Spiritual Weapon question

[Jeff Clem]

My character worships a god but I don't use his favorite weapon, I use a Nodachi as my main weapon.

Now Spiritual Weapon says in the first few sentences:

A weapon made of force appears and attacks foes at a distance, as you direct it, dealing 1d8 force damage per hit, + 1 point per three caster levels (maximum +5 at 15th level). The weapon takes the shape of a weapon favored by your deity or a weapon with some spiritual significance or symbolism to you (see below) and has the same threat range and critical multipliers as a real weapon of its form.

My nodachi is the spiritual significance as a katana is to a Samurai. Could I use that as the representation my character using Spiritual Weapon spell.

[Cheapy]

Ask your GM?

It's your Deity granting you the spell, remember.

[Honorable Goblin]

PRD wrote:

Spiritual Weapon
School evocation [force]; Level cleric 2
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, DF
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Effect magic weapon of force
Duration 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance yes

A weapon made of force appears and attacks foes at a distance, as you direct it, dealing 1d8 force damage per hit, + 1 point per three caster levels (maximum +5 at 15th level). The weapon takes the shape of a weapon favored by your deity or a weapon with some spiritual significance or symbolism to you (see below) and has the same threat range and critical multipliers as a real weapon of its form.

*Snip*

The weapon that you get is often a force replica of your deity's own personal weapon. A cleric without a deity gets a weapon based on his alignment. A neutral cleric without a deity can create a spiritual weapon of any alignment, provided he is acting at least generally in accord with that alignment at the time. The weapons associated with each alignment are as follows: chaos (battleaxe), evil (light flail), good (warhammer), law (longsword).

Emphasis mine. The "weapon with some spiritual significance or symbolism to you (see below)" refers to the weapon taking the shape of an "alignment's" weapon. It takes the shape of your deities favored weapon. Period. If you don't worship a deity, then it takes the shape of either a battle axe, light flail, warhammer, or longsword depending on your alignment. You only have a choice of what shape it takes if you don't worship a deity and you're an extreme alignment (LG, CG, CE, LE) or True Neutral (and are "acting at least generally in accord with that alignment at the time").

You could ask your GM, but the rules are pretty clear.

[Claxon]

Ultimately ask your GM. Hardline RAW I think the spiritual significance part only comes into play if you don't have a deity you worship, and that if you worship a deity you will get their favored weapon.

Because the damage of the spell is set, I would hesitate to allow you to use it as nodachi due to the increased critical range that the weapon surely has versus whatever your deity's favored weapon is. In general, favored weapons are lackluster compared to other options and thats part of the trade off for getting other bonuses available to characters with deities.

Edit: Honroably Ninja'd and by a superior reply from the Honorable Goblin.

So it would seem, no, the nodachi is not an option at all.

You get deity's favored weapon or a battleaxe, longsword, light flail, or warhammer based on your alignment.

[Jeff Clem]

There are gods that have favorite weapons with the same threat range ex: scimitar, kurkri katana. Since these weapons also crit on 18-20 the the damage is set by the spell at a d8 +1 per level, using the nodachi as my Spiritual Weapon would be more for looks than for getting a higher threat range. I'll ask my GM and see what he says.

[Claxon]

Jeff Clem wrote:

There are gods that have favorite weapons with the same threat range ex: scimitar, kurkri katana. Since these weapons also crit on 18-20 the the damage is set by the spell at a d8 +1 per level, using the nodachi as my Spiritual Weapon would be more for looks than for getting a higher threat range. I'll ask my GM and see what he says.

There are gods with those weapons as favored weapons sure, but are they your god?

[Jeff Clem]

I posted this question before I made my choice.

[LazarX]

Jeff Clem wrote:

My character worships a god but I don't use his favorite weapon, I use a Nodachi as my main weapon.

Now Spiritual Weapon says in the first few sentences:

A weapon made of force appears and attacks foes at a distance, as you direct it, dealing 1d8 force damage per hit, + 1 point per three caster levels (maximum +5 at 15th level). The weapon takes the shape of a weapon favored by your deity or a weapon with some spiritual significance or symbolism to you (see below) and has the same threat range and critical multipliers as a real weapon of its form.

My nodachi is the spiritual significance as a katana is to a Samurai. Could I use that as the representation my character using Spiritual Weapon spell.

In a home camapaign, it's up to your DM. In PFS the answer is no.