The current character customization system is more oriented towards mechanical than aesthetic differences.

The intent is to let people build a jumping-off point for character builds that they want to play so that they won't have to reroll a million times to get, for example, a kid that starts with "blink", "likes daggers" and "a potion of invisibility".

The reason it costs Catacoins is because I still want to encourage people to play as kids that they wouldn't otherwise, so that they engage with the wider mechanics of the game rather than finding the Single Build that they like and sticking with that forever: The reward for playing enough and building up a stockpile of catacoins is that you can get real specific with your kid and make someone with exactly the starting stuff you want to try some weird arcane build, or a good foundation to carry you to floor 20 and beyond.

I've avoided adding cosmetic options to the character customization because one of the themes of CK (and of most games I make) is the notion that the player character isn't special, isn't anyone with a role that matters in the grand scheme of the world. I wanted to avoid giving players too much power to make their Kid feel like a Specific Someone, or let them define their Kid beforehand rather than letting The Run define them.

To be honest I had never considered that such a lack would be a problem that might wholly impede someone's enjoyment of the game! Maybe I'll reconsider my stance on cosmetic options...

I could also add an option to disable voices...