BUUUUUT. I really like role-playing, and getting cool powers. And i'm having a hard time keeping consistent with my character's personality. He's chaotic neutral, but pretty close to evil. He doesnt really care about anybody else, and is mostly out for himself. He loves adventuring, but he wants to be able to slip away in the night if he has to. His most-used skills are Bluff, Diplomacy, and Move Silently. But whenever I find my self in a situation that would take a bit of thinking or good die rolls, I find myself just admitting to my crimes, or apologizing or surrendering, just to get out of the situation. I feel this doesn't match with my character's personality. Does anyone have any tips on how to stay consistent?
"I didn't steal this, I found it on the ground, and you should be thanking me for returning it!" or whatever.
Find a real-world inspiration. Someone you can draw from. Actors playing roles in movies will usually look for people to draw a personality from. Sam Rockwell cited Elvis Presley, Brad Pitt, and Freddie Mercury when he played Zaphod in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Maybe you can do the same? Find someone, or a character in a movie, comic, book, whatever, that has a similar personality to the one you want.
Sometimes it's easier to figure out how Morgan Freeman would say something than how your character would.
If your group goes on tangents a lot, it could be a problem. Entering and exiting character a lot can throw your focus off. If this is the case, and you want to, you can ask that the group try to stay in character whenever at the table.
Another approach to roleplaying is to stop thinking of the "how do I win?" but rather think "how would my character react?" remember that to your character taking the logical choice to solve the problem is not the way they may choose. In real life there are people who don't like doctors or medicine and would suffer with migrains rather then take an asprin, people who get fired from jobs because they are lazy, etc. people who are dumb and your character should be no exception.
So if you get caught stealing, rather then admit to the crime to get out of the situation, try and lie cheat and swindle your way, unsuccessfully, out of it. Like insisting you were framed, that the gold belonged to you, prove it by showing that you carry several different purses with random coins in them that this one must also be yours (the other purses are also stolen so you have just gotten youself into even more trouble, particularly amusing if one of them is the guard's purse) the point is not to metagame your way out of the situation and "win" but to stay in character even if it means "lossing"
He's chaotic neutral, but pretty close to evil. He doesnt really care about anybody else, and is mostly out for himself. He loves adventuring, but he wants to be able to slip away in the night if he has to. His most-used skills are Bluff, Diplomacy, and Move Silently. But whenever I find my self in a situation that would take a bit of thinking or good die rolls, I find myself just admitting to my crimes, or apologizing or surrendering, just to get out of the situation. I feel this doesn't match with my character's personality. Does anyone have any tips on how to stay consistent?
It sounds consistent to me. You're playing a weasel.
Just make sure you don't admit to anything they don't already know about ;) ..and try to blame it on someone else if you can
smoke bomb
*As the smoke clears, the guards look around to find the criminal, but just as fast as they had caught Talon, she had gone*