Confusion regarding spell rolls

[Ectar]

There are a lot of words dedicated to spell rolls, but only 5 spells and powers use this mechanic in any way.

Ancestral surge, Black tentacles, Charming words, Illusory creature, and Telekinetic maneuver.

Ancestral surge can give a bonus to OTHER spell rolls, to let's throw that one out. Charming words gives your foe a bonus to spell rolls if they crit succeed the save, so let's throw that one out, too.

That leaves 3: black tentacles, illusory creature, and telekinetic maneuver. These spells make admittedly good use of the mechanic, functioning as a sort of spell attack, but using your spellcasting stat.
However, all of these spells are on the arcane and occult lists, only. So clerics, druids, and ~1/2 of sorcerers gain proficiency in spell rolls, with literally no way to use this proficiency.

Upon first read-though I had thought spell rolls were synonymous with spell attacks, but now I believe this to not be the case, as melee spell attacks are specified to have the finesse property.

As is, the spell roll mechanic seems like a big waste of book space. Maybe the final release will have more spells that use this mechanic. Or maybe I misunderstood these rolls entirely. I'd actually love it if that were the case.

edit: Spell rolls are also used when trying to decide if you can cast a spell while stupified.
3 poisons, 2 bombs, stunning fist, 5 spells, and 2 monster abilities can make a PC stupified, though one of those requires forming a bond with a succubus first.

[JRutterbush]

Spell rolls are the new mechanic for caster level checks, which were also not used very commonly in PF1 either, but they were still necessary. Also, Spell Rolls will be used when attempting to counteract effects (page 319) where your spell's level isn't higher than the targeted effect's level, which includes things like counterspelling and remove X spells.

[Unicore]

Hero lab online is apparently listing Spell roll modifier as the number you use for making spell attacks. I foresee a lot of confusion coming up over this as people start playing their games.

[Unicore]

There is also this: [ulr=http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2v8ks&page=10?Pregen-previews-over-at-ENWorld#454] link [/ulr]

but that was from before the play test released.

[Xenocrat]

Your spell roll is you level + spellcasting proficiency. It adds to your spellcasting modifier to determine spell DCs, and to your dex or strength to determine spell attack rolls with ranged or touch attacks.