Lowest level wizard to defeat Iron golems.

[Emperor Demonking]

What's the lowest level core wizard to defeat an Iron golem?

[Curmudgeon]

You only need level 1 to use a wand of Grease repeatedly, and a heavy crossbow with adamantine bolts.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I beg to differ, an Iron Golem can do some pretty nasty stuff, like that cloud of poison gas, that is more than merely melee.

By 11th, they're trivial, as that's when you get Disintegrate

[tyckspoon]

5th level- Flight makes the Golem a non-threat in any space that is large enough to get over it. It can be destroyed with any SR: No spell; Acid Arrow, preferably in wand form, is probably the best Core choice.

[Indon]

A level 1 character couldn't afford anything adamantine.

Edit: And the Golem's speed practically makes it a non-threat at level 1, especially if you have a base speed over 30.

[Thanatos 51-50]

A level 1 character couldn't afford anything adamantine.

Edit: And the Golem's speed practically makes it a non-threat at level 1, especially if you have a base speed over 30.

Who said the Wizard would be buying it? Thats what buffing the party rogue is for.

[Tengu]

Who said the Wizard would be buying it? Thats what buffing the party rogue is for.

What level 1 buffs can improve the rogue's stealing ability?

[Collin152]

What level 1 buffs can improve the rogue's stealing ability?

Silent Image. Just distract the shopkeep. Also, Ghost sound, level 0.

[Indon]

5th level- Flight makes the Golem a non-threat in any space that is large enough to get over it. It can be destroyed with any SR: No spell; Acid Arrow, preferably in wand form, is probably the best Core choice.

In fact, based on this, Level 3.

Sorceror 1/Barbarian 1/Anything else 1. Level 3's needed to afford a Wand of Acid Arrow without blowing too much of your WBL. Take Dash as one of your feats and be a medium size race. Your base speed is now 45, faster than the Golem can double-move, and your double-move is faster than the Golem can run. Stay out of the way and blast him occasionally without getting too tired.

[TempusCCK]

Eh, you're all making the assumption that you're in an environment that allows for alot of running and avoiding, not every encounter takes place in a 60 x 60 square room.

[kamikasei]

Sorceror 1/Barbarian 1/Anything else 1.

Strictly speaking, it's lowest-level wizard. So what you have there might be allowed, but only if it's sorcerer/barbarian/wizard.

[Tengu]

Silent Image. Just distract the shopkeep. Also, Ghost sound, level 0.

I think that a shopkeeper who sells adamatine weapons would be able to afford good security.

And on topic, I think tyckspoon got it right - without flight it might be too risky, even if you are faster than the golem.

[Emperor Tippy]

I beg to differ, an Iron Golem can do some pretty nasty stuff, like that cloud of poison gas, that is more than merely melee.

By 11th, they're trivial, as that's when you get Disintegrate

Disintegrate doesn't work on Iron golems. It's SR: Yes so their magic immunity kicks in.

------
In the right circumstances a level 1 wizard can off an Iron Golem. But generally I would say post 5th level (when the wizard gets fly).

[CASTLEMIKE]

Make a successful knowledge check or hire a sage to learn the following regarding Iron golems in game in some kind of game context:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/golem.htm#ironGolem

CR13 encounter, AC 30, 18D10 (Edit Average 129 HP), DR15/Adamantine, MV 20, EX- Immunity to Magic (In general most spells that allow Spell Resistance with a few specific variants like electric or fire attacks), Construct Traits, Posionous Gas cloud DC 19 con, Int-0, Wis - 11

A Air Gensai PC would be nice for the poisonous gas immunity if for some reason it gets close to the PC.

Grease spell from a Wand would normally be L1 for a 10' square lasting 1 round, Reflex Save is +5 so would want to encounter it in a confined tunnel and still 1 out 4 times it will be unaffected by the Grease spell.

Any Electrical attacks slow it including the Electric Jolt cantrip (Non core) could slow it with no save.

Limited to Core a Wand of Lightning Bolts probably the best method in a non confined space since each attack will automatically Slow it and deal an average of 17 hit points on a failed save and 8 hit points of damage on a successful save since it has an average of (Edit 129) hit points plan for the worst and 10 attacks so a a one quarter or greater charged wand.

A fully charged Wand of Lightning Bolts (5D6) is 11,250 gp market so a 1/4 charge wand is just under 3,000 gp and a half charged is 5,625 gp so using suggested wealth by level guidelines of no magical item of more than a quarter of suggested wealth either a L6 or L7 wizard page 135 DMG.

Of course a quarter charged wand would would only be 2,8125 gp and a Flying L5 wizard could probably just do it using suggested wealth by level guidelines.

Getting away from core probaly a few good electrical L2 spells that would work with a fully charged wand at 4,500 gp still works out to L7 at 19,000 gp suggested wealth by level.

In a really really long corridor a 2 or 3 Wands of Electric Jolt and a Wand of Grease could possibly do it with no mistakes or missteps by the PC since the wand would be averaging about 1 hit point each attack so would require over a 100 attacks. but theoretically possible.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Proably L5 flying wizard is the lowest level it can be done consistently in game by a standard 25 point buy or default array wizard with a quarter charged Wand of Lightning Bolts in core using suggested wealth by level by acquiring a partially charged Wand of Lightning Bolts.

[Indon]

Strictly speaking, it's lowest-level wizard. So what you have there might be allowed, but only if it's sorcerer/barbarian/wizard.

Oh, hey, go figure. Make that Wizard/Barbarian/Anything, then, because I'm blind.

[Mysticaloctopus]

When you have Disintegrate and think well on your feet, many things die horribly. An unimaginative DM who places the encounter in a 60x60x40 room with no environmental features won't likely allow this, but when I put my PCs up against an iron golem on a thin iron bridge (Steampunk dungeon... delicious steampunk...)
the party wizard just hit a part of the bridge with Disintegrate when the Golem was on it. He spent a few rounds studying the bridge first from where he was standing, and passed a hidden roll to find a point that wouldn't bring the bridge crashing down immediately. As such, the party then had to leg it across the bridge before it did fall, but it was a smart way of beating the Golem.

Bottom line - foes with so many immunities can often be splattered by some alternate means of winning. The golem may not have been destroyed, but it was certainly out of the way and no longer a threat.

[Sebastian]

A level 1 character couldn't afford anything adamantine.

Edit: And the Golem's speed practically makes it a non-threat at level 1, especially if you have a base speed over 30.

He don't needs adamantine all he needs are enough oil flasks prepared with a fuse (funny enough, golems don't have fire resistance).

Keep your distance, throw one lit flask (touch attack), then move away, full move away if the golem risk to get too close for confort, if you have the room to move is an easy victory. :)

Of course it don't need to be a wizard at all, actually the best way to beat a golem (and many other monsters) are a bunch of peasant armed with a lot of oil flasks. if you don't have fire resistance they are lethal. On an average 30 peasants with this method can do 15d6 fire damage/round for 2 rounds. Of course they are very vulnerable but they are also cheap, so they should widely employed in D&D armies. :D

[Curmudgeon]

I beg to differ, an Iron Golem can do some pretty nasty stuff, like that cloud of poison gas, that is more than merely melee.

Lesser Orb of Electricity (level 1) will damage and also slow the golem, making it easy to pick off from a distance. Remember, the golem's breath weapon only reaches 10' and lasts just the single round. If you slow the thing it can move or attack, not both in one round (except for the free action breath weapon with its 10' limit). If you stay at least 30' away (Close range at level 1, plus 5') and manage to hit it with an electrical orb at least every 3 rounds it's pretty much impotent. Add a bit of Grease and it'll do nothing but stand up from prone half the time due to a sucky Reflex save and a -1 Balance modifier.

You only need to hit its (ranged) touch AC of 8. A bit of feat selection (Weapon Focus: ranged touch spell) and a good DEX mean you'll hit it almost all the time.

One wand of Lesser Orb of Electricity costs 750 gp (less than the 900 gp of wealth a character is supposed to have when they reach level 2) and averages 4.5 points of electrical damage on each hit. A single wand and a DEX modifier of +3 (perfectly reasonable for an Elf, with Wizard as that race's favored class) gives you a very comfortable margin to finish off the 129 HP iron golem, allowing for misses on attack rolls of 1-3.

The answer is level 1.

[Collin152]

He don't needs adamantine all he needs are enough oil flasks prepared with a fuse (funny enough, golems don't have fire resistance).

Keep your distance, throw one lit flask (touch attack), then move away, full move away if the golem risk to get too close for confort, if you have the room to move is an easy victory. :)

Of course it don't need to be a wizard at all, actually the best way to beat a golem (and many other monsters) are a bunch of peasant armed with a lot of oil flasks. if you don't have fire resistance they are lethal. On an average 30 peasants with this method can do 15d6 fire damage/round for 2 rounds. Of course they are very vulnerable but they are also cheap, so they should widely employed in D&D armies. :D

I thought fire healed Iron Golems.

[Rachel Lorelei]

Abusing the golem's AI, using spell spolits, and shooting while running out of its range?

ZOMG! D&D IS TEH MMORPG!!111one

[Curmudgeon]

I thought fire healed Iron Golems.

A magical attack that deals fire damage breaks any slow effect on the golem and heals 1 point of damage for each 3 points of damage the attack would otherwise deal. If the amount of healing would cause the golem to exceed its full normal hit points, it gains any excess as temporary hit points. For example, an iron golem hit by a fireball gains back 6 hit points if the damage total is 18 points. An iron golem gets no saving throw against fire effects.

Burning oil won't heal an iron golem since it's not magical.

[Collin152]

Burning oil won't do anything to a golem. It doesn't get through the damage reduction, as I pointed out in my edit above. And since it's not magical, it doesn't heal, either.

Wow. If that isn't unusual.

[tyckspoon]

[
(error corrected)

..energy attacks bypass DR, d00d. All of them, even the nonmagical sources.

He don't needs adamantine all he needs are enough oil flasks prepared with a fuse (funny enough, golems don't have fire resistance).

Keep your distance, throw one lit flask (touch attack), then move away, full move away if the golem risk to get too close for confort, if you have the room to move is an easy victory. :)

Keep in mind that thrown weapons can only get out to five range increments; that's 50 feet away for the oil flasks, and you're taking a -10 to hit at that range. If the Golem ever gets within 10 feet of you, it can poison you. That means you have to be more than 90 feet away (80 foot Run action + 10 foot cube of poison) on the golem's turn in order to be safe, and within 50 feet on your turn in order to attack. That may be *possible*, but it's definitely not easy, and it takes a lot of space to maneuver.. if you're flying and have the space to hover 20 feet or so over the golem, however, it is cheaper to just dump a lot of burning oil on the Golem's head instead of burning off charges on a wand of Acid Arrow.

[Collin152]

..energy attacks bypass DR, d00d. All of them, even the nonmagical sources.

This is why I hate Damage Reduction, among other things.
Don't even get me started on this "Instant Healing" supernatural damage reduction!

[Curmudgeon]

..energy attacks bypass DR, d00d. All of them, even the nonmagical sources.

Well, color my face red. I misremembered that.

I guess I'll go back and UN-edit the post so it makes sense again.

[Collin152]

Well, color my face red. I misremembered that.

I guess I'll go back and UN-edit the post so it makes sense again.

Would it help if I removed my quote of you getting it wrong, too?

[Curmudgeon]

He don't needs adamantine all he needs are enough oil flasks prepared with a fuse (funny enough, golems don't have fire resistance).

Keep your distance, throw one lit flask (touch attack), then move away, full move away if the golem risk to get too close for confort, if you have the room to move is an easy victory. :)

You'll need plenty of flasks, and a good ranged attack modifier. Plus it's problematic to prepare more than one flask in advance: there's only a small bit of oil in the fuse itself, and that starts burning off as soon as you light it. If you don't break the sealed flask quickly, the fuse oil will be exhausted and you'll need to repeat the preparation.

Oil

A pint of oil burns for 6 hours in a lantern. You can use a flask of oil as a splash weapon. Use the rules for alchemist’s fire, except that it takes a full round action to prepare a flask with a fuse. Once it is thrown, there is a 50% chance of the flask igniting successfully.

You can pour a pint of oil on the ground to cover an area 5 feet square, provided that the surface is smooth. If lit, the oil burns for 2 rounds and deals 1d3 points of fire damage to each creature in the area.

Alchemist’s Fire

You can throw a flask of alchemist’s fire as a splash weapon. Treat this attack as a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 10 feet.

A direct hit deals 1d6 points of fire damage. Every creature within 5 feet of the point where the flask hits takes 1 point of fire damage from the splash. On the round following a direct hit, the target takes an additional 1d6 points of damage.

There's a -2 range penalty at 10' from the golem (which is within its reach), a -4 range penalty at 20', ... up to a -10 penalty at 50', the maximum range permitted.

Would it help if I removed my quote of you getting it wrong, too?

Huh? No, I earned that embarrassment honestly. Plus it's useful to point out this fact to others who might make the same mistake. But I did want my "level 1 wizard solution" post -- which had nothing to do with burning oil -- to make sense again.

[Collin152]

Lesser Orb of Electricity (level 1) will damage and also slow the golem, making it easy to pick off from a distance. Remember, the golem's breath weapon only reaches 10' and lasts just the single round. If you slow the thing it can move or attack, not both in one round (except for the free action breath weapon with its 10' limit). If you stay at least 30' away (Close range at level 1, plus 5') and manage to hit it with an electrical orb at least every 3 rounds it's pretty much impotent. Add a bit of Grease and it'll do nothing but stand up from prone half the time due to a sucky Reflex save and a -1 Balance modifier.

You only need to hit its (ranged) touch AC of 8. A bit of feat selection (Weapon Focus: ranged touch spell) and a good DEX mean you'll hit it almost all the time.

One wand of Lesser Orb of Electricity costs 750 gp (less than the 900 gp of wealth a character is supposed to have when they reach level 2) and averages 4.5 points of electrical damage on each hit. A single wand and a DEX modifier of +3 (perfectly reasonable for an Elf, with Wizard as that race's favored class) gives you a very comfortable margin to finish off the 129 HP iron golem, allowing for misses on attack rolls of 1-3.

The answer is level 1.

Also, I thought these were core wizards?

[Curmudgeon]

Also, I thought these were core wizards?

It is a straight core Wizard -- no alternate class features whatsoever. The OP didn't say anything about only using core spells, though.

[CASTLEMIKE]

You only need to hit its (ranged) touch AC of 8. A bit of feat selection (Weapon Focus: ranged touch spell) and a good DEX mean you'll hit it almost all the time.

One wand of Lesser Orb of Electricity costs 750 gp (less than the 900 gp of wealth a character is supposed to have when they reach level 2) and averages 4.5 points of electrical damage on each hit. A single wand and a DEX modifier of +3 (perfectly reasonable for an Elf, with Wizard as that race's favored class) gives you a very comfortable margin to finish off the 129 HP iron golem, allowing for misses on attack rolls of 1-3.

The answer is level 1.

Very clever but I disagree since the spell and the wand of Lesser Orb of Electricity do not exist in core in the SRD or DMG so original spell research rules come into play for non core spells. Good catch on the golem hit points I amended my earlier post.

Another game default is no PC having any item comprising more than a quarter of his suggested wealth by level so L3 at the minimum when suggested wealth is 2,700 gp since suggested wealth is only 900 gp at L2 even with a used wand.

1D8 would average 4.5 average hit points of damage on a sucessful attack with an average golem having 129 hit points that is 28.66 attacks so lets just say 29 sucessful attacks and not all attacks would be successful and hit so the combat would last longer than 29 rounds.

Using the default array the average wizard would only have a dexterity of 12 or 13 as most will go for that 14 con with a first level PC (Using 25 point buy most pump up Intelligence to 16). An elf PC with a dexterity of 16 would mean a Con score of 10 or 11 using the default array isn't what you see in most games with a 4 base hit point level 1 wizard.

Most wizard PCs don't take all those feats at that level so more attacks would miss requiring more charges.