Sorcerous Origin: Artefact
Chosen by your Focus
Many Sorcerers are chosen - either by gods, magical entities,
or the very elements themselves. Some gain their power from
their bloodlines, or from becoming submerged in the arcane
during some great event. You, however, have been infused
with power by a thing, a sentient arcane focus that, through
your choice or not, has bonded itself to you.
Perhaps it willingly offered itself to your service in order to
save your life, or perhaps you just couldn't keep your hands
off a shiny thing in an accursed temple. Either way, you now
have something, a rod, a staff, a crystal, an orb - an object, that
lends you immense power and speaks to you. It is the source
of your magic, but you are a special host indeed. Over the
years you have been bonded with it to the point where casting
magic is like breathing, something so natural to you that you
still hold considerable prowess without it.
Your focus might be anything - from an elderly wizard who
became trapped inside a crystal for millennia, to the fragment
of an old god's mind that speaks to you in babbled whispers,
to the heart of a fae entity that guides you to protect the wild
places of the world.
Bonded Focus
At 1st level, you gain an arcane focus that you may use as a
spellcasting focus for your sorcerer spells. This focus takes
on an appearance of your choice, and is sentient. The focus
may be of any alignment you choose. You may communicate
telepathically with your bonded focus so long as you are
within 60ft of it. It can only observe the outside world when it
is within 10ft of you, and it cannot speak.
When you first gain this feature, you forgo one cantrip
granted by your sorcerer class in order to learn 2 cantrips
from any class, including your own, that you may cast whilst
holding this focus in at least one free hand. Your bonded
focus gains another cantrip at 6th level, and another at 14th
level, which you are not required to forgo sorcerer cantrips
for. These are spells that it knew in its previous life, or
possesses as part of its nature.
If your focus is lost or destroyed, you must spend 10
minutes and 15 gold's worth of materials in the form of
reagents specific to its nature in order to summon it again.
An Artefact's Wishes
As a sentient object, your focus has wishes, goals
and an alignment of its own. Unlike warlock
patrons, a bonded focus and the sorcerer it grants
magic to share a symbiotic relationship that neither
party can withdraw from. This does not stop the
focus from enacting mischief should it be angry at
its host, however.
If you go against your focus' philosophy it may
choose to start interfering with your spellcasting.
Any time you cast a spell whilst holding your focus,
it may choose to roll 1d20. On a result of 5 or
lower, you must roll on the wild magic surge table
(PHB 104) and suffer a magical effect. In general,
the focus will only do this if it is upset with its
owner.
Empower
At 6th level, you have gained the ability to briefly empower
your artefact.
As a bonus action, you may spend 3 sorcery points to begin
empowering your bonded focus. Whilst empowered, you gain
several benefits:
Your focus hovers next to you, and follows you at your
speed if you move. At the end of the duration, it returns to
your hand. If you do not have a hand free, it falls to a space
within 5ft of you.
You may cast the cantrips granted by your bonded focus
feature even when your focus is not in your hand.
Once per turn, you may add twice your Charisma modifier
to the damage of any cantrip cast through your focus.
This lasts for a minute, during which you must maintain
concentration as if you were concentrating on a spell. If you
lose concentration, the benefits of this feature end.
Secrets of Another Mind
At 14th level, your bond with your artefact advances and you
are able to draw on more foreign powers related to the entity
that resides within.
You may choose two spells from any class of 5th level or
lower. Whilst you are holding your focus, you may cast these
spells as sorcerer spells.
Synergy
At 18th level, you may use your bonus action to allow your
focus to hover next to you as per your Empower feature, and
return it to your hand with another bonus action.
Whilst floating in this way, you may use your bonus action
to cast any cantrip from your bonded focus, regardless of that
cantrip's casting time.
In addition, when empowering your focus you may expend
another 4 sorcery points to make it protect you, granting you
resistance to any damage from a spell, and preventing all
damage from magic missile for the duration.
(Image Credit: Nakai Wen, http://nakaiwen.cgsociety.org/)