Spiritual Weapon: which spells and effects do affect it?

[Gray Warden]

Given the following FAQ:

FAQ wrote:

Ray: Do rays count as weapons for the purpose of spells and effects that affect weapons?

Yes. (See also this FAQ item for a similar question about rays and weapon feats.)

For example, a bard's inspire courage says it affects "weapon damage rolls," which is worded that way so don't try to add the bonus to a spell like fireball. However, rays are treated as weapons, whether they're from spells, a monster ability, a class ability, or some other source, so the inspire courage bonus applies to ray attack rolls and ray damage rolls.

The same rule applies to weapon-like spells such as flame blade, mage's sword, and spiritual weapon--effects that affect weapons work on these spells.

Which spells do affect it? Here is a short list:

- Divine Favor (on the caster)
- Haste (on the caster)
- (Greater) Magic Weapon (on the Spiritual Weapon)
- Instrument of Agony (on the Spiritual Weapon)

Additionally, does the caster's Size modifier affect the Spiritual Weapon's attack roll?

[Gray Warden]

Any ideas?

[Cevah]

Gray Warden wrote:

Given the following FAQ:

...

Which spells do affect it? Here is a short list:

- Divine Favor (on the caster)
- Haste (on the caster)
- (Greater) Magic Weapon (on the Spiritual Weapon)
- Instrument of Agony (on the Spiritual Weapon)

Additionally, does the caster's Size modifier affect the Spiritual Weapon's attack roll?

Spiritual Weapon: It strikes as a spell, not as a weapon

Inspire Courage: +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls -- Adds to attack, but not damage since Spiritual Weapon is a spell and not a weapon.
Divine Favor: +1 luck bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls -- Adds to attack, but not damage since Spiritual Weapon is a spell and not a weapon.
Haste: +1 bonus on attack rolls -- Adds to attack but not damage, and does not grant an extra attack to the Spiritual Weapon.
(Greater) Magic-Weapon: Target weapon touched & Target one weapon -- Since Spiritual Weapon is not a weapon, these spells do not apply.
Instrument of Agony: Target weapon touched -- Since Spiritual Weapon is not a weapon, these spells do not apply.

The spell Summon Ancestral Guardian, however, states: deal physical damage (bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing, according to the weapon the spirit wields) instead of force damage. could be argued to be weapon damage.

/cevah

[Morganstern]

Cevah wrote:

Gray Warden wrote:

Given the following FAQ:

...

Which spells do affect it? Here is a short list:

- Divine Favor (on the caster)
- Haste (on the caster)
- (Greater) Magic Weapon (on the Spiritual Weapon)
- Instrument of Agony (on the Spiritual Weapon)

Additionally, does the caster's Size modifier affect the Spiritual Weapon's attack roll?

Spiritual Weapon: It strikes as a spell, not as a weapon

Inspire Courage: +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls -- Adds to attack, but not damage since Spiritual Weapon is a spell and not a weapon.
Divine Favor: +1 luck bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls -- Adds to attack, but not damage since Spiritual Weapon is a spell and not a weapon.
Haste: +1 bonus on attack rolls -- Adds to attack but not damage, and does not grant an extra attack to the Spiritual Weapon.
(Greater) Magic-Weapon: Target weapon touched & Target one weapon -- Since Spiritual Weapon is not a weapon, these spells do not apply.
Instrument of Agony: Target weapon touched -- Since Spiritual Weapon is not a weapon, these spells do not apply.

The spell Summon Ancestral Guardian, however, states: deal physical damage (bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing, according to the weapon the spirit wields) instead of force damage. could be argued to be weapon damage.

/cevah

Given the bolded part of the faq, spiritual weapon would benefit from bardic inspiration as they called out. This could also mean that bonuses to the caster's attack and damage from spells like Haste and Divine Favor could also apply, though spells such as Greater Magic Weapon, Instrument of Agony and Weapon of Awe would not work, as they target a specific weapon and not the caster.

[Cevah]

Divine Favor states: The bonus doesn’t apply to spell damage. No change for this spell.
Haste does not give a damage bonus.
Weapon of Awe: Targets weapon touched -- Since Spiritual Weapon is not a weapon, these spells do not apply.

/cevah

[Lelomenia]

Cevah wrote:

Divine Favor states: The bonus doesn’t apply to spell damage. No change for this spell.

Haste does not give a damage bonus.
Weapon of Awe: Targets weapon touched -- Since Spiritual Weapon is not a weapon, these spells do not apply.

/cevah

The FAQ in the OP says “Spells that affect weapons work on the spell Spiritual Weapon”, so I disagree with your reasoning on Weapon of Awe. I’m not sure you can touch it though, which would prevent it from being targeted.

[Cevah]

As the Spiritual Weapon calls out that it strikes as a spell, it is clear it is not striking as a weapon. This means any bonus to weapon damage will not apply. The spell is affected by inspire courage, per the FAQ, but in a limited way as I indicated.

/cevah

[Dragonboxer]

I disagree with the argument that spiritual weapon is not a weapon.
The spell states clearly in the first sentence that it summons a weapon of force. So just because a weapon STRIKES as a spell, does not mean it ceases to BE a weapon. Those are two different things.

As for the wording of the spell, and its interaction with other things, such as spells, abilities, items, etc...it gets more complicated.

The faq certainly indicates that spiritual weapon IS on pathfinder's official weaponlike spell list. Normally feats would apply to the weapon and its damage.

However the spell's wording specifically refutes that. So Weapon Focus, Improved Critical...none of these apply.

Feats that modify the spell itself would most likely still apply, such as Toppling spell, Empower Spell, etc.

The faq 'seems' to indicate that Inspire Courage works on the weapon damage from that spell as though you were the wielder of the spell, despite the spell's wording stating that IT attacks instead of you. This is a direct conflict.

There are 2 possible obvious conclusions:

1) The faq is worded poorly, and while Inspire Courage may affect most weapon-like spells, spiritual weapon is an exception (due to the fact that it attacks by itself without you wielding it)

or

2) The spell itself is worded poorly, and the faq clears up that mistake (as faqs often due). Perhaps the designer's intention was for the spell to say that "YOU attack with that spiritual weapon, using your BAB...."

If Interpretation #1 is correct, I would say there isn't much that affects the spiritual weapon, aside from spells and Non-feat abilities that affect weapons directly (such as your Magic Weapon, Instrument of Agony, etc)

If Interpretation #2 is correct, All spells/effects/non-feat abilities that affect the Caster would also work.

Potentially, spells cast on the spiritual weapon might be deemed "combat actions" and might not work as well.

The one thing I can tell you for certain is that the size of the caster herself does NOT affect the spell.