Q's about templates

[Sharkon]

Can anyone tell me what a character needs to do,in order to get a template ? For example, what progress or actions one has to do in order to become a half fiend ?

 

[Theroc]

As far as I know, you'd need to be really, really evil and make friends with Evil Outsiders... but the specifics I believe are up to your DM... if you are the DM, then that'd be you.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

 

[Starbuck_II]

Can anyone tell me what a character needs to do,in order to get a template ? For example, what progress or actions one has to do in order to become a half fiend ?

Some templates are born: 1/2 Fiend, 1/2 Celestial, 1/2 Dragon, etc.
Some are acquired: Dragonborn, Elan (technically a template but takes everything away), Mineral Warrior, Loth-Touched, etc.

Now every template is possible after birth according to Savage Species but expensive. I forget page that it details cost.

 

[Theroc]

Savage Progressions: Half-Fiend and Wereboar Template Classes

This doesn't give any details, but in the intro it mentions that

it could be acquired special magical rituals as well.

as well as giving a level-by level sequence of progressing in the template without taking a +4 LA spike immediately, allowing you to spread it out.

 

[Runestar]

It is really up to you and your DM to justify how you came to acquire said template. For example, in the case of the half-fiend SS progression, you could say that one of your ancestors was a fiend, and his lineage is only beginning to manifest in you.

In game terms, this would mean that every few lvs, you would take 1 lv in the half-fiend template to represent your fiendish powers developing. How fast or slowly you want to acquire them is wholly up to you (from a player's perspective).

 

[Alzrius]

You might want to take a look at Genjitsu Gaming's Shaping the Self. It uses "template levels" and deals quite a bit with questions of how a character would gain them in the first place.

The preview, for example, discusses the effects of hellslinker venom, which can turn an ordinary person into a half-fiend.