Son and ally of the balor Tarnhem, a worshipper of Orcus, and an apprentice of Vecna.
In life, he was the enemy of a paladin of Pelor named Pentival, and the wizard-architect who designs his tomb is called Morghadam.
Revered by a group of wizards known as the Covenenticle of Acererak.
The necromancers of Skull City, former followers of Acererak, go on to form a group known as the Votaries of Vecna, making a new home in the Black Spire on the Plane of Shadow.
The githyanki necromancer Kastya Zurith-Movya seeks to return the true Acererak to existence as an ally against his people’s lich-queen.
Acererak the Devourer is described as a cambion, the result of an ancient conjurer summoning a demon, a balor named Tarnhem, far beyond his ability to control. Tarnhem devours the conjurer and takes his human mother by force.
Acererak‘s mother survives her son’s birth, but she is killed by a torch-wielding mob ten years later. The boy is rescued by none other than Vecna, the Whispered One, who kills the advisors urging him to kill the child; instead, he takes on the half-demon as an apprentice. Even then, ten year-old Acererak loathes life, looking forward to becoming undead like his master. During Vecna‘s siege of Fleeth, the lich is severely wounded and rescued by Acererak. Vecna subsequently promotes the cambion.
It is unknown if Acererak is present when Vecna is betrayed by Kas the Bloody-Handed in the fourth century before the Common Year, but at some point, he moves to the Vast Swamp where he constructs a lair for himself, colloquially known as the Tomb of Horrors (and described in an adventure module of the same name). While still alive, Acererak builds a subterranean temple complex in the name of Orcus, burying its architect and all of its workers within. Eventually, Acererak succumbs to the lure of lichcraft, and has himself buried in a labyrinthine tomb, where he commits himself to his studies and, eventually, demilichdom, abandoning his body for the planes beyond. Many adventurers over the years attempt to raid Acererak‘s tomb, but it is believed that none are able to destroy him, despite some claims.
The Tomb of Horrors is long Acererak‘s home in undeath. As a demilich, he moves to the demiplane of Moil to complete his grand plans.
There is a shrine of Acererak, in the form of a five-foot statue of a humanoid skull, on the second layer of Pandemonium.
- 1e
- Class: Wizard
- Level: Demilich
