Something I think people may not realize but: it’s actually, in my opinion, way harder to play a go-with-the-flow character in D&D well. Someone with a clear goal, even if that goal isn’t complicated, or feasible, or whatever has a very obvious reason to be adventuring and to keep adventuring; they have a built-in hook; and either achieving that goal or finding that goal changed is an obvious character growth moment. It also helps easily fill in the backstory: why is this your goal? What have you done so far in this direction?
Go with the flow is TOUGH, in comparison. Someone who isn’t driven in this way needs to have a clear reason why they want to stay in the group and adventure instead of drift off and do their own thing; a common reason is a connection to people in the party, but then you run the risk of turning your character into just a hanger-on for someone more engaged and interesting. There’s also a higher burden on the player to develop a character without having an easy central goal around which to shape them. But I think the hardest thing is that if you create a character like this, that doesn’t mean they can’t develop into someone more driven…but unless the player is aware and prepared for that, it’s a really tricky switch. Part of going with the flow is being very open to change (resisting change? Not very laissez-faire of you), whereas someone goal driven has the luxury of being comparatively static in personality with more structured character beats.
Which isn’t to say it can’t be done - Fearne is a great example and is why I wrote this up, because she is very open to experiences and she is subtly changing - but I honestly think that playing with no filter is harder than playing someone more restrained but more directional.
