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You are probably better off with Shield then Mage Armor. Shield blocks Magic Missle while Mage Armor doesn't. The only plus to Mage armor is you could cast it on others but it DOES NOT stack with what ever armor they are wearing. And assuming your party is also 3rd level they will have +4 or better armor already.
You want to know Mage Hand. I would recommend getting ride of Light since you can just carry torches.
Don't get Craft Wonderous Item. Crafting Magic items requires you to cast certain spells while spending days and lots of money on the item. As a sorcerer your known spells are so limited your mileage for this feat will be lacking. If you want to make items play a Wizard or Cleric.
Enlarge person is a good buff to throw on your friends. Just make sure you know all the effects. Weapon damage increase, AC penalty,+Str and -Dex, reach.
Vanish is ok, but I would recommend something you could do to mess with the enemy. Magic Missle is always a decent choice. Color spray would be great if you were 1st level but you are starting to reach it's limits. Ray of enfeeblement lowers enemies STR making it a good debuff. Grease can be fun (either make enemies drop weapons or slip on the ground).
As for item, look into either AC boosting items (ring of protection, Bracers of Armor), or wonderous items to increase your CHA.
Metamagic can totaly be worth it. Sadly at low levels you can't actually USE any of the metamagic feats. You can take them to prepare for higher levels though. What you take depends on what kind of spell caster you are making.
You are probably better off with Shield then Mage Armor. Shield blocks Magic Missle while Mage Armor doesn't.
Shield takes an action and a spell every single combat. Maybe two combats if you don't loot the bodies right away. At 3rd level mage armor lasts a long chunk of the adventuring day. Magic missile is one spell. At low levels, enemy casters will only have a limited number of them.
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Create pit is always a fun one. More so if your allies are at all good about moving people around.
If you are thinking utility, you might consider arcanist instead. They are much more flexible.
My advice is:
- forget all item creation feats, because you will lack the needed spells or suck while adventuring, as Aelreth says; if you have something specific in mind, go for it and use retraining afterwards
- forget about metamagic until you have spell slots to use for it; the feats are basically there to make spellcasting past level 9 viable; a few work earlier but have some problems (e.g. bounce spell requires two targets to be present, and requires you to have a single target attack spell; better count how many such you will get altogether before taking that feat)
- when you pick metamagic, keep it to the minimum and get the generic feats that work on several of your spells; there is little point in having both empower and maximize or extend spell without significant buffs
- when you take feats, pick one that actually does something for you right now, not later, and will continue to do so; you don't get so many feats as to squander them; your improved initiative will always be useful; other useful feats (my opinion only) are toughness, combat casting, and spell penetration
My own rules for spontaneous casters when looking at the spells are:
1a) If you cannot cast it every day with purpose, forget about it.
1b) If it cannot be "hammered", consider avoiding it. Part of your strength is to cast the same spell repeatedly. If that is for some reason not possible, better leave it be.
2) If it has an expensive component, think twice about taking it.
3) If it is an attack spell, it must be generic and work on everything. Things that work only on specific targets (like undead) are to be avoided like the plague. This is more an oracle problem.
4) If a spell has a level/HD limit on what it will work, don't take it.
5) One attack, one defense and one miscellaneous spell per spell level is about right. Don't take 3 attack spells when one will do. Better get the meta-feat to vary the element.
6) When checking out buffs, try to get some that work on others too.
Of course, there are exceptions, but with few spells known one has to apply some standard.
My own cantrips always include read magic.
Vanish is a pretty bad spell with it's short duration imo. Burning hands might be better for now, since you have no direct way to attack the enemy. Another popular spell is Grease, if you prefer control over damage.
Enlarge person is a solid buff for melee types, since it grants reach. Might be a problem in parts of RotR, where some of the dungeons consist of 5' corridors, but thats minor.
Many sorcerers take either mage armor or shield and for now it won't matter. Later on shield is the better option, once you have an armor bonus from elsewhere (e.g. bracers), but the duration makes the armor attractive.
The Elemental(Cold) Bloodline allows you to go around slapping Rime metamagic on everything, which is pretty great. At level 3 you can throw Rime Burning Hands; later, throwing a Fireball that entangles everything it hits in frost for 3 rounds is a pretty great deal. The trait Magical Lineage also lets you specialize in using metamagic with one spell, so you could pick one strong spell to specialize in and then always get to use Rime with it at no cost.
If you want to play a blaster the elemental bloodline works well. The trick is to take the metamagic feat elemental spell and take all your spells from the other two elements. This means each spell is really 3 spells. Avoid fire as an element as there are more good fire spells than any other element. At higher level pick up intensified spell and you will have quite a variety of spells to use.
As was suggested play a human or other race that can get extra spells known. Half elves, and half orcs for example can take the human favored class bonus so work equally well. Half elf is probably stronger because they can pick up the elven magic to help deal with spell resistance.