Mirror Polish

Everything's Shiny!

“I watched a student turn a killing ray with nothing but a shield and good sense. No counterspell. No barrier. Just angle and timing. That is when I stopped calling this a utility spell.”

— Master Arcanist Veylan Tor

Magic does not always create. Sometimes, it refines. Mirror Polish is a spell born from the quiet, practical discipline of those who learned to survive a world where sight itself could kill. In the centuries after the Shattering, when the rules of magic fractured and reassembled into something less predictable, many spellcasters abandoned grand displays in favor of control, precision, and reliability. This spell is a product of that mindset. It does not conjure anything new. It perfects what is already there.

With a touch and a measured application of material, a surface is stripped of its imperfections and rendered flawlessly reflective. Grain, scratches, and natural irregularities vanish beneath a thin arcane film, leaving behind a mirror that does not belong to the object it coats. The transformation is temporary, but absolute for its duration.

At its most basic use, the spell allows a caster to observe without exposure. A corner can be watched without being rounded. A threat can be studied without meeting its gaze. In a world where certain creatures and effects rely on direct perception, this alone has saved countless lives. More experienced practitioners push the spell further.

In trained hands, a polished surface becomes a defensive instrument. Shields are angled. Panels are positioned. Timing becomes everything. There are documented cases of lethal rays turned aside in the span of a heartbeat, not through brute magical resistance, but through understanding angle, intent, and reaction. These moments are rare and difficult to execute, but they define the spell’s reputation among those who have witnessed it done correctly.

Scholars of the Temple Observatory classify the spell as a refinement technique rather than a transformation. It does not alter the nature of the object, only its expression. That distinction matters to those who study the boundaries of post Shattering magic, where even small manipulations can produce unintended consequences. Mirror Polish endures because it respects those boundaries. It asks for control instead of power. And in a world still learning how magic works again, that restraint has proven more valuable than spectacle.

“You learn fast that looking is a choice. This is what you use when you’d rather not make it."

— Kessrin Sen, contracted ruin surveyor, annotated field log

Unknown Shores

Mirror Polish

2-level Transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range/Area: Touch

Materials: a drop of mercury or powdered silver worth at least 10 gp, consumed

Duration: 10 minutes

You touch a solid, nonmagical, inanimate surface, coating up to a 10-foot square area in a shimmering film that becomes a perfectly smooth, mirrorlike surface. The object retains its normal properties.
The surface reflects images clearly and can be used to see indirectly, such as around corners or without exposing yourself to direct line of sight.
A creature that perceives another creature only through the mirrored surface is considered to be viewing it indirectly. Attack rolls against that creature are made with disadvantage, and the observing creature has advantage on saving throws against gaze effects originating from it.
If the observing creature deliberately averts its eyes while relying on the reflection, it is immune to gaze effects from that target, but it can’t make attack rolls against it.

At higher levels: At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the maximum area increases by 10 feet on a side for each slot level above 2nd.

Available for: Artificer, Wizard