Grayswandir

)   Grayswandir
Base item	silver saber
Damage vs. small	1d8 x2 +(1d20)
Damage vs. large	1d8 x2 +(1d20)
To-hit bonus	+1d5
Bonus versus	(any)
Weapon skill	saber
Size	one-handed
Affiliation	lawful
When carried	(none)
When wielded	hallucination resistance
When invoked	(none)
Base price	8000 zm
Weight	40
Material	silver

One of the most coveted weapons in the game, Grayswandir is a lawful silver saber that can do both double damage (to all targets, without exception) and silver damage, and prevents hallucination. Because, like Fire and Frost Brand, it is non-intelligent, it may be wished for and used even by non-lawfuls who can survive its possible blasting damage (25% chance of 4d4) when it is transferred to or appears in their inventory or is wielded.

Damage

Grayswandir's double damage applies to its base d8 damage and its damage due to enchantment, but not to its silver damage or other bonuses. The following calculates the damage done by the blessed +7 Grayswandir in the best case scenario: being expert in saber and attacking an undead silver-hating monster:

(
+d8 base damage
+7 enchantment damage
)
*2 double damage bonus
+d20 silver damage (against silver-haters)
+d4 blessed damage (against undead or demons)
+2 expert skill bonus
= 20 to 56 total damage (average 39)

Worst case scenario for a blessed +7 Grayswandir (with expert level in sabre skill) against a non-undead, non-demon, non-silver-hating monster:

(
+d8 base damage
+7 enchantment damage
)
*2 double damage bonus
+2 expert skill bonus
= 18 to 32 total damage (average 24)

Generation

Grayswandir can be randomly generated wherever a silver saber can be generated, but this is exceptionally rare (only 1/20 of all randomly generated silver sabers will be Grayswandir, and there aren't many randomly generated silver sabers). A more reliable way to get it, if lawful, is to #offer sacrifices to your god, or to wish for it. It can also be found in bones files.

Origin

Grayswandir is a reference to the Chronicles of Amber book series. Corwin, the protagonist, has a silver sword called Grayswandir. From Wikipedia:

Grayswandir is Corwin's sword, also known as the Night Blade; its twin is Brand's Werewindle, the Day Sword. Both Grayswandir and Werewindle are inscribed with portions of the Pattern of Amber; this makes them particularly effective against creatures of Chaos.

Encyclopedia entry

              Why had I been wearing Grayswandir?  Would another weapon have
              affected a Logrus-ghost as strongly?  Had it really been my
              father, then, who had brought me here?  And had he felt I might
              need the extra edge his weapon could provide?  I wanted to
              think so, to believe that he had been more than a Pattern-ghost.
                      [ Knight of Shadows, by Roger Zelazny ]

Strategy

Grayswandir is better than Fire Brand, Frost Brand and Mjollnir in that it will not destroy items in the inventory of the monster or player being hit. It is also a single-handed weapon, allowing you to wear a shield, or #twoweapon with a plain silver saber for even more silver damage. Because of this, most players consider Grayswandir the best weapon in the game. It cuts through the undead and demons in Gehennom, but it should be noted that most of the monsters on the Elemental Planes are not silver haters.

Source code references

This page is based on a spoiler by Dylan O'Donnell. The original license is:

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