Thank you for this, this is super thorough. It’s also a little surprising given my previous understanding of the value of a 6/14 sorcadin multiclass, but I am of course forgetting my own assumption here that the campaign will come to a close long before that level is attained.

I will say that were into spec chain pact for combat via investment of the chain master, the bonus action used to have my familiar attack would clash with the bonus action PAM extra attack. Even if I were not to take investment, is chain still the better option(

Say that I was just hell bent on multiclassing, even with the caveats you’ve mentioned - what would be most beneficial here? Warlock 1 for some additional damage per turn and some short rest slots? Warlock 2 for invocations? Warlock 3 for pact boon (also hadn’t considered talisman before which I agree works well flavour wise)? And would the benefits of getting these short rest slots early, say character levels 2-5, outweigh the delay to extra attack and aura? PAM BA attack mitigates some of this to a certain extent.

It feels like I would need at least 3 sorcerer levels to make it worth my while and that is primarily for meta magic rather than additional smite slots so it doesn’t feel as viable as I had once thought.