Not sure if this is intended. One of my players is currently running a shadow sorcerer and has reached lvl 4. As such he received the ability to use the spell Darkness by using either a spell slot or sorcery points.

The bug lies in the fact that it takes up one of his known spell options, and he cannot remove it. If I understand the class correctly, he should have three 2nd level spell options to have ready, and the darkness spell from his class(totalling four known 2nd level spells at any point in time). The character sheet however, only offers him the ability to know two 2nd level spells and the darkness spell. Additionally, the darkness spell cannot be removed from his known spells.

I currently am having him write down what his final prepared 2nd level spell is for him to keep track, but it should ideally be taken care of in the character sheet. Am I crazy, or is this a bug?

Your understanding is incorrect. Your player should have a total of 5 spells known, not including cantrips or spells provided by class features, at level 4. This is 5 spells total between 1st and 2nd level spells. On top of that, they should have 4 cantrips.

They have 4 1st level, and 3 2nd level spell slots. These are for casting spells. They can spend slots to cast any spell of that level or lower they have on their spell-list. 

If this did not help the understanding, can you list out all of the spells that the character has, first and second level?

 Ok then if thats the case, then all seems fine. He has:

lvl 1 - Chromatic Orb

lvl 1 - Disguise Self

lvl 1 - Witch Bolt

lvl 2 - Invisibility

lvl 2 - Scorching Ray

lvl 2 - Darkness

Yes, so he has the right number of spells! On level-up, a Sorcerer can choose to change out their learned spells, so if he decides he'd like to get rid of one of the level 1 spells he has in favour of a level 2 spell, he is able to do that.

Got it. Thanks!!!

You're welcome! And you're not being dumb as you edited the title to say! Different casters work different ways, so it's easy to mix things up when you're less familiar with a certain class. :)

Quote from MellieDM >>

You're welcome! And you're not being dumb as you edited the title to say! Different casters work different ways, so it's easy to mix things up when you're less familiar with a certain class. :)