Power Word: Buzzword

2nd-level Sales & Stakeholder Management

Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: 60 feet, or the length of a meeting agenda
Components: V (a sufficient density of jargon — “synergy,” “bandwidth,” “circle back,” “boil the ocean,” and “low-hanging fruit,” in the same sentence)
Duration: Until each affected creature acts on its own interpretation
Classes: Consultant, VP, Product Manager

This spell requires no saving throw. Each creature that hears the casting privately constructs its own interpretation of what was actually decided, confident that interpretation matches everyone else’s in the room. This spell has no effect on a creature whose role does not require it to act on the meeting’s outcome.

At the end of the spell’s duration, each affected creature acts independently on its own interpretation, producing as many divergent outcomes as there were creatures affected — every one of them becomes Misaligned. Previous compulsion effects in this collection at least agree with themselves about what they compelled; this one doesn’t.

At Higher Levels. When cast using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you may target a written document (a strategy memo, an OKR doc) rather than a spoken meeting. The duration extends until the document is next referenced by two different creatures simultaneously, at which point the divergent interpretations surface publicly rather than quietly.

Flavor: “Just to align — are we saying we’re doing this, or… exploring doing this?” “Great question. Let’s take that offline.” — meeting transcript, question never actually answered