Yugoloth, Charon

Description

The river Styx links the topmost layers of the Lower Planes, and its branches can be found anywhere from the Nine Hells to the Abyss. When encountered, the river is a deep, swift, and unfordable torrent. Those who touch or drink from the Styx will forget their past lives completely. A saving throw applies. If save is made, treat as a forget spell cast by a 15th-level wizard. The safest passage across the Styx is by the skiff of Charon, boatman of the Lower Planes. Charon appears as a skeletal man with a haggard face and glowing eyes. He is normally dressed in royal robes or ermine and silk.

Combat

Charon will not transport any beings that do not pay his price, and he has several abilities to enforce this. His gaze causes fear (as wand) to all he views. He strikes with a long pole, causing 2-8 points of damage and paralysis (saving throw applies) for 2-8 turns. Charon may also tap the power of the river Styx itself, causing it to rise up and attack like a 16 hit dice water elemental. Any hit by this river-incarnation does 5-30 points of damage and causes the target to save or lose its memory. Charon may at any time summon 3-18 Marraenoloth or 2-12 Hydroloths who will appear in 1-3 rounds.

Psionics Summary

Level	Dis/Sci/Dev	Attack/Defense	Score	PSPs
13	5/7/24	All/All	Int	300

Common/Sciences/Devotions:

• Psychometabolism - Sciences: Energy Containment
  • Devotions: Body Equilibrium, Body Weaponry
• Clairsentient - Sciences: Object Reading, Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions
• Psychoportation - Sciences: Probability Travel

Habitat/Society

Charon may be summoned only on the banks of the Styx. Any of the following spells attract his attention: holy or unholy word, conjure elemental, summoning an invisible stalker or aerial servant, or a symbol of any type. He will appear with a large black skiff that holds 10, and if requested will ferry his charges to the topmost layer of any Lower Plane. His charge is a magic item, a silk bag of 100 pp, or two gems of 500+ gp value. Charon never carries this treasure but distributes it among his servants, the Marraenoloth (see PlaneScape).

Ecology

Charon's form may be destroyed, but he is never truly slain, as he is native to all 5 of the lower planes. His form will cease to exist on that plane for a single day before returning.

Also in this section of the source

Errors in the Complete Psionics Handbook

Psychokinesis Discipline

The following PK devotions do not require Telekinesis as a prerequisite: Animate Shadow, Control Light, control Sound, Molecular Agitation, Soften, and Telekinesis. All others have Telekinesis as a prerequisite.

Telepathy Disciplinces

Telepathic Defense modes have no prerequisites. All prerequisites should be ignored! A character does not need access to Telepathy to get Defense modes.

The mind link power is not a prerequisite for the following powers: Empathy, ESP, Identify Penetration, Incarnation Awareness, Psychic Impersonation, Send Thoughts. Mind link has never been a prerequisite for: Ejection, Conceal Thoughts, Contact, Life Detection, Mind Bar, Psionic Blast, and Psychic Messenger. Mind Link is a prerequisite for all other Telepathic powers.

Psychic Crush should be a devotion and Psionic Blast should be a science.

All references to Telepathic power (or prerequisite)should be changed to mind link power instead.

On page 75 the heading for Fate Link power is missing.

Ego Whip and Mind Thrust both require contact as a prerequisite.

Psionic Monster list

Brain Mole: References to the amplification power should be changed to Psychic Drain. Also, Mind Thrust is a Telepathic Power not Metapsionic.

Intellect Devourer(adult): References to the Amplification powers should be changed to Pyschic Drain. Also, Ectoplasmic Form should be listed as Discipline not a science.

Odds for winning initiative with and without Combat Mind

Throughout this discussion, it will be assumed that initiative is being rolled between two people, with no special modifiers other than the modifier provided by Combat Mind. The two people will referred to as Person 1, and Person 2.

Odds of winning initiative without Combat Mind

The top row of the table below represents all the possible initiative rolls for Person 2, and the first column is all possible initiative rolls for Person 1. The entries of the table represent all possible outcomes of the initiative rolls of each person.

—	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1	(1,1)	(1,2)	(1,3)	(1,4)	(1,5)	(1,6)	(1,7)	(1,8)	(1,9)	(1,10)
2	(2,1)	(2,2)	(2,3)	(2,4)	(2,5)	(2,6)	(2,7)	(2,8)	(2,9)	(2,10)
3	(3,1)	(3,2)	(3,3)	(3,4)	(3,5)	(3,6)	(3,7)	(3,8)	(3,9)	(3,10)
4	(4,1)	(4,2)	(4,3)	(4,4)	(4,5)	(4,6)	(4,7)	(4,8)	(4,9)	(4,10)
5	(5,1)	(5,2)	(5,3)	(5,4)	(5,5)	(5,6)	(5,7)	(5,8)	(5,9)	(5,10)
6	(6,1)	(6,2)	(6,3)	(6,4)	(6,5)	(6,6)	(6,7)	(6,8)	(6,9)	(6,10)
7	(7,1)	(7,2)	(7,3)	(7,4)	(7,5)	(7,6)	(7,7)	(7,8)	(7,9)	(7,10)
8	(8,1)	(8,2)	(8,3)	(8,4)	(8,5)	(8,6)	(8,7)	(8,8)	(8,9)	(8,10)
9	(9,1)	(9,2)	(9,3)	(9,4)	(9,5)	(9,6)	(9,7)	(9,8)	(9,9)	(9,10)
10	(10,1)	(10,2)	(10,3)	(10,4)	(10,5)	(10,6)	(10,7)	(10,8)	(10,9)	(10,10)

By counting the number of entries where each person wins initiative, and the number of entries where there is a tie in initiative, it can be seen that each person has a 45% chance of winning initiative, and there is a 10% chance of a tie.

Odds of winning initiative with Combat Mind

It will be assumed here that Person 2 is using Combat Mind, so the top row entries for that person run from 0 to 9 instead of 1 to 10.

—	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1	(1,0)	(1,1)	(1,2)	(1,3)	(1,4)	(1,5)	(1,6)	(1,7)	(1,8)	(1,9)
2	(2,0)	(2,1)	(2,2)	(2,3)	(2,4)	(2,5)	(2,6)	(2,7)	(2,8)	(2,9)
3	(3,0)	(3,1)	(3,2)	(3,3)	(3,4)	(3,5)	(3,6)	(3,7)	(3,8)	(3,9)
4	(4,0)	(4,1)	(4,2)	(4,3)	(4,4)	(4,5)	(4,6)	(4,7)	(4,8)	(4,9)
5	(5,0)	(5,1)	(5,2)	(5,3)	(5,4)	(5,5)	(5,6)	(5,7)	(5,8)	(5,9)
6	(6,0)	(6,1)	(6,2)	(6,3)	(6,4)	(6,5)	(6,6)	(6,7)	(6,8)	(6,9)
7	(7,0)	(7,1)	(7,2)	(7,3)	(7,4)	(7,5)	(7,6)	(7,7)	(7,8)	(7,9)
8	(8,0)	(8,1)	(8,2)	(8,3)	(8,4)	(8,5)	(8,6)	(8,7)	(8,8)	(8,9)
9	(9,0)	(9,1)	(9,2)	(9,3)	(9,4)	(9,5)	(9,6)	(9,7)	(9,8)	(9,9)
10	(10,0)	(10,1)	(10,2)	(10,3)	(10,4)	(10,5)	(10,6)	(10,7)	(10,8)	(10,9)

Again, by counting the number of entries, we can determine the probability of each person winning initiative, and the probability of a tie. As can be seen, Person 1 has a 36% chance of winning initiative, Person 2 has a 55% chance of winning initiative, and there is a 9% chance of a tie. This represents a significant improvement for the person using Combat Mind.

Humour

As a bonus, here are some humorous articles that were sent to me, using psionicists in various parodied worlds. The powers mentioned in them are in the list of powers above, so beware!

Transportation Beam History

The original sea vessel, the Starfish Enterprise, under the command of James T. Smirk (see note 1), had a magical item called Transportation Beam. It was a small splinter of wood, the size of a tooth pick, which, when the command word was said, grew to a fully sized wooden beam with legs. The legs allowed the beam to walk on land or paddle in water. Up to four people could sit on the beam, and it had a carrying capacity of 500 pounds.

To command a Transportation Beam, the user usually says "beam me xxx, Scotty", where xxx is a compass direction, and Scotty is the activation word. Another possibility is "beam me to the ship, Scotty". Note that the beam cannot fly, and the phrase "beam me up, Scotty" has never been actually heard, contrary to common misconception. If the beam is in compressed form, it expands once the command is said and can be used. If it's already in full size, it just takes the new direction. When all users dismount the beam, it shrinks back to tooth pick size.

[ Note: I know very little about spelljamming ]

The Starfish's namesake, the spelljamming Starship Enterprise, didn't include such a powerful device, but the transportation methods used on the ship gave the term "beaming" a whole new meaning. Apparently the crew of the Starship Enterprise heard about the usefulness of a beam for transportation, and did their best to make use of beams for this purpose. The effort was headed by captain Fab-Look Picard, who was a great believer in "the old ways".

The first use of a beam for transportation was simple. If you want to get quickly to the surface of a planet, what's faster than jumping off the ship? Of course few people would do it of their own free will, but after being knocked unconscious by a large beam, they wouldn't argue any more, and it was easy to throw them overboard. Only ensigns traveled this way, but even this stopped after the captain was called to Star Freaks command, and was told that this is The Next Generation, and ensigns should be treated differently. Of course keeping all ensigns alive seemed abhorrent to the captain, as it contradicted "the old ways".

Some time later a psionicist was brought on board. As it happened, this was a turn for the better. Being a Psychoportation specialist, he knew the Teleport Other science. It wasn't long before Sharky La-George, the chief engineer, discovered a use for this power - they didn't have to bring the ensigns on deck in order to drop them to the planet, but could just teleport them outside the ship, where they wouldn't have anything to cling to, and would fall to the planet below. Certainly saves a lot of carrying.

After a month or two of this, a brilliant ensign brought up the idea that Teleport Other can actually bring them to the surface of the planet. He was quickly awarded the first opportunity to try this new idea. The Teleport worked perfectly, and the ensign landed inside an active volcano.

Of course it took some time to find out what happened, as there was no means of communication with the ensign, and teleporting was only one way.

It should be noted that all this time the beaming process continued to be in use. Apparently unconsciousness was needed before the Teleport Other power would work (see note 2). The term 'beaming' was used to describe all transportation methods involving hitting someone on the head with a beam. As mentioned before, teleporting the ensigns to the surface had some problems. It turned out that viewing the planet from distance didn't give the psionicist a good enough idea of the target, and as a result the landing sites varied considerably. As the ship was close to running out of ensigns, a considerably better method was needed.

Eventually the psionicist remembered that he had Clairvoyance. This really helped, and in no time they were beaming people accurately to the surface. At this time they hit idea that they could construct a psionic item capable of transportation. It took several months, and thanks to the multi-talented psionicist and the great plans of La-George, it became the unique piece of engineering we all know (if we read note 3).

The Teleporter, as the device was called (after Transportation Gizmo was rejected), made the Enterprise the most well known of Star Freaks' ships, and in no time it started doing special "peace keeping" and "scientific exploration" missions for Star Freaks (see note 4).

But there was one basic problem with the Teleporter - it only worked one way. Teleporting back to the ship was problematic. Initially teleportation devices were built on the planets to allow transportation back to the ship, but these took a lot of time and effort to build. Lately there has been new research into the Teleport Here power (see note 5), and new devices are promised to be released "by the end of fall", which probably means "when the Romulan empire falls", or "once we stop falling in this bottomless pit".

Note 1: Captain Smirk's full name is James Tea Smirk. As the story goes, the pregnant Mrs. Smirk was sitting at the dinner table next to Mr. Smirk when suddenly she started making all sorts of "Oh", "Ooh", "Aaahhh" and "Eeeh" sounds. "Are you okay?" asked Mr. Smirk. "I'm fine. Do you want a cup of tea? I'll bring you one," answered Mrs. Smirk, when all of a sudden little baby Smirk slid from her womb effortlessly, and landed on the floor, head first. "Nice tea," said Mr. Smirk, "I wonder what you would have given me if I wanted coffee." And the name stuck.

Note 2: While the power description of Teleport Other states that a willing character can be teleported, most simple minded folks have an aversion to being disintegrated and reintegrated in another place (which is a common misconception about the working of teleportation), and therefore are never fully willing to be teleported, even if they say they are. The problem is even more acute with ensigns, for some reason. Because of this problem, a lot of psionicists still don't know that the Teleport Other power can be used on conscious people. Therefore beaming (and general clubbing) is still very common among the users of this power.

Note 3: See "Teleporter" article.

Note 4: Read "conquering and pillaging" and "treasure hunting". Amiga users who are BLAZEMONGER fans will recognize the use of quotes as in BLAZEMONGER's "Customer Service" department.

Note 5: See "Teleport Here" power.

Teleporter

As is well known, a psionic item should be made from an item of exceptional quality which is 48 hours old at most. Unfortunately the only thing of value which the Enterprise could manufacture was food. The great chef, Foo D. Replicator (the D. stands for Bar), was an honored member of the crew, and was growing, cooking and baking all kinds of highly exceptional foods.

The first attempt was made using large circular blocks of cheese, enchanted with the Food to Stone spell (an extremely well known spell, often used by store owners, apparently to keep the food intact). The psionicist failed the empowering process, however, blaming his inability to concentrate on the smell. Apparently Mr. Replicator's cheeses were of such high quality that the smell survived the Food to Stone spell. The second try was with a large pizza, but this caused a problem with the beaming (see below), so eventually the designers settled on a huge loaf of bread (enchanted with Food to Stone, of course).

In the eventual design, the loaf of bread is right below a loose wooden beam. People who need to be transported stand on the loaf, and the beam is then dropped on them, knocking them unconscious. Then the Teleport Other power can transport them to their destination. In retrospect it's obvious why the pizza shaped transporter wasn't good, as it's very difficult to find a matching circular beam, let alone drop it accurately.

The even more problematic side of the transporter was the psionic empowerment (for some general details on psionic items see my article in the Net Psionics Handbook). As usual, the two common problems arose. The first is the small number of PSPs an item holds. A reasonable Teleport costs 50 or more PSPs, and with the need to teleport more than one person this is even more problematic. This is usually solved by including many redundant powers. The second problem, the limitation of powers to a single discipline, is usually solved by having several parts, often communicating through a telepathic part. These solutions were used with the Teleporter (luckily the psionicist was lawful good, so the parts work well together).

The Teleporter parts

Note: The number in parentheses are the power scores for the powers.

Teleport part

The teleport part is stationed above the falling beam.

Statistic	Value
Powers	Teleport (16), Teleport Other (14), Banishment (15), Dimensional Door (10), Dimension Walk (9), Dream Travel (9), Teleport Trigger (17), Time/Space Anchor (16)
PSPs	76
Int	13
Ego	19
Alignment	LG

Typical use: With 76 PSPs, it's possible to teleport one person to a distance of 10,000 miles, or up to three people to a distance of 1,000 yards. The more usual application is sending one important crew member to a 10 miles distance. This way if the teleport fails, a second attempt can be made in 20 minutes (assuming that the teleporter was fully charged with PSPs). Recently a backup teleport part was added, allowing teleportation of two people to a great distance or two attempts for one person. Since an important crew member will rarely travel alone, an ensign or two are always being sent with him. Unfortunately the teleporter cannot teleport such a large number of people, so an alternate method is used. A special device, called Parachute (note 1), was devised. The unconscious ensigns are connected to a Parachute, and then the Dimensional Door is activated. One door appears in front of the teleport device. Since the device faces the floor, it appears on the floor, under the ensign, which then falls through it and through the second door, under the ship.

Special uses: When there's no need to return in a hurry, the teleport part can teleport itself onto the surface of the planet, then regain its PSPs, and send crew members up one at a time, and then send itself back. Since the teleport part knows where the ship is (hopefully it hasn't moved), it doesn't need the help of the other parts. This function is rarely used.

Clairsentient part

Statistic	Value
Powers	Clairvoyance (9), Move Focus (12) (see Net Psionics Handbook), Aura Sight (8)
PSPs	32
Int	17
Ego	8
Alignment	LG

Typical use: Before transportation to a location the teleporter doesn't already know, the clairsentient part is used to get an image of the location (sometimes called "getting a lock on the location"). Typically the rough location is found using Clairvoyance, and then refined with the use of Move Focus, or another Clairvoyance invocation.

Special uses: The clairsentient part is often used for surveillance. When the ship is on its way, with no need for teleportation, it's a good time to find out more about the guests. The clairsentient part can use its Clairvoyance and Aura Sight powers to gain more knowledge about a visitor to the ship. The clairsentient part generally sees spying on others as an unacceptable activity (being lawful good), and the result is a personality conflict with the operator of the transporter. The part can be convinced, however, to use Aura Sight on a newly arrived guest, and then, if the guest is evil, it might agree to spy on him.

Telepathic part

Statistic	Value
Powers	Mindlink (10), Contact (15), ESP (11), Send Thoughts (17)
PSPs	36
Int	15
Ego	9
Alignment	LG

Typical use: When a teleport to a previously unknown location is called for, the telepathic part waits a while, then contacts the clairsentient part using Mindlink to find out what it has seen. In case the clairsentient part is not yet ready, the telepathic part contacts it again later. The picture gained in this way by the telepathic part is sent to the teleport part using Send Thoughts.

In an experienced teleporter the telepathic part can often make a good guess as to the time it takes the clairsentient part to get the visual impression. The clairsentient part will typically keep the image in mind at this time. Therefore the ESP power is enough, and saves two PSPs per invocation. Note also that the parts are always willing to be telepathically contacted, so the telepathic part has no problem contacting them.

Special uses: If the destination is known by a crew member, the data can be received from his mind, instead of using the clairsentient part of the teleporter.

Note 1: Parachute - originally from para - beside and chute - fall. The device is built by gnomes. It was invented by a slightly dyslectic gnome, who apparently read it as "bedside fall".

The device is basically a mattress, to which the person about to fall is tied. It is intended to break the fall - it's always safe to fall on a mattress. In fact, it sometimes even works. Note that the mattress does a great job of soaking water, so if you fall on a lake or some such, you better get out of the tying ropes as quickly as possible.

Captain's Log history

Ship captains have always had the urge to record their experiences. In the old days, before the wondrous inventions of quill and papyrus, these events were recorded by carving them on blocks of wood, i.e. logs. It is said that the famous explorer, the wizard known as Mage Lan, once made a trip around the world, and ran out of logs. He then went on to dismantle several ships in his fleet just to provide logs for recording the rest of his voyage (several of these logs were used to describe the dismantling of the ships).

These logs were wildly known as captains' logs. Later, at the time of the five kingdoms, collectively known as Star Feet, the phrase Captain's Log referred to one special item, belonging to the well known ship, the Starfish Enterprise. However with the fall of the Star Feet confederation, the Log was lost, and its current location is unknown.

The Captain's Log was a wooden log, similar to other logs in appearance, although the enchantments laid on it made it very special. First of all, it had the ability to convert speech into carvings, thus recording the words of its owner. Moreover, once the log was fully carved, the whole carving was shrunk down to one small mark, allowing carving to continue on an almost blank log. The writing could then be recalled by pressing the mark. Marks were laid out along the circumference at the lower part of the log. The marks were made in groups of five, with four vertical marks, and the fifth crossing these first four.

The log also had powers similar to the Ring of Human Influence, but more limited. In addition to raising the captain's Charisma to 18 on encounter reactions, the captain could also make a Suggestion to any human or humanoid serving as an ensign on the ship. The log had no Charm power.

Note that the Captain's Log is enchanted in such a way that only ship captains can use its powers. The only power usable by others is the ability to recall entries in the log.

As usual, the Starship Enterprise, which became the star ship in the Star Freaks organization, had its own Captain's Log. Captain Fab-Look Picard, always a follower of "the old ways", and keeper of antique comic books, such as those detailing the adventures of the great epileptic barbarian Shake Spear, was fascinated by the idea of the log. He ordered a stock of logs, and started carving them. This made Foo D. Replicator, the ship's chef, quite annoyed, as Fab-Look was using his knife collection for that purpose. Still, he kept quiet about it. No use complaining - the captain will just force him to have a session with Deanna Troll.

But it was Picard himself who decided to stop carving. It was simply too much work. Comic books made it look so easy. He couldn't understand how the captains of old had the patience for this. And when a splinter went into his palm, it was the last straw. He decided to gather the crew for a brainstorming session. Eventually the captain came up with an idea - something which will not be a lot of work for him, yet will allow him to use a log.

The next day, a young ensign reported to the captain's chambers. Holding a quill and papyrus, he wrote down everything that Fab-Look told him. When he began to slow down, the captain took his log, and hit him on the head with it. Unfortunately, because the captain was so experienced in beaming, but not so in logging, he caused the ensign to lose consciousness. Even after several days of practice he just couldn't get the hang of it, so he eventually went on to hit the ensign on his legs. This improved the situation considerably.

The problem was that the ensign developed walking problems, for some reason. The ship's doctor suggested that hitting the ensign with a log caused the problem, but since the captain was hooked on the idea of logging, he decided that the solution would be to have an ensign in every place he wants to make a log entry (as he called it). This way they wouldn't have to follow him everywhere, so that walking wouldn't be such a problem.

This continued for a few years. In the meantime the Transporter was created, and Picard was introduced to the power of psionics. The first application of psionics and logging was a log which could hit someone without the need for the guiding hand of the captain (note 2). This certainly made the captain's job easier. It was a nice implementation of the powers of the original Captain's log in that it not only allowed the captain to produce written documents of his experiences, without lifting a finger, but it also allowed him to use "suggestion" on the crew.

But it was only after the great Og epidemic (note 1), prompted by a visit from The Few, reduced the ensign population considerably, that psionic means were used to create a new non-violent item (note 2). It was actually created even before that, outside the Enterprise, but Picard only became aware of it at this time. Note that this psionic Captain's Log was created some time after the events described in the Transportation Beam article.

The psionic log has caught on rather well, because of its simplicity compared to the Transporter, for example. Currently a log is being installed at space station Deep Shit 9 (note 3), and more are planned for other well known space installations.

Note 1: The Og epidemic initially caused ensigns on the ship to be polymorphed into hogs, and later dogs. The situation really deteriorated when they started turning into cogs, and horribly peaked when one ensign turned into a bog, totally stinking the Hollow Deck. Mind you, the hogs did like it. Surprisingly, only one ensign turned into a log, but that was enough to remind the captain that something had to be done about the logging situation.

Note 2: See the "Psionic Log" article.

Note 3: When the commander of the station arrived at the location, her first comment was "looks like I'm in deep shit". The name Deep Shit seemed to become popular, especially as it turned out that the station suffered from frequent problems, often on a weekly basis. Star Freaks command got annoyed with the name, and it was admiral Punkt who answered: "Deep Shit? Nein! I vill not have zis kind of talk. Zis iz a very gut station." So Star Freaks command decided to call the station officially "Deep Shit? Nein!", to show their belief in the future of the station. Unfortunately for them, people outside Star Freaks command just call it Deep Shit 9.

Psionic Logs

The psionic log has evolved with time. Presented here are three versions of the log, from the earliest effort to the latest.

Floating Log

Statistic	Value
Powers	Telekinesis (12)
PSPs	12
Int	9
Ego	3
Alignment	LN

Description: The floating log is a wooden log, three pounds in weight.

Origins: This was the first psionic log created. It was designed to save captain Picard the need to lift a log and hit his ensigns with it.

Use: On command, the log will lift itself into the air, and hit an ensign on his knees. The ensign is either selected randomly, or by the captain.

Other uses: The log is also used to make "suggestions" to the crew. This is usually done by placing the log above a crew member's head, and then making the suggestion. Of course, there's usually not much use for this when it comes to the crew, as Picard is the captain, and can command them to do his wishes. It can still be handy at times, though. There's also another use for the log. When the captain is alone in his room, he always likes to drink a cup of coffee (note 1). The floating log is great at saving him the effort of actually getting out of bed to take the cup.

Attack Log

Statistic	Value
Powers	Telekinesis (10), Ballistic Attack (8), Molecular Agitation (13)
PSPs	28
Int	11
Ego	7
Alignment	LN

Description: The attack log is very small, just 1 pound in weight. Perhaps the term "log" is not the most suitable in this case, but it fits the purpose of this item.

History: The floating log proved its usefulness when the senile chief engineer of the Exitprise (note 3) came to visit. He continually disturbed the work on the ship, until for some reason his leg was hit by the floating log (note 4). He was then confined to his quarters by the ship's doctor. Fab-Look then got the idea of using a log to get rid of unwanted personnel. The attack log was then invented, to improve on the floating log, which apparently was effective only on old senile people (note 5).

Use: Upon command, the log will hurl itself at an enemy (or ensign, as the case may be). The log has THAC0 15, and causes 1d6 points of damage.

Other uses: Since a new log was to be created, Picard decided to enhance its coffee serving abilities. The Molecular Agitation power now allows the log not only to serve the coffee, but also to heat it up (note 6).

Memory Log

Statistic	Value
Powers	Worm Drive - Read (14) Write (10), Tattoo (12) (note 7), Body Control (9), Complete Healing (13)
PSPs	40
Int	14
Ego	10
Alignment	LG

Description: The memory log is about 8 inches in diameter, and about one feet in height. Its surface is completely smooth.

History: This item was actually developed off the Enterprise, which accounts for its lack of any coffee making power, or, for this matter, any ensign "encouragement" power. While it was later installed on the Enterprise, Picard still keeps his old attack log.

Use: When the captain uses the phrase "captain's log", the log will start memorizing his words until it hears the words "end entry". The log will then use the Write power to save the memory. When asked to recall a memory, the log will Read it and use Tattoo to inscribe it on its surface. The log can also recite the memory instead of inscribing it. The Body Control and Complete Healing powers are used to keep the log from harm, and allow it to be used even in hostile environments. Of course, most Star Freaks captains will never get near a hostile environment if they can help it, so these powers are rarely used.

Other uses: Captain Picard also uses the log as an answering machine, leaving it in his room with a message, and an instruction to read it if someone knocks on the door, and possibly to remember their message.

Note 1: Coffee is a drink made of the droppings of the Flandersburg bird. The name comes from Cof-fee - what a Cof earns for a day's work. Cofs served their masters at the land of Burnzia, for the small fee of heating material, in the shape of Flandersburg droppings. When they were "liberated" by Star Freaks, the Cofs decided to show their "gratitude" by putting this heating material in a drink. Frankly, it doesn't taste that good, but Star Freaks members always like to show that they are men of the universe, and therefore continue to eat and drink any foul food and drink they encounter (note 2).

Note 2: Giving foul foods to Star Freaks members is a common custom amongst most intelligent races. The Clingons, for example, are well know for the disgusting foods they share with Star Freaks members. Of course on most other occasions Clingon food is considered a delicacy. This custom is meant to discourage Star Freaks members from making too much contact with other races, but apparently it doesn't work.

Note 3: The Enterprise was a late model of the Prise family of ships. Previous ships in the family were the Exitprise and the rather less well known Nobelprise.

Note 4: Captain Picard always claimed that the old chief engineer just slipped. He never admitted to commanding the log to hit him. The secret is kept with Fab-Look and the log, who both vowed not to tell anyone, even under torture.

Note 5: After being hit on his leg, the old chief engineer kept yelling "my head, my head!".

Note 6: While personal coffee machines are available on many new ships (usually used only by captains), captain Picard still uses his old attack log for this purpose.

Note 7: Worm Drive and Tattoo powers are new.