Spiritual Weapon: how much can it see?

[smetzger]

2) No (probably). The spiritual weapon does not actually threaten an area, so I would say no AoO. But ruling the other way seems reasonable too.

There is no indication in the rules that the weapon does not threaten an area. The spell description is silent in this area. It only mentions that the weapon doesn't get a flanking bonus and doesn't provide a flanking bonus to someone on the 'other side'.

 

[Herpes Cineplex]

The rules may not say a 1st-lvl spell can be used to trump a 2nd-lvl spell, but they do say when making new spells that a spell should not duplicate a spell already in existence (i.e. using Spiritual Weapon as a de facto Faerie Fire or Glitterdust spell).

Ah, but it's hardly a de facto Faerie Fire or Glitterdust spell. Both of those spells reveal the invisible creature to everyone: now everyone knows where it is and gets to attack it normally, without suffering the 50% miss chance for total concealment.

Allowing Spiritual Weapon to continue to follow its target after he goes invisible (provided he doesn't lead the weapon to a place where the caster can no longer see it or leave the spell's range) would only allow everyone to make a really good guess at where the invisible creature is. If they want to attack it, they'll suffer the normal 50% miss chance, because they can't actually see the target: only the thing attacking it.

I figure you and I must have played in fairly different games; the ones I've played in have hardly convinced me that Spiritual Weapon is a particularly overpowered spell even if it's allowed to stay on its target even through invisibility, or that knowing where the invisible guy is but still getting the total concealment miss chance is as much of as an advantage as being able to clearly see him.

The particular circumstances being looked at in this thread (spiritual weapon targets visible enemy, enemy casts invisibility) would be pretty rare, I think, and the spell description itself provides the invisible guy with an easy out: he just has to go somewhere that the spiritual weapon can't go, and it will lose him as a target (and if the caster can't see the invisible guy after that, he won't be able to direct the weapon to start attacking him again).

--
but hey, whatever works for you

 

[shilsen]

There is no indication in the rules that the weapon does not threaten an area. The spell description is silent in this area. It only mentions that the weapon doesn't get a flanking bonus and doesn't provide a flanking bonus to someone on the 'other side'.

Fair enough. But unless a spell says that it threatens, I assume it doesn't (since spell effects usually do not). YMMV.