon, seeing a much neglected and maligned race had its own representation among the world's deities, and once they'd slaughtered the previous pantheon and were head of the new one...stepped down and simply took the mantle of Deity of Death, Change (particularly violent change), New Beginnings, and Tieflings. We actually never could decide on a true 'This is their alignment', because... too often their behavior was a bit too nuanced to pigeonhole easily into a specific alignment often somewhere in the Evil area, though...not always, as their goals and even methods were often noble and even honorable, but...utterly ruthless and brutal about seeing them through... they were very protective of children, and those who were oppressed or abused...and very willing to avenge those who suffered needlessly...but at the same time, if a city needed to be slaughtered because it refused to surrender no matter what...then it would be destroyed, the earth salted, and not a survivor ever seen again. They'd be offered quarter, but... if they refused it, they'd made their own choice. And if they'd abused their own population...well... Often people'd label them as Chaotic, but their methods were very methodical and orderly, and their word never broken. Just...make very, very sure you got sworn word...and were very, very clear on the wording. We had people argue Lawful Evil, Chaotic Evil, Chaotic Neutral, Chaotic Good, finally ended up just saying 'Screw it, it's Jorvan, Pragmatic Ruthless Anti-Heroic.' Since they always wore an Amulet of Non-Detection anyhow, it's not like people were sensing the alignment anyway.
A few other more neutral or evil types have been enjoyable... but... that one's sheer... just... 'I'll do what needs doing. Whatever needs doing...' made for an interesting experience. Especially when people determined that one of the iterations of the character was noticeably LESS evil than the Chaotic Neutral Bard with a cruel prankster streak... Jorvan'd just kill you if it was necessary for a greater goal or if you directly assaulted him or some of the very few he cared about...or children or other Tieflings, or other groups he found reasonless oppression to. Tansy...would torment you because you mildly annoyed her, break your mind, your spirit and leave you with a shattered ego and reputation... or drive you to suicide if you insulted her. Made for an...interesting dichotomy when people assumed he was the eviler, while he simply did what needed doing without a qualm, while she was actively cruel.
