A New Kind of Magic Item — Planar Enchantments
In the first edition AD&D Manual of the Planes, magic items get weaker as they move “away” from the plane they were created on. That is okay, but I have a few different ideas that can be used in any edition:
Using the cursed items charts in the 3.X Dungeon Master Guides (and OSRIC), a magic item gains one curse of any sort per plane. So something created on the material plane and is found on the 7th level of the Abyss has 8 curses. Hmm. May be it would be better to use a maximum of 3 and then increase the strength of one per additional plane? In any case, the item becomes more and more dangerous to its wielder and their allies as they go farther a field.
Mundane items of great value may gain enchantments by passing through planar portals. The result is randomly rolled and should have 1d4 quirks (non-hazardous curses). Each time the item moves to another plane, reroll the power(s) and quirks. The DM may or may not allow the same powers and quirks to return when a plane is revisited. Powers may include intelligence and animation as well as the normal selection.
Fiends occasionally carry a few items that are cursed. These items become stronger on the material plane and will not return with the demon, devil or whatever when it is forced back to its place of origin. Even a basic summoning spell may call something that carries one or more of these items. Celestials, at least the chaotic ones, also do this but with blessed items that have quirks that make the lives of the items’ wielders more interesting …
