Greetings
I've been looking upon things in regards to souls, solar angels and the like and from what I've read half-celestial can either be created by the union of a Solar and a human (Just human im not sure) or through powerful holy magic. It says it can either be inherited or acquired by any living creature.
This got me wondering on how a mortal could go about aquiring half-celestial status, if he didn't inherit it? Could he aquire it through some great deed or service to his god, or is their another way in which one goes on aquiring it?
cheers.
I recall there being mentions of rituals and methods of gaining a Half-Fiend template (somewhere in an articles and/or texts related to the Worldwound), so I think logically there should be similar ways for someone to gain an infusion of celestial power on themselves and thus turn into half-celestials. Maybe a blessing from the gods?
I think it would also be a good way to get the Empyreal Lords involved in a campaign. They just seem so easily overlooked, like most of the strong good-aligned outsiders...
Another question I have. Does a half-celestial born have to have a angel as his father or could he gain the status from blood passed down between generations. I.e say his grandfather was a solar could he become one, even if his father never became one, despite having celestial blood?
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I dunno. On the one hand, I figure that the Empyreal Lords might imbue a mortal champion with the half-celestial template as a reward for a great deed performed in their service, but it would need to involve a truly epic achievement - such as slaying a minor demon lord or the destruction of an evil artifact.
On the other hand, this is the sort of thing that should be reserved as the Crowning Moment of Awesome for an entire campaign, rather than something that happens during the course of play. The miraculous transformation of the character should be clearly shown to be an extraordinary event - it's not the kind of reward that the higher powers hand out to their mortal servants on a routine basis. Speaking personally, I would expect any character who ascends to half-celestial status to be retired from play shortly afterwards to continue their journey towards full transcendence.
However, if you allow want to allow a character in your campaign to become acquire the half-celestial template during play, I strongly recommend picking up the old Anger of Angels sourcebook from Malhavoc Press. This book was written by some random guy named Sean K. Reynolds long before Pathfinder came around. There is a section on Becoming Angelic on pp.48 - 50 that might give you some ideas. This section is open game content and could easily be adapted for the Pathfinder RPG. Some of the organizations and factions in this book might also be a useful addition to any campaign in which the celestial powers are pulling the strings from behind the scebnes. I believe that this book is still available in PDF format - although sadly not here at Paizo.
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Celestial doesn't have to be "from Angel" -- just "from Upper Planes."
A Celestial Lion is a lion born in the Upper Planes, maybe in the LG Plane or maybe in the CG Plane (of course, the NG Plane isn't cool enough, so...)
"Celestial" is akin to "Fiendish" in that it can be from any of the Upper (or Lower) Planes. Fiendish can be Infernal or Abyssal (see, NE sucks, too).
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And yeah, the Celestial Template is inherited, not aquired. At least, to my knowledge; if there is a ritual, I've not seen it. Even if there is, it's gonna be so DM-dependent that you're DM is gonna have to do it pretty much how he wants it done.
Just to let you know, there's a 7th level 3.5 spell that actually instantaneously (as in basically forever/permanent but not able to be dispelled or undone) granted the half-fiend template (and changed the recipients moral alignment to evil) - I think it was called "Nar Fiendbond" or something similar -, and was found in the book Lost Empires of Faerun. It cost XP from both the recipient and the caster, so that'd have to be converted into really expensive material components, but that's probably a decent basis if you want something like that.
Aside from that, in the Complete Psioinic there were powers that temporarily granted the celestial/fiendish and later half-celestial/fiend templates.
As far as I know, aside from using some chicanery with Polymorph Any Object* (which should work, but GMs may disagree) or GM-prescribed wishes/miracles, those are the only codified ways in D&D-related systems that allow the acquisition of stuff like that.
* Polymorph Any Object has tremendous potential, but also some serious problems. The biggest is that it requires a large number of uses in order to get close to what you want, but it takes some serious doing. For example, if you were, say, a Halfling, you'd have to go from Halfling, to a human, to an aasimar, to a half-celestial aasimar, to a half-celestial human, and back to a half-celestial Halfling. The reason each of those changes would be necessary is to be as close to being certain to get that duration factor of 9+, otherwise it won't be permanent. And yet, still, one Dispel Magic later... and you're a Halfling. Further, that duration factor is incredibly prone to GM interpretation and debate. Still, it's the "cheapest" and easiest way without conversion from 3.X, I'd say.
Try the Celestial Disciple (either the 3.5 version or my own conversion)
Half-celestial is an inherited or acquired template that can be added to any living, corporeal creature with an Intelligence score of 4 or more.
That is straight from the Bestiary. HERE is the PRD link.
I had an inquisitor that ran into a summoning circle at the wrong moment, and wound up infused with the essence of a cornugon demon. Just goes to show that breaking up a cabal of evil wizards isn't always a good idea.
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I had an inquisitor that ran into a summoning circle at the wrong moment, and wound up infused with the essence of a cornugon demon. Just goes to show that breaking up a cabal of evil wizards isn't always a good idea.
Oh...an involutary acquisition of the half-fiend template! Nasty...
Mind you, I imagine that receiving the half-celestial template comes with some disadvantages too. You acquire a heap of nasty enemies and the higher powers start contacting you regularly to do their dirty work.