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Message: <blockquote data-quote="nogray" data-source="post: 8127062" data-attributes="member: 28028">TL;DR: In order for specific to beat general, that specific must be specifically called out. Psionic Sorcery does not specifically call out that it would allow casting spells of a level other than the spell's (default) level. Allowing Psionic Sorcery to upcast at all seems to be against Rules as Written, and allowing it to upcast beyond the maximum spell slot available to the character is clearly against Rules as Intended.Reasoning (Rules-Lawyer Mode):[SPOILER="From Casting a Spell at a Higher Level:"]When a spellcaster casts a spell using a slot that is of a higher level than the spell, the spell assumes the higher level for that casting.This states that, generally, the only way to access the "assumes the higher level for that casting" subordinate clause is for the spell to be cast "using a spell slot that is of a higher level than the spell." Any other way to access greater effects must address that specific rule (like, for example, the Staff of the Magi with its Fireball and Lightning Bolt effects.[/SPOILER][SPOILER="From Psionic Sorcery:"]Beginning at 6th level, when you cast any of the spells gained from your Psionic Spells feature, you can cast it by expending a spell slot as normal or by spending a number of sorcery points equal to the spell’s level. If you cast the spell using sorcery points, it requires no components.This creates two options for when you cast a spell "gained from the Psionic Spells feature:"<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">You can cast it normally with a spell slot.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">You can choose to cast a spell by spending a number of sorcery points equal to the spell's level.</li> </ol>With option 1, you follow all normal rules of spellcasting. You still use components, you can cast a spell with a slot higher than the spell normally uses. All the normal stuff. With option 2, you are never involving spell slots. Since you are not casting a spell using a slot that is of a higher level than the spell, the subordinate clause from above (the spell assumes the higher level . . .) is never triggered. There is nothing in Psionic Sorcery that specifically calls out this feature, so there is no specific to beat the general.[/SPOILER]The Psionic Spell feature does not say, "you can replace spell slots with sorcery points," or that you can, "use Sorcery Points instead of Spell Slots," or any such variation. It specifically says, "you can cast [a spell from your Psionic Spells feature] by spending a number of sorcery points equal to the spell's level." If, for example, you are dealing with the Sleep spell, you are using a 1st-level spell. Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a 3rd-level Sleep spell, but if a spellcaster chooses to cast a Sleep spell using a 3rd-level spell slot, it then becomes a 3rd-level spell. Only when cast in this way (with a higher-level slot) does it "[assume] the higher level for this casting." Not before and in no other condition, unless specifically called out as doing so. Other rules items (perhaps a "Sleep" version of the Staff of the Magi, or the spells or spell-like abilities of some hypothetical creature) could specifically call out a sleep spell cast at a level higher than first, but this Psionic Spell feature does not seem to have the verbiage required to do so.(I might, if I were to allow a generous interpretation, allow a Psionic Sorcery casting of, for example, the sleep spell at a level equal to a slot that the character has and pay Sorcery Points in place of that higher-level slot, but that is clearly -not- Rules as Written.)</blockquote>

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