I couldn't miss the chance to practice my drawing!
Costume (コスチューム, kosuchūmu?) is a status effect in Final Fantasy XI. Costumes will change the appearance of the character, and in their most basic form, they are a festive status effect granted by certain items. There are many different such items by now, both reusable and single-use. For such festively-intended costumes, the items can only be used in cities, and the effect fades when the traveler leaves the zone. While under Costume status, the character can only walk about, not use any abilities, items, or interact with NPCs or field objects. Many costumes lack the animations to fight (although given the use restrictions above, this is not a problem) and a few even lack the animations to walk (locking the character in place for the duration). These costumes can be canceled at will by clicking the status icon.
Certain enemy abilities, however, add a certain monster costume to the affected character while also charming them. In this form, characters can and will fight on behalf of the monster that charmed them, but can only use basic attacks and due to the charm status, have absolutely no control over their actions. (The status cannot be canceled at will either.)
| Enemy Ability Name | Monster Family | Costume |
|---|---|---|
| Enthrall | Caturae (queen caturae subfamily only; Rani, etc.) | Caturae (pawn caturae; Sippoy, etc.) |
| False Promises | Caturae (certain NMs only) | Caturae |
| Frog Chorus | Poroggo (NMs only) | Toad |
| Frog Song | Poroggo | Toad |
| Mayhem Lantern | Orobon (Ogrebon subfamily only; Cirein-Croin, etc. | Crab |
| Nocturnal Servitude | Vampyr | Giant Bat |
| Seed of Deference | Seed Crystal | Mandragora |
| Tainting Breath | Morbol (Purbol subfamily only; Eccentric Eve, etc.) | Morbol |
False Promises is especially dangerous because the charmed players spread the status with their attacks.
There is also a unique ability used by a single Goobbue NM, Joyous Green, named Upgrowth, which inflicts Mandragora costume but doesn't charm the player. They may continue to fight, but still cannot use items and abilities, as mandragoras can do neither of these things, so in this form the status is purely negative.
There is also a related status called Illusion (イリュージョン, iryūjon?). This is obtainable in Mamook by clicking on the jars of Viscous Liquid. It turns a player into a Mamool Ja but also inflicts a damage over time effect (22 HP/tick) upon the player and slows movement slightly. While in this form, most enemies will not aggro the player, although NMs can see through the illusion and will attack as normal.