Playing a huge creature

[H_H_F_F]

What are the cheapest (ECL-wise) ways to play a natively huge or larger creature in 3.5? By natively I mean to say that their size is permanent, and cannot be dispelled or otherwise lost.

[Elves]

Variant half fiend (huge parent) half-minotaur half-ogre [race] is 5 LA. If race is anthrowhale it's 3 rhd 4 la. Pretty steep either way.

For the 5 LA version I recommend playing a planetouched, dwarf or elf, taking Magic in the Blood, choosing glabrezu as your parent and substituting its wish sla for SMIX or implosion -- free 3/day wish at high levels. If your DM doesn't allow that substitution because glabrezu's wish is 1/month not 1/day, could instead choose Dagon (FC1) as your parent for 3 free gates per day.

[Doctor Despair]

Variant half fiend (huge parent) half-minotaur half-ogre [race] is 5 LA. If race is anthrowhale it's 3 rhd 4 la. Pretty steep either way.

For the 5 LA version I recommend playing a planetouched, dwarf or elf, taking Magic in the Blood, choosing glabrezu as your parent and substituting its wish sla for SMIX or implosion -- free 3/day wish at high levels. If your DM doesn't allow that substitution because glabrezu's wish is 1/month not 1/day, could instead choose Dagon (FC1) as your parent for 3 free gates per day.

Half-Minotaur (template) is 1LA and makes you large (Dragon)
Half-Ogre (template) is 1LA and makes you large (Dragon)
Half-Ogre (race) is 2LA and makes you large (RoD)
Variant half-fiend (template) is 4LA (web)

[ShurikVch]

Being Large is pretty easy - there are fair share of races and templates with 1-3 HD and LA +0 - +3

Drider (https://web.archive.org/web/20030211001306/http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/mm/mm20011118a) can bump size to Huge, but it's 3.0 template (no LA)

If Kingdoms of Kalamar is acceptable, then Elephantine Creature template can bump size +1 (up to Huge), but your arms become useless (can't wield any weapon); -2 Dex, -10 Int (min. 2), -3 Cha, and LA either +0 or +2 (nothing listed in the template itself, but example Elephantine Human is +2)

[Elves]

Half-Minotaur (template) is 1LA and makes you large (Dragon)
Half-Ogre (template) is 1LA and makes you large (Dragon)
half ogre and half minotaur templates are 0 LA if you're already large so you can stack both for 1 LA (or put both on a large base race for no cost), then become huge via half-fiend.

Homebrew territory: BOED says half celestial is only +2 LA for characters without RHD. It wrongly assumes these templates only grant SLAs based on RHD. While that's wrong, it's a clear statement that a custom no-SLA version of half-celestial/half-fiend would be +2 LA.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

How about one of the +1 LA templates listed in this thread tossed on a half-giant? You're technically only Large size, but you generally count as Huge when it's beneficial to you (minus additional reach, though that can be gotten in other ways). +2 LA.

Take some levels in psychic warrior, and you can make yourself Huge while counting as Gargantuan for many things via expansion. That part is temporary and dispellable, though.

[Anthrowhale]

If level buyoff is in play, then you can have a LA+0 huge creature at level 15.

Step 1: add the Half-Minotaur or Half-Ogre template to a medium size race.
Step 2: pay it off at level 3.
Step 3: add a level of the savage progression half-fiend (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20031010a) for a huge fiend variant (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060630a).
Step 4: pay it off at level 6.
Step 5,7,9: repeat step 3.
Step 6,8,10: pay it off at level 9, 12, 15.

The exact adjudication of which half-fiend powers are gained at which level is subject to DM adjudication, but all of them are gained by level 15.

[ShurikVch]

Both Thrall of Kostchtchie (Dragon #345) and Waker of the Beast (Dragon #296) PrC grant +1 size (at 10th and 5th level respectively)
You can become Huge even starting as Medium-sized creature; starting as Large - you need only one of them (presuming you're OK to be Evil)

[Doctor Despair]

For completeness: lycanthropy also allows you to enter a hybrid form that can, with the right strain, increase your size category

[PoeticallyPsyco]

You can count as Huge for opposed rolls as early as ECL 2, but it requires 1 Flaw.

Half-Giant has Powerful Build and LA +1. Human Heritage feat makes them count as Human, natch. Jotunbrud is a Human-only feat that makes them count as Large for opposed rolls.

Sadly, Jotunbrud is specifically count as "Large", so it won't stack with anything that actually makes you Large or bigger, but still pretty impressive for 1 LA, your choice of base class, and no Dragon Magazine.

I don't know if Dragon Magazine has Half-Giant as a template (or any other 1 LA template that gives Powerful Build), but if so you could pull this off without flaws by just being a Human (or a Half-Elf and making your first level Half-Elf Paragon 1 for a bonus feat).

Also, Human Heritage is useful for the Half-Fiend options discussed up the thread (and probably several others as well), because it means you still qualify for enlarge person.

[Flame of Anor]

Both Thrall of Kostchtchie (Dragon #345) and Waker of the Beast (Dragon #296) PrC grant +1 size (at 10th and 5th level respectively)
You can become Huge even starting as Medium-sized creature; starting as Large - you need only one of them (presuming you're OK to be Evil)

Also presuming you're OK to lose 6 points of INT as a Waker of the Beast.