If the designated target of a spiritual weapon becomes invisible does the weapon still get to make attacks on that target?
What if the target moves?
Is the spiritual weapon affected by concealment effects?
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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If the designated target of a spiritual weapon becomes invisible does the weapon still get to make attacks on that target?
Yes. Invis doesn't prevent attacks, it just provides concealment (50% miss chance).
What if the target moves?
The SW continues attacking unless the target moves out of spell range. It even gets to full attack after the first round regardless of the target's movement.
Is the spiritual weapon affected by concealment effects?
Yes.
The interesting question is let's say the caster gets hit with a fog cloud so now he can't see the target, but the SW and the target are outside of it. You could make the ruling that the concealment applies to the attack rolls because the caster's ability to guide it is impaired. At first you'd say the SW shouldn't suffer a penalty because once you cast it, it goes into kind of an independent targeting mode.
The problem is that let's say you cast see invisibility, true strike, true seeing, or something similar on yourself and then cast SW and try to attack a concealed/invis target. In this case, the caster would probably argue that their ability to see the target should allow the SW to avoid the concealment miss chance.
The spell does say "your feats and combat actions do not affect the weapon" - perhaps this would include spells you cast on yourself like the above. It's not entirely clear.
As a side note, if a SW "goes out of your sight" it returns to you and hovers rather than attacking, so if your line of sight to the SW itself (not the target) is broken, it breaks off the attack. So, running into an obscuring mist or the like would cause any SWs attacking you to break off and return to base, so to speak.
Oddly, though, it also says it returns to hover by you "if you are not directing it," even though the spell doesn't require you to direct it other than at the point of casting and during a round when you change targets as a move action. Otherwise, it continues attacking the original target... or maybe it returns to you.
Hmmm... ambiguity again.
Two sessions ago we had an invisible opponent and an unconscious cleric, all within one casting of spiritual weapon. After review and discussion, I came to the following conclusions:
1. The weapon attacks autonomously. It's an extesion of your faith, and that's why it requires line of sight; but it exists and operates through the favor of your deity. You are not personally controlling its every move. In essence, it's actually the weapon which needs to see you, not vice versa. (By this ruling, you could use it while blinded if you have a way to pinpoint a target.)
2. It does not suffer a miss chance because it does not rely on sight to make its attacks. It cannot gain or suffer from any status, neither on itself nor on the target; divine will guides its strikes, limited only by the mortal conduit which called it forth. Invisibility does not fool it, nor do illusions. Such magic can prevent the caster from selecting a target in the first place, but it "locks on" once given a valid directive.
3. If it has a directive, you are directing it. You do not need to consciously repeat that directive each round: no actions, not even free actions, are required for continued attacks. If you fall unconscious it will continue to attack its current target.
#1 and #3 are interpretations of the spell's theme, and a rigid RAW reading would invalidate them based on the line-of-sight issue. #2, however - which is what this thread's about - seems pretty cut-and-dry to me. Nowhere does the spell ask for line of sight to the target: only the weapon matters, and that doesn't make it invisible.
Thanks guys. That is how I interpreted it myself but some of my players disagree.
Do you know of any official ruling?
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When in doubt, Ask a Kobold!
Now obviously that article doesn't deal with the problem at paw/hand/spectral mace but it's an example of the work that Skip Williams is continuing from is ever so fantastic Ask a Sage days for TSR. He's even decided to start asking questions about the Pathfinder RPG!
Ask him via an email at tsrsage@aol.com.
He has helped me with a few questions I've been having about the current editions and the editions of the past. Just remember to be polite. :)
Thanks. I have done just that!
We had the same thing come up in our session verse the Scribbler. Just decided on a 50% miss chance. Didn't matter much, turns out he was weak to Fireball + Rod of Maximize, lesser followed by a Sudden Quickened Maximized Fireball. Who knew really.
Necreothread.
I have a question, if the casters in invisible, would cast spiritual weapon end the invisibility?
Yes.
From Invisibility (Spell Description):
The spell ends if the subject attacks any creature. For purposes of this spell, an attack includes any spell targeting a foe or whose area or effect includes a foe.
You have to specify the target of Spiritual Weapon so it is considered an attack.