July 8th, 2010: Hello Greyfans. It may be summer but some shows on T.V. are not in reruns...check out old Channel 666...








Good to see Graz'zt survive this interview with Acererak since the last one went badly for him. Can't say the same for Fraz... I could do Greyhawk prescription drug ads all day. Fun stuff eh? Here is some other Acererak related information.
1. Wizards of the Coast is indeed rolling out a new Tomb of Horrors mega-adventure for 4th edition. So far they have done two excerpts on the new tombs. The Tomb of Shadows and the Garden of Graves.
2. For those who don't play 4th edition, WotC did do a 3rd edition revision of the original Tomb.
3. Now I'm not up on Return to the Tomb of Horrors from 2nd edition but apparently it expanded on Acererak's history considerably as did the semi-canonical graphic novel Vecna: The Hand of the Revenant where we learn Acererak was once a follower of Vecna before either became liches. The new 4th edition adventure builds on all this accumulated history (albeit without direct Greyhawk reference) which I think is remarkable given alot of criticism I gave 4th edition early on for parting out Greyhawk material.
4. Over at the canonfire.com forums we have had some Acererak discussion recently.
5. Acererak is notoriously hard to destroy. In the original mod, the demilich had 50hp and a AC -6. Not too difficult you say until you consider the list of effects that actually hurt him:
A Shatter spell causes 10 damage.
A Power Word Kill used from the Astral or Ethereal Plane will destroy it.
A fighter with a Vorpal sword, or Sword of Sharpness, or a paladin with a +4 weapon can hurt the skull.
Dispell Evil causes 5 damage.
A Holy Word causes 20 damage.
And my favorite: A thief slinging a gem from the crypt will cause 1 damage per 10,000gp value, shattering the gem in the process. (Oh that Gygax is a sly DM)
6. I don't have the 2nd edition version of a demilich for comparison, but the 3rd edition version is an EPIC monster! Check out these rules:
139 h.p. Weak for an epic monster sure but it also has Damage Resistance 15/Epic -and- Bludgeoning. ( That's right, you need a Hammer +6 or better).
AC 51 (in 1st edition terms that is like AC -41! You just can't touch him)
Immune to all magic effects except, yes, Shatter, Holy Smite and Dispel Evil.

Have fun reading and more next time. ;)
-mortellan

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