11
\$\begingroup\$

The Great Weapon Master feat (PHB, p. 167) says:

  • Before you make a melee attack with a heavy weapon that you are proficient with, you can choose to take a -5 penalty to the attack roll. If the attack hits, you add +10 to the attack's damage.

The Spiritual Weapon spell description reads:

You create a floating, spectral weapon within range that lasts for the duration or until you cast this spell again. When you cast the spell, you can make a melee spell attack against a creature within 5 feet of the weapon. [...] The weapon can take whatever form you choose.

Does the chosen form determine the stats of the weapon (and therefore grant the Heavy attribute that allows the listed GWM benefit to be used), or is it just a cosmetic decision?

\$\endgroup\$
1

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
18
\$\begingroup\$

No

From the spell's description (emphasis mine):

The weapon can take whatever form you choose. Clerics of deities who are associated with a particular weapon (as St. Cuthbert is known for his mace and Thor for his hammer) make this spell's effect resemble that weapon.

Unfortunately, Spiritual Weapon only takes the form of a weapon, not its statistics. So the spiritual weapon does not gain attributes like Heavy, Reach, etc. It just looks like whatever weapon you choose. (Note that the damage dice are independent of the original weapon as well.)

\$\endgroup\$
2
  • 3
    \$\begingroup\$ That was a thought I had, too, but I realized that Warlock's Pact of the Blade says " You can choose the form that this melee weapon takes each time you create it." It never explicitly calls out stats either, but the implication is that the stats would match the chosen form. One would assume the two summoned weapons would be treated in the same way, barring an explicit rule that contradicts this assumption. \$\endgroup\$
    – Rykara
    Commented Apr 18, 2019 at 21:33
  • 5
    \$\begingroup\$ @Rykara: The key might be that the details of the weapons are only given in the weapons table/section, so the stats of those weapons must be there; in contrast, spiritual weapon tells you the damage it does and how it works, overruling any specific stats regarding such weapons. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Apr 18, 2019 at 22:03

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .