Mirror-Plate Mail

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but that spell will bounce back on you.

Mirror-Plate Mail is a suit of magic armor, dominated by a large round plate that has been polished to a mirror sheen and enchanted to deflect spells.

Description

The typical Mirror-Plate Mail is a suit of platemail connected with chain, with the mirror plate into either stomach or torso. Other variants exist, but all share the central piece of mirror as an integral part of their enchantment. It is perfectly polished and shining bright - the edges are sometimes adorned with either a trim of precious metal or arcane symbol, but the mirror is unblemished. No matter what, only powerful magic can nick or disfigure the mirrors surface, though it can be covered by debris or the errant spray of blood.

The more covered in grime and clutter the mirror becomes, the less effective it becomes.

Any Spell launched against the wearer of a Mirror-plate Mail stand a chance to be deflected by its shining reflection. Weaker spells may even bounce back on its caster, while more powerful spell can punch right through the reflection to their usual effect. The Mirror-Mail can reflect any spell that directly targets the wearer, making it ineffective against spells that affect an area or indirectly injures the wearer.

Additionally, the Mirror-Mail makes no distinction between friend or foe - beneficial spells will bounce right off, too.

The Mirror-Mail is only effective if the wearer is roughly facing the direction of the spell; it offers no protection against any spells thrown at their back or flanks.

Construction

Mirror-Mail is with a combination of Earth and Astral magic to harden both mail and mirror, then imbue the mirror with its reflective properties. While making the armor itself is a relatively straightforward matter, the mirror requires both care and skill. It can be made in a few different ways, all demanding some aspect of Astral magic - such as polishing a mirror for seven days and seven nights within an Astral Demesnes. Other methods reduce Astral pearls or other Astral manifestations to fine sand and use it to polish a sheet of metal.
Once both armor and mirror have been made, they have to be merged with a second ritual of Astral magic and Earth. Though it requires timeconsuming, it is not complex and relatively straight-forward compared to more powerful items, requiring no special components or conditions beyond the Astral Manifestation.

Rarity

Moderate

Magic Used

Astral, Earth

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Mirror-Shield

Another closely related item take the mirrorplate and affix it to a mirror instead of a suit of armor. It follows the same rules and is created in much the same way.
Though it allows the wearer to maneuver the reflective surface much more easily, the armor requires no hands to hold it.

Art of Armoring

Crafting simple enchanted armor isn't much different from creating mundane plate. For something as straight-forward as a Mirrorplate-Mail, it is reinforced by either adding the Earth magic into the smelting process or hammering it into the cooling metal, depending on the shape of the Manifest magic.
As the enchantments grow in complexity power, this becomes less and less true, especially as other kinds of magical energies are bound into the enchantment.