Costumes
This article is about character costumes. For the temporary costume powers, see Temporary Powers or Halloween Event 2007.
Overview
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.
Modifying a Costume
Once a character has selected his or her costume, he or she may change these selections at a special store known as a Tailor. In City of Heroes, there is a chain of stores called "Icon," which has branches in 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 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.
A character may change any of his or her costumes any number of times and at any level for a fee. Low-level characters will need to exercise caution on their ways to the Tailor stores, though, and will likely not be able to afford extensive changes without help.
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 Veteran 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.
Capes and Auras
At level 20, a hero or villain may earn a cape. In City of Heroes, a hero should visit City Representative in City Hall in Atlas Park to undertake a mission to unlock capes. In City of Villains, a villain should visit their original contact (Kalinda or Matthew Burke) in Mercy Island to undertake a mission to earn the right to wear a cape.
At level 30, a hero or villain may earn an aura. In City of Heroes, a hero should visit the City Representative in City Hall in Atlas Park to undertake a mission to unlock auras. Kalinda and Matthew Burke allow villains to "unlock the power of the destined ones."
Extra Costumes
At level 20, 30, and 40, a hero or villain may earn extra costume slots, which will allow a hero or villain to have more than one costume defined for himself or herself at a given time. New costume slots are initially identical to the character's first slot.
At level 20, a hero should visit Serge in the Steel Canyon branch of Icon to earn an additional costume slot. A villain should visit The Facemaker in the Cap Au Diable branch of The Facemaker.
At level 30, a hero should visit Lauren in the Independence Port branch of Icon to earn an additional costume slot. A villain should visit Gorgeous Glenda in the Cap Au Diable branch of The Facemaker. (She is in the room at the end of the hall.)
At level 40, a hero should visit Carson in the Founder's Falls branch of Icon to earn an additional costume slot. A villain should visit Lovely Linda in the St. Martial branch of The Facemaker.
During the Halloween Event 2006 and Halloween Event 2007 players were able to gather a set of Halloween-themed Event Salvage. A full set of this salvage could then 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 slots when a character reaches level 40. After the event, players are unable to acquire more of the event salvage, but can still turn in existing sets to unlock the extra slot.
Swapping Between Costumes
Once a hero or villain has earned a second costume slot, he or she may switch to that costume by typing the following on the chat command line:
/cc 1
Once a hero or villain has earned a third costume slot, he or she may switch to that costume by typing the following on the chat command line:
/cc 2
Once a hero or villain has earned a fourth costume slot, he or she may switch to that costume by typing the following on the chat command line:
/cc 3
If a hero or villain has unlocked a fifth costume slot using event salvage collected during the Halloween Event 2006 or Halloween Event 2007, they may switch to that costume by typing the following on the chat command line:
/cc 4
To change back to his or her original costume, a hero or villain may type the following on the chat command line:
/cc 0
A hero or villain must wait 30 seconds between costume changes.
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.