Used: Character Appearance Customization

Having just started playing here, I don't know how much my opinion will be considered. The world has a lot of custom work put into it, which makes it spectacular. One thing that breaks my immersion though, is the lack of options for customizing the appearance of the pc. I made a half-elf, and as you know none of the heads available during character creation are particularly spectacular. But I figured that the module uses CEP 2, so I would be safe selecting a head I want once I get into play. Instead I find that I have to take a journey to Macedone and pay 5000 gp to make my character look the way I envisioned her in the first place. Needless to say, a starting character doesn't have 5000 gold, and a player who is picky about appearances may not stick around to earn it while looking at an ugly character.

My suggestion would be to put a customized version of the CEP body tailor models into the character creation area somewhere. Take off the wings and tails and glowing eyes parts of the conversation, leaving just the ability to play with heads, phenotype, colors, and tattoos. Once a character is in play they should certainly be restricted to the appearance they selected during character creation unless they get the gold together to buy a magical appearance change. But at least this way a character could start off looking how the player envisions him or her.

I have to agree. Always bothered me that new PCs and players were locked out of certain options such as appearance customizations due to lack of funds or inability to survive the trek....

Wyrdwolf wrote:Having just started playing here, I don't know how much my opinion will be considered.

I take all suggestions into consideration, even if I don't end up using them.

Wyrdwolf wrote:My suggestion would be to put a customized version of the CEP body tailor models into the character creation area somewhere. Take off the wings and tails and glowing eyes parts of the conversation, leaving just the ability to play with heads, phenotype, colors, and tattoos. Once a character is in play they should certainly be restricted to the appearance they selected during character creation unless they get the gold together to buy a magical appearance change. But at least this way a character could start off looking how the player envisions him or her.

Interesting. I don't use the CEP body tailor in Aenea (lots and lots of scripts are needed for it), but I can put in something custom. I've wanted to rewrite the code for the existing magical alterations shop anyway (I should be able to handle the entire thing with a single script), so I think I will eventually put in a free version for during character "creation" (in the same area as PCs pick subraces and other options) when I do get it updated.

The small area that allows for Half-Elf customization currently might be a perfect fit. Of course, more than one booth may be needed if friends are joining the game together as a group.

May I also recommend a Aenean welcome gift of one magical pot of dye ink? It is currently difficult for lowbies to aquire.

Elhanan wrote:

May I also recommend a Aenean welcome gift of one magical pot of dye ink? It is currently difficult for lowbies to acquire.

I quite like how the magical dye pot is hard for lowbies to acquire, it gives you something to work towards and is a nice suprise when you do find where it is on offer... but perhaps this "problem" could be resolved with a dye/ink merchant right in the leaf market ?.... Or even as part of the halfling caravan merchants stock (as they already have an item very useful to lowbies ~ the starter pack) ...

Couldn't agree more with the addition of altering your character from the get-go is a great idea.
Actually considers it one of the "drawbacks" of Aenea that you can't, all the other content weigh up for it, but it' definitely there (as a big fat minus if you will:P).

I have to agree with Rusty though, I think the magical dye kit should stay as a "great find", when you do run across it--a dye kit merchant in the Leaf Market would definitely be nice for "newbies" though (would also make sense for one to be placed near the clothing merchant ).

Customizing gear, or altering the look of an already established character are both things that I can see earning in play. But to start out looking like how you envision your character looking would be a great addition and not hard to do.

On that topic, if this gets implemented, would everyone get one free redo of their character appearance to make up for the lack of availability earlier?

Wyrdwolf wrote:Customizing gear, or altering the look of an already established character are both things that I can see earning in play. But to start out looking like how you envision your character looking would be a great addition and not hard to do.

On that topic, if this gets implemented, would everyone get one free redo of their character appearance to make up for the lack of availability earlier?

Sure, why not. You'd just have to have a DM teleport you to the customizing chamber.

Suggestion used.