Ravingdork's Gilgeam Grayhem


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


I was looking around pathfinder forums because I building a wizard. I came across what someone said to be the strongest wizard. It was Ravingdork's Gilgeam Grayhem. I was wondering what makes this character so good? I understand that his spells are cool. Also why is he a divination school wizard that casts pretty much only transmutation spells. I'm new to casters so I could just be totally missing it but idk.

Here's the link to Ravingdork's characters it is in alphabetical order
https://onedrive.live.com/?id=BE45A5E31B322825!194&cid=BE45A5E31B322825


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So, taking a quick stab here, though I will say there were a few things I didn't recognize immediately.

Divination school selection is typically for the amazing passive on it. Getting 1/2 your level towards initiative and never being surprised is very powerful. Having divination spells at every level isn't really a bad thing, either.

Transmutation spells typically have some of the bigger impacts on the field. They're less likely to be subject to resistances or immunities than other offensive spells - i.e. there's no reduction other than the save for Disintegrate.

I would not definitively say "this is the strongest wizard," but it looks effective. One caveat that I'd throw out there is that the stats on that character largely depend on the ability to craft everything with Craft Wonderous Item. As you get to higher levels, I've found that the costs associated (specifically time) grow beyond one's ability to craft at times. Additionally, a lot of GMs are hesitant to allow crafting due to the economy warping that happens because of it. In the case of this character, there are 2 items each worth 90k retail (belt and headband) that would take up 75% of WBL, plus a 110k retail eye slot and a 50k retail neck. That's 340k that's reduced to 170k via Craft Wonderous. WBL for level 15 is 240k. That said, it is generically legal and quite powerful.


Serisan wrote:

So, taking a quick stab here, though I will say there were a few things I didn't recognize immediately.

Divination school selection is typically for the amazing passive on it. Getting 1/2 your level towards initiative and never being surprised is very powerful. Having divination spells at every level isn't really a bad thing, either.

Transmutation spells typically have some of the bigger impacts on the field. They're less likely to be subject to resistances or immunities than other offensive spells - i.e. there's no reduction other than the save for Disintegrate.

I would not definitively say "this is the strongest wizard," but it looks effective. One caveat that I'd throw out there is that the stats on that character largely depend on the ability to craft everything with Craft Wonderous Item. As you get to higher levels, I've found that the costs associated (specifically time) grow beyond one's ability to craft at times. Additionally, a lot of GMs are hesitant to allow crafting due to the economy warping that happens because of it. In the case of this character, there are 2 items each worth 90k retail (belt and headband) that would take up 75% of WBL, plus a 110k retail eye slot and a 50k retail neck. That's 340k that's reduced to 170k via Craft Wonderous. WBL for level 15 is 240k. That said, it is generically legal and quite powerful.

why would he have an enchantment spell if that is one of his opposition schools. couldn't he just pick a different opposition school that he doesn't use?


The thing about opposition schools is picking the least painful of them. You'll note there's also an illusion spell prepped. Tell me, though: what schools are prepared fewer times than enchantment and illusion?

Abjuration - Shield x3 (one is quickened), Mage Armor, Prot Energy
Conjuration - Teleport x2, Dim Door, Acid Arrow x2
Divination - Not a valid choice as it's the specialist school
Enchantment - Dominate Person
Evocation - Eighty billion slots
Illusion - Greater Invis
Necromancy - Ray of Enfeeblement, Blindness/Deafness, Finger of Death
Transmutation - another eighty billion slots

The answer: there are none. The thing is, though, that both of those opposition spells are incredibly powerful tools and he deemed them useful enough to prepare using 2 slots because of it.


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Mchawi wrote:

I was looking around pathfinder forums because I building a wizard. I came across what someone said to be the strongest wizard. It was Ravingdork's Gilgeam Grayhem. I was wondering what makes this character so good? I understand that his spells are cool. Also why is he a divination school wizard that casts pretty much only transmutation spells. I'm new to casters so I could just be totally missing it but idk.

Here's the link to Ravingdork's characters it is in alphabetical order:
Ravingdork's Crazy Character Emporium (and related forum thread)

In truth, Gilgeam Grayhem was originally created by a close friend of mine for a v3.5 Forgotten Realms campaign. In its original incarnation, he utilized the Mage Killer prestige class from Magic of Faerun to get both amazing saves, and amazing save DCs.

The current incarnation of Gilgeam Greyhem, being an early-days Pathfinder conversion from its former self, could be considered my creation I suppose, since I did do the conversion myself. Nevertheless, the original concept is not mine.

Gem magic was an actual rules mechanic back in those days; here, it is relegated to a reflavoring of the scribe scroll feat.

In all of his incarnations, Gilgeam has always been spec'd to be the guy who goes first in a fight, then ends the fight quickly with a potent save or die spell--favoring his own variant of flesh to stone, Gilgeam's glass strike, which turned his victims to glass rather than stone (and then following up with a quickened shatter spell at times to create what was effectively a field of caltrops).

He is hardly the strongest wizard of today, but when he was originally created all those years ago, he was certainly the most powerful wizard any of us had seen in our party up to that point. Even today, he espouses much of the same build principles recommended in powerful wizard builds everywhere.

I'll be happy to answer any questions you, or others, might have on the character.


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It was Gilgeam's Glass Strike that really threw me off. Thanks for explaining what the heck that is. :-)


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Serisan wrote:
It was Gilgeam's Glass Strike that really threw me off. Thanks for explaining what the heck that is. :-)

What it is and does is (and always has been) written right on the character sheet, in the spellbook section.


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I was not looking very closely at the spellbook itself. I paid more attention to the spells prepped.


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Ravingdork wrote:
I'll be happy to answer any questions you, or others, might have on the character.

Under defensive abilities, I says scrying adept. May I ask how that would be a defensive abilities. How would this be a defensive ability? Can Gilgeam use scrying in combat, if so is it effective?


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Mchawi wrote:
Ravingdork wrote:
I'll be happy to answer any questions you, or others, might have on the character.

Under defensive abilities, I says scrying adept. May I ask how that would be a defensive abilities. How would this be a defensive ability? Can Gilgeam use scrying in combat, if so is it effective?

Not too sure now that you mention it. Usually when I am unsure of where something should go on a stat block, I look to official statblocks and (with few exceptions) try and mimic how they do things, so it's possible I put it there because that's where I saw it placed on a published diviner somewhere. (I don't really recall.)

EDIT: Seeing that it is listed under both Defensive Abilities AND Special Qualities leads me to believe that this was simply a formatting mistake. (I try to avoid redundancy in my character sheets whenever possible.)

I've since removed it from Defensive Abilities.


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Hey Ravingdork, gem magic is a thing in PF too if you take the gem discovery seen here:
Yuelral's Blessing (Champions of Purity pg. 27 ): You cast any spells that appear on both the wizard and druid spell lists at +1 caster level and with +1 to the save DC. In addition, you may replace the material component of any arcane spell with gems of the same value. You must be at least a 5th-level wizard to select this discovery.


Thank You to everyone for replying and helping me! :)


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Snakers wrote:

Hey Ravingdork, gem magic is a thing in PF too if you take the gem discovery seen here:

Yuelral's Blessing (Champions of Purity pg. 27 ): You cast any spells that appear on both the wizard and druid spell lists at +1 caster level and with +1 to the save DC. In addition, you may replace the material component of any arcane spell with gems of the same value. You must be at least a 5th-level wizard to select this discovery.

Mechanically, it doesn't really fit the character. It also appears to apply very few (if any) of his prepared spells.


That's fair enough. I just always like the flavor of being a wizard whose component pouch is entirely gems. Also, being able to substitute any gem for the ubiquitous diamonds can be useful, too. As well as not starting to draw suspicion quite like a mass order of onyx does...


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Good point!

Silver Crusade

Snakers wrote:
As well as not starting to draw suspicion quite like a mass order of onyx does...

Which is why at high levels you don't order it, you mine it in massive quantities yourself (probably from the Elemental Plane of Earth) using your undead slaves.

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