I'm not sure what is the plan for the character creator, whether you will be able to choose a bodytype (fat, muscular, slim). But I have VERY quick and easy way to add depth to the character creator. You could add muscularity slider or folds slider for the fat V, that would be ranged from 0 to 10 for example, and it could be used on each and every character in the game by just setting the number for that character... It would be so much fun! Adding normal maps is really quick and easy, I did it in skyrim myself and it took me a day or two... So to a team of graphic designers it should be really fast. And whats more important normal maps wouldn't require you to adjust the clothig meshes...