Hello everybody Jorphdan here the PH is silent.
I had a great comment on one of my YouTube videos, make a video on Acererak!
He is more than mentioned in the latest campaign “Tomb of Annihilation.”
I mean he’s on the cover so it’s not that big of a spoiler.
I wanted to make a video on the origins and history of the Demi Lich Acererak!
Now I know what you’re thinking.
Jorphdan you’re mainly a forgotten realms channel, and Acererak is from Oerth right?
Isn’t that a greyhawk thing.
Well viewer I’ll tell you something, you’re not wrong!
But he is an iconic D&D character regardless.
So let’s bend the rules I’ve set for myself and talk about Acererak.
Acererak is actually half demon.
He was the son of a Balor named Tarnhem from the 489th layer of the Abyss.
Tarnhem is roughly 12 feet tall with dark red skin, leathery wings with clawed hands
and feet.
He was summoned by a conjurer who didn’t know exactly what he was doing and thus lost
his life when Tarnhem attacked him.
The Demon then took a servant girl of the conjurer and Acererak was the baby.
Acererak’s mother survived the birth of her half demon son but was sadly killed 10
years later by a torch-wielding mob.
Acererak never forgave his father for mistreating his mother and eventually learned the demon's
true name which gave him power over his father.
With a demon in tow Acererak began construction of his lair the Tomb of Horrors.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
After the death of his mother Acererak the boy was rescued by an arch lich by the name
of Vecna.
You might remember Vecna from the 5th Edition Dungeons Masters Guide as the Hand and the
Eye of Vecna are magic items in that book.
Vecna was born a human and eventually became a wizard.
Later on becoming a lich and surviving for thousands of years.
Vecna is also a Greyhawk character but these characters have become so popular they bleed
over into Forgotten Realms and other settings.
Acererak wanted to become a lich whilst hanging out with Vecna.
He then plotted his ascension to lichdom.
Now a lich, in general terms, is an undead spellcaster that has achieved immortality
thanks to their phylactery.
They place their soul in the phylactery and if their physical body is ever destroyed they
aren’t truly killed because their soul lives on.
In a few weeks the Lich can return to the physical plane.
Think Harry Potter Horcrux but JK Rowling definitely took the idea from older fantasy
like D&D and Lord of the Rings.
After creating a phylactery the process of becoming a lich that I discovered involves
killing someone double your age and half your age.
Creating some kind of potion using their blood.
Drinking that potion under the light of a full moon which then kills you but your soul
will find it’s way into the phylactery.
A few days later you come back as a Lich!
It’s a very evil act so in most campaign settings become a lich and liches in general
are evil.
Acererak went through this process later in his life and became a Lich.
He then started created the Tomb of Horrors to gather souls.
Because part of being a lich is that you must feed souls to your phylactery to sustain the
magic that preserves your body and your consciousness.
Without souls you’ll fall into disrepair and insanity.
So the Tomb of Horrors is created as a way for adventurers to die and power Acererak’s
phylactery.
That’s the story behind the Tomb of Horrors, really it was created as a test for veteran
players.
It’s an unforgiving module with plenty of unforeseeable traps and puzzles with difficult
solutions and character ending consequences.
I haven’t run Tomb of Horrors, but I hope to.
I have a small group of friends that want to try it out, just gotta find the time and
I’m sure I’ll make some campaign diaries about my experience.
Acererak, in his long life has since transformed into a demi-lich; which is just a more powerful
lich really.
Oftentimes having only their bones left they can appear as a floating skull for example.
There is more information about Acererak if you play Tomb of Annihilation.
Since the module is so new I really don’t want to spoil anything in this video.
I’m sure a ton of you guys are playing it right now so that wouldn’t be fair.
But if you’re a DM and you’re curious pick up Tomb of Annihilation and give it a
flip through.
A small city was built near the Tomb of Horrors called Skull City.
This naturally occurred thanks to the hundreds of necromancers that arrived at the Tomb of
Horrors looking for Acererak’s renowned knowledge of necromancy.
Idolization of Acererak has inspired the construction of a massive academy over his tomb, called
the Bleak Academy.
It harbors cultists who perform ceremonies to garner the attention and favor of Acererak.
Acererak’s current form in the physical world is a jeweled skull which you’ll find
in the Tomb of Horrors but really this is a construct created by the demilich.
The real Acererak resides in the Fortress of Conclusion, a stronghold hidden in the
Shadowfell.
Or so 4th edition lore tells us, from the book “Open Grave Secrets of the Undead.”
This might be outdated and Acererak may still have a base of operations on the negative
energy plane instead.
That’s really the lore behind Acererak.
His phylactery is hid somewhere in another planar dimension.
I suspect Wizards of the coast does that so he can’t really die.
Being such an iconic character they want to bring him back.
He makes a special appearance in the novel Ready Player One as an arcade Joust playing
demilich.
I highly recommend that book for anyone interested in geek culture.
I find it interesting how popular Acererak is yet there isn’t a Greyhawk or Forgotten
Realms novel about him directly.
You’d think the adventurers of young Acererak would catch the eye of some DnD author.
Most everything I’ve found was from Tomb of Horrors reprints and a few Dragon Magazine
articles.
And that’s where we’ll end today.
I hope you enjoyed this look at Acererak.
If you have a favorite DnD villain let me know in the comments below!
Please give a like and share this video with a friend, or any video to a friend who enjoys
DnD Lore!
I’ll see you all next Wednesday!