WAIT! Something DOES change here!
You can use refinements!
Refinements will be specified by CHAIN!, and the head of the chain must look up to an action.
There's no reason why you couldn't get that chain head and have it be no more or less risky than getting a WORD!... it doesn't need to run through any kind of imperative and potentially-erroring PICK process.
Another piece of good news coming out of the Big Alien Proposal (right on the heels of solving TRY for TUPLE! access!)