Invoke: Rank 2

Rank 2 Invoke

(Difficulty 19)

Operational Invocation

This rank of Invoke lets you use things in the world to facilitate action and to accomplish effects. This is the proper rank of effect for using cars, weapons, libraries, and charts; for drawing on established techniques and spells; and for reacting to points of possible leverage in the world around you.

For example, you might conclude that the center of some magical effect is the pulsing reddish mini-star that is hovering in the vault behind an enemy's office. This conclusion could be an actual part of the is, or just something that you believe. Either way, you could use it as your calling, and then draw upon that calling to act:

• Calling: "[I think] the center of the spell is here —"
• Action: "So I can break it!"

As another, more mundane example, you could decide to fly to Phoenix to visit your grandparents. While it might be possible to conjure up some magical wings, or separate out your fairy self to visit them while leaving your mortal body behind, the simplest solution is to take an airplane:

• Action: "I wish to fly to Phoenix—"
• Calling: "So I'll take a plane!"

The standard etiquette for this is to list the calling first if it's weird or unusual, but you can list it first, second, or not at all if you're doing something totally mundane.

Rank 2 Invoke is a free instant action.

Once you've used this rank of Invoke, the GM performs a sanity check. First, if the calling is obviously wrong, or the action makes no sense given the calling, the GM tells you so, summarizes why, and cancels your action. You get your available free action back, or (if you spent an MP to obtain that available free action) the MP you spent to obtain it.

If the calling and action pass this sanity check, then your character commits to the action. Make your Invoke roll. (If you were over-eager and rolled before the GM confirmed that your action was sane, use the roll you already made.) It has a standard difficulty of 19, and the normal outcome on success is that your action and its outcome become an immediate part of what is. The normal outcome on failure is that your action becomes an immediate part of the would have been.

That said, this is an invocation, and the outcome of your action is irrevocably tangled up in the tools you're using and the background of experience. There are three cases in which your action can fail to shape the is, even on a successful roll.

First, if another character interferes with your action before it completes—e.g. using the Mist Attribute to interrupt you, or spending enough MP to give an Invoke- or Praxis-based action priority—then the success downgrades one level. Success places your action in the would have been; failure, in the might have been. An example is someone Misting away the airport as you go to board a plane; suddenly, the travel plans under consideration take on an air of quixotic futility.

Second, as an occasional thing, the GM may declare a failure by fluke of fate. This should happen rarely—perhaps 10% of the time, with Operational Invocations that would otherwise succeed. It's up to the GM to preserve a maximal sense of either fairness or randomness here while also serving the needs of the game.

Third, the action may face an unexpected hitch. This gives it a reduced effect in the now—creating a would-have-been instead of an is, or a might-have-been rather than a would-have-been, but carries with it an implicit suggestion that should the character overcome the obstacle, future attempts at the action will succeed. One example is the character reaching the airport to discover that they have been placed on the no-fly list; another is the GM being overall willing to believe that the character has the funds and organization necessary to catch a flight, but requiring some additional steps of planning and description from the player in order to believe it. As a general rule, when a plan encounters such a hitch, the GM explains the issue, denies the action (reducing the effect as described above), and—if the player's Invoke roll succeeded—offers a +1 bonus to one rank 2 Mist, Invocation, or Praxis effect made in the near future to resolve this issue.

Here's an example exchange:

• Player: "I want to fly to Phoenix—so I'll take a plane."
• GM: "Roll, then. Difficulty 19."
• Player: "22!"
• GM: "Alas, you're on the no-fly list."
• Player: "WHAT DID MOM DO THIS TIME?"
• GM: "Hee hee. You don't know."
• Player: "OK, I'm going to burn an MP to get another free action, call home, and try to figure out a different way to get myself there."
• GM: "Roll! Difficulty 19, +1 bonus."
• Player: "Alas, all I have is one seven. 17."
• GM: "Well, that would have worked, except you don't reach anybody."
• Player: "I bet Buckaroo Banzai's kids don't have to deal with stuff like this."