Everybody knows sorcerers (or any other spontaneous caster) can use metamagic feats. Unfortunately, many people make it too hard on spontaneous casters that use metamagic feats. Such people think metamagically enhanced spells don't start until one round after casting starts. This is incorrect. The Tome and Blood supplement attempted to clear up the issue, but it still left many people with the wrong impression. Therefore, I sent a message to Sage Advice to help clear things up. The following response has only been edited for better formatting. All typos are left in their full glory. The Sage's answers are in bold.

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Date: Thu, 05 Jul 2001 13:59:58 -0700
From: Skip Williams <thesage@wizards.com>
Subject: Re: When does a spontaneous metamagic spells take effect?
To: Guy Fullerton <guyf@apple.com>

Guy Fullerton wrote:

Hullo,

A sorcerer wants to spontaneously cast a metamagic version of a spell with a casting time of 1 action (say a maximized magic missile). Spontaneously casting a metamagic version of a 1 action spell requires a full-round action. Does this mean the spell takes effect:

A) Just before the caster's action next round? This means spontaneously casting a 1-action spell with a metamagic feat turns its casting time into "1 full round" as described in the Magic section of the PH.

B) Immediately? This means the only difference between casting a 1-action spell and spontaneously metamagic-ing a 1-action spell is that the metamagic one cannot have a move-equivalent action before or after. In other words, a spell with a casting time of "1 action" that requires a full-round action is different from a spell with a casting time of "1 full-round".

B (immediately). The character uses a full-round action and can't do anything else except take a 5-foot step.

Thanks!