How much of the main avatar can you cover up with a single CW? wondering if i can make what I want as just one piece or if i'm going to need to break it up into pieces

It depends on what the item is, and if it can be reasonably split into pieces.

Ex: A business suit needs to be multiple pieces. A dress can be one piece.

If you don't mind sharing the idea publicly (even without pictures would be fine) someone might be able to help you a little more?

(And of course, keep in mind that users cannot give you a definitive answer on what the queue will and will not allow if the case is super unique, so it may just be something you might need to submit and 'try' to get more info from staff on. Your payment is refunded if it's denied, so you can fix stuff and try again.)

sorry for the late response; thought about getting tribute items for my boy the crystal exarch and just wondering what needs to be separate and what can be counted as part of the robe. The staff is an obvious separate piece

I have seen full robe pieces, but I think it has to do with how it's drawn. If the piece is drawn in a way that makes it LOOK like it can be split into pieces, it might be asked to be split.

((I'm guessing you'd probably need to do robe / necklace / hood / shoes / arm jewelry (or markings, idk what that is) at the very least, but I am not 100% sure, as I tend to split things more myself to make them more versatile / usable for others lol which is probably not YOUR goal here lmao.))