I'm also playing a sorceress for the first time (currently level 7), and loving it. There be much wisdom in the previous posts, and I plan on taking advantage of it.
My two cents. What I like best is that i think the sorceror lends itself very well to character customization.
For example, my sorceress is a desert nomad who is persuing the "bloodline of the dragons" theory.
As a nomad, I'm looking at spells like Phantom Steed and Hidden Lodge. These are spells I think she would naturally learn as they would be useful to her given her background. However, these are far from the best spells of their levels, and I would not take them as the first or maybe even second spells when I get to their levels.
[A quick side note on Phantom Steed. I've already taken it as my second 3rd level spell and its been very useful. But, I'm in a pretty unique setting where we are almost always outside on a flat open plain. I can imagine this spell is not nearly as useful in a dungeon crawl.]
As far as the dragon bloodline, I'm taking some of the draconic feats out of Complete Arcane. Draconic Breath is a good one, as it effectively gives you an offensive weapon as long as you have spells for the day, freeing you up to take a defensive or utility spell. However, you do need to take Draconic Heritage as a prereq, so it may not be worth it for you.
But as I have a Brass Dragon heritage, not only am I planning on spells like Dragon Ally, Dragonskin and Dragonsight, but spells that copy or mimic Brass Dragon abilities: Suggestion, Hiss of Sleep and Summon Monster VII (genie).
As your character is a noble, he might pick up stuff like Unseen Servant and Mord.'s Mag. Mansion. However, neither of those are "power spells" so you'd be better off getting stuff to keep you alive first and pick them up later. In short, crunch first, fluff later.
Or, I suppose, you could just by wands for the fluff.
My two cents. What I like best is that i think the sorceror lends itself very well to character customization.
For example, my sorceress is a desert nomad who is persuing the "bloodline of the dragons" theory.
As a nomad, I'm looking at spells like Phantom Steed and Hidden Lodge. These are spells I think she would naturally learn as they would be useful to her given her background. However, these are far from the best spells of their levels, and I would not take them as the first or maybe even second spells when I get to their levels.
[A quick side note on Phantom Steed. I've already taken it as my second 3rd level spell and its been very useful. But, I'm in a pretty unique setting where we are almost always outside on a flat open plain. I can imagine this spell is not nearly as useful in a dungeon crawl.]
As far as the dragon bloodline, I'm taking some of the draconic feats out of Complete Arcane. Draconic Breath is a good one, as it effectively gives you an offensive weapon as long as you have spells for the day, freeing you up to take a defensive or utility spell. However, you do need to take Draconic Heritage as a prereq, so it may not be worth it for you.
But as I have a Brass Dragon heritage, not only am I planning on spells like Dragon Ally, Dragonskin and Dragonsight, but spells that copy or mimic Brass Dragon abilities: Suggestion, Hiss of Sleep and Summon Monster VII (genie).
As your character is a noble, he might pick up stuff like Unseen Servant and Mord.'s Mag. Mansion. However, neither of those are "power spells" so you'd be better off getting stuff to keep you alive first and pick them up later. In short, crunch first, fluff later.
Or, I suppose, you could just by wands for the fluff.
