That was before the move to a forum that was kind enough to give me my own place (it's now gone, courtesy of the Min-Max curse). Here's the most recent version:
"Here is how to qualify as a 'devil': use the SS ritual of association for the evil and lawful subtype via SS148. Now you have all the subtypes that defines a fiend and you count as a devil if you are an outsider native to Hell. That last part is covered by being an outsider native to the 9 Hells. How to be "native" to there? Very tough because their is only one way in all of D&D I am aware of to do this mechanically without a sketchy back story or well messing up our racial choice. Thankfully it is easy and fits nicely in the build. Just take a feat to shape the Planar Chasuble soulmend [MoI83]. It even specifies the correct plane!"
"Devils are fiends from lawful evil-aligned planes." "Evil outsiders are also called fiends."
1) Be an [evil] outsider
2a) Be 'from', ie. native to a lawful evil plane. But which ones? Clearly the 9 hells counts. Others are not specifically kosher.
2b) This gives you the [extraplanar] subtype. Grabbing the [lawful] subtype also seems to been assumed, unless you can find a specifically named devil without one. Technically this might not be necessary, but we are going for "undeniably a devil" here!
The "devils are fiends from lawful evil-aligned planes" can actually be interpreted either as a definition or a description. It's either:
1) All fiends from lawful evil-aligned planes are devils.
2) The beings called devils are from lawful evil-aligned planes and are also fiends.
You seem to be going with the first one. If you look at the actual MM writup though, you'll see that their phrasing actually goes with the second one.
I couldn't seem to find a hard definition of "fiend". The closest thing I could find was the Knight of the Chalice's Fiendslaying ability working against evil Outsiders. Could you tell me where you got your definition of fiend from?
Also, there is actually another way to become native to the Nine Hells. Take the Hellsworn feat from
Exemplars of Evil. It has crappy prereqs though so not good choice.
Such a long discussion >.<
Race is loosely defined, the terminology is primarily used in PHB races however each and every single Monster is of it's own Race. IE Kobold is a separate Race from Aassmirs just as Star Elf is separate from Wood Elf. Except the latter are actually Sub-races of Elf so either can qualify for Elf based requirements, but only would could quality for "Star Elf" requirements.
There are roughly three general things printed that allow you to alter your race to qualify for another. The First is UMD which only applies on items, the second is Racial Emulation which is limited to Humanoid only, and Savage Species's Ritual of Association which works so long as the race has a Subtype.
Which Devils do. Baatezu is listed as a Subtype and this can be obtained, you are then treated in every single way a member of the Baatezu Race. And Baatezu is a Sub-Species of Devil, so like a Half-Orc saying he is a Orc, a Humanoid (Baatezu) can say he is a Devil.
Okay...I can't actually find where having a particular subtype actually qualifies you for race-specific things. I'm looking in my MM right now and can't find it. There is a variant rule in RoD that says that half-humans and humanlike races can be changed to be humanoids with the [Human] subtype. It is unclear however if you need to be both humanoid and have the subtype or only the subtype.
I also question why the "orc blood" racial feature was given to half-orcs? Don't they have the [Orc] subtype already? Also note that there are feats in RoD that specifically require the "orc blood" ability
or the [Orc] subtype. Why not just require the person to be an Orc?
I'm also wondering if the Baatezu are actually a sub-species of Devil? What if it's just a social classification? And there's no [Drow] subtype or [star elf] subtype. If they're subraces then why make a subtype specifically for them?
Are [reptilian] creatures the same sub-species? What about [air] subtyped creatures?
Also. to be a sub-race don't they have to split off from an actuall race? I don't see anything indicating that "devils" as a whole are one race.
AARRRRGG!