Off the cuff, I would say polymorph any object to acquire the physical body/form, then a series of either limited wishes or, more likely, miracle / wish to acquire the desired abilities.
Other than that, there is plenty of precedence to acquire such a form.
In 3.5 there was also a feat (or series of feats) printed in Dungeon (if memory serves) that would permit the creature/character to acquire abilities from foes slain (or defeated?) at the cost of XP. The specifics of those feats are also unavailable to me, although one hopes that another community member could point the way to them.
basically there shouldnt be, there is no devil that makes the transition from mortal to devil with his or her mind intact, you might have vague recollections, but none of your former abilities.. such a thing should be beyond the reach of a wish to pull off safely.
devils function in a strict hierachy and each and everyone is beholden to another devil, you will get more than you bargained for if you tamper with such wishes ;)
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According to RAW, no. That doesn't mean, however, that a DM couldn't do a really good job of designing something like this.
It seems to me that there would have to be a vehicle for this to happen -- Devils make deals (Faustian Pacts *in FCII) with mortals to get mortals in Hell.
There is no way that, in the course of centuries, LE mortals with tons of ranks in Knowledge: Planes haven't known some of how this works and believed they could cheat the system.
Consider an influential politician who decides to sign a Pact with a Horned Devil to transform his whole fiefdom, over the course of a few years, towards LE -- but since he's the one instigating the county-wide alignment change he gets promoted upon his own death to at least a Chain Devil or something.
The Horned Devil may agree so long as the new Chain Devil (and all the other LE souls {Lemures}) get transfered to His particular Regiment.
SPOILER Warnings Please!
A couple posts ago someone contributed a post discussing the BBEG of CotCT. Please put these under Spoiler Tags. I (quite brilliantly) stopped reading as soon as I saw CotCT so it didnt' ruin it for me but it was a close call.
Thanks.
yea this was actually discussed in the 3.5 book codex:
Legion's of Hell, the means by which mortals get transformed drains them of much of their personality and memory, at best tiny fragments remain.
Game Mechanically it would work best I suppose, over the ages quite a few powerful mortals die it might mean every decent pit fiend would be quite a powerful fighter, wizard or whatever as well.
Chain Devils would really be a bit different since they arent true part of the infernal hierachy.
anyway, it is how the DM wants it to be, in the basic settings it wouldnt happen in my opinion.
SPOILER Warnings Please!
I spoilered the post in question.
Keep in mind there is a flag for 'Post needs spoiler tag'.
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Yeah, I used Chain Devil as the example of Mortal Promotion because it's not in the "standard" progression for devils (according to FCII).
But presuming the DM is gonna design this for a specific Homebrew campaign, there is no reason to tie the PC to Chain Devil (or its like) just to fit the texted progession of Devil advancement.
If the DM, for example, is running a campaign with Humanoid PCs of a certain ECL and a PC Chain Devil or Malebranche or whatever isn't a good fit then making a PC Barbed Devil is fine.
Maybe the Mortal, in signing the Faustian Pact to advance directly to a Barbed Devil, has his Soul Shell bypass the River Styx (which anihilates the memories, ego & id). The FCII also states that uber high ranking devils (perhaps the Horned Devil's Superior, the Pit Fiend Provost for Mammon) can transform devils up or down the "ranks" at will -- even by skipping a few "Forms."
As it suggests in WotC's Tyrants of the Nine Hells, mortals don't know (or don't believe) that they are likely to be become lemures or occasionally nupperibos for most of eternity. After all, it is the fate of people to assume that they are special, particularly arrogant LE types.
I'd definately be inclined to let said pc burn for his arrogance :)
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As it suggests . . . .
Well, for the majority, sure.
But a Knowledge: Planes, DC 20 (or thereabouts) check will get you the info you need. Even if was DC 25 -- that's not much for alot of PCs and NPCs throughout the Ages.
And as we ALL know, since LE types are far smarter than CE types, they're more likely to have higher bonuses in the skill.
What about priests of Asmodeos? You'd think they'd get something for their years of service.
Wasn't there something in Tyrants of the Nine Hells about being able to go past lemure in exchange for major services? Just like the bestiary mentions powerful good souls get to be their own angels instead of being composited with other good souls?
yes, there is, in tyrants of the nine hells it is said exceptionally evil persons in rare cases get a promotion to a higher form than lemure. though it also says that very few persons are aware that the ir identities are painfully extracted and obliterated in the process, ofcourse people have to die to become a devil as well...
'Arrogantly certain of their ability to scale the diabolical hierachy, they reckon that they will quickly zoom to pitfiend status, retaining their earthly personalities and memories in the process. Neither evil kings not fanatical cult leaders ever look at a lemure and imagine it to be their most likely eternal form'
Considering the mindset of devils, they do not have much respect for mortal souls they know even the mightiest of LE mortals will be a squirming lemure before long. Mortals are inferior though useful tools to be used at their whim.
Asmodeus even betrays his own Archdevil servants most loyal to him when it suits him in the grand scheme, devils as a whole are not at all concerned with individual desires and freedom as befits their lawful evil nature, though it is a useful tool to lead mortals to damnation a lawful evil soul is already there.
I guess the best way is to get a contract - and make sure it's airtight.
I guess you'll have to offer something to get the assurance that you'll get preferred treatment. Like "corrupt 3 saints, slay a major celestial, murder a champion of goodness (pick 4)".
(pick 4)"LOL
I see you're not so easily deceived.
May I remind you that such easy pitfalls might be there for no other reason than make you overlook much more... devilish more ones in the near vicinity.
I seem to recall a prestige class or two that accomplishes this.
'twould be easy enough to imagine that a devil conversion on earth would simply carry over after death. I agree that there would be a pretty complete reprogramming upon becoming a devil.
Devils and Angels are pretty much held to be near perfect feudal organizations. The total number of rebellions against the system seems very very small.
Sigurd
I would be worried except that your name rhymes with "chaos" -- which we all know is D&D lingo for dumb...
You know,
Lawful Evil
Neutral Evil
Dumb Evil;)
Damn, your spelling is bad, you spell "order" as "chaos".
Chaos encourages thinking. Order encouraging doing things like you have always done them to avoid thinking.
The Void will consume all, eventually.
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Chaos encourages thinking. Order encouraging doing things like you have always done them to avoid thinking.
Wow!
This one hits below the belt, man.
As a vehement Liberal who is also the epitome of "Lawful" as D&D sees it, that statement of yours really slaps me in the face and makes me think.
Kudos.
But . . .
Chaos is haphazard, thoughtless motion -- action withought thought.
So, Chaos encourages Lawful poeple to think more because they have to right all the crap Chaotic people cause.
(Bush = Chaos; Obama = Lawful)
(Conservatives = Chaos; Liberals = Lawful)
(Chaos < Lawful)
As a vehement Liberal who is also the epitome of "Lawful" as D&D sees it
I.e. a traitor ;-P
But . . .
Chaos is haphazard, thoughtless motion -- action withought thought.
Not really. It might seem that way, because to a mind as frozen as a lawful creature's, a mind that cannot even imagine doing things any other way than the Doctrine demands, it doesn't make any sense.
But it's just a faulty perception. Those who throw of the shackles of laws, traditions and other imperatives learn to think for themselves, make their own decisions and choices.
So, Chaos encourages Lawful poeple to think more because they have to right all the crap Chaotic people cause.
That's what you think. But you order-lovers really just try to kill Potential by imposing your order on everything. Only if all this is broken down again, returned to the Maelstrom, can creativity continue empower everyone again.
(Bush = Chaos; Obama = Lawful)
Keep politics out of this.
(Conservatives = Chaos; Liberals = Lawful)
Politics again? Because you got those backwards. Conservatives want to conserve their trappings of Order, while liberates want to liberate people of them.
(Chaos < Lawful)
I won't even comment on that.
The Yallops brothers went straight from mortals to devils.
Very minor CotCT spoiler:
More sorry about spelling "people" wrong.
I thought you were hinting at pöbel, i.e. the rabble.
The Yallops brothers went straight from mortals to devils.
Very minor CotCT spoiler:
** spoiler omitted **
Well, Hell knows how to advertise.