Hearty characters becoming bawdy (6)
I believe the answer is:
earthy
'bawdy' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'hearty characters' is the wordplay.
'characters' indicates anagramming the letters.
'hearty' is an anagram of 'EARTHY'.
'becoming' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for earthy that I've seen before include "Head covering" , "Coarse or gross" , "Like soil; uninhibitedly direct" , "Not far removed from nature" , "Consisting of soil" .)