Animate Legacy System

3rd-level Legacy Systems & Zombie Projects

Casting Time: 1 minute
Range/Area: Touch (a decommissioned system, deprecated codebase, or cancelled initiative within reach)
Components: V, S, M (the original documentation, which is never found, so a facsimile must be produced from memory)
Duration: Until dispelled, or until the target fails a Maintenance saving throw
Classes: Staff Engineer, Engineering Manager, whoever currently holds the pager

Choose one project or system that has ceased active development within the last ten years. It rises as a Legacy Servant under the caster’s control, regaining the ability to be pointed at and relied upon once more. A Legacy Servant requires exactly one On-Call Engineer to be assigned to it at all times; this assignment cannot be lifted without first casting this spell in reverse, a procedure that is rarely funded and has never, in recorded history, been prioritized.

A Legacy Servant obeys commands to the letter rather than in spirit, and interprets all instructions using assumptions that were true at the time of its original creation. For the purposes of any spell or effect that requires accurate documentation, it counts as Documented, even though it is not.

At the end of each fiscal quarter, roll a Maintenance saving throw for the Legacy Servant using its Technical Debt score; the DC increases by 1 for every quarter it remains active beyond its originally intended lifespan. On a failure, the Legacy Servant acts on its own initiative in a manner contrary to the caster’s original intentions, doing so at the least convenient point available to it — typically during a scheduled demo, an audit, or the caster’s vacation.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, you may animate one additional legacy system for each slot level above 3rd. Each additional Legacy Servant requires its own On-Call Engineer and rolls its own Maintenance saving throw independently.

Flavor: “Do not touch this service. Nobody currently employed here knows how it works.” — internal wiki, page last edited by a former employee, 2019