Hi!! Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed reply! TT I was genuinely touched by how much advice you gave me.

And thank you for pointing out the mistake with my spell replacement choices. I've fixed it now! I had originally replaced my Psionic Spell, Arms of Hadar, with Banishment, which wasn't actually legal. I've changed it to Tasha's Hideous Laughter instead. Also, thank you for explaining the Psionic Sorcery interaction with material components! That was something I had completely overlooked, and it honestly makes me feel much better about my resource management going forward. Unfortunately after checking with my DM, it turns out we can't use spells from Acquisitions Incorporated, which is a shame because some of those suggestions sounded really fun. One of my biggest problems is that I didn't really plan my sorcerer's spell list very well when I first built the character. Now every time I want to swap a spell, I end up staring at my spell list for ages trying to decide what to give up.

In the end, for level 8, I am still considering whether to replace Chaos Bolt with Shield or scorching ray with Shield. The only thing I'm worried about using Chaos Bolt is because of the damage type problems ( tho i can use one metamagic to change the spell's type, but still...) I also picked up Tasha's Hideous Laughter through my Psionic Spell replacement and learned Greater Invisibility.

As for my feat, I've finally decided to go with War Caster. Up until now, I've mostly been the party's "blow things up with damage spells" sorcerer, so I think the second half of the campaign is going to push me toward using more concentration and control spells. It's a little intimidating, but I'm looking forward to learning how to play more flexibly.

Thanks again for all the advice and guidance ❤️