How to Change your Character Appearance in SWTOR (2024)

You can change your character’s appearance in SWTOR by using the Appearance Designer – in-game tool that uses Cartel Coins instead of credits!

The guide is up-to-date for Patch 7.3

What exactly is considered Character Appearance in SWTOR

In Star Wars The Old Republic there are two generally different ways to alter your character’s visual appearance. The first method is via clothes and armor, which is done through the Outfit Tabs. The second method is via the Appearance Designer in-game tool.

This guide details the second method, which involves changing your character’s physical attributes such as height, weight, hair style, skin and eye color and all other fine customizations you can tweak, all the way down to a skin complexion, scars and more. You can even change your Species completely.

During the initial Character Creation process you do all of these. If at any point after that you decide to change them, you will have to use the Appearance Designer.

What is the Appearance Designer in SWTOR

The Appearance Designer was added to SWTOR not long after the game’s release. It is an in-game tool that you can use at any point with any character to change their appearance and customization.

The Appearance Designer works with Cartel Coins. Every change you want to make will cost you Cartel Coins. Read more about pricing further down in this guide.

You can only change your character’s appearance with this tool. To modify the appearance of your companions, you need to get special items that fit into their “Customization” slot.

Any character of any level can use the Appearance Designer. There are no restrictions of that kind.

Where to find the Appearance Designer

The Appearance Designer Kiosk can be accessed from two places – the Cartel Bazaar and your own Stronghold.

How to get to Appearance Designer on the Fleet

The default location of the Appearance Designer kiost is on the Republic and Empire Fleets. It is located in the Cartel Bazaar, which is a separate room full of vendors and other NPCs.

How to access the Cartel Bazaar as a Republic Player

From the main level of Republic Fleet: Carrick Station, head to the top of the map.

Click on the blue button to call the elevator that will take you to the Cartel Bazaar.

How to access the Cartel Bazaar as an Empire Player

The elevator to the Cartel Bazaar is at the bottom on the map of the main level of Imperial Fleet: Vaiken Spacedock.

Click on the button to take an elevator to the Cartel Bazaar room.

Where is the Appearance Designer Terminal in the Cartel Bazaar

When you enter the Cartel Bazaar, the first thing you will likely see is the Appearance Designer itself. It is a small terminal surrounded by a large holographic head and a large screen behind it.

It’s in front of you on the other side of the room as you enter. It’s also marked on your map. If you are an Empire player, the entrance is on the top, the Appearance Designer terminal is on the bottom of the map. For the Republic players things are reversed. The map is exactly the same, though.

How to get an Appearance Designer in your Stronghold

You can purchase an Appearance Modification Station terminal for your Stronghold. It costs you 2x Universal Prefab MK-2 (crafted item) and is sold by a vendor that you can find on the Fleet’s inner circle in the Strongholds and Crew Skills area.

The name of the vendor is different for both factions:

• For the Republic: Khom Grelt
• For the Empire: Necra Phaest

The vendor trades all their goods for Universal Prefabs. Specifically for the Appearance Modification Station you will need a Universal Prefab MK-2. This item requires the following resources to craft:

• 1x Fabricator Crystal MK-2
• 1x Fabricator Design MK-2
• 1x Industrial Prefab MK-2
• 1x Synthetic Prefab MK-2

You need a Crew Skill level 300 of higher of any crafting profession to create one of these. Alternatively, you can purchase it or have it made by a friend of yours.

What is the difference between Appearance Designer and Appearance Modification Station

There is no mechanical of functional difference between the Appearance Designer kiosk in the Cartel Bazaar and the Appearance Modification Station that you can place in your Stronghold.

They differ slightly visually – the kiost has this giant holographic image behind it and the Stronghold item is just a small terminal.

When you use them, they function exactly the same. Having one in your Stronghold can be seen as a convenience factor, but you don’t have to go through all the trouble of obtaining the two Universal Prefab MK-2 items or if you have them, you can spend them on something else from these vendors.

How does Appearance Designer work in SWTOR

When you open the Appearance Designer in-game, you will see this screen:

How to preview your character customizations

On the left hand-side of the Character Customization you see a large visual presentation of the current character customization you have at the moment. You can zoom in and out as well as turn the figure around in both left and right side.

This is a Mandalorian, so please, don’t look at his face. He is “technically” not supposed to show it in front of other people. D’OH!

How to customize your character’s appearance

On the right side of the Character Customization panel you have the available tweaks to modify your appearance. Note that the exact same restrictions will apply here as they did back when you were creating your character in SWTOR.

Every single modification or customization you make in the Appearance Designer will cost you Cartel Coins.

Cartel Coins are an in-game SWTOR currency that you can get by spending real-life money to purchase it from the official SWTOR website, on Steam or from third-party retailers. You can also earn very small amounts of Cartel Coins by completing SWTOR Achievements.

Depending on the species you select, different sliders and customization options will be available to you. Every species change costs you 792 Cartel Coins. That is if you have previously unlocked the species via your Legacy or by purchasing it as an unlock from the Cartel Market (the in-game cache shop that also works with Cartel Coins).

If you only want to change your appearance without changing your Species, this will cost you small amounts of Cartel Coins for every slider you tweak. The cost ranges from 20 Cartel Coins to 80 Cartel Coins.

If you opt to change your Species, the cost will be locked at 792 Cartel Coins and any changes you do with the sliders below will be zero. The total cost will still be 792.

How to unlock more customization options

There are additional packs that you can purchase from the Cartel Market – things like hair styles bundles, tattoos, eye colors and more.

Their prices range from 90 Cartel Coins to 240 Cartel Coins per pack.

Subscriber players receive significant permanent discounts for using the Appearance Designer in SWTOR:

• Changing Species: 34% OFF
• Any customization from the sliders below: 50% OFF

IMPORTANT: The prices you see in this guide are for a Subscriber player (because I am one). If you are not a Subscriber, it will be unbelievably expensive to customize your character’s appearance. You will be better off getting a SWTOR Subscription.

If you have unlocked additional customizations, they will appear with purple or yellow marker in the right hand-side of the Character Customization screen:

• Purple – additional packs or items you have purchased with Cartel Coins
• Yellow – additional customization options you have unlocked via your Legacy

Picking from a Puple-colored customization will not increase the cost of your appearance change process.

Should you change your character’s appearance

You have plenty of time during your initial Character Creation Process in SWTOR. I personally have only once used the Appearance Designer. In ten years of playing the game.

The character creation system is very flexible and detailed. You can do anything and everything there. There’s no need to pay additional Cartel Coins (real-life money) later if you rush and skip this in the beginning.

Don’t do a “Random” character creation of customization either. It is too expensive to leave it to chance. Of course, you can always inspect the results from the random generated appearance, but you give your own money and you should only do that for something you truly want and enjoy.

If you have so many characters and Cartel Coins that you don’t know what to do, but just want to play around with the Customizer options, then you could do so. Nothing is stopping you.

How the Appearance Designer fits in the SWTOR Lore

Right next to the Appearance Designer kiosk in the Cartel Bazaar you can click on a lore object that will unlock for you the “Appearance Designer” lore entry.

Its text reads:

The top of the line in personal appearance alterations, AestheTech’s newly-unveiled “Appearance” Designer” kiosks have skyrocketed to the top of the beauty and grooming industries. From simple haircuts and makeup aplications to full-body modifications, AestheTech Incorporated promises that their proprietary technologies can achieve any customer’s ideal self-image quickly and painlessly.

Although the exact technical specifications of the kiosks are kept strictly confidential, the body alteration processes involved have been approved by all major galactic medical and safety organizations. The kiosks’ flawless results have made them particularly popular in the galaxy’s wealthiest circles, leading to a trend among these upper-class clients to sport entirely unique and exotic appearances at every social function they attend.

This SWTOR Appearance Designer Guide is an expansion to a small segment that talks about this tool in the Ultimate SWTOR Beginners Guide.

If you have any further questions or want to share your experience using this tool, please leave a comment below.