My cloistered cleric will soon hit level 3 and I was wondering about spiritual weapon.
The damage will probably be one dice lower than any martial (since they'll get runes next level) and accuracy will be lagging as well.
Even if I heighten it later, it will do better damage but the accuracy will still be very low.
Sooo... do you actually use it in battle ? Are you successful with it ?
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I've seen a number of clerics using it, and despite the modifiers being on par with the martial characters, it was been woefully ineffective. I do not have any explanation for it, just that I find it odd given how math works. It should be just as effective or moreso than the cleric swinging a weapon in combat and Spell Attack should be similar to a martial character making a Strike. They just seem to miss much more often than martial Strikes. Just my anecdotal experience.
While not the strongest spell out there, it has a few things going for it.
First, it has a range of 120 feet. That's the range of a lightning bolt.
Second, you can immediately change targets every round, instead of say Flaming Sphere, which you have to physically roll across the room (it also has a much shorter range).
It uses MAP, but you probably aren't taking a swing most rounds anyways.
It could conceivably deal 10d8+40 damage over the life of the spell, which is pretty good for a level 2 spell.
It is a spell attack roll, which you usually want to avoid BUT! Since it's a new attack every round, the whole spell isn't wasted on a single bad roll like say acid arrow.
It makes a much better third action then spamming shield.
EDIT: Also at 1d8+4 your damage will easily outpace most weapons at this level.
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Also it is force damage, which can help versus some opponents.
I tried it once and then decided that I will only use it again in special cases, mainly because of the to-hit issues and the need for sustain (in order to not lose the spell), which is often killing my already tight action economy.
Also it is force damage, which can help versus some opponents.
I missed this my first read through. This will be super helpful against the occasional incorporeal creature.
Also it gives the option for normal weapon damage or force damage. Options are good.
Fine spell, a good ranged option for damage (so I wouldn't take it in a team of archers/blasters).
Would not Heighten, as its gains are mediocre if that, so the damage will cease to be worth the action maintaining it. It has its window of usage.
Spiritual Weapon is nice at level 3-4. It's issue is it's hard to use it as you have to sustain it every round. But if you are in the proper situation to use it, it's quite nice. At higher levels, it can't compete, though.
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One niche use is that it counts as a strike for purposes of the oracle battle mysery. Letting you avoid the AC penalty even when goes are far.
I have a cloistered cleric of Iomedae in one party I run for who enjoys her Spiritual Weapon. She likes to heighten it for the added damage, finding the level 2 damage to be not enough to bother with. She is level 8 now and hasn’t used it yet this level, not sure if it’s out of her rotation or she just hasn’t felt the need to use it yet.
It's nicely slot efficient, which is handy if you're worried about conserving those or if you have some one action holes in your combat routine you wanna plug.
As with every spell attack, accuracy issues are the bane of its existence, but at the very least it sticks around for a while.
It's a nice choice for a bard, too, as it benefits from Inspire Courage and you can move in the same turn you strike with it while continuing a composition.
Seems to be pretty solid the longer the battle goes on. You could say cast Harm or another 2 action spell like Command (anything other than attack trait spells) and continue sustaining Spiritual weapon safely in the backline effectively casting two spells each round. I don't know what else your character does but you could move to position yourself/Demoralize/Sustain also.