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I do not have my books handy, so if there is an obvious solution to the following issue, forgive me.
I was running a game last night where the player group faced off against a squad of Hobgoblin soldiers in the woods. I allowed one player, whose character was absent from the conflict to play the squad's sergeant. My issue is this.
At the onset of the combat the party cleric cast spiritual weapon at the Hobgoblin sergeant. The sergeant, it's player thinking fast, instructed one of the Hobgoblin regulars to interpose themselves between him and the sword. To in effect, kill the spiritual weapon. The regular did not have an issue doing this until a couple rounds later when the spiritual longsword struck him when it's attack role was within the 4 points that he was providing the sergeant.
What do you think of this? Is there anything in the rules that expressly forbids this? Have you seen this situation before?
Thanks for the input.
Tam
I'm not totally sure I understand you here. You're saying that the hobgoblin was providing his sergeant with soft cover, and you're using the 'attacks can hit soft cover' variant rule out of the DMG, right? I'm not sure what your question is.
However, I will point out that, under the RAW, as spiritual weapon creates a magical melee weapon, soft cover does not apply. Soft cover only works against ranged attacks. And, spiritual weapon states: "It strikes the opponent you designate..."
There's no way, that I can see, that the regular could prevent the spiritual weapon from attacking its intended target. The spiritual weapon can't be attacked or harmed by physical attacks, so it would ignore any attempt to block, parry, or sunder. If anything, the regular would do nothing except perhaps provoke attacks of opportunity from the spiritual weapon (I'm not sure if it would get to make them or not... anyone know?).
TK
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Below are some relevant chunks from the text of the spell on the SRD. I agree w/Thanis (except re: attacks of opportunity, it doesn't get those) and have bolded the language that supports his arguments.
It strikes the opponent you designate, starting with one attack in the round the spell is cast and continuing each round thereafter on your turn. It uses your base attack bonus (possibly allowing it multiple attacks per round in subsequent rounds) plus your Wisdom modifier as its attack bonus. It strikes as a spell, not as a weapon, so, for example, it can damage creatures that have damage reduction. As a force effect, it can strike incorporeal creatures without the normal miss chance associated with incorporeality. The weapon always strikes from your direction. It does not get a flanking bonus or help a combatant get one. Your feats or combat actions do not affect the weapon. 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.A spiritual weapon cannot be attacked or harmed by physical attacks, but dispel magic, disintegrate, a sphere of annihilation, or a rod of cancellation affects it. A spiritual weapon’s AC against touch attacks is 12 (10 + size bonus for Tiny object).
The weapon basically appears on the same 5' square as the target. You can't really interpose someone between you and the spiritual weapon for the same reason you can't interpose someone between you and any other melee attacker. Maybe if the hobgoblin minion grappled his leader, I could see making a check to see which target is hit, but otherwise, the spiritual weapon stays too close to its target to be effected.
I have just had a quick glance through some books and cant find anything that says you cant do this as the weapon strikes from the direction of the caster so any intervening things will provide cover ect
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Here's a diagram to help:
S
XXX
C
S is the shaman, C is the cleric. The X's represent the three spaces in front of the shaman (keep in mind that there are 3 spaces above those X's also).
The hammer doesn't take up a space, but let's pretend it does. So, it looks like this:
S
XwX
C
So, the Shaman gets the bright idea of moving 5' back and having the grunt get in the way. Like this:
S
XGX
w
Well, on the cleric's turn, the weapon just moves like this:
S
wGX
And if that doesn't work, it moves into the space above the grunt's head.
All of this assumes the weapon takes up a 5x5 space. It doesn't, and it gets even harder to see how, short of hugging the shaman, the grunt can interpose himself.
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I have just had a quick glance through some books and cant find anything that says you cant do this as the weapon strikes from the direction of the caster so any intervening things will provide cover ect
I agree with Thanis and Sebastian. I think that the "weapon strikes from the direction of the caster" is an emphasis on the caster has to see the creature, the caster has no say in what side the weapon is striking from, and that the weapon gets no flanking bonus. Otherwise any creature can just run up to a hedge or tree (or wall, etc.) and the weapon wouldn't be able to hit it.
I have just had a quick glance through some books and cant find anything that says you cant do this as the weapon strikes from the direction of the caster so any intervening things will provide cover ect
Not really. The weapon appears next to the intended target and starts attacking immediately. A solid physical object, such as a pillar, could grant the target a +2 bonus from cover, and the regular could "aid another" on his commander's AC (as long as he stood next to his commander), but otherwise there's not much that can ward off the weapon from directly attacking its target.