In tonight session my cleric casted a SW against a guard that had cover. We are unsure of if the SW is subjected to cover modifiers or not. The Dm ruled that since the description of the spell says it's a ranged weapon, cover should kick in. Is that the correct interpretation?
A Spiritual Weapon takes the form of the weapon significant to your deity. If your deity's weapon is a ranged weapon, like Erastil with the Longbow or Abadar with the Crossbow, then that's one thing.
If it is a melee weapon, then it would not get cover (as it's a melee weapon) then you'd need to read what happens if it goes out of sight.
Mmm...When I read the text of the spell, it seems to me that the spell doesn't take into account if the deity's weapon is a ranged or a melee one. In fact the spell description states that this is a ranged spell. I know other ranged spells take cover into account, mainly ray ones, so I suppose this one behaves the same, but tbh I haven't found any info on this. Any more opinions?
The spell effects takes your deity's favored weapon into account (see below).
The weapon that you get is often a force replica of your deity's own personal weapon.
Depending on what type of favored weapon your deity has, it could either be a ranged weapon or a melee weapon, which would have cover implications (see below).
Even if the spiritual weapon is a ranged weapon, use the spell's range, not the weapon's normal range increment, and switching targets still is a move action.
Ok, I think I understand now. So if my deity's weapon is a melee weapon (my cleric follows Gorum) it will attack as a melee weapon. I suppose it will do that attacking at the same space where the creature is, and unless he is crouching on a low wall he won't have any advantages from cover, is that right?