Power Word: Forced Restart

Legacy Systems & Zombie Projects cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: Touch, one malfunctioning system
Components: V (two words, spoken with escalating certainty: “did you—”)
Duration: Instantaneous
Classes: On-Call Engineer, IT Support, Whoever Is Standing Nearby

This spell requires no saving throw and no diagnosis. If the target system has not yet failed its most recent Maintenance saving throw (see Animate Legacy System), its malfunction ends immediately, its symptoms resolved without its underlying cause being identified, understood, or documented by anyone present.

If the system has already failed that Maintenance check, this spell has no effect — though it may still be attempted as many times as the caster’s patience allows before anyone concludes otherwise. This spell’s success rate is high enough that no organization employing it has ever felt compelled to investigate why.

Flavor: “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” — On-Call Engineer, correctly, for the fourth time this month