Alternatives for a sorcerer's familiar?

[Runestar]

How exactly is the loner flaw worded? Is it possible to still swap out your acquire familiar ability for the metamagic specialist feature after taking the loner flaw (assuming it merely prevents you from acquiring a familiar, rather than making you lose access to said ability altogether)?

 

[rgard]

How exactly is the loner flaw worded? Is it possible to still swap out your acquire familiar ability for the metamagic specialist feature after taking the loner flaw (assuming it merely prevents you from acquiring a familiar, rather than making you lose access to said ability altogether)?

The pc loses the ability. You would be double dipping, getting the metamagic specialist bonus and the feat for the flaw.

You can read about flaws in the SRD.

 

[Runestar]

Hmm...then I will probably go for metamagic spec then. Being able to spontaneously sculpt attack spells without having to increase the casting time is just too useful to give up.