This is a list of characters from the Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.
Acererak first appears in the original Tomb of Horrors adventure (1978) by Gary Gygax as the main adversary. One of the areas in the Tomb is a "Chapel of Evil", described as "obviously some form of temple area - there are scenes of normal life painted on the walls, but the people have rotting flesh, skeletal hands, worms eating them, etc."[2]: 5 The adventure described him as "a human magic-user/cleric of surpassing evil" who took the steps necessary to preserve his life force as the lich, Acererak."[2]: 10 The boxed set adventure Return to the Tomb of Horrors (1998) by Bruce Cordell included a small booklet titled "The Journal of the Tomb", which notes that the character Desatysso discovered that Acererak "owed much of his power" to Tenebrous.[3] Cordell's article "Return to the Tomb of Horrors" in Dragon #249 (July 1998) mentions that "While alive, Acererak built an unholy temple to a now deceased power. When the project neared completion, he slew every worker, excavator, and consecrating priest who had assisted in the temple's construction." The article notes that the result of Acererak's work was the dungeon crawl detailed in the Tomb of Horrors module.[4]: 38 In the article "Open Grave"by Bart Carroll and Steve Winters for the "D&D Alumni" column in Dragon #371 (January 2009), the authors interviewed Bruce Cordell about the Return to the Tomb of Horrors adventure, where he revealed that he developed the origins of Acererak "as a persecuted tiefling child to his development as a wizard and priest of Orcus, to his creation of his tomb that was actually a test to winnow souls".[5]: 65 The fourth edition adventure also titled Tomb of Horrors (2010) by Ari Marmell and Scott Fitzgerald Gray mentions in the introduction that "Acererak resurfaced as a worshiper of Orcus, using the cult's resources to construct a number of lairs and tombs - the most infamous of which would become known as the Tomb of Horrors. Some sources claim that Acererak was using Orcus's worshipers to complete his own schemes, and that he felt no true loyalty to the demon prince."[6]: 4 The introduction goes on to say that "Once he attained lichdom, Acererak ceased paying homage to Orcus, lending credence to the notion that his worship had never been more than a means to an end."[6]: 5 Acererak is featured in the novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
Acererak is the 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 Pentivel, and the wizard-architect who designs his tomb is called Morghadam. He is 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.
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.