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The Order Domain cleric's 1st-level Voice of Authority feature gives one ally a bonus attack. It reads as follows:

You can invoke the power of law to embolden an ally to attack. If you cast a spell with a spell slot of 1st level or higher and target an ally with the spell, that ally can use their reaction immediately after the spell to make one weapon attack against a creature of your choice that you can see.

If the spell targets more than one ally, you choose the ally who can make the attack.

If I use an area-of-effect spell that includes them, does it count as targeting them? If so, would I have to center the spell on them? Or is it limited to spells that specify a certain number of targets?

How about spiritual weapon? If I target them with the spiritual weapon, would they get an attack?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Could you edit in some of the official descriptions for the spells/items you're mentioning? That'd make the question a lot clearer for other readers :) \$\endgroup\$
    – Jesse
    Commented Dec 10, 2018 at 9:53
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    \$\begingroup\$ Also, is this the UA version or the official GGtR version of the Order Domain? \$\endgroup\$
    – NathanS
    Commented Dec 10, 2018 at 10:57

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The Order Domain cleric's Voice of Authority feature (Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica, p. 26) specifically says:

If you cast a spell with a spell slot of 1st level or higher and target an ally with the spell,

It doesn’t specify that the spell must have a positive effect, so any spell that targets a “creature” could be used to trigger the feature. It also doesn’t specify that the spell must target only an ally. On the subject of area of effect spells, the feature also says:

If the spell targets more than one ally, you choose the ally who can make the attack.

This means that spells that target multiple creatures are fine. So if a spell has multiple targets, the spell would trigger if one or more of them are allies, and if there are more than one, you choose which ally.

In the case of spiritual weapon, however, there's some ambiguity. According to Jeremy Crawford, lots of things can count as the "target" of a spell; this reddit post includes a good summary of his comments from this episode of the official D&D podcast, but in short, it's pretty broad. A spell like spiritual weapon initially targets a point, and creates the weapon there, but then the weapon - and by extension the spell - targets creatures for attacks.

That sort of usage is subject to interpretation by your Dungeon Master, who will probably be guided by the fairly clear intent of the spell - that it's an extra bonus for allies buffed by a spell cast by the cleric, rather than usable with a spell intended to attack enemies for many rounds, allowing the Order cleric to grant multiple additional attacks at the cost of a single spell slot. However, it is probably allowed by the rules as written, especially when Jeremy Crawford's comments are taken into account.

I suspect the language is a little loose to make sure it allows for all buffing spells, some of which might also have a delay between casting and targeting an ally - hence “if you cast a spell” rather than the perhaps clearer “when you cast a spell”.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I will note that the rules for "what counts as a target" are not fully clear. In particular, your spiritual weapon example seems similar to dragon's breath (i.e. "spell creates an effect, later that effect deals damage), and Jeremy Crawford considers dragon's breath as targeting the creatures it damages as well. It may be that whatever logic is behind that ruling doesn't apply to spiritual weapon though. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kamil Drakari
    Commented Dec 11, 2018 at 20:13
  • \$\begingroup\$ @KamilDrakari good point! The wording is pretty loose, presumably to allow for spells which buff allies on turns after they are cast (though I can’t think of any though). The intent of the feature is clearly to give an extra bonus when buffing, I think, but perhaps strictly RAW spiritual weapon would work. But this is a case where the flavour should be clear enough to guide a DM’s ruling. \$\endgroup\$
    – Guybrush McKenzie
    Commented Dec 11, 2018 at 21:11
  • \$\begingroup\$ Does this mean that an Order Cleric 1 / Paladin 5 with Aura of Vitality up can use their bonus action every turn to give another party member an extra attack? \$\endgroup\$
    – intuited
    Commented Apr 23, 2021 at 21:17
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    \$\begingroup\$ Looking at the full feature text, I notice that it specifies that the attack happens "after the spell", which implies that, RAW, no attack would be triggered by Spiritual Weapon unless the caster chose to end concentration on it at that point. Based on this detail, it doesn't appear that Voice of Authority is intended to grant attacks on an ongoing basis by a single persistent spell. \$\endgroup\$
    – intuited
    Commented May 11, 2021 at 21:10
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    \$\begingroup\$ @intuited that’s a good pickup; I’ll have another look and revise the answer! \$\endgroup\$
    – Guybrush McKenzie
    Commented May 11, 2021 at 21:11

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