A few questions about Spiritual Weapon

[bigbaddragon]

After reading the description of the spell I have a few questions about it:

Q1: It says that it strikes as a force effect. Besides ignoring miss chance of incorporeal creatures what other benefits does it have? Does it ignore armor and shield bonuses to AC or have I just mixed this up with Brilliant Weapon property.

Q2: It says it uses your BAB which allows it to make additional attacks. What happens if you alter your BAB with Divine Power spell? Does it use your normal BAB or altered? If it uses your altered BAB what would happen if you cast Spiritual Weapon first and then Divine Power?

Q3: It says: "... even if its a ranged weapon, use the spell's range, not the weapon's normal range increment ...". Does this mean it can attack targets outside the spell's range (attack someone who is more than 100 + 10/level feet away from you)? For example you are level 5 Cleric (so the range for the spell is 150 feet), BBEG is standing 200 feet away from you and you summon Spiritual Weapon somewhere between the two of you, say 100 feet away from you and 100 feet away from the BBEG. Can the weapon strike him or not?

Q4: (Related to Q3) Does the spell's range move with you or not?

Q5: As I understand it the weapon you bring to existence strikes from distance whether it is or it isn't a ranged weapon (I'm asking this because in the earlier campaign DM ruled that it strikes in melee and this was very annoying because I could move it only at my base land speed and it took my move action for the round to do that .... gaaaah).


Thanks all

[daggaz]

1. Its just a force weapon.... ethereal provides no protection, but normal armor and dex etc does.

2. The rules aren't clear on this, but in my group we homeruled it to mean it has whatever BaB you have when you originally cast it. Changing your BaB after you had casted it (for better or worse) had no effect on the weapon.

3. Big misunderstanding here. The spells range is for where you can summon it in... (much like summon monster x spells). Once summoned in, it will immediately attack that round the monster you summoned it against (if there was one) and continue until that monster is dead, or until you use a move action to change its target. In other words, you direct the spiritual weapon much like you would direct a dominated creature. Normally, you would summon the weapon in right next to a monster, provided said monster was within range, so that you could get the damage from that first attack. Otherwise the weapon has to move thru the air, ghostlike, to approach a target. Rules do not give the move speed of the weapon, but we houseruled it to be equal to your own at the time of casting. Note the weapon attacks exactly as the appropriate normal weapon would... the only difference is it is a force attack, so you get to skip miss chance on ethereal creatures. In otherwords, it doesnt have a ranged attack, unless your deitie's chosen weapon is a ranged weapon. If it kills its target, and is not directed to another target, the spiritual weapon floats over and waits by your side, following you around until the spell ends.

4. see #3.

[bigbaddragon]

Thanks for #1 and #2 but I'm still unsure of #3. The first sentence of spell's description says: "A weapon made of pure force springs into existence and attacks opponents at a distance ..."

Any other opinions?

[Quietus]

Thanks for #1 and #2 but I'm still unsure of #3. The first sentence of spell's description says: "A weapon made of pure force springs into existence and attacks opponents at a distance ..."

Any other opinions?

This refers to it attacking thigns that aren't next to you, so long as they'rein the spell's range. My Cleric of Corellan, for example, can summon his Spiritual Weapon, which can attack any target within 170 feet of him. This is, in the eyes of my character, "At a distance", because something 170 feet away from him is, hopefully, not in melee with him.

[FireSpark]

Okay, here come my opinions.

Q1: It says that it strikes as a force effect. Besides ignoring miss chance of incorporeal creatures what other benefits does it have? Does it ignore armor and shield bonuses to AC or have I just mixed this up with Brilliant Weapon property.

Standard force effects apply, with the no missing incorporeals being the main thing.

Q2: It says it uses your BAB which allows it to make additional attacks. What happens if you alter your BAB with Divine Power spell? Does it use your normal BAB or altered? If it uses your altered BAB what would happen if you cast Spiritual Weapon first and then Divine Power?

Usually, magical changes to a character's attributes aren't considered "physical" unless it specifically says, but I see what you mean with the Divine Power spell. I agree with daggaz, in that whatever your BAB was at the time of casting, should be the BAB used for the spell effect. (That goes for your wisdom modifier too, which is also included in determining Spiritual Weapon's AB. All that means though is that you need to cast owl's wisdom and divine power first, then cast spirital weapon.

Q3: It says: "... even if its a ranged weapon, use the spell's range, not the weapon's normal range increment ...". Does this mean it can attack targets outside the spell's range (attack someone who is more than 100 + 10/level feet away from you)? For example you are level 5 Cleric (so the range for the spell is 150 feet), BBEG is standing 200 feet away from you and you summon Spiritual Weapon somewhere between the two of you, say 100 feet away from you and 100 feet away from the BBEG. Can the weapon strike him or not?

What this means is that the weapon's total range is equal to the spell's range limit. In this case 100 feet plus 10 feet per caster level. What this means is essentially the weapon can sit in one spot and hit anything in that range. However the limits on how close it has to remain near you would still apply.

Q4: (Related to Q3) Does the spell's range move with you or not?

The spell says "If the weapon goes beyond the spell range, if it goes out of your sight, or if you are not directing it, the weapon returns to you and hovers.". 'Nuff said.

Q5: As I understand it the weapon you bring to existence strikes from distance whether it is or it isn't a ranged weapon (I'm asking this because in the earlier campaign DM ruled that it strikes in melee and this was very annoying because I could move it only at my base land speed and it took my move action for the round to do that .... gaaaah).

It has no speed actually. "Each round after the first, you can use a move action to redirect the weapon to a new target. If you do not, the weapon continues to attack the previous round’s target. On any round that the weapon switches targets, it gets one attack."

That last little part in bold prevents you from redirectin the weapon and still get a full attack. So the spell has already taken the whole move problem out. And seeing as how it is simply a pure force effect, the weapon wouldn't have any issue with a move speed anyway.


Hope this helps, course you may not agree, but there's my opinion anyways.