What are the best spell picks for Sorcerers?

[Kompera]

Assuming PHB only, which spells would give the best flexibility and potency?

[Solo]

http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-183763
That should give you a general idea.

[Kompera]

That's great, but it appears to include many spells from splat books and other sources.

[Reinboom]

This applies to sorcerers as well. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18500)

[Kurald Galain]

The most flexibility? The Silent Image line of spells, hands down.

The most power? The Polymorph line, but most sane DMs won't allow that.

[Rigon]

Just go for spell which have "area", "d6" and "damage" in their description. yup that works:smallfurious:

[Reel On, Love]

Level 9: Shapechange, Time Stop, Disjunction
Level 8: Irresistible Dance, Greater Shadow Evoc, Mind Blank or Horrid Wilting
Level 7: Greater Shadow Conj, Spell Turning, Greater Arcane Sight
Level 6: Greater Dispel Magic, Repulsion, Disintegrate
Level 5: Teleport, Baleful Polymorph, Cone of Cold, Feeblemind
Level 4: Fear, Greater Invisibility, Solid Fog, Polymorph
Level 3: Haste, Ray of Exhaustion, Slow, Prot. from Energy
Level 2: Mirror Image, Alter Self, Glitterdust, False Life, Rope Trick
Level 1: Ray of Enfeeblement, Silent Image, True Strike, Magic Missile, Mage Armor

Make sure to pick up Empower Spell and Heighten Spell as feats.

ETA: to elaborate, you have the most versatile spells (Greater Shadow Conj/Evo, Shapechange and Polymorph, Silent Image, Greater Dispel, etc) and the most powerful ones; after that, there's defenses, single-target and mass-target debuffs hitting various saves, battlefield control, and a touch of utility.

ETA 2: forgot Overland Flight. Ah, well--do without, you're a sorcerer. Instead, take Fly earlier on, and swap it out at higher levels once people have Wings of Flying and the like.

ETA 3: when you don't need to be in Choker form to get off two spells a round, Nymph (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/nymph.htm) should be your normal form. Your +15 from CHA to saves and AC, and you have Stunning Glance... which is based off of HD and CHA, as all (Su) abilities are. At level 20, that's gonna be 10 + 10 + 15 = DC 35; anything not immune to stunning is screwed.

[Delta Nu Delta]

Reel On's list is really great. I'd really stress getting mirror image - that spell is ginormously useful. Empower it for awesome damage proofness.

Personally, I find Rope Trick, teleport, and polymorph cheesy as anything, so I'd swap those out for Web, dimension door, and <5th level spell (maybe overland flight)> respectively.

If you are allowed odd feats from splat books, or if you can lobby your DM for only a single one, I think sculpt spell has got to be the best metamagic feat. Scuplt+glitterdust, fear, web, anything that has an area for a bargain price of +1 spell level. Totally awesome. Even better for a spontaneous caster.