- This article is about character costumes. For the temporary costume powers, see Temporary Powers or Halloween Event 2007.
One of the greatest strengths of City of Heroes and City of Villains is the wide variety of costumes available to heroes and villains. The costume creator is extraordinarily deep, with customization available for all aspects of a character's appearance.
Costume slots[]
A character can have multiple costume slots, each containing a different appearance.
Unlocking new slots[]
Including the one slot a character begins with, a total of five slots can be unlocked in-game. New costume slots are initially identical to the character's first slot.
Level 20 heroes and vigilantes can do a mission for Serge in the Steel Canyon branch of Icon. Level 30 heroes and vigilantes can do a mission for Lauren in the Independence Port branch of Icon. Level 40 heroes and vigilantes can do a mission for Carson in the Founder's Falls branch of Icon. Each of these missions awards an additional costume slot, up to the maximum.
Level 20 villains and rogues can do a mission for The Facemaker in the Cap Au Diable branch of The Facemaker to earn an additional costume slot. Level 30 villains and rogues can do a mission for Gorgeous Glenda in the Cap Au Diable branch of The Facemaker. (She is in the room at the end of the hall.) Level 40 villains and rogues can do a mission for Lovely Linda in the St. Martial branch of The Facemaker. Each of these missions awards an additional costume slot, up to the maximum.
During the Halloween event, players are able to gather a set of Halloween-themed event salvage from trick-or-treating. After the event, players are still able to acquire the salvage from the auction house or other players. A full set of this salvage can be turned in to unlock an extra costume slot at any character level. This extra slot stacks with all existing slots, resulting in a possible total of five in-game unlockable slots when a character reaches level 40.
An additional five costume slots, for a possible maximum of ten, can be purchased from the Paragon Market.
Changing between costume slots[]
A character can swap between costume slots by typing the following into the chat command line.
/cc #
To utilize different slots, replace the pound sign (aka hash mark) with a number from 0-4. For instance, the first costume slot is:
/cc 0
If a character has five costume slots, the last slot is:
/cc 4
These commands can be inserted into binds and macros.
A character must wait 30 seconds between costume changes.
Modifying costume slots[]
A character may alter the costume within a slot at a special store known as a Tailor. In City of Heroes, there is a chain of stores called "Icon," which has branches in Atlas Park, Steel Canyon, Independence Port, and Founders' Falls. In City of Villains, there is a chain of stores called "The Facemaker" (not to be confused with the contact of the same name), which has branches in Mercy Island, Cap Au Diable, and St. Martial.
For a fee, a hero or villain may change almost any aspect of his or her appearance, except for the fundamental properties of gender, body type, and height. Modifying these characteristics requires purchasing "Super Tailor" access from the Paragon Market, and going to one of the cosmetic surgeon NPCs in the tailor shops.
Fees[]
There is a flat fee for any changes made to a costume that scales with level. This covers color changes only. Any other modifications cost significantly more.
There are also Free Costume Change tokens that are awarded through Paragon Rewards or when a patch/issue update modifies the costume window such that you are forced to make a change. As of Issue 12, characters can now opt out of using a token, instead paying with influence. Also, tokens granted to a character by veteran awards are only usable after claiming them through the veteran award tab on the badge menu; in this way, an unclaimed token can be saved for later.
Unlocking capes and auras[]
At level 20, a character may unlock a number of capes in-game. A hero or vigilante should visit the City Representative in City Hall in Atlas Park. A villain or rogue should visit a Goldbricker named Mr. Rodney who is located in Cap Au Diable's New Haven location, about 50 yards north of the marker.
At level 30, a character may unlock a number of auras in-game. A hero or vigilante should visit the City Representative, and a villian or rogue should visit Mr. Rodney.
Alternatively, claiming an Unlock Capes or Unlock Auras character item unlocks the same capes and auras for a character at any level. Purchasing Back Slot Unlock or Aura Unlock from the Paragon Market unlocks the same capes and auras for all characters on an account at any level.
Some back details, including capes, and auras, including path auras, are unlocked individually by special means, such as crafting through the invention system, holiday trials, Astral or Empyrean Merits, or purchasing them through the Paragon Market.
Supergroup mode[]
In addition to all the above, a character's appearance may change depending on whether he or she is in Supergroup Mode. Each Supergroup has two official colors and one official chest symbol. A member of a Supergroup may freely configure each of his or her costume parts to use its natural color, SG color #1, or SG color #2 while that character is in SG Mode. Also, the character can control whether being in SG Mode causes the SG's chest symbol to replace his or her normal one. These settings can be changed at any time, anywhere, for free, from the Supergroup settings tab. A character cannot configure separate SG appearance settings for each costume slot, however. There is only one style for the entire character, and it will apply to whichever costume he or she is currently wearing.