hi everyone! qiuck question, can spiritual weapon attack a foe if he was visible but then turned invisible? does the weapon return to the caster or can it continue to attack?
My gaming group say yes! but i disagree!
your thoughts please!
hi everyone! qiuck question, can spiritual weapon attack a foe if he was visible but then turned invisible? does the weapon return to the caster or can it continue to attack?
My gaming group say yes! but i disagree!
your thoughts please!
Spiritual Weapon, like most spells with a target, requires you to see your target when cast and will continue attacking until the target is out of range, you can no longer see the weapon, or you switch opponents. IMO it will keep attacking even if you can't see the opponent. However, if it is switched off of the invisible opponent, it can't be switched back.
IMO a Spiritual Weapon can keep attacking the square you think the invisible creature is in. However, it suffers the miss chance of a normal creature attacking an ivisible foe. If the caster has See Invis or True See then there is no miss chance. This seems, to me, to be the fairest way to play.
igi
I would say "no".
The spell description does not say anything about the spiritual weapon having unusual perceptions (i.e. darkvision, blindsense, etc.) so I think we have to assume that it has either no senses (i.e. it is dependent on your instructions and perception) or that it has the "standard" perception of a human.
As a DM, I would tend to rule that the spiritual weapon has the same senses like the caster. That way a spiritual weapon summoned by a drow or an orc in a pitchblack room can still attack its target and if you have a "see invisibility" spell running, then your weapon can still attack invisible foes.
Otherwise it can only attack what you can see yourself in the same round as the weapon attacks (and not what you can see when it is summoned).
Bocklin
But you can attack things you can't see in the game. The spiritual weapon attacks the same square, but gets a 50% miss chance because it can't see the target. If the target then changes squares, the caster would have to direct the spirtual weapon to attack a new square (requiring the normal move action to switch targets).
I guess that I would accept that. The weapon keeps on attacking the same square until you take the necessary Move Action to direct it to attack another creature (or square).
It probably does not help anyway since an invisible creature is unlikely to stay in the same spot for long.
Bocklin
But you can attack things you can't see in the game. The spiritual weapon attacks the same square, but gets a 50% miss chance because it can't see the target. If the target then changes squares, the caster would have to direct the spirtual weapon to attack a new square (requiring the normal move action to switch targets).
This is how I would run it in my game.
-Rath
Another question that I have had about spiritual weapon (God, I love using complicated spells like tht, but hate having to decipher the mechanics!) is whether or not it has a move speed. When you direct it, does it automatically travel to any square within range, without consideration for travel time? Or have people decided on a "movement speed" for the weapon?
From the PHB:
'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 only gets one attack(as opposed to a full attack)
Based on this, I would say that:
- Yes, the weapon will still attack an invisible foe if the caster does not otherwise direct it to attack another target; the weapon will be subject to the 50% miss chance for full concealment.
- As long as the weapon remains within the range as stated by the rules, there is no "movement rate" of the weapon; it will fly near-instantaneously to the next designated target, as would a Mage Hand, scrying point or other spell-based directed point of reference.
This, however, does NOT imply an ability to Charge, Bull Rush or take any other action inferred by a fast-moving mass, since this is a weightless force effect.
M