Mirror Polish Spell Area of effect

[Clectabled]

It seems mirror polish is a spell to set up Mirror Hideaway, and Mirror Transport, but the Area of effect of the Mirror Polish is only 1 square foot.

MIRROR POLISH:

School transmutation; Level sorcerer/wizard 1, witch 1
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (a soft cloth)
Range touch
Target one metal item of up to 1 sq. ft.
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw yes (object); Spell Resistance yes (object)
You polish a metal item until it is reflective enough to be used as a mirror. This does not prevent the item from later damage or corrosion that would ruin the mirrored surface. The spell can be cast only on a metal item with a fairly smooth and contiguous surface, such as a breastplate, a helm, a shield, or a sword, but not a mace, chainmail, or scale mail.

Should the area of effect be closer to 1 sq. ft per caster level?

With this as the area of affect it would take somewhere between 6-9 spells to create a mirror large enough to use. ( like a medium sized Steel Shield )

While the spell specifically calls out a shield , I can see some GMs saying any item larger than 1x1 could not be targeted at all by the spell.

[Aureate]

I'm pretty sure that the spell is right, as written.

For power, I'd probably have called it a 0-level spell. But for value, a 1st is okay, I guess. A small metal mirror that you can buy as adventuring gear costs 10GP. Hiring a 1st lvl wizard to cast the spell would cost 10GP. (Caster lvl 1 x Spell level 1 x 10GP)

It would take several castings to make the shield good for use as a portal, however all the castings could be done in downtime, maybe with a single casting as a touch up when you want the portal.

[Clectabled]

I absolutely agree the spell would be much better as a 0 lvl spell, with one change.

The targeting of the spell prevents the spell from being cast on anything larger than 1 sq ft x 1 sq ft. So as a method of making hand mirrors, an excellent spell.

As the first spell in the Mirrors Spell change.. It pretty worthless and I believe there is an error in the text ( the Spell level, the Target or the Area of effect if not all three)

I was hoping for a Dev to chime in and provide feedback one way or another.

[Aureate]

I agree that RAW the target line is problematic, but intent seems clear. You can cast it on a shield or breastplate, those are examples of appropriate smooth surfaces. Both items are generally larger than 1 square foot in surface area. From that you can infer that the target should have been written as "up to 1 square foot of a metal item".

It isn't useful for the "Mirror" chain of spells without preparation, and I'm okay with that, but I can see how it diminishes those spells if you don't have a quick way to make a mirror. Instead of something that created a permanent mirror they should have made a spell that creates a temporary mirror of a larger size. Like 1st level spell - 1 hr/level and up to 2 sq ft/level. Or something like that.

If it's a home game talk to your GM about making a custom spell like that.