Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Cosmetics: Changing Character Appearance

I think we should be able to alter our characters' appearance at any time during the game from the Character sheet menu.

Anything that is purely cosmetic, such as heads, hair, skin color, voice and the like, we should be able to change at any time. I think we should be able to do this for companions as well, at least for things like hair, but certainly for custom PCs it would be nice to alter anything that is purely cosmetic from a simple gametab.

There are many reasons that a player might want to do this, without having to relaunch an entirely new game. Beyond just shifting preferences and a compulsive desire to have a different hair cut or hair color, there can also be issues with lighting or model clipping (especially as one changes equipment) that don't necessarily become apparent until after you've seen the model moving around in game. The player shouldn't be punished by having to reload/restart, just because the initial previews might be inadequate, or because they're of a changeable mind when it comes to char appearance. Maybe they regret their tattoo or their eye color or whatever, just let them change it at the magic mirror hehe.

Are there any technical reason why we couldn't just make the "Appearance" tabs of the character creator accessible at any time via a Character Sheet or at least from some kind of looking glass at camp?

I think this would be a major quality of life improvement and good game design. Particularly if it allowed us to tweak the companion looks. That is always a popular feature of any game that decides to include it. To say nothing of things like outfit designers or the ability to dye and such. But at least for the main character model, the option to change appearance after char creation would be a lot of fun.

Thoughts?


Ps. If they included something like a Mirror Mirror or a barber shop, that would have been a cool teaser to accompany Minthara's new pixie cut. Like if the suggestion was that we might be able to change haircuts on the fly, any changes down the line to various Chars go over much better probably. Since it would be like introducing a general feature, instead of just a random aesthetic change. Just make it something that the player can choose and use.

+1
The level-up screen takes us back to the character creator (albeit without the appearance customisation) so I'm sure they could do it. I'm an avid appearance customiser and like to make multiple characters so I can have lots of different aesthetics on the go, so I'm always an advocate of mid-game customisation. I see no reason why games shouldn't let you tbh, mirrors are a thing so why would our characters never want to use them? Especially in a game with so much roleplaying, if I wanna play a vain noble obsessed with her appearance who changes her hairstyle every day, I should be able to.

I think this idea is fair. They only draw backs I could think of would be for roleplaying reasons. If not the "mirror" maybe something more palatable in the D&D world and make a hair salon/beauty vendor or something that allows us to interact with our appearance at least to some degree if not every component.

Agreed, being able to change at least hair style and makeup should be possible. For deeper customization, perhaps some kind of magic item? A magic hand held mirror say, that has one use a day and lets you completely change your skin color, eye color, tattoos, etc etc.

This option was present in DOS2 so I don't see a reason why it would not be available in BG3.

However, I will prefer to have this option from a town from a hair salon or tatoo maker to be realist.

In chapter 1, the priority is to remove the parasite, not changing hair cuts.

Customizing the look of your PC/Avatar is an important part of the appeal, so much so that I consider it a core part of the gameplay in roleplaying games of this sort. it contributes significantly to the "play" part of the gameplay.

This isn't an MMO where we have limited character slots per server, and they need to gatekeep appearance in order to push haircut microsales or whatever. I think its much more important here that an appearance change just be convenient and fun, and not like a frustrating or punishing time sink.

I would prefer it just being built into the Character Sheet tab, but that said, I don't really care if they want to make it more a part of the world building, or incorporate some sort of minor cost in gold to see a stylist at camp or whatnot, as long as its relatively simple for the player to access.

It's also worth noting that the lighting conditions in the Nautiloid prologue are very different from the lighting conditions on the Beach (which is closer to the previews shown in the character creation menu), so I can imagine many players thinking something looks great or looks horrible based on something like lighting, only to discover later they are now unhappy with that choice, but can't do anything to tweak it short of rolling another toon.

Since they already ditched the custom D&D portrait as a worthwhile concept, and have gone with 3D model presets for everything now, it's even more important for a game like BG3 to be as flexible as it can in this regard.

I agree for cosmetics like hair makeup and tatoo, but not for Head eyes voice and gender. Not without magical items like a "potion of gender change" or a "Physical alteration tonic". Just spitballing, but yeah. Hair makeup and tatoo makes perfect sense and should be done at an npc or something!

I should clarify I guess, when I say cosmetic I mean broadly, everything in the appearance tab that doesn't directly relate to abilities or skills or the core mechanical stuff. For the Custom PC at any rate.

Not just their makeup and hair and tattoos, but the heads and the skin color too, all of it. I would also include Voice in that, and go even further to include the custom character's Name as well. I think the player should be able to change that stuff at any point during the game.

For the stuff that is mechanical, and relates to abilities skills or core narrative that would otherwise cause the game to glitch out, then I would still like to see some sort of in-world options to change that stuff at a later point too. Whether through magic or special items or some kind of Genie, but I'm talking above about the stuff that falls into the "looks and sounds" category, rather than the class/skills/abilities/background type stuff.

For Companions perhaps this should be limited, to preserve characterization, only to things that one might easily alter in the in-game reality, such as hair or makeup. That could ideally include Main and Secondary Character colors for clothing, (like it was handled in the original BG games). But at least for the custom PC, I just don't see the value in strictly enforcing many of the initial character creation choices as set in stone for a game like this, especially if there is no technical limitation.

I think the character creation aspect of the original BG games was among its greatest strengths. In-game the player could change their Portrait and Voice set for their custom PC at any point from the Character Sheet tab. In the modern games the Portrait has been subsumed within the 3D avatar models, so I think that stuff should be treated the same way here. In the original BG games the PaperDoll avatar was locked after the initial creation, but the most popular weidu mod was Gatekeeper/Shadowkeeper, which allowed the player to alter the Paperdoll avatar via a secondary application, and I'm sure mods will come out to do the same here. But this is 2021, they should really just build it into the base game. Its good design

I don't see a roleplay downside, only upsides.

ps. Just on the "Name" point. In RPGs naming a character is a big deal, and I understand why its a significant initial choice. Also, because often games would key off the char Names for stuff like how the character/save was stored in the past, so there is a traditiona of treating it more strictly in D&D crpgs I suppose. But its also the simplest thing in the world to imagine someone changing on the fly from an RP perspective. If they wanted to make it more interesting from an in-game perspective, they could have an "Alias" field that overrides the Name for things like dialog, at least from the single player's view.

To be honest I always found it funny in games where you could totally change your appearance and when you go back no one says anything. I would be all "who the f*** are you?" If someone I knew looked totally different.

To appeal to your sense of humor, perhaps a character who's appearance has been altered after Char creation is then given a flag for certain dialogs with companions or NPCs you've already encountered. That way when you link up with a former companion they might occasionally shoot off a banter line like "You look different... Did you change your hair?"

But I still am thinking about it more from a convenience and ease of use standpoint, not a really as a world building immersion type feature, though they could explain it away like that too if they wanted to. I think the game should reward the player for engaging with the appearance/char creation menus. Character creation is one of the most entertaining parts of the game, but I don't see why they'd need to front load it all to the initial prompts and force players to roll new toons and restart the game, rather than just modifying a toon in a game they already have going. Especially if its just for appearance, to satisfy the players shifting cosmetological whims.

A workaround with other benefits would be to simply allow the player to import a custom character into an existing gamesave, they should do that regardless, but still I'd rather see appearance modification as general feature of the Char Sheet tab.

The problem with something like Shadowkeeper for BG2, was that it was a general game editor, and I can see why that wouldn't necessarily want to include something that lets the player just hack everything. But if it only deals with appearance, I think that would be great to have included as just part of the basic Char Sheet menu.

I understood very well what you meant, I do not agree voice, facial features, skin color or gender should be changed through this feature. Hair, tatoo and make up makes sense but not the others. Not without using powerful magic to transmogrify your bone structure or skin pygmentation. If it becomes a feature I will not use it for anything than what makes sense to be changed. Its a good idea, but asking to change your body however you want is a bit exaggerated without a moderate cost. Again, great idea to change hairstyle, costs no money to comb that mane or use blood for eyeliner. Seperate the two in specific feature and I’m all in.

OK fair enough. For myself its all meta, but I know there will be others who want to preserve a sense of consequence for the initial choices made, and to have everything that happens afterward be consistent within some kind of in-game reality or rationalization.

In that case they can do the split approach and keep it totally in-game.

1. For Make-up a looking glass icon in Char Sheet tab accessible at any point, no cost in gold.

2. Hair Styling (cuts/dyes) a specialty vender/market or a camp follower who is easy to access. Maybe Shadowheart helps you bleach your bangs at camp? Lol whatever works. Small cost in gold for that.

3. Tattoos (and Magical tattoo removal) provided by Nettie or Abdirak, for a moderate cost in gold.

4. For changes to major stuff like heads, skin color, eyecolor, phenotype, sex, voice, and the like, some sort of wizard/witch, who sells the requisite artifact or potion to unlock those aspects of the appearance tab, for a large cost in gold.


That would cover everything and provide a narrative rationale for each, provided it wasn't a total pain to access the various locations where such NPCs might be found.

Actually, the more I think on it it, the more it makes sense to use Shadowheart in this way, to at least introduce the in-game feature.

It would make narrative sense, because of Class and trickery deception bent, and because the PC might be encouraged to disguise their appearance by changing it, whether in subtle ways or major ways at various points throughout the game.

I'd like to see a feature like that introduced into the EA at this point, just to keep it engaging. Indulge the PCs in a little narcissism entertainment, since you know everyone likes to swing the cam around or watch their choices play out in the cinema view. Since Shadowheart is now on the Nautiloid, and still the first Companion we meet on the beach, she would be a good one to introduce the Hair change option.

She already has what, like 3 or 4 different styles in the Head's/Hair mod? It would make sense for her as well, to lean into the PC about their appearance being "too predictable" hehe.

That sounds good. It is true that I would also like to be able to completely change my appearance, voice or name at any time (preferably at no cost), but this idea seems more logical from the point of view of the game world. In the case of a name, this could be resolved either by the possibility of changing it at any time (are there documents in the D&D world?) Or going to some member of the thieves guild or a similar shady person and changing the character's name for at average cost in gold.

Excellent idea to handle a name change feature in-game!

I think the Zhents could probably forge us up some papers? or perhaps the Harpers or a Priest of Oghma could do the same, but for characters with a slightly more virtuous rationale, like for the do-gooder who needs to go undercover to make it work. Since they have everything kind of bifurcated between Druids and Goblins, I think it makes sense to have access to the features along either path. There are plenty of NPCs that might work, and I'm sure they could find new ones, if it needs to be reduplicated as we progress through the different Acts.

Carrying the idea even further, if "retraining" to change the more mechanical stuff is desirable (and it usually is in games like this, especially at higher levels) that could be accomplished by a trainer to change the more mundane stuff like skills or proficiencies. Whereas larger changes say to something like Background or Race or Class might be accomplished by slightly more esoteric entities, like say a Genie granting a wish or perhaps Raphael. If that isn't just a default to retrain after level up. The idea of changing 'profession', or even core attributes, is all pretty easily handled with in-game narrative support if they want to go that route. They could all cost a little pocket change, provided its not too prohibitively expensive. I would welcome anything like that, because many of those early choices end up being very consequential. I think its better to be flexible than overly rigid, especially for a game that is meant to introduce and popularize D&D for a more general audience.

I'm like lilaque, I like to play around the looks constantly and usually end up having to create multiple characters just to scratch that itch. Although I would much prefer to play with it as I go, rather than prognosticating all up front at the outset, and then having to reload/restart if I change my mind later.

Oh and one last point, just because I would definitely hold out hope that they might keep some modelling artists on retainer, and still push out new heads and hair models and such, even after EA is finished. So I wouldn't want to be locked out of new choices, if a cooler haircut or head model comes along later. Again, I'm sure there will be mods for this stuff, but it would be more fun to have it just built in.

We can imagine a cosmetic kit as item with special action to trigger the character creation UI with make-up as only parameter to be changed ?
Items can be looted on some specific or available on some merchants inventory.

Idea is to avoid to find a gnoll with mascara into its inventory (fun but not realistic).

It will certainly be able to change the appearance in the future. 90% chance it's something very similar to Divinity Original Sin 2, the point is that this option will VERY LIKELY only be available in act 2 or 3, in this case, when the game is released.

Please let it include changing the look of the attire.

I am STILL having nightmares about some of the medium armor in DoS2... q _ q

If armour and clothes are tintable in the engine it would be a shame to not all is the player to choose their colours. Even if it's just parts of the clothes that are changeable.