I'm playing a Neutral Good monk (halfling) in a campaign, and a few of the characters are appearing to be evil to my character (one definitely chaotic), one of the characters was a paladin who has become an oath breaker.

I'm thinking of RP'íng my character to not turn evil, but maybe trying to push back against some of the more "evil" traits (My character wants to help those in need, protect those who can't help themselves etc). So the influence of his past and training are coming to the surface in conflict with the current dynamic.

There's been a few times where he's just gone with the flow, but his conscience is starting to gnaw on him again. The paladin breaking his oath is probably the event that has him just questioning his motives. He doesn't just want to be a monk travelling around dispensing rough justice. He's got some low INT, WIS and CHA stats, which probably doesn't help (not that he's needed to roll persuasion etc)

What tips do people have where they might need to push back (within their character) and still play a team part and advance the story (or split the party)?

I mean the best advice to give is think of what this character would say to the others.  This is a total RP moment and one that most likely will/need to happen several times.  Eventually if no change occurs this character needs to figure out why they are with these people he does not agree with in action if they cannot be brought to reason.  

if you've got PCs chopping off the heads of surrenders foes and this is something your character does not agree with morally, then why are they allowing it? How can they stop it? what can they do the next time the character raises their sword to someone who yields.  Being a Team player does not mean going along with the majority without a fight.  And if the majority doesn't align with the character the there is little reason for that character to stay? (This just means rolling up a new character that more fits with the party dynamic.)  Or they stay with the group hoping to one day change their minds.  You have to look at your characters goals and decide after a few "tough" RP dialogues if their goals will be reach while being with this group.

Low Charisma could be role played as a lack of conviction about your world views... or at least shyness and hesitancy about challenging others. Low Intelligence might be accepting others arguments at face value and believing the best about people, low Wisdom failing to pick up on emotional cues or sense bad motives... all in all, it sounds like you have a pretty good fit for the “good guy stooge to a wicked gang” trope, which could be fun to play into. “No, no constable, you really aren’t understanding... he’s not a NECROmancer, he’s a morticist! It’s not about raising undead, that’s evil, it’s... well, I’m not really sure, something about restoring motion to bodies, but it’s very different, that’s what the boss says and he’s real smart about this stuff!”

Ta, I'm thinking I'll have a think about which gets a boost at lvl 8 (was originally planning either DEX or WIS to try and max AC) but might reconsider from an RP and development point of view. But that's some good feedback, I can bring some of that in.

So far it's been a bit of "no, no, we shouldn't burn the tower and at least look at it....... oh no it's burning........." type things, (Funnily enough the characters CHA almost matches mine in some circles lol)

I'll also have a chat with the DM, see what we can do to bring out the characters stuff a bit better (I'm getting a little bored with him just being a bash merchant and not getting much out of it) hence the question

Quote from Llew_Llaw >>

Ta, I'm thinking I'll have a think about which gets a boost at lvl 8 (was originally planning either DEX or WIS to try and max AC) but might reconsider from an RP and development point of view. But that's some good feedback, I can bring some of that in.

So far it's been a bit of "no, no, we shouldn't burn the tower and at least look at it....... oh no it's burning........." type things, (Funnily enough the characters CHA almost matches mine in some circles lol)

I'll also have a chat with the DM, see what we can do to bring out the characters stuff a bit better (I'm getting a little bored with him just being a bash merchant and not getting much out of it) hence the question

 yeah looks like getting the DM involved will help, hopefully.  While yes characters should be able to do things without interruption if the DM hears you say "No we shouldn't burn down the tower" and the other PCs light it on fire and you get no chance to stop them, there really is no room to RP and get this "tension" (I say that in a good way) out and have some moments for characters to develop.

Quote from hollowtpm >>

Quote from Llew_Llaw >>

Ta, I'm thinking I'll have a think about which gets a boost at lvl 8 (was originally planning either DEX or WIS to try and max AC) but might reconsider from an RP and development point of view. But that's some good feedback, I can bring some of that in.

So far it's been a bit of "no, no, we shouldn't burn the tower and at least look at it....... oh no it's burning........." type things, (Funnily enough the characters CHA almost matches mine in some circles lol)

I'll also have a chat with the DM, see what we can do to bring out the characters stuff a bit better (I'm getting a little bored with him just being a bash merchant and not getting much out of it) hence the question

 yeah looks like getting the DM involved will help, hopefully.  While yes characters should be able to do things without interruption if the DM hears you say "No we shouldn't burn down the tower" and the other PCs light it on fire and you get no chance to stop them, there really is no room to RP and get this "tension" (I say that in a good way) out and have some moments for characters to develop.

 I think this has added to the tension for the character, now just need to rp it out as it's been mostly an internal tension for now

Quote from Llew_Llaw >>

Quote from hollowtpm >>

Quote from Llew_Llaw >>

Ta, I'm thinking I'll have a think about which gets a boost at lvl 8 (was originally planning either DEX or WIS to try and max AC) but might reconsider from an RP and development point of view. But that's some good feedback, I can bring some of that in.

So far it's been a bit of "no, no, we shouldn't burn the tower and at least look at it....... oh no it's burning........." type things, (Funnily enough the characters CHA almost matches mine in some circles lol)

I'll also have a chat with the DM, see what we can do to bring out the characters stuff a bit better (I'm getting a little bored with him just being a bash merchant and not getting much out of it) hence the question

 yeah looks like getting the DM involved will help, hopefully.  While yes characters should be able to do things without interruption if the DM hears you say "No we shouldn't burn down the tower" and the other PCs light it on fire and you get no chance to stop them, there really is no room to RP and get this "tension" (I say that in a good way) out and have some moments for characters to develop.

 I think this has added to the tension for the character, now just need to rp it out as it's been mostly an internal tension for now

 yay! Love me PC tension, never been a fan of when 5 characters are always in agreement and never argue over big things.  Like in RL there is not a best friend of mine where we haven't had big conversation about something where we did not agree at first and over time we came to see each others view.

If you are playing a shyer character than you also might think about how they would approach this subject.  Are they a person who deals with conflict or runs from it? Some people don't handle confrontation well, how will you handle it? Will you confront it when it occurs? Or will you wait until the evening fire when you are all having dinner and have had a few hours to lay out your thoughts.  Always think about how your character would react, not so much about how their scores say they will react.  I've never seen low CHA as always meaning shy or quiet.  It is easy for someone who is loud and boisterous to have a low CHA (we've all met someone that always thought they were the best and we wanted to punch them in the face).  So think about your characters personality instead of their scores.

Quote from hollowtpm >>

 yay! Love me PC tension, never been a fan of when 5 characters are always in agreement and never argue over big things.  Like in RL there is not a best friend of mine where we haven't had big conversation about something where we did not agree at first and over time we came to see each others view.

If you are playing a shyer character than you also might think about how they would approach this subject.  Are they a person who deals with conflict or runs from it? Some people don't handle confrontation well, how will you handle it? Will you confront it when it occurs? Or will you wait until the evening fire when you are all having dinner and have had a few hours to lay out your thoughts.  Always think about how your character would react, not so much about how their scores say they will react.  I've never seen low CHA as always meaning shy or quiet.  It is easy for someone who is loud and boisterous to have a low CHA (we've all met someone that always thought they were the best and we wanted to punch them in the face).  So think about your characters personality instead of their scores.

 Thanks, yeah, that's what I'm thinking along the lines of - their personality. I actually like that there's a semi-reason why the group wouldn't listen to him - he's tried the going to help people, and the person has has called in guards to kill them lol.

Just also trying to tie it all together, rather than focus on one part over another - plenty of things to talk about!