Does a tower shield give you total cover against Spiritual Weapon?

[Noumenon]

Assuming that the side of your square you pick to have total cover is facing the caster, since Spiritual Weapon strikes from the direction of the caster. (You still pick a side of your square, right?)

 

[Vegepygmy]

Assuming that the side of your square you pick to have total cover is facing the caster, since Spiritual Weapon strikes from the direction of the caster. (You still pick a side of your square, right?)

If you're using the "rules" for tower shields in the FAQ, yes, you pick a side of your square, but then the following applies:

If a magical attack has you as a specific target (that is it does not merely affect the area that contains you but is aimed right at you), the shield has no effect. All rays fall into this category, as does any spell that has a Target entry in its header and any spell that has an Effect entry and affects creatures (provided, of course, that the attacker can and does choose the shield user as a target).​

Spiritual weapon has an Effect entry and affects creatures, so the tower shield would have no effect.

If you're not using the "rules" in the FAQ, then you don't have to pick a side of your square, and the tower shield is ineffective only against targeted spells (which spiritual weapon is not), so it would provide total cover against spiritual weapon.

 

[Noumenon]

If you're using the "rules" for tower shields in the FAQ, yes, you pick a side of your square, but then the following applies:

If a magical attack has you as a specific target (that is it does not merely affect the area that contains you but is aimed right at you), the shield has no effect. All rays fall into this category, as does any spell that has a Target entry in its header and any spell that has an Effect entry and affects creatures (provided, of course, that the attacker can and does choose the shield user as a target).​

Spiritual weapon has an Effect entry and affects creatures, so the tower shield would have no effect.

If you're not using the "rules" in the FAQ, then you don't have to pick a side of your square, and the tower shield is ineffective only against targeted spells (which spiritual weapon is not), so it would provide total cover against spiritual weapon.

Thanks for clarifying that the side of square rules are different and separate from the PHB rules. I like the side of square rules, but not the Effect rule you quote that goes with it. All the Effects I can think of are the sort of thing that you'd definitely expect a tower shield to protect against: Scorching Ray, Acid Arrow, Flame Blade, Spiritual Weapon. The Pathfinder tower shield rules keep the side of square but not the Effect limitation, so I'm going with those.