THE COMPLETE Professor Q's Guide to the Pathfinder Wizard

After having finished my expansion to Treantmonks guide I did receive a couple of requests to go back and give my opinion on core, including one from my Brother who thinks that a guide would be more useful if all the information is consolidated. Here I have done that; this is the complete guide including just about everything that Paizo has released for Wizards. I hope you enjoy it. Ive included everything in the same guide. I have been heavily influenced by Treantmonk, Echodork, Logicninja, and other guide writers. If it seems like Im ripping any of them off, I probably am. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all. Feel free to comment, bash me, or point out glaring and hard to read grammatical errors in the Paizo Forums. I really appreciate the feedback, including negative feedback. You can even call me names if you want. Ive written this guide first for me after all. I definitely appreciate any and all opinions however, because they give me a perspective I may not have noticed otherwise, and help me improve this work. If you dont have a Paizo account, or just want to comment on the guide itself, the comments are also open. It may be easiest to do it in the Google Docs version but beware that it will take a moment to load.

Table of Contents
What is a Wizard? Stats Spell Usage Defense Types Races Specialization Schools Skills Feats Traits Arcane Bond Prestige Classes Archetypes Equipment Summon Monster Spell List 1st Level 2nd Level 3rd Level 4th Level 5th Level 6th Level 7th Level 8th Level 9th Level Builds

Please use the Bookmarks tool in your PDF reader to jump to any of these sections.

Color Coding
This guide uses the same color rating system that Treantmonk originally did. Blue is a great choice. Almost every Wizard can get use out of this. Green is a good choice. Orange is an okay choice. It has its circumstances, but not really for general use. Red is generally a bad choice. Its useful circumstances are either rare, or its just plain bad (especially compared to what you could and should be doing.)

What is a Wizard
(And why I play a Wizard)
Ill start with a little why I play Wizard. Most classes you spend a lot of time waiting for your next upgrade. You get your feat build in mind, but often times you really dont start to shine until about midway through the game. Every level the Wizard gets two new spells for free, and every other level he gets an entirely new spell level to play with. The high variety of choices you have with the Wizard is fun and novel. There are other casters of course that get a similar every-level benefit, but the Wizard also has the flexibility of daily memorization. He draws from a nearly infinite pool of choices as he adds to his repertoire. As a prepared caster, you can prepare for any situation. Unlike the Sorcerer or Bard or Oracle you never have to sit and wish that you had picked a different spell this level since in a minute to fifteen minutes you can easily have the spell you need ready. Before the Witch and Alchemist, the Wizard was the only class that used Intelligence as his primary stat. I still feel like the class has the best flavor and ability to utilize Intelligence as a role-playing instrument. In fact, I would say that Wizards are intelligence. They are strategists and supporters. They are the know-it-alls who use their knowledge skills to plan ahead for battle and then set themselves up accordingly. Keeping that in mind, the most effective thing a Wizard can do is support his party. While you are a powerful class, you have severe weaknesses, and you are not a replacement for your Fighter or your Cleric. You can fill in the gaps, but you usually do this by improving your allies rather than making them obsolete.

DAMAGE, The currency of Combat

Damage is the most universal way of ending a conflict. Ultimately, the goal of most parties is to do damage. You are not good at damage. At least, youre not good at doing it by yourself. You have plenty of damage options on your spell list: IE Magic Missile, Fireball, etc (Often referred to as Blast Spells.) However, while a Fireball in a room of mooks might be occasionally amazing, your resources are limited by a daily allotment of memorizations and if you fill your list up with Fireballs youre going to be out of ammo pretty quick. So think strategically instead. Think intelligently. Wizards are intelligence. Instead think of your Big Stupid Fighter (or BSF) as an extension of you. He is the main source of your damage. Instead of casting Fireball, you should be casting something to help him that lasts a number of rounds rather than throwing out that brief moment of ecstasy shortly followed by uselessness. See, the thing is, while Damage is the currency of this game - the method that almost always works - it actually does very little until the enemy stops moving. A big bad evil guy (or BBEG) at 200 hp performs exactly the same as a BBEG at 1 hp. Many times if you and your team keep bumping heads with the enemy, theyll end up overpowering you simply based on their stats. Youre here to even the odds.

You cast haste on your BSF, giving him extra movement for positioning, extra attacks for damage, and extra defense for evening the odds. You summon a monster to give your BSF a flanking buddy, giving him a crucial bonus to hit. You create a wall of stone to divide the enemies up, then you cast Grease to trip the enemy, and then Glitterdust to blind the enemy and keep them from going invisible. All these things change the combat immensely and are far more effective than you simply adding numbers to the party damage. Actually, I take it back, Wizards dont even the odds, they crush them. Supporting damage is the Wizards main role in combat. You lower the enemys ability to dish it out, and you raise your allys ability to destroy.

Knowledge, the Great Element of Planning

With your high intelligence, youre going to have a lot of skill points. I dont know if youve looked, but you really dont have THAT many class skills to use this on. You DO however have a lot of knowledge skills you can shove your points in. Ill discuss these a bit later, but dont think of these knowledge skills as a waste. From a role-playing perspective, this is your legal form of metagaming. Using knowledge skills your character will legitimately know the weaknesses of enemies, hell legitimately know about general army formation and tactics, and hell legitimately be able to frustrate your DMs ability to surprise your party. And, if you dont spend your time reading the monster manual, you as a player will also learn a lot about the challenges you face, and with that knowledge youll circumvent the enemys strategies and trivialize otherwise painful encounters. With knowledge you can be buffing the party with the proper Resist Energy, protection from Evil, and Polymorph spells before conflict starts. Youll also know what spells you should be memorizing as well. If you think of your Cleric as your partys face, think of yourself as the partys general and war captain. Wizards are intelligence, and preparing for combat is something you do best.

Utility, the Medieval Toolbox

Rogues get a lot of utility if youre playing a traditional dungeon to use with traps and locked doors. You are basically everything else. Youre the party taxi - you teleport everyone where you need to be. Youre the party puzzle solver - you can get everyone down that high cliff without them taking damage. Youre the party investigator - you can scry on creatures and even find information just from a drop of blood. Through enchantment spells you can pretend youre the party face, but thats about as effective as throwing out your spells as damage spells you just cant keep it up. What youre really good at is doing the otherwise impossible. This primary role of the Wizard is also greatly benefited by the fact that youre also a prepared caster. You dont have to have all your slots filled with Blood Transcription, but having it in your spell book will likely expedite the very situation that the spell was created for. You are the Medieval Toolbox. Or to coin Logicninja, you are Batman.

What is a Wizard?
To summarize, a Wizard is a Supporter, a Tactician, and a Toolbox. Your team is your backbone. Your fighter is your sword and your armor. Your job is to help them succeed. You arent in the limelight, but you are the reason your party wins. Bask in the glory of control, and learn why Treantmonk refers to Wizards as the Gods of Pathfinder.

Stats
As a Wizard, you want to have the highest intelligence as you possibly can get. Sacrifice everything else if necessary, but MAX that INT out. It gets you more spells per day and it increases the saving throw DCs of anything you cast. You NEED it, and its the only stat that you absolutely need. Dexterity comes second. It gives you the all important initiative, and its a solid stat all around granting you four very helpful benefits while other stats only offer one or two things. To-hit with Ray Attacks, AC, and Reflex are all things you may need later on. The most important thing it grants though is the Initiative. Going first or early is imperative as a Wizard. Because your job is to alter the situation in your favor youll want to do that as soon as possible. Constitution comes third. HP is good for any class. Fortitude is a weakness of Wizards and a higher constitution helps. You may consider Constitution as a second if you intend to heavily use your Familiar on the front lines, since your CON also helps your little buddy. Wisdom does little for you, but I still dont recommend dumping it. Will is a common save, and even though Will is a good save for you, failing a Will save usually means very very bad things. Charisma has one single use for Wizards, and thats improving certain spells. You have no social skills as class skills and youre not the one who is going to get the most of Use Magic Device if you decide to take that skill. Even with the Leadership skill youre going to have a max level Cohort if you take the feat at level 7. As long as your cohort doesnt die hell level up with you and remain at max level. Even with the certain spells I mentioned there are ways to buff those spells. If youre like me youll just avoid those spells entirely. The best argument for getting Charisma as a Wizard is abusing the Eldritch Heritage feat line. Otherwise, dump Charisma. Strength has absolutely no use for Wizards. At early levels you dont need to carry anything but your spellbook and a weapon, and at later levels youll have a handy haversack. Put Strength at as low as you possibly can.

So with the various point buy options heres what I recommend do before racial modifiers. Adjust accordingly based on your racial penalty: 10 point buy: 7 STR, 11 DEX, 10 CON, 18 INT, 10 WIS, 7 CHA (If you are an Elf, drop WIS by 1 and put points into CON to make sure you dont hit negatives.) 15 point buy: 7 STR, 12 DEX, 12 CON, 18 INT, 10 WIS, 8 CHA 20 point buy: 7 STR, 14 DEX, 14 CON, 18 INT, 11 WIS, 7 CHA 25 point buy: 7 STR, 16 DEX, 14 CON, 18 INT, 11 WIS, 7 CHA

Pretty simple. Favored Class Bonus With any race you can add an HP per level or a Skill Point per level if you are leveling up in your favored class (Which should be Wizard.) Between those two, always go with the HP. You have enough intelligence that the Skill Point isnt as useful, especially if youre picking Familiar as your Arcane Bond. Alternate Racial Favored Class Bonuses will be discussed with the respective race.

Spell Usage
In the section What is a Wizard I talked a little bit about what the Wizards role is. The purpose of this section is to categorize spells into types that can help you accomplish those goals, and to discuss a little about different kinds of spells. As Im sure youve guessed, the main thing that sets the Wizard apart from other classes is his spells. The Big Stupid Fighters are basically gamblers, they roll against the enemys AC and hope that they roll the highest. Your job is to improve those odds to ensure victory. Spells allow you to do this. Generally speaking, good spells are ones that have effects that last more than a turn, effect multiple targets, dont allow saving throws, penetrate spell resistance, and have a powerful effect on the situation. Bad spells have short range, target single creatures, allow saving throws (sometimes multiple saving throws), and just arent likely to change the situation much. In short, the spells that require the most gamble are the weaker ones, and the ones that are sure successes (at least partially) are the ones you should be paying the most attention to. When picking spells you need to pick a variety of spells whose strengths complement your other spells weaknesses. Try to pick different spells that target all three saving throws as well as other defenses. Its helpful to look at the bestiary to see the kinds of threats you might be facing. Below is a link to average monster defenses based on combat rating that is very helpful for evaluating spells at any given level: Shoelessinsights Bestiary Statistics But I digress. Here are the types of spells available to the Wizard:

Buff
Buffs refer to spells that make your allies better at what they do. This really isnt the Wizards best schtick; the Bard is really the best class for buffing. However, that doesnt mean buffing isnt a good thing for your Wizard to do. Certain spells like Haste, Enlarge, and even Heroism are fantastic spells to cast and are definitely better than you just trying to deal damage yourself. The biggest advantage Buffs have is that unless your Barbarian is superstitious or one of your allies has spell resistance Buffs always work. Because of this theyre generally a better choice than Debuffing. However, because buffing is very dependent on the choices of your allies, it isnt necessarily the best category of spell. (Again, especially since other classes do this better.) That said, certain buffs are essential, and you should always consider including a few in your repertoire.

Debuff
Debuff spells directly target your enemy. This category of spells gets a half-green and half-orange because many of these kinds of spells allow saving throws.

The debuffs that dont allow saving throws or the debuffs that affect multiple targets, however, are all good and potent choices and should definitely be considered. When looking at Debuff spells, look for ones that have some kind of effect even if the target does save, or find ones that target groups. Group targeting debuffs can be good if the effect is potent because youre bound to affect at least a couple of the targets.

Battlefield Control
Buffs help your Allies, Debuffs hinder your enemies, and Battlefield Control changes the environment. This is really the most potent form of control because even if it allows saving throws, it still leaves the puddle of grease there, in the battlefield, making difficult terrain and altering the enemys ability to choose to fight or escape. Even if the enemy resists being blinded by Glitterdust, they still cant turn invisible again. The best of the best Battlefield control locks the enemy out of a situation entirely without giving them a chance to resist it or avoid it. This category is the Wizards fort, and in combat its really the type of spell casting that he does better than any other class.

Summoning
Its important to think of Summoning as a form of Battlefield Control. There is one class archetype that will do this better than you (The Master Summoner) but that poor sap only wishes he could be as smart as you. But just because someone is better than you at something doesnt mean you shouldnt do it. Summons ALWAYS work, summons ALWAYS take up space, and summons can ALWAYS do damage round after round - unless the enemy attacks and kills your summon. If the enemy does attack the summon you still win because the enemy wasted his precious actions doing so. Your summoned chunk of battlefield control flesh can also come with Spell-like abilities that can cast at the same time you cast. My favorite summons have high combat maneuvers to harass the enemy with.

Save or Die
This is basically a category of Debuff used to describe spells that have a chance of totally disabling the enemy. This is a gamble that can be totally awesome or make you look like a total boob. Save or Die spells are generally poor choices. They can make your party feel worthless, or they can make YOU feel worthless. That said, you can actually build your party around the concept of Save or Die. This is through debuffing your enemy's ability to save, making your gambling odds a lot better. In many ways this is not much different than dealing HP damage, except unlike dealing HP damage you're gradually weakening your enemy against anything that requires a save - not just Save-or-Die. This focus on lowering saves is best if the whole party gets in on it. Have your Witch use Evil Eye, your BSF Intimidate, and your Cleric use Vision of Madness, and now your Enemy is suffering a -12 to all of his saves, and this isn't including what

you can add to all of this. None of this really works until higher levels when you get the more potent battle-ending spells though. Lowering the enemys save will help basically all of your spells, so pay attention to any abilities that do that. Its especially important if you plan on exploiting some save-or-die tactic. Just remember that its a hard road to travel and optimize properly. But if youre a gambler who believes luck is with him, you may still enjoy this category of spell.

Blast Spells
Blast spells generally refer to options that just deal damage. Again, its been mentioned that dealing damage is generally a poor option. It can work, but youll find yourself tuckered out and worthless before you know it. Still, dealing that final blow could be the decisive factor in combat, so it is important to include some damage spells on your list. Try to mix damage with battlefield control when you can though. As mentioned, summons deal damage, and are generally a better option round for round. The best blast spells last more than one round too, and some even take up space like Ball Lightning. There is metamagic which will be discussed later that has made it so you can add some almost broken control options to your blast spell. In many cases these metamagicked spells are better than what you could be casting in that higher level slot instead. The options are unique, in fact, because Blast Spells target Reflex, which is on average the lowest save in the Monster Resources past level 10. Using Blast Spells with Metamagic turn them into potent debuff spells that allow you to have your cake and eat it too.

Utility Spells
This last category is basically the non-combat category. These are the spells youll want for general quality of life. Some are amazing reality breaking tools and others dont work as advertised. The former are an essential part of your class and casting.

Defense Types
I couldnt think of a better title for this section the purpose being to discuss the different kinds of defenses you will have to face as a Wizard. Each of these defenses are colored based on how easy it is to break them. Blue is the easiest defense to target, and red is the hardest. The entire reason I am making this section is to discuss the virtues and banes of targeting the Combat Maneuver Defense, but I thought it would be good to talk about the other defenses as well.

NPCs vs Monsters
A lot of my ratings for various spells in my spell list are based on the assumption that your DM is going to be using the Bestiary and following the Combat Rating suggestions. I understand that some DMs heavily use crafted characters using the player character rules to make them. If these NPC villains hes created use core player races, and arent monsters with class levels added to them, they tend to be a whole lot weaker in some of the defense types, particularly CMD. Keep in mind that every campaign is different, and while I try to mention various circumstances that certain spells, feats, and options might be better, I am rating them based on a classic circumstance. I may clarify my ratings as I receive comments, but remember that this being a guide, at a certain point you have to make a judgement call whether my advice applies to your situation.

Armor Class (AC) or Touch AC

AC is something that a Wizard should never even consider attacking unless its touch AC. Even with spells like Transformation which give him full fighter base attack bonus he lacks the feats and other advantages the fighter classes gain on targeting this defense. Touch AC is a different story, because even at the highest CR levels the average touch AC is close to 10. Past level 10 as a Wizard with a decent Dex, you should have at least an 80% chance of success targeting Touch AC. This is why spells like Enervation ranged touch attacks that offer no saving throw are great spells. There arent a whole lot of spells like Enervation, but as I mentioned Dexterity is a secondary stat for the Wizard partly because there are a few very effective spells that take advantage of that weak defense.

Fortitude
Throughout all levels, Fortitude is the hardest saving throw to target. In the Bestiary it sits at about 2 points higher than at least one of the other saving throws at almost all times. Even several of the base classes have Fortitude as a good saving throw. It would not be wise to fill your spell list with too many fortitude save spells for this reason. Fortitude shouldnt be ignored though, because for the Spellcasting beast types and NPCs this can be a huge weakness. You should watch for crippling Fortsave spells that you can use to knockout squishy types and keep them on your list for the purpose of countering enemy casters. Just dont overdo it.

Will
Wisdom is the best saving throw to target until level 10 on average according to the Bestiary. This is good because at lower levels some of your most powerful spells (Like Sleep, Glitterdust, and Confusion) target Will. After level 10, it

matches Reflex, and by level 13 its the second hardest saving throw to target. One of the best things about targeting Will is that the big strong enemies that like to smash your face in are generally weak to it. The main drawback of Will is that a lot of will-save spells are also mind-affecting and there are a good portion of creatures that are just plain immune to that type. Keep in mind that just about every caster class has Will as a Good save, including many of the hybrid classes. Against NPCs Will might be a harder save to target, hence the reason Im rating the defence green as a whole. Basically, if youre in a low level campaign, going heavy on Will Save spells will serve you well. In higher level campaigns youre not going to find them quite as effective.

Reflex
Bard, Ranger, Rogue (Ninja), Alchemist, Gunslinger, and Monk. Out of the 19 base classes, only 6 of them have Reflex as a Good saving throw making Reflex-Targeting spells great for targeting NPCs. Beware the Ranger and Rogue though, since they both enjoy Evasion which often completely avoids spells that target reflex. At lower levels, Will is definitely better than reflex, but right at the point when you can more easily take advantage of metamagic like Dazing Spell, Reflex becomes the easiest save to target. At that point going heavy on Reflex spells, particularly ones that disable enemies, can be a very effective strategy. Before level 10, a good mix with an emphasis on Will is a far better choice.

Combat Maneuver Defense (CMD)

CMD is easily the worst thing to target when youre going against monsters. After level 5 your chances with most of your spells without trying to boost them with feats are about 25% for success. This number drops to 15% as soon as you pass level 10. Some spells like Black Tentacles dont even let you add Intelligence to your Combat Maneuver Bonus (CMB), which makes them irrelevant even faster if youre facing monsters at the appropriate CR. However, against NPCs, CMD is actually a pretty decent defense to target unless youre going against a lot of full-BAB characters. To quote Shoelessinsight: I think it would be pretty rare to see more than a 60% miss chance on combat maneuvers from spells against NPCs, and more likely it's going to fall into the 20-40% miss range. This is because the most important scaler on NPC CMD is BAB, and casters match that progression on maneuver spells with their caster level. It's not unlikely for NPCs to be a little higher level than the party, but not all NPCs are going to have 1:1 BAB progression (especially when you consider that villain NPCs are often mighty wizards or evil clerics). Ability scores sort of scale with level, but NPCs usually have lower wealthby-level progression than PCs, so they probably won't scale their strength or dexterity any faster than the wizard is scaling his intelligence. And not every NPC focuses Str or Dex (again, evil wizards and clerics). The size modifier will usually be 0, though you may run into the occasional enlarged barbarian or the wild shaped druid. And the miscellaneous modifiers are partially wealth-based (rings of protection and the like), so those won't scale strongly either. You will see some small bonuses here from spell buffs, like the +1 dodge from Haste or the deflection bonus from Shield of Faith. In a game heavily populated with NPC antagonists, maneuver spells would probably be as, if not more, effective than your typical saving throw spell. (And on that note, saving throws are probably even weaker against NPCs than most monsters because of how easy resistance bonuses are to obtain)

CMD is the most dependent on your DMs approach to providing encounters for your party. Keep in mind that when I say NPC, as I mention in the intro of this section, I mean NPCs that also use the base races available to players. Once the DM starts drawing from the Bestiary to give those monsters class levels your situation for targeting CMD might be even worse.

Spell Resistance
This is the bane of an offensive casters existence. This is actually the biggest reason Battlefield Control, Buffs, and Summoning are such great options for a Wizard. At level 10 when you really start seeing Spell Resistance, all of your spells that are affected will have a 50% chance of doing nothing if you dont take any feats to penetrate it. But dont fret too hard, only 40% of the creatures in the bestiary have Spell resistance at that point. Sadly that number steadily climbs to 85% of the creatures youll see by level 19 dang. While one of the easiest things you can do to counter spell resistance is to avoid it entirely you sometimes really want that disable spell to get through to the enemy. By being an Elf and taking Spell Penetration, you will have increased your odds to about 70% which is a little more acceptable. If you ever get into the higher levels, strongly consider Greater Spell penetration, because nothing feels worse than having so many of your spells having a chance of being completely useless.

RACES
For the sake of avoiding (too much) wordiness, in general, Im only going over things that will explicitly benefit the Wizard (Aka, things that arent just minor perks that any class would enjoy.) I will go over a few things I just want to talk about, but most racial traits and alternate racial traits I would rate Orange or Red will not be written in this guide. Just assume that if an option is not listed then its orange or red. Additionally, I wont be listing every redundant racial feature like darkvision for every race.

CORE RACES Human

In a previous iteration of this guide I stated that the Elf was the best race in the game for the Wizard. This isnt false, but I dont think that its necessarily better than human in some circumstances. The bonus feat that Humans enjoy gives an early boost to power making them better in low level campaigns with some builds. For instance, a Human Wizard can enjoy Superior Summoning at level 3 while any other race in available must wait until level 5. This is the humans strength with any class and it can make the human a better choice than all other races.

Base Human Traits

Ability Score Bonus: Add it to intelligence. Always. Bonus Feat: Take advantage of this bonus and figure out how to garner your power early on. You can also use it to take harder to fit feats like Toughness or Improved Initiative. This is as always the best reason to play a human. Skills: A bonus skill point per level is also a nice touch. Even with such a high intelligence, your appetite for skills should still leave you hungry for more.

Notable Alternate Human Traits

Adoptive Parentage: Can be helpful at early levels, but so can just picking up exotic weapon proficiency with your bonus feat. Potentially you can get more than one proficiency this way though so it might be worth considering. Dual Talent: If the featured races are available to you this isnt necessarily the best option since there are a couple of races that enjoy a bonus to two stats with no penalties in a similar way. If you cant think of what feat you want though, this is more powerful than taking toughness if you put it in CON. Putting it in DEX is an option, though not as specialized as just using your bonus feat to get Improved Initiative. Eye for Talent: +2 to Sense Motive is close to making it a class skill for you. The main draw is probably the +2 to one of your Familiars stats. Compared

to the Evolved Familiar feat, cost wise this is more powerful than a single feat. Is it necessary or even useful though? Its marginally useful, but I dont think its worth the opportunity cost. For 1000 gold you can craft a wondrous item for your familiar that does the same thing. By the time that your familiar can really use this trait that price is in most campaigns fairly cheap. Focused Study: Trade your feat for three. For your class skills youre hardly in need of a lot of skill focuses, but economically speaking this is a pretty good deal if you can think of a build that uses it. Heart of the Fields: If you dont feel like you need your bonus skill points and you plan on crafting things, consider this. Itll make things a lot faster. Heart of the Sea: Gives you a class skill for swim which you may need in an aquatic campaign. Take it in that circumstance. Heart of the Streets: +1 reflex is actually nice if you interpret the wording to mean you get it passively (As in you dont need to be next to two of your allies.) At early levels if you have a lot of players in your party you may even enjoy the AC bonus, but in most cases it puts you too close for comfort.

Favored Class Option

In low wealth campaigns an extra spell known very welcome. Even in higher wealth campaigns it can save your money for other things like buying wands for your familiar.

Elf
Elves are a prime pick for Wizard and are especially good at higher levels. The +2 to spell penetration they enjoy is almost even necessary if youre playing any Wizard that relies on spells that are susceptible to spell resistance. Evokers, Necromancers, basically anything but Conjurers absolutely need to be able to overcome spell resistance, and even the Conjurer may find the best spell options are behind that awful defensive wall.

Base Elf Traits

Ability Score Bonuses: DEX is a secondary stat for Wizards for reasons described in the stats section, but CON is also important. The Elf breaks even in this regard but its easily his Achilles heel when comparing it to other races. Elven Immunities: Sleep may or may not be very common, but enchantments could absolutely destroy you. A decent bonus that is almost worth a feat. Keen Senses: Perception is something youll be rolling a lot. Since its not a class skill for you normally the +2 is welcome. Elven Magic: Best reason to be an Elf. Every other race can only achieve a 70% chance of penetrating spell resistance for against monster of their CR. Elves can achieve an 80% chance. +2 to spell craft to identify isnt something Id sneer at either. Weapon Familiarity: Gives you a few more options at low levels when you cant be casting all the time without running out of breath. Crossbows arent too much worse than the options here though.

Low-Light Vision: As strength is to encumbrance, this is useful if your DM actually pays attention to lighting conditions.

Notable Alternate Elf Traits

Arcane Focus: Much better than Weapon familiarity most of the time. Swapping it out for a +2 concentration to me is a no-brainer. Though below theres a better swap-out. Darkvision: Dazzled is one of the least effective conditions in the game. Since in most cases you arent making too many attack rolls, this is also a no-brainer most of the time. Lets you exploit darkness tactics. Dreamspeaker: Dont think youre going to run into enchantment too often? Plan on scrying the crap out of people? Then this is okay. Not really getting me too excited. I think I like the immunities better, especially since the attached SLA mocks you with its high Charisma requirement. Elemental Resistance: Good at low levels and for times you didnt have the foresight to memorize Resist Energy. Envoy: Comprehend Languages is a level 1 slot and you dont normally get Detect Poison, but I really dont think its a good trade. Fleet Footed: Your familiar was better at perception anyway. +2 to initiative is always welcome to a Wizard, and it never hurts to be a good runner either. Lightbringer: Get an extra Cantrip Slot and remove the penalties of the Darkvision alternate trait. Not that many light based spells worth casting to take advantage of the level bonus. Not worth giving up Elven magic.

Favored Class Option

This is usually a bad deal because a lot of the INT+3 abilities are only worth the standard action at low levels. Conjuration (Teleportation) and Divination (Foresight) however absolutely love this option, as would a few of the other specializations.

Half-Elf
A decent option because of the ability to put a +2 into INT. It doesnt have much else unique to offer, however.

Base Half-Elf Traits

Ability Score Bonuses: INT. Elven Immunities: Same as the Elfs. Not a bad benefit. Adaptability: Basically as if Humans were forced to put their bonus feat in Skill Focus. Not so cool. Keen Senses: Perception is something you will be rolling. Bonuses are nice. Elf Blood: Campaign specific. Not usually a huge deal.

Multi-Talented: Meh. There are a lot of gish builds and things that might enjoy this, but my recommendation is to stay Wizard.

Alternate Half-Elf Traits

Ancestral Arms: Not the worst trade. I recommend picking up firearm proficiency if they exist in your campaign since guns are all touch attacks. Arcane Training: Trade multi-talented for a +1 level boost when using spell trigger items. This will make wands and staves better for you for basically no opportunity cost. Drow-Blooded: Like the Elf option for darkvision, but Light-Blindness is a lot worse than just being dazzled. Drow Magic: Trade your feat-equivalent for a few extra spell slots. Not bad. Dual Minded: Trade Skill Focus for Iron Will, essentially. This does stack with Iron Will.

Favored Class Option

Bleh. Only 1/3? And only to spell duration? Meh. Id rather have the 3 extra HP.

Half-Orc
I like this option better than the Half-Elf, but only marginally. Most of its abilities can now be switched out for things that are more useful to you.

Base Half-Orc Traits

Ability Score Bonuses: INT, you sly green tusked guy. Intimidating: Not something you are likely going to use unless you are an enchanter. Orc Ferocity: My thought is that you dont want to be using this ever. But, an extra standard action for a Wizard could mean the difference between victory or defeat. Weapon Familiarity: Just like the other weapon familiarities, this isnt really a big deal, and its campaign specific. Darkvision: Always a nice benefit, and the only base class that gets this without any penalties while still providing an INT bonus.

Notable Alternate Half-Orc Traits

Acute Darkvision: It pains me that you have to trade your best bargaining chip for this, but its not horrible. Most darkvision is 60, and if you can see them before they can see you then you have the advantage. Cavewight: A minor bonus to a knowledge check. Better than intimidating for you. City-Raised: Another bonus to a knowledge skill thats better than the thing you are trading for it.

Rock Climber: Acrobatics can get you around the battlefield avoiding attacks of opportunity before you get fly. I recommend it as a possible cross-class skill, and this makes you a little better at it. Sacred Tattoo: I like this more than Ferocity. Its also better than the Half-Elfs ability to pick up Iron Will. Scavenger: Pretend youre sort of an Elf by getting a +2 to perception for specific things. Still better than Intimidate for you. Shamans Apprentice: Lets you trade Intimidate for the endurance feat. This is a better option for you. Skilled: Give up darkvision for the Human skilled trait. At that point why not just be human and pick your feat?

Favored Class Option

You should probably be avoiding situations where you are taking damage while casting. Helps when it happens, but so does extra HP.

Dwarf
There is nothing offensively bad here that you are forced to take, but there is nothing terribly beneficial.

Notable Base Dwarf Traits

Ability Score Bonuses: You like Constitution. Wisdom is good for you. And you dont like Charisma. No INT bonus, but this doesnt hurt you in any major way. Darkvision: This is a nice perk. Hardy: +2 on saving throws against all spells and spell like abilities? And poison to boot? This is actually pretty strong since most things youre going to be saving against are spells.

Notable Alternate Dwarf Traits

Minesight: Make your perk a little better with the potential benefits of I can see you, but you cant see me. Dazzle isnt a huge deal for you. Rock Stepper: Almost sounds like Nimble Moves, and if it was equivalent this would have been green. But its restricted to rocky terrain which doesnt help you against most things that enemies would have created. Not much better than Stonecutting. Stonesinger: Even in the Earth Elemental School there arent many spells that have the earth descriptor. It also doesnt explicitly mention the Earth Specialization School with its benefits. Stubborn: Trade your ability to save against all spells for a +2 to some spells with an option to roll again on a second round, though most Enchantment spells are like that anyway. I dont think this is a good trade at all.

Xenophobic: Wha? Eh? Trade almost all of your languages that you would be getting from your massive intellect for a +1 to mind affecting effects. This is bad for someone whose primary attribute is Intelligence.

Favored Class Option

At first glance this doesnt look too good, but then you have to consider that the benefit is per day. When the maximum amount of work you can do on a magic item is 1,000gp per 8 hours, five levels of Dwarven Favored Class bonuses will make you a double time crafter. This is a great argument for making a Dwarf Wizard Cohort. As a Player, there may be cases where youd definitely want this, and may allow you to craft items that time would otherwise make impossible.

Gnome
Gnomes seem a little more Wizardly than Dwarves though the attribute bonus on Dwarves is, in my opinion, slightly more useful. Still not the most optimal choice, but not the worst one.

Notable Base Gnome Traits

Ability Score Bonuses: Constitution is always nice and you dont need strength. You also dont need Charisma, but this isnt the worst stat allotment. Small Size: Slow speed sucks at low levels, but isnt a big deal at higher levels. Whats nice here is that you get a +1 Reflex and AC which is good at lower levels. I think a Small Wizard edges out as slightly more beneficial. Keen Senses: As with all the races that get this benefit, its a welcome one. Obsessive: Not bad, especially if youre grabbing Alchemy for your Familiar. Gnome Magic: This makes up for your lack of Intelligence Bonus when casting illusion spells at least. The Spell-Like abilities are pretty throw-away though with your Charisma bonus it shouldnt be too painful to qualify for them.

Notable Alternate Gnome Traits

Academician: Not really better than Obsessive for you since more craft points means faster crafting, but with your high intelligence youre not going to have too much difficulty identifying creatures in your CR. Darkvision: Everyones getting Darkvision these days. I personally think this is worth the trade. Eternal Hope: Better than the things it replaces. Rolling 1s dont hurt you as bad as classes that roll to attack more often, but its welcome. Fell Magic: Not into illusions? Then be a tiny necromancer. The Wisdom thing is weird. Again, this only makes up for the fact that you dont get a bonus to intelligence with this race. Gift of Tongues: Also much better than the things it replaces. This gives you 2 languages whenever you grab Linguistics, making you a master linguist pretty quickly.

Magical Linguist: Im not personally a fan of the symbol spells, but if youre attracted to them this is pretty good. I think this is a little better for a divine caster since they have more early language dependent spells. Pyromaniac: Not horrible for the Fire Specialist, but quickly youre going to find your spells resisted.

Favored Class Option

Same as the Elfs.

Halfling
I like Halflings a lot. They kind of seem like the underdog. Sadly theyre not a big contender for being a wizard. Still not going to make you auto-lose if you pick them though. At early levels theyre the most defensive core-race with the AC bonuses from both small size and a Dex modifier in addition to an extra bonus to all your saving throws.

Notable Base Halfling Traits

Ability Score Bonuses: Dont need strength, and Dex is very nice for you. Small Size: Like the Gnome this is overall a beneficial trade for Wizards I think. Halfling Luck: Like Sacred Tattoo for Half-Orcs this gives you a nice boost to all your saving throws that stacks with just about anything. Keen Senses: Again, very nice.

Notable Alternate Halfling Traits

Adaptable Luck: Instead of a passive bonus you have the opportunity to add a +2 bonus to various rolls three times a day. The control you have over this is potentially better than the simple passive benefit. Fleet of Foot: Get all the benefits of small size without the biggest penalty. Sure footed was slightly nice for you as a Wizard, but at earlier levels this is just better.

Favored Class Option

Well this is interesting, your familiar progresses faster. Actually, consider this if youre planning on going with a Prestige Class because this allows you to enter without losing much for your familiar. If you go straight up Wizard, youll have to see if your DM will come up with other benefits for your Familiar once they hit the cap.

FEATURED RACES

Aasimar
Aasimar enjoy being slightly more powerful than your average race, sporting two stat bonuses as well as the prevalent benefit of Darkvision, Energy Resistance, a spell-like ability and even a minor bonus to perception a la the Elf bonus. If your DM will let you, be an Emberkin so you can also get the INT bonus. Then this is a fine race with basically no drawbacks.

Notable Alternate Aasimar Traits

There are a lot of Campaign Specific benefits available that I wont list here. If youre considering Aasimar, then check them out. Exalted Resistance: I love Spell Resistance. This isnt terribly high spell resistance though and its specific to evil spells and evil outsiders. Not too shabby in a number of campaigns though. Immortal Spark: Can get you an additional +1 to Intelligence if you start at middle age and use this every morning. Truespeaker: Trade your perception bonus for a ton of languages for every point you put in Linguistics. This is a good option.

Catfolk
It hurts losing Wisdom for a bonus to Charisma and Dexterity, but it wont kill you. Base catfolk really have nothing to offer the Wizard except a better chance at reflex once per day.

Notable Base Catfolk Traits

Cats Luck: Basically Greater Lightning Reflexes without the prerequisites and the extra reflex. Not bad for when you really need to suceed.

Notable Alternate Catfolk Traits

Climber: +8 to climb and a climb speed. A good trade for sprinter if youre in a campaign where you could use it a lot. (Also a good way to counter enemy created pits.) Scent: Scent is way better than low-light vision. Shame perception isnt a class skill for you.

Dhampir
Its really hard to recommend Dhampir since you lose one of the Wizards secondary stats, and do not gain Intelligence as a result. In some cases being healed by Negative Energy could be a good thing, but thats really dependent on who your companions are. And thats really where the Dhampir stands, everything about him depends on the nature of your party and the campaign.

Drow
Like the Dhampir, it hurts that you lose constitution without gaining INT. Drow however have spell resistance, which is universally attractive, making them worth considering.

Notable Base Drow Traits

Spell Resistance: Its 4 points below a 50% spell failure chance, making non penetrating spells have a 30% chance of failure when cast by monsters of your own CR, but its still solid for a passive benefit. Superior Darkvision: Very good. Not too many of your enemies are going to have this especially at low levels. Almost worth the light blindness. Spell-Like Abilities: A free 2nd level spell per day and one thats not on your spell list.

Notable Alternate Drow Traits

Blasphemous Covenant: Trade away some disposable abilities for +2 HP per HD on your demon summons. Template monsters tend to be better, but there are some great Demon summons out there. Darklands Stalker: So, RAW, it sounds like that Difficult Terrain you create could be included. Either way, you get a feat thats actually not too bad for a caster who wants to keep away from attacks of opportunity. It shouldnt be too hard to get a 13 dex with the racial bonus. Seducer: Give up your enchantment resistances for a DC bonus to your enchantment spells. Makes up for the lack of Intelligence bonus when casting enchantment spells.

Favored Class Option

Same as the Elfs.

Fetchling
Fetchlings have circumstantial defensive ability with two types of darkvision as well as some high-level but not particularly astonishing spell-like abilities. Besides that nothing terribly exciting, and though you get DEX the loss of Wisdom isnt exactly welcome.

Notable Base Fetchling Traits

Shadow Blending: Strange ability, but when you are able to cast darkness, youll see a benefit from it. Spell-Like Abilities: Fetchlings have the unique benefit of getting new spells as they level. They get one 1st, 6th, and 7th level spells castable once per day, which is higher level than other races. The spells themselves are only okay, however. Planeshift would be a whole lot better if it wasnt just to the Shadow Plane. I wouldnt consider this as a major deciding point, but they are extra spells.

Notable Base Alternate Traits

Gloom Shimmer: Displacement is a little more combat oriented than Shadow Walk, but the short duration forces it to be a turn where youll often contribute nothing else. Still, youre trading one slot for two, so its a decent trade. Shadow Magic: Im not a big fan of any of the Shadow Spells. If you insist on using them though this helps, though like many of the other DC increasing racials this only makes up for the fact that this race doesnt offer INT.

Subtle Manipulator: I like Memory Lapse a lot more than Disguise Self and I could see myself using it a lot more often.

Favored Class Option

Similar to the Humans but you can get current level spells as long as its a darkness or shadow illusion spell. I wouldnt use this too often, but there are a few spells where it would be fine to get an extra when the level comes up.

Goblin
+4 to DEX, one of your secondary stat, while losing a -2 to your two dump stats? Goblins actually turn out to be not so bad for the Wizard. That and they enjoy small size without the speed penalty. Still no INT bonus and they dont really offer anything else, but you could do a lot worse.

Notable Alternate Goblin Traits

Cave Crawler: Losing the speed benefit isnt so cool, but both climb speed and ground speed are obsoleted once you get overland flight anyway, this alternate trait in some campaigns could be helpful. Eat Anything: You could get some benefit out of the skilled Stealth bonus, but I think youd enjoy the +4 bonus against sickened and nauseated a lot more for when it happens. Oversized Ears: +4 perception is also more useful to you than the base Skilled trait. Tree Runner: Acrobatics is also something that you may consider if you dont go conjurer. The +4 in addition to your already high dexterity makes you better than most trained acrobats.

Hobgoblin
With a +2 bonus to both of your secondary stats and no penalties, Hobgoblins make a very balanced Wizard. They have little else to offer, but they are economically of higher value than a Human with the dual talent trait since they enjoy Darkvision and a minor skill boost.

Notable Alternate Hobgoblin Traits

Engineer: Sneaky is fine for you, but this is more Wizardly, and will help you make alchemy for your familiar earlier on. Magehunter: Minor bonus to Spellcraft to identify spells being cast. Circumstantially helpful, and definitely helpful if you decide to bother counterspelling. Slave Hunter: I like Engineer better but this is a decent pick even if the fortitude save is specific.

Ifrit
Not the best stats, but you do get a boost to DEX. Like basically every new race you enjoy Darkvision. Burning Hands is only an okay SLA. Overall, not the most optimal pick for Wizard.

Notable Alternate Ifrit Traits

Efreeti Magic: Until you get permanency, Enlarge Person is definitely something you may be wanting to cast every day. This is a much better deal than Burning Hands. Fire Insight: Fire Elementals arent really the best summons and by the time you can summon them the Duration is becoming less of an issue. Hypnotic: Many of the ways you have to inflict fascination have HD limits. This is better on a bard, but Fascinate is a good condition and once per day you essentially have persistent on any fascinate spell. This is also a lot better for you than Fire Affinity. Wildfire Heart: Possibly the best argument for the Ifrit. A +4 to initiative is great for a Wizard.

Kobold
Im pretty sure the Pun-Pun build doesnt work in pathfinder, and I dont think he was a Wizard anyway. Kobolds have pretty awful stats, losing out on constitution with a total of a -6 to all of their stats in trade for a mere +2. To make things worse they suffer from light sensitivity which while it doesnt hurt you that much, its still something else negative they have to suffer. Finally they just dont have anything worthwhile to offer the Wizard.

Orc
Unlike their half-breed children, Orcs are a pretty awful pick for Wizard. Loses Intelligence and doesnt really give anything in return. Orcs seem like a Barbarian only race.

Oreads
Im marking these guys red simply because they dont give a bonus to any of the Wizards secondary stats. The spell-like-abilities are okay, but besides that the only things they have to offer are mostly circumstantial.

Ratfolk
Oh good, Ratfolk. They get a nice bonus to the Wizards primary and secondary stats, and lose to your most suitable dump stat, giving them the perfect stat allotment. This alone puts them on the level of Elf and Human. Even with the speed loss, small size is good and defensive for a Wizard. The other traits arent terribly exciting, but they do get Darkvision and a bonus to perception.

Notable Alternate Ratfolk Traits

Scent: Getting a -2 to sight and sound perception checks isnt so bad when you can make the argument that you can smell basically anything thats a melee threat to you. I think its a decent trade especially if you need to locate that invisible guy to use Glitterdust on.

Sylph
Basically the Elf with no spell penetration and no option to boost your initiative. They do get Darkvision (Though the Elf has that option now too) as well as a decent spell-like ability. They also get an interesting favored class option, but taking it further accentuates the fact that you arent going to be as durable as a Sylph than if you picked a different race. I think the trade-off for losing Constitution isnt as good for the Sylph, which puts it behind the other Blue

options.

Notable Base Sylph Traits

Spell-Like Ability: Feather Fall is a good contingency to have around especially when youre flying around all the time.

Notable Alternate Sylph Traits

Air Insight: Air Elementals are decent and fast, but +2 rounds isnt going to be terribly beneficial, especially later on, based on how quickly combat goes anyway. It could help in some non-combat situations, and its better than Air Affinity for you though. Breeze-Kissed: Also better than Air Affinity. Ranged creatures can be a bane to a Wizard. The non-magical stipulation makes this not as good at high levels, but pick it up for low levels. Like the Wind: +5 movement speed could save your bacon or get you into range, and its at least a decent trade for a specific energy resistance.

Favored Class Option

Get up to a +4 level boost to one of your school powers if you go Air or Wood. When used on the Wood Flexible Enhancement ability, you can reach a +5 enhancement bonus by level 16, but at that point youve reached the cap so unless you go some prestige class for the last four levels its not really efficient in the long run (Id rather have the extra 8 hp.) Used on Air Supremacy (If your DM even lets you) can get you infinite flight at level 7 and you only miss out on 6 hp. In a low level campaign that might be worth it. I think the best use of the bonus is on Cyclone to garner an additional +4 to the Fly DC, letting you more easily catch up to fliers and knock them out of the sky. Overall an interesting benefit, but not necessarily worth the loss of durability.

Tengu
I kind of like the way these guys look, but they arent very good Wizards. They lose Constitution without gaining anything that you would kill for. Glide is a decent alternate racial trait, but its not worth taking Tengu just for that.

Tiefling
Similar to the Aasimar, the Tiefling is just plain more powerful than other races. They actually have a penalty stat, but its in one of your dump stats. You dont have to bother with any of the Variant Tiefling Templates, the Tiefling is good just as he is.

Notable Alternate Tiefling Traits

Fiendish Sprinter: Probably better than the normal skilled trait for you, even being circumstantial. Prehensile Tail: Retrieve Rods and Scrolls from your inventory as a swift action? Yes please! Scaled Skin: Energy resistance is better in the long run, but this will help at low levels. Soul Seer: Deathwatch at-will is unique to a PC and definitely worth the trade.

Vestigial Wings: You really dont need a high fly unless youre flying in Tornados, but this can save you some skill points to put into other things.

Favored Class Option

Same as the Elfs which is a good thing.

Undine
The last of the Elemental Races doesnt lose anything major in its stats, but like the other elementals doesnt really offer anything either.

Notable Alternate Tiefling Traits

Amphibious: Better than the spell-like ability and anywhere where theres water you can have an advantage. Especially good if youre in an Aquatic campaign. Nereid Fascination: Would be really good for a sorcerer because its a fascinate with no HD limit and has a level scaled DC. For you its not going to work too often later on, but could be good at low levels. Water Sense: Only really good in aquatic campaigns, but in such campaigns its really good.

Favored Class Option

Lets you snag a few water spells off of the Druid or Cleric spell list that are not on your list. Sadly, this isnt great because you have to cast it at a higher spell level. I cant think of any water based spells where that would be worth it.

UNCOMMON RACES Changling

With a penalty to CON and nothing to help your spellcasting, Changlings make poor Wizards.

Duergar
Duergar are like super-powered dwarves. They have more darkvision, their resistances include immunities, and they even have double the penalty to Charisma. This is a decent pick for the Wizard by virtue of it being simply more powerful than the average race.

Notable Base Duergar Traits

Duergar Immunities: No worries about many illusions, Hold Person, or Poisons of any kind. In addition they get that same +2 vs. Spells that Dwarves get. Superior Darkvision: Like the Drow, this gives you an advantage over all things that cant see as far as you can.

Spell-Like Abilities: Enlarge person is basically useless to you, but Invisibility, we love you so much!

Notable Alternate Duergar Traits

Deep Magic: Its a little hard to give up Invisibility, but a +2 spell penetration is always welcome (Though not as useful until higher levels.)

Gillman
Stats-wise the Gillman has little that is completely offensive to the Wizard, but the dependency on water without Fire Vulnerability makes me think youre better off just being an Undine with Aquatic alternate trait.

Gripplis
They are small but fast, and they have a climb speed. Besides that there really isnt anything that a Wizard would really jump on, but you could do worse for your race.

Kitsune
Another okay race. They get a +1 to enchantments that makes up for their lack of an INT bonus. Honestly though they seem like they are missing a few traits to keep them on par with other races in general.

Merfolk
The Merfolk as you can see have some nice stats to make up for their utter lack of land speed. They are a good pick in aquatic campaigns. In other campaigns youll be using a 3rd level slot Fins to Feet basically every day to make up for your big weakness. You can make up for this slow speed at low levels by making it so you swim a little slower, and I think thats worth it if you are starting at low level and want to play this race.

Nagaji
Nagaji would make great Opposite Day Wizards, having a bonus on the Wizards two dump stats while taking a penalty to INT.

Samsaran
At first glance, the Samsaran is consigned with the Sylph to the green category, not being as good as the Elf. Their Alternate Race Trait Mystic Past Life however boosts them to potentially the most broken choice of all. Even if your DM rules against early access spells, there are a lot of spells on other caster lists that will flesh out your Wizard in being a toolbox for every occasion. The hardest part about picking Samsaran is convincing your DM to let you play an Uncommon race.

Notable Base Samsaran Traits

Samsaran Magic: These SLAs are okay, deathwatch probably being the most useful. Make sure you have at least an 11 CHA to take advantage of these.

Notable Alternate Samsaran Traits

Mystic Past Life: Take arcane spells off of other casters spell lists and add them to yours. Looking at RAW this could even get you early access to spells. This could get you cool benefits like haste as a level 2 spell, or completely broken spells like Summon Monster VIII as a 6th level spell. Your DM might not allow this use of this Trait, and I think thats fine; its still pretty good. Here are some examples of Spells you could get from this trait (If you start with a 20 INT, you can pick 6 of them.): Early Access Spells: Summoner: Haste (2nd), Maze (6th), Summon Monster VIII (6th), Dominate Monster (6th) Bard: Euphoric Tranquility (6th), Irresistible Dance (6th), Dominate Person (4th), Greater Dispel Magic (5th), Overwhelming Presence (6th), Distracting Cacophony (2nd) Good spells not on your list: Bard: Good Hope, Sound Burst, Arcane Concordance, Freedom of Movement, Timely Inspiration, Gallant Inspiration, Mass Cacophonous Call, Glibness, Brilliant Inspiration, Zone of Silence, Foe to Friend, Bards Escape Witch: Vomit Swarm, Speak with Dead, Heal, Raise Dead, Resurrection

Favored Class Option

This is the same as the Humans, and it can be worth it in low wealth campaigns.

Strix
Fly speed. Thats pretty much the big seller here. Besides that they can get some minor buffs to some of their saving throws and they do of course have darkvision. Nothing here that really helps your casting, but the movement mode is very nice.

Suli
Blue hair is the new blonde eh? Loses INT and gets a bonus to STR and CHA. Its kind of a cool race, but not good for the Wizard.

Svirfneblin
This version of the Gnome loses more stats than he gains like the Kobold, but at least he doesnt lose as much in comparison. That and the stats are in your dump stats. What saves the Svirfneblin is that its extremely defensive, with a high 11+class level SR and +3 to AC total (From size and natural armor bonus.) Besides that, like Gnomes they are decent illusionists. The high SR alone makes me think that this is a race worth considering.

Vanara
On par with the Dwarf, Gnome, and Halfling. The Prehensile Tail is something that is very helpful to you and your backpack full of scrolls. Besides that nothing else here really stands out (or detracts.)

Vishkanya
Not the best stats and really dont offer anything else. Very boring race for the Wizard.

Wayang
Losing Wisdom isnt so nice, but its not like losing Constitution by any means. I would trade Shadow Magic for the Dissolutions Child ability since you arent going to have the greatest Charisma. Light and Dark is an interesting and unique immediate action. Overall this race is on par with the Half-Elf and HalfOrc at least, maybe slightly more optimal except some of its abilities are oddly circumstantial.

SPECIALIZATION SCHOOLS
You definitely want to specialize; you really want the extra daily castings. But, one of the most common attitudes I see is that if youre specialized in something it means you need to cast a lot of spells from that school. You only need to cast ONE spell from that school every day all your other slots could be from any school you want. All of the specialization schools add spelllike-abilities or passive powers that are attractive all on their own dont let the fact that the school isnt attractive as a whole detract you from taking advantage of school powers if they fit your build. There are also plenty of ways to replace your school slots with something else.

Traditional School Specializations:

In this section I will be looking at the school spells as a whole, indicating whether I think its worth having an extra slot from that school for every day in every level. Then I will consider the school powers and the schools subschools.

Abjuration
School Spells: In my opinion Abjuration contains some good essentials.
It has protection spells and it has the anti-magic spells. As a specialization though, its tough to recommend. Theres a ton of redundancy amongst the spells, which makes it tough to find a daily memorization for each level. That said, there are some real gems, especially if your DM is letting you use adventure path material.

Core School Powers: Daily memorization of resistances is actually pretty

nice but daily memorization of Resist Energy is more potent. Protective Ward is kind of cool if your party isnt carrying around Rings of Protection since those definitely dont stack. It basically becomes obsolete later on unless youre trying to save those ring slots for something else. Energy Absorption is actually pretty good since it explicitly stacks with resistances. Overall some solid bonuses, but too circumstantial for general recommendation.

Banishment: Extremely circumstantial where it's good and a touch attack

where it's not good. Unless you're playing an adventure path where you KNOW you're going to be fighting summoned or called creatures all the time... I probably still wouldn't take this.

Counterspell: If you're going to be optimizing for counterspelling this

is the way to go even though the very behavior is a little oxy-moronic. Counterspelling as an immediate action is really nice though and eliminates the drawbacks of counterspelling in general. It would be a worthy feature if you could use it more times per day. The touch range of the first ability is stupid, but most things you want to touch with it are only threatening with their own touch attacks a lot of the time.

Conjuration
School Spells: Conjuration is the best school in the game. Period. It has
protection spells, utility through teleportation, and it is home of most of the battlefield control available to the Wizard including the ever useful summon spells. Were it not for school powers, I would say that an optimized Wizard should pick Conjuration as his specialty every time. Even considering school powers its often debated as the best anyway. Certainly its an easy choice that you cannot go wrong with.

Core School Powers: Increased summon time is actually pretty good in

my opinion, not even just at lower levels. Summons are a way to get extra actions in a round, and longer is better I think. In most combat situations its not going to make any difference, but dont only think about combat applicability when it comes to these things. Dimension Steps is a decent power, though its purpose mostly saves you a few spell slots a day and makes itself useful for contingencies. The fact that its still a spell like ability means youll still be using concentration if you try doing it in a melee situation. Acid Dart starts out as a decent power and quickly devolves into a waste of a standard action.

Creation: Like Treantmonk, I'm not creative enough to see how minor
creation could be worth casting, and it's certainly not worth taking instead of dimensional step.

Teleportation: Awesome. Move as a swift action. As I mentioned earlier

you can do this even when you're taking your full round action summoning monsters. You can also do a great combination of actions such as 1: Cast Spell 2: Move previously cast spell with move action 3: Shift to get out of dangerous area. Additionally this could make touch spells better, since you can move in, touch, and then shift away. This power is good enough that the Elf's favored class bonus is worth it. Additionally, since this is a supernatural ability it does not require concentration to avoid attacks of opportunity. Note that in the description of Dimensional Door which this power explicitly says its based off of, it says After using this spell, you can't take any other actions until your next turn. This means that you couldnt use this in a grapple and still cast, but it can still get you out.

Infernal Binder (Cheliax): (ISP) Giving up Dimension Steps is painful,

but you gain the ability to control summons from the start, which is very nice when you have the occasion to use it. The Imp is one of the best improved Familiars you can have.

Divination
School Spells: Not the biggest fan of Divination as a school. Its really tough
to find a great memorization for every level. There is an awesome daily memorization for levels 7 and 8 that Id totally recommend, but if you ever get to level 9 youre stuck with foresight which is really not worth a 9th level slot in its current state - especially since your school powers duplicate some of its effects. Its not a terrible school though and has some of my favorite utilities. Knowing whats coming is what a Wizard is all about, and you should never underestimate what Divination has to destroy your DMs plans.

Core School Powers: I havent talked about this enough; Wizards need
initiative. They need to be able to setup their battlefield control as soon as possible. This is why the Divination School Power passive is the best available to the Wizard. It stacks with anything, and it ensures that you will always get the jump on the enemy, even in the surprise round. That passive alone sells the school, and the only reason Im rating core as green is because the Foresight school makes it even better. I mean, diviners fortune is okay, but the touch range is restrictive. Scrying Adept is pretty cool, but maybe a little more circumstantial than the replacement powers of the mentioned subschool. Still, base the Diviner powers are still amazing in their own right, if only for the passive.

Foresight: Awesome gets more awesome. You keep the initiative bonus
and get a super solid 8th level that power lets you reduce enemy's saving throws by 2 with no saving throw (Which is basically Aura of Despair from the Enchantment School.) If this is a standard action it's okay, but it's better than the default divination power. Save-or-Die builds should definitely consider this, and it's a benefit will certainly help a God Wizard in general. The 1st level power is very flavorful, and very powerful in predicting and improving your odds. Simply knowing you have an ace in the hole waiting is a great thing, and may be the difference in whether you cast a spell that bypasses SR or something that pierces through it. Its good enough to use your Elf Favored Class bonus to get extra uses of it.

Scryer: You still get the 1/2 bonus to your initiative, but the replacement power
isn't that great, and not as good as the power that it replaces. It does act as a sort of ranged scouting ability and in some circumstances I could see it being awesome. However, you have plenty of spells you have to memorize that do similar things.

Enchantment
School Spells: I really hate enchantment. Its never there for you when
you need it most. Oh, Ive tried it. Hideous Laughter, Confusion, and some of the other spells are cool when they work. The trouble with Enchantment is that just about all of its spells are Mind-Affecting, which means 20% of the monsters you meet are completely immune to it (No seriously, its 20%, check out the Bestiary Statistics.) If youre an Enchantment Specialist, youre going to find your specialty slot worthless in many cases.

Okay, its pretty unfair to bash enchantment because of its achilles heel, because its more than just redundant mind affecting spells that lock out enemies for turns at a time. The Enchantment School also has a few great buff spells in it as well. The problem is that most of the best Enchantment School buffs belong to the Bard. However, the available buffs, even if theyre minor, can take up your specialization slots when youre in scenarios when Mind-Affecting spells would otherwise be ineffective. That is part of the beauty of being a prepared caster. Threnodic Spell could give enchantment a little more mileage than without it, but it's a +2 metamagic, making it probably not worth it, plus it requires necromancy focus. In general, if you're going into an undead heavy or similar campaign, don't be an enchanter.

Core School Powers: The enhancement bonus to the skills is unique

because most skill modifiers are competence, so effectively the passive makes those skills class skills for you with a nice upgrade as you progress. The downside is that it means youre going to probably want Charisma to make them more useful and I think you really need to be able to dump that stat most of the time. Dazing touch is potent since it makes no mention of a saving throw, but flawed thanks to its range. Still, if your DM rules that there is no saving throw you can easily lock out a target for as many rounds as you please to use and it doesnt even say anything about it being mindaffecting either. Aura of Despair is just what the doctor ordered for buffing your school spells. A no saving throw penalty to saving throws means more mind-controlling goodness from you.

Controller: The 20th level power of the first ability is pretty cool, too bad
you'll never see it. Other than that the first level power is a great benefit to an Enchanter and fits the flavor really well. Free dominate monster is awesome since that's often considered the crowning achievement of enchanters. I don't like the short duration and constant saving throws. I think core is better in general.

Manipulator: I'm not sure that Beguiling touch is better than Dazing Touch
since it's ambiguous whether Dazing touch allows a saving throw. Shape Emotions is basically Aura of Despair except it has a defensive option and its offensive use only effects your school spells. All and all I think the regular enchanter is better.

Evocation
School Spells: Evocation is my second favorite school. It contains some fun
instant cast control spells that push enemies around or create walls of wind. What Evocation is probably best known for though is its plethora of instant duration damage spells. Damage spells by themselves arent the most optimal use of your spell slots or your standard actions, but thanks to wonderful metamagic feats like Rime Spell and Dazing Spell you can add excellent effects to your damage spells that are great for fulfilling your role as a Wizard. Fireball becomes a Dazing AOE that targets reflex which is awesome in itself.

Core School Powers: Yawn. The extra damage is so minor its ignorable.
Force Missile is again decent at early levels but becomes irrelevant as you get more spell slots. Elemental wall is interesting, but not terribly useful. Overall,

core powers offer minor effects that you will probably forget you even have. With the option of subschools, you really dont even want to bother with the basic option.

Admixture: You want this just for the first level power. It adds to your
versatility with your damage (buffed with metamagic to become God spells.) If youre going a blaster/debuff route, exploiting Daze Spell, you may want to stack up uses with your Elf Favored Class bonus too. The 8th level power isn't as good as the original wall spells, and it's really weird in its use. It is a way of adjusting energy damage to match an improperly cast resist energy. You could also make a paladin taking the human favored class bonus a little more useful. Ultimately though I think it's a throw away ability. About Admixture and Metamagic: Since Admixture is used when you cast the spell and not in preparation, RAW suggests that you could not do things like add Rime Spell to Fireball. You could however theoretically memorize a Rime Ice Storm and then make it Acid (arguing that the Acid is sticky.)

Generation: This is just better than the regular Evocation school. Increased
duration is nice, but not amazing. The telekinesis replacement for force missiles is a heck of a lot of an improvement though. Still not anything to write home about, but something to consider if you decide to specialize in evocation. See if your GM will let you apply Lingering Evocations to spells with the Lingering Spell metamagic feat. Then it goes from nice to pretty darn nice.

Illusion
School Spells: Illusion contains the one of the most versatile lines of spells
available to the Wizard - the Image Spells. If your DM rewards creativity, then the only limit to these spells is your imagination. Besides versatility in that line, you also get a plethora of utility and defensive spells like Invisibility and Mirror Image. In addition, a lot of Enchantments schtick is duplicated through spells with similar mind-affecting effects. It also even contains a portion of battlefield control making illusion a diverse and interesting school. Beware the Shadow spells, however, since theyre often poor choices for the spell levels they are in.

Core School Powers: I actually think the passive power is a great benefit,
and does a lot to make image spells more usable in combat. Blinding ray would be good, but the hit dice factor makes it a whole lot worse. It IS nice that there is no saving throw, but Dazzle is easily the worst condition in pathfinder, and in most cases where youd want to blind the enemy youre going to be dazzling them instead. What makes the School Powers for illusion really nice is the 8th level invisibility power. Swift action greater invisibility. Need I say more? Its the swift action part that makes me want to make this Blue.

Phantasm: Blinding ray is better than Terror, but if you're in melee range,
Terror isn't terrible. Bedeviling Aura is actually really really good. If you've got a lot of melee party members, especially ones that can do precision damage if they're flanking, this is an incredible ability you should consider taking Phantasm for in that circumstance. Even without that circumstance, it's pretty dang good. Take the Spell Tactical Acumen for an even more potent effect.

Shadow: I really like Binding Darkness. It's a great replacement for Blinding
Ray, though you'll probably be casting real spells by the time it gets to be a long enough duration, and it's really for shutting things down since your allies have a big miss chance against the enemies affected by it. Shadow Step is also really solid - it's a lot like the Conjuration Dimension Step ability but more defensive. Ultimately I don't think it's better than improved invisibility, but I think overall it's a decent trade-off for this sub-school.

Mage of the Veil (Qadira): (ISP) You get some nice class skills to use
your enormous intellect on, stealth is particularly nice though replaceable by the invisibility spell, which is noticeably one of the things you give up for this subschool in favor of disguise powers. If youre playing an Urban campaign this is probably a lot better, but in my opinion the regular illusion school is superior for general use.

Necromancy
School Spells: Necromancy has all the weird stuff for Wizards, but most
notably it contains a good number of the best Debuff spells. The crown jewel of these spells is Enervation, which not only eventually kills its target but gradually makes them worse as you do so. You can base your entire build on this spell alone. Besides debuffs it has a few crowd controls and even some buffs. The first thing you think of when you think Necromancy though is the ability to animate dead - and it has that too. It seems to me that because its yet another power that requires you to use Charisma youre better off being a different class if you want to go that route, especially since other classes have more ways to channel negative energy (like for instance, the Cleric class feature Channel Negative Energy). Overall though Necromancy is diverse enough to make it worth specializing in, but not quite potent enough to be considered the most optimal choice, additionally because like Illusion its also a relatively small school. Its also very weak at the lowest levels.

Core School Powers: Turn undead and Command undead are pretty
much essential if youre going to be animating dead, but again, the need for Charisma makes me MAD. Grave touch is pretty cool, especially since it actually lets you frighten things which seems to be a taboo with other makes dem shaken abilities like the Bards Dirge of Despair. The touch range, spelllike-ability vulnerability to attacks of opportunity, and the inability to channel it through your Familiar means youre probably never going to get to use it though. Besides that, the frightened aspect only works if they are lower than your Wizard level. Lifesight is cool, but its short range makes me wonder if its even worth the standard action it takes to activate it.

Life: Trade the not great abilities of necromancy for really crummy healing
abilities. Turn undead wasn't great for you in the first place, but the healing power is really weak. Granting temporary HP is weird and kind of useful since you can give it to the guy who should be taking hits for you.

Death: Bolster is probably more useful than Grave Touch, so take this
subschool if you want to be an undead master. Or just play a class that's better for being an undead master.

Transmutation
School Spells: With all the additional material added to Pathfinder, an already
huge school like Transmutation has become disgustingly bloated and filled with shovelspells. But, being such a large school makes it pretty easy to find something good at each level to make it worth having an extra spell slot for each day. In 3.5, Transmutation rivalled Conjuration as the most powerful option for specialization. In Pathfinder some of the most broken aspects of Transmutation have been tamed and in many cases wrecked. That said, at higher levels Transmutation has some of the games most potent options like Time Stop and Polymorph Any Object (The latter which surprisingly was pretty much left untouched from 3.5.) Transmutation contains some of the most important backbone spells of the Wizard, and while I dont think its anymore the best specialization, you wont be disappointed with your options if you decide to do so.

Core School Powers: Aaand this is the biggest disappointment if you decide
to go transmuter. Its not bad, its just not exciting. The passive is very nice because it saves you the cost of enhancing your stats through a physical belt, and your physical stats arent good enough that its a MUST that you get a +6 item in them. Its also nice that you can change this bonus every day, and if nothing else it means that youll be stronger than the average wizard if you DO get a belt of physical might. Telekinetic fist is throwaway like all the other similar school powers. Change shape is... kind of fun. Except that you cant take the Natural Spell feat to cast while in these forms, and you cant really stay in the shapes for very long. It really limits the uses available there, and while it technically saves you spell slots to memorize the spells they duplicate, its really not something youll be using very often I think.

Enhancement: Better than core Transmuter, marginally. Enhancement

bonuses are popular on Magic items, so you're not going to stack with anything. The Natural Armor bonus you can give stacks with stuff though so it's more worth having than the core abilities.

Shapechange: *jaw drops* Yeah, take the barely usable low level ability and
make it worse. I don't know what it is with Paizo and giving 1/2 BAB casters the ability to make weapons for themselves.

Universalist
School Spells: Permanency and Wish are some Wizard Staples, especially
the former since you as a prepared caster will actually get to use it unlike your more handsome brother the Sorcerer. But thats another discussion. The discussion here is about how the Universalist sucks because he doesnt get an extra spell per spell level per day. If you want to be a universalist, then be a specialist and spend two slots memorizing a spell from your opposition school. That equals the same number of spells per day, except you dont have to be like that every day.

School Powers: The most disgusting thing about the Universalist is that not
even the school powers are enticing enough to give up the longevity that you enjoy as a specialist. Hand of the Apprentice is potentially a better damage ability than other school throwaway powers, but its the same as the rest - not even worth a standard action at higher levels. Metamagic Mastery is admittedly pretty cool, but there are feats that do the same thing now albeit to specific spells. Also, when you read that it only applies to metamagic that raises the spell level by 1 without further penalties it severely limits the possibilities.

Arcanamirium Crafter (Absalom): (ISP) Gives a bonus feat and a nice

boost to crafting that is a better deal than the power it replaces.

Thessalonian Specialist

(ISM) This is nostalgic of the 2nd edition and 3.5 days. Essentially the trade-off here is that you get an extra casting of your bonus spell every day per level for your specialty school by permanently giving up two other predetermined schools. This is only a good deal for campaigns that have you taking longer adventuring days with little time to rest and recoup your spells. I dont recommend any of these in most circumstances. Most of the 7 options listed on the OGC are giving up too much, but well consider each individually anyway. Its also a little ambiguous if you get to keep your school powers with this, but it doesnt say you lose them so I would say you get to keep them. If your DM rules you dont, then Id very carefully consider what youre giving up. Some school powers arent very good in the first place, and something youll never use is something youll never miss.

Envy (Abjuration) Prohibited Schools: evocation, necromancy.

Abjuration basically only has the dispelling options. Many of its protection options are duplicated in other schools. Youre going to have a hard time finding two effective memorizations for each spell level every day. Evocation was once regarded as one of the best schools to give up since a lot of its abilities could be duplicated in other schools. Thanks to metamagic its gotten a lot stronger however making it a tough one to give away. Necromancy isnt the largest school, but it has some very powerful spells. Not worth it.

Gluttony (Necromancy) Prohibited Schools: abjuration, enchantment.

Necromancys biggest weakness is that its such a small school. Some levels are also just not very good. Giving up Abjuration and Enchantment however are probably the least missed schools. You should make sure you have another full caster in your party to cover dispel magic, since you wont have it.

Greed (Transmutation): Prohibited Schools: enchantment, illusion.

Transmutation has become a large bloated school, so there should be a spell each spell level you wouldnt mind casting twice. Giving up enchantment isnt so bad, but illusion will be sorely missed, making this a harder pick.

Lust (Enchantment): Prohibited Schools: necromancy, transmutation.

Enchantment has a huge Achilles heel and Transmutation is too large a school to give up.

Pride (Illusion): Prohibited Schools: conjuration, transmutation.

Youre giving up the best school, and the biggest school for this. Not worth it.

Sloth (Conjuration): Prohibited Schools: evocation, illusion.

Evocation and Illusion are extremely hard schools to drop, but Conjuration is so good that it might even still be worth considering.

Wrath (Evocation): Prohibited Schools: abjuration, conjuration.

Evocation has gotten amazing, and its definitely worth giving up Abjuration for. Its not worth giving up conjuration.

Suggested Opposition Schools:

When you specialize you always have to make the hard decision of which other schools are you going to gimp to gain the benefits. Ultimately you can always memorize spells from opposition schools if you spend the two slots, so its not so bad if you occasionally need something from your opposition school. My first recommendation for opposition schools is to never give up Conjuration or Transmutation. Both of them have the most important Wizard Spells, and the latter is the largest school. I also dont recommend giving up Evocation. Back in 3.5 it was a prime suspect for removal because other schools could easily replace its effects. Thats not so much the case anymore That leaves Abjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Necromancy, and Illusion as my most favored possibilities. I will discuss the circumstances you can give up each of these as opposition schools individually. Abjuration: The most painful losses here are Resist Energy, Dimensional Anchor, and Dispel Magic. But, even if you plan on doing things like Planar Binding using a magic circle and dimensional anchor, you can easily take the double slots since its not something you plan on doing often. You might consider taking this as an opposition school if you have another full caster in your group, preferably something like a Cleric who is also a prepared caster. Many other full casters get the staples of this school and can fulfill that role instead of you. Conjuration: Basically youre making your most combat usable battlefield controls harder to utilize in combat. If you dont intend to utilize them at all, then I might recommend looking at another class. Conjuration is a bad bad choice for an opposition school. Divination: I like Divination a lot, but its tough to say that its spells are something youll be using all the time. If you need to scry or use blood transcription, you can afford to cast it from a scroll or double up the slots. The biggest problem with giving up Divination is that two of the most important zero level spells are Divination, and as a Wizard you only get to memorize four of those anyway. Having to use all your Zero Level slots on Read Magic (For scrolls) and Detect Magic (For general utility) really hurts, but like with Abjuration and Dispel Magic basically every caster gets Detect Magic and Zero

Level spells arent so good that you really need all four slots. Read Magic can be replaced with Spell Craft to a degree. Though you may face a fail chance, taking 10 will remove it in most cases. Enchantment: 90% of the spells in this school wont work on 20% of the monsters youll be facing. Almost 100% of the offensive spells target only the will save. There are about 3 offensive spells I would say stand above the rest of Wizard magic for their level, and a few buffs youll be missing out on, but in most if not all cases I would say you wont be missing the Enchantment school even if you never spent the two slots memorizing its spells. Evocation: Even without using dazing spell, youd be giving up some powerful options in this school. Similar to Conjuration, its spells are best used in combat situations where the number of slots really matters. The old suggestion to give up Evocation and Enchantment no longer holds true in my opinion. Illusion: There are again some Wizard staples in this school - namely invisibility and mirror image - that I would have a hard time giving up because theyre just that useful. This school also doesnt have the advantage of other casters fulfilling the role because often times you want to be able to cast the spells on yourself in a bind. That said, its a small school, and a decent possibility for an opposition school. Necromancy: Though there are some good and interesting debuffs in this school, Im not particularly a fan of debuffing over battlefield control or even buffing anyway. Additionally, at the early levels, the school just isnt very good. This is a fine choice as an opposition school early on, and then you might consider the Opposition Research feat to make it a normal school later when the more powerful spells pop up. Transmutation: The best argument for not taking Transmutation is that youre almost literally giving up a quarter of your wizard spells by doing so (Okay, I havent actually looked at the number, but its gotta be a sizable fraction.) Besides that your best friends like Fly, Haste, and Time Stop are all going to be things you will want a lot of when they become available to you.

I personally usually take Necromancy and Enchantment as my opposition schools, with the plan to research Necromancy at level 9. Taking Divination and Enchantment in many campaigns may allow you to avoid that extra feat later on though since as mentioned Divination is often needed when using two slots or a scroll wont matter as much. Abjuration is a fine choice if you have a caster in your party that covers its staples - dont dump it if you dont.

Elemental Schools
Elemental schools have one advantage over the traditional schools, and thats that they have only one opposition school. With Opposition Research (Feat) you can basically eliminate the drawback of specialization. The big disadvantage they have over traditional schools however is that they have far fewer spells to choose from each level. For this section Im going to do something a little extra - Im going to name one spell per spell level that I would memorize every day. If I cant find one that I would definitely memorize, then I will dock the school for it. Im also going

to name some of the staples youre losing in your opposition school up to 4th level (Since after level 9 you can just pick up Opposition Research.) Some levels have spells that you can use with all the elemental schools. I am going to ignore those for the purpose of this exercise, especially since its confusing whether you have to adjust the spell to the appropriate element or not. (Id say yes, since on the summon monster spells it specifically says Elemental)

Water
Water School: Water School has a fairly strong selection of spells, and there
really isnt much to lose from its opposition school. I wouldnt say its as good as Earth as far as spell selection goes, but Earth has to lose some big ones from Airs list. Good Daily Memorizations: 0: Ray of Frost 1: Obscuring Mists 2: Fog Cloud 3: Sleet Storm 4: Wall of Ice 5: Cloudkill 6: Fluid Form 7: Control Weather 8: Horrid Wilting 9: Tsunami Bad Oppositions: 2: Pyrotechnics (Maybe)

Water Abilities: Swimming is obviously better in more water oriented

campaigns. The 1st level attack power is slightly better than the other schools, including the traditional schools, but not by much. Water Wave is nice as a single square battlefield control. See Toppling Spells analyses for why I wouldnt rate this higher as a trip ability. The wave does get HUGE though so you can really fill the battlefield with it.

Fire
Fire School: 4th, 7th, and 8th levels are just bad. The rest of the levels are
weak. Ill point out that you can start stacking metamagic on Burning hands for the 4th level slot, and figure out some way to fill up 7th and 9th level slots with other choices besides whats offered using the same strategy. So while its a relatively bad list, its workable. Good Daily Memorizations: 0: Spark 1: Burning Hands 2: Pyrotechnics 3: Fireball 4: Wall of Fire 5: Fire Snake 6: Contagious Flame 7: Firebrand 8: Wall of Lava 9: Fiery Body Bad Oppositions: 1: Obscuring Mists 2: Sleet Storm

Fire Abilities: Fire Supremacy offers a small amount of fire resistance, and
Fire Jet is slightly above other first level attack powers of the traditional schools. The 8th level power is very nice indeed though, as it lets you add Selective Spell to any magic up to your wizard level per day. Im not sure if that ability alone is enough to sell the school though.

Air
Air School: Air Schools main fault is losing some awesome spells to its
opposition, and this does hurt a little at lower levels. Besides that the list is actually pretty solid, though some of its more attractive spells become obsolete with the school powers (Not a bad thing.) Though unsurprisingly there is a lot of redundancy with wind spells, it starts to get better as you approach higher levels. Good Daily Memorizations: 0: Message 1: Feather Fall 2: Gust of Wind (After level 5, Levitate before) 3: Cloak of Winds (After level 10, Fly before) 4: Ball Lightning 5: Suffocation 6: Chain Lightning 7: Fly, Mass 8: Stormbolts 9: Suffocation, Mass Bad Oppositions: 1: Grease 2: Create Pit, Glitterdust, Stone Call 3: Stinking Cloud, Shifting Sand (Oh WHY! Why do we have to lose these!?)

Air Abilities: The ability to fly at will saves you a bit on magic items that
do the same thing, and at earlier levels you dont ever have to worry about falling damage. Lightning flash is a pretty throw away power. Vortex on the other hand has a mighty DC for fliers that you fly under, and can knock them out of the sky and into a hungry pit youve set up for them.

Earth
Earth School: Probably the strongest list out of all the elemental schools.
Except for level 8 (Which you can fill with Metamagic) its easy to pick something youd cast every day. It sucks that you lose the fly spells until level 9, but its not gamebreaking because your BSF probably never had the option, so until then you can walk with him. You can also get creative with Gaseous Form or other substitutes until then, and if you really need it, you can just spend the two slots or scroll it. You can actually choose to adopt the five elements philosophy of Magic as outlined in the UM however, which lets you take Wood as an opposition School instead. There you lose Web, but keep fly. Good Daily Memorizations: 0: Acid Splash 1: Grease 2: Create Pit 3: Stinking Cloud 4: Stone Shape 5: Wall of Stone 6: Flesh to Stone 7: Reverse Gravity 8: Wall of Lava 9: Clashing Rocks Bad Oppositions: 1: Feather Fall 2: Levitate 3: Fly or 2:Web

Earth Abilities: The enhancement bonus to CMD is nice, though its probably
not going to make a huge difference for you if youre ever attacked in such a way. Level 1 power as usual is pretty throw away, but sickened is a better condition than Airs Dazzle. Earth Glide is pretty cool and could have a lot of clever applications.

Wood
Wood School: Probably the second strongest spell list of the elemental
schools, and the list is very diverse. You do get some Druid spells on your list, but theyre all garbage because you get them a level late. You also miss out on Glitterdust without using two spell slots, but Im sure youll live. One thing interesting is that you get Sirocco two levels early. Thats pretty cool. Good Daily Memorizations: 0: Light 1: Charm Person 2: Web 3: Wind Wall 4: Sirocco (2 levels early?!) 5: Fickle Winds 6: Battlemind Link 7: Scouring Winds 8: Euphoric Tranquility 9: Winds of Vengeance Bad Oppositions: 2: Glitterdust

Wood Abilities: Flexible enhancement saves you on getting a magic item

that does the same thing, and because its a permanent enhancement thats nicer than you might think. Splintered Spear is as bad as the other first level attack abilities so youll probably never use it past early levels. Cooperative Defense is probably only good against Will save spells (And it does say it has to be spells). You could use it as an argument that you should get all the resistance items you find until youre capped out though. Flexible Enhancement is really the only good thing here.

Metal
Metal School: Except for level 2 for one spell, this list is very poor. Lightning
spells arent generally the best choices for metamagic because they tend to

be in lines rather than areas. One thing I will note that isnt easily seen on my personal daily memorizations list is that the Metal School does have all the Construct-affecting spells making it a choice you might consider if youre making a Construct builder. Good Daily Memorizations: 0: Mending 1: Magic Weapon? 2: Glitterdust 3: Lightning Bolt 4: Shout? 5: Lightning Arc 6: Disintegrate 7: Statue? 8: Stormbolts 9: Ride the Lightning Bad Oppositions: 2: Pyrotechnics

Metal Abilities: Metal Rending is garbage. Armor skin is outclassed by Mage

Armor until level 10, and even then the Duration is restrictive. Creating difficult terrain at 8th level is nice, but its only a 10 are and by then youve got much better spells for that.

Void

(ISM)

Void School: I wouldnt say that Voids list is better than Earths, but it has a
lot of useful tools that you could be casting every day and contribute well to the party. Some levels are stronger than others, but the biggest advantage of the Void School is that you can pick which school you miss out on at lower levels, or pick an opposition school that you just dont care about and not bother with opposition research at level 9. You cant pick Wood or Metal according to RAW though. Good Daily Memorizations: 0: Guidance 1: Shield 2: Invisibility 3: Dispel Magic 4: Wandering Star Motes 5: Telepathic Bond 6: Dispel Magic, Greater 7: Teleport, Greater 8: Moment of Prescience 9: Time Stop Bad Oppositions: You get to pick!

Void Abilities: You get a nice bonus (insight!) on saving throws against
spells and spell-like abilities, which is most saving throws. You get a decent aura buff power which is also insight, stacking with the Bards bonus, but not with your own insight bonus to resisting spells. The key seller here though is the 1st level power that lets you lower enemys saves equal to half your wizard level without a saving throw. Its a standard action, which seems restrictive, but there are plenty of ways that you have to take advantage of it yourself using your move action or even your swift action; Dazing Snapdragon Fireworks or Burning Gaze, Quicken Spell, and spells moved around with a move action come to mind. It wont help you at the lowest levels (Unless you have another caster in your party who could take advantage of it), but as you level up, it becomes incredible.

SKILLS
Back to Main Document Class Skills Knowledge Skills Cross-Class Skills Intelligence Item Suggestions

Class Skills
Appraise (Int): The Wizard concept that Knowledge is Power applies to
this skill as well. However, this skill is mainly for making sure you dont get ripped off by some NPC. While your INT makes you a great candidate for the party appraiser, I think its pretty easy to skip this skill altogether in most campaigns. (And Im not afraid to say make the rogue do it.)

Craft (Int): Youre a great candidate for crafting magical items, which also
makes you a great candidate for crafting the things you make into magic items. I wouldnt go wild with this and take too many crafting skills, but I would definitely say max out one. Which one? Craft Alchemy is my first choice. It makes great items for your Familiar to throw around, and if you use them as Alchemical Power Components to improve your spells.

Fly (Dex): This isnt a skill that you really need to max out. The hardest flying
will ever be is in a Tornado where your DC is around 36. The question is, when are you ever going to be in a tornado? Your class has pretty easy access to flight though, and under normal circumstances youre going to at least want to beat the DC 20 to fly straight up when that circumstance arises. Taking this skill is definitely a good idea (However its one of the skills I recommend taking as your INT item bonus.)

Linguistics (Int): The usefulness of this skill depends on your DM. If your
DM likes to use a lot of languages then this is a good skill. If your DM likes to keep things in English, then dont bother. Its also worth noting that you can comprehend all languages as a spell at first level, and you can effectively speak any language by 5th level, through a spell. And also, your probably low Charisma doesnt make you the best diplomat to be using this skill.

Profession (Wis): If your goal is to make money through your skills, then
youre probably better off sticking to Craft since your stats favor it more. Even then, the amount of money you can make from this is pathetic and a general waste of points. Sometimes professions have applicabilities though and your DM might consider giving you circumstance bonuses based on your profession. Talk to your DM or skip this.

Spellcraft (Int): Pretty much every caster wants this, and with your primary
stat youre going to even be the best at it. That and you absolutely need this to scribe new spells into your spellbook. I dont need to tell you to max this.

Knowledge Skills
Do not underestimate the power of knowledge skills. From a role-playing perspective it basically allows you to legally metagame as much as your rolls allow you. You have a lot of INT and few class skills. Take a lot of knowledge skills. As a prepared caster they are crucial to you knowing whats ahead to prepare. The knowledge skills youre going to want the most are the ones that let you identify monsters. Which of these are best depends on the campaign.

Arcana: (Magical Beasts, Dragons, Constructs) This knowledge gives you the
most bang for your buck. Besides giving you the knowledge you need to defeat constructs, which almost always have very specific weaknesses, it also grants you a high ability to identify spell effects. In most games that use magic to any degree, having an expert on this is crucial because magic is one of the more difficult things to understand through guesswork.

Dungeoneering: (Aberrations, Oozes) Aberrations are like Constructs in that

youre really going to want knowledge of them to identify their weaknesses and strengths, since theyre all different. Besides that it gives you a good idea of inside terrain which may help in your planning.

Engineering: This can be really useful if your DM is open minded and

descriptive. The terrain can really become your friend through this knowledge. But, I've had DMs where every environment was an empty room, and if your DM is like that, you probably won't get too much use out of this one.

Geography: You are going to want at least a few points in this once you get
teleport especially. For other purposes I can think of, you can usually have your party face just ask someone (or just follow the railroad, depending on the scenario.) Creative DMs who reward creative players could make this skill be like engineering for outside - letting you use terrain in similar ways.

History: Your DM will love you for taking this since you will be an excellent
mouth for his exposition. Thats pretty much the biggest thing youll get out if it. But, exposition can teach you things, and if your DM has no other way he feels like he can give you crucial information, you having this skill will have really helped your party.

Local: (Humanoids) Max this in an Urban campaign. Anytime else, "Humanoid"

is a very broad category that could garner you some very useful info for combating them, but again, your party face may be able to easily gather the necessary info on this category too since humanoids do tend to talk.

Nature: (Animals, Fey, Giant, Monstrous Humanoids, Plants) There are so

many creature types in this category it's a must have. Besides that, it also gives you a ton of terrain and general survival info. Nearly as much benefit for the skill points as Arcana.

Nobility: Probably the worst deal out of all the knowledges. Most campaigns
you won't even need this. Take a point to not look like an idiot if you are ever asked, but unless you are playing a game full of (boring) political intrigue, don't take any more.

Planes: (Outsiders) Outsiders are one category, but it's a HUGE category. If
you are summoning, planar binding, or even considering planar travel, max this.

Religion: (Undead) Undead are another huge and popular category. Unless
you are a necromancer though, it's a little more campaign specific, but your odds are pretty good you will get use out of this skill in any campaign, even if you never run into any undead.

Cross-Class Skills
Acrobatics (Dex): At early levels this might be worth considering to avoid
attacks of opportunity for making half movement. Later on, CMDs are going to be too high for you be wasting skill points on this. 5 foot steps are generally all you need, and even with points in this youre making a pretty big gamble by moving and you might as well make the concentration check.

Bluff (CHA): Dont even bother unless youre an Enchanter. Even then, this
skill really doesnt offer you much except maybe the secret messages aspect. Id just wait until you can pick up telepathy.

Climb (STR): You dumped strength right? Cast Spider Climb or Levitate
instead.

Diplomacy (CHA): My favorite face skill and youre probably going to be

bad at it. An Enchanter might consider it though since in my opinion its the best of the three.

Disable Device (DEX): In 3.5 this was actually INT based. Even then
though it wasnt really worth taking since you have to be a Rogue to disable magic traps. You basically get half the value of this skill without the Trapfinding feature.

Disguise (CHA): Remember that most polymorph skills only give you a +10
to using this skill. If you intend to use polymorph spells to any effect that this skills describes, you probably want to put points in this. Disguise isnt universally useful however since an invisibility spell will often work just as well, but it does have the benefit of a long duration.

Escape Artist (DEX): A ring of freedom of movement solves the same

problems, but being grappled is one of the worst things that can happen to a Wizard. This is definitely a cross-class worth considering putting max points into for that reason alone. You dont need to bother if youre a Conjurer (Teleportation) though.

Handle Animal (CHA): Never thought of using this as a Wizard skill before,
one sec and let me re-evaluate my prejudices... Hmm... push animal Hydraulic Push does THAT fine... Oh wait... it probably means like Push beyond its limits... Pfft! My summoned mount doesnt even technically exist, so it can die for all I care. Teach animal a trick - Ive got a trick, its called Charm Monster. Rear a Wild Animal - what does that even mean? Animal husbandry? Yeah... Im thinking a Wizard isnt the class to be bothering with this skill. I DO think though that this skill is generally underrated and could be put to some

creative use in the right hands.

Heal (WIS): The real purpose of this skill is to be able to heal NPCs without
wasting your Clerics precious slots or charges on your CLW wand. Its really not as bad as people say, I mean it can help cure poisons without having to memorize any cure poison spells ahead of time, or wasting known spell slots. Its probably a skill better for one of your companions though I dont think its a complete waste of points.

Intimidate (CHA): You definitely want one of your buddies to have this
since the shaken condition makes your spells more effective when they offer a saving throw. For you, well, youre not going to be the best at it, or even good at it unless youre an enchanter.

Perception (WIS): This is super blue if you chose Familiar as your Arcane
Bond, because then you basically get to roll twice (And its actually even a class skill for your Familiar.) I highly recommend taking this no matter what though, because Perception is the most used skill in the game.

Perform (Any) (CHA): I think itd be just plain silly for a Wizard to take
this at all. Contact me if you think of something, but this seems like a great way to waste skill points in basically all circumstances.

Ride (DEX): You get some great spells that give you mounts. If you think
youre youre in this move. going to have the opportunity to be sitting on that mounts back (Aka, outdoors a lot, or the dungeons are large enough) then a couple of points could be really helpful - particularly guide with knees so you can cast and More than 5 points or so is probably unnecessary.

Sense Motive (WIS): The DCs on this are pretty high for you for lower
levels, but its a good way to get information if your spells dont seem to be helping.

Sleight of Hand (DEX): I think I remember reading some spells that

surprisingly use this, but for the most part you won't have any opportunity or reason to take this.

Stealth (DEX): Duplicated by a lot of spells, but like with disguise, the
duration if said spells may restrict you from using them. Therefore not a horrid pick.

Survival (WIS): The benefits of survival are similar to the knowledge skills,
except you have no advantages when taking this skill. But, doubling up your skill checks with your familiar, and the general usefulness of this skill makes it an okay pick.

Swim (STR): You are going to have to accept that you suck at this. Not even
one point will really help you, and more points is just taking from other skills. Try to rely on your spells for this, unless you're in an aquatic campaign.

Use Magic Device (CHA): If you picked familiar, max this out to make

your improved familiar more useful in combat. Otherwise I wouldn't bother since the best spell trigger items are on your spell list anyway.

Suggested INT Item Skills

When you get an item that gives you INT, you get to max a skill while you are wearing them. Since you get those skills later in the game since you won't START with +6 INT band, these are my suggestions for skills granted as you upgrade that slot. Fly: You also don't start with the ability to fly, so this is a good one to pick up with your +2 item. Use Magic Device: The good improved Familiars are level 7, and this skill is really for them. Any Knowledge: if you are missing any knowledge skill, this is a good way to fill in the gaps. Any Craft: I suggest this for your +6 bonus since by that point you have probably already been taking all the skills you need. Craft is a decent money saver, and you might not have the wealth to take advantage of it early on. Any Tertiary skills: Think you might be able to use stealth or swim and don't have anything better to max? Well it didn't hurt getting it late with your INT bonus.

FEATS
Metamagic Feats:
Core only, its tough to recommend most metamagic because it raises the spell level of the spell, and often times its just better to cast a spell that is naturally from that spell level. Newer metamagic however gives powerful reasons to use your lower level spells with an added kick. Metamagic has become essential to Wizard power and customization. Bouncing Spell: (APG) Great way to get more use out of your potent single target save-or-lose spells. But it uses your swift action meaning you only get one bounce. In some cases, like with casting Dominate Person, this metamagic could be worth it. It is nice that it only uses a slot one level higher. Burning Spell: (UM) Horrible effect for +2 spell level. Concussive Spell: (UM) Causes a lot of the same penalties that the Shaken condition can cause, but it can stack with Shaken and other similar conditions. This would be better than Sickening Spell since the effect has no type, but there are so few Sonic spells to use with it. Dazing Spell: (APG) Okay, it's THREE levels higher, but you can daze creatures in an AOE that targets reflex. Reflex is the worst saving throw enemies have on average. Casting a Dazing Fireball is a 6th level spell, but what 6th level spell has a 20' radius Daze effect that lasts 3 rounds targeting Reflex? I like this feat. I didnt think this needed more discussion, but I did have one person insisting that you get this as a rod, not as a feat. If you have the funds, indeed there are a few advantages to going Rod only on this one. First being that you dont sacrifice any amount of saving throw DC from the spell being lower level due to it mimicking a lower level spell. This is negated completely if you give Heighten Spell a more favorable interpretation, but if youre like me and dont choose to interpret Heighten Spell that way, the commenter does have a point. So as a result, I got with Shoelessinsight and we looked a the bestiary to compare a dazing spell to one of the mass knockout spells in the enchantment school. Indeed up to level 13, targeting will with a highest level slot spell has better odds than targeting reflex with a 3rd level slot. At level 13 though, on average, the odds become equal, and after level 13 Reflex wins against Will, even with the 3 point discrepancy on the saving throw DC. Shoeless Insight decided to take it a step further though and made this argument comparing a Dazing Fireball to Mass Hold Person:
I think comparing Dazing Fireball to Mass Hold Person demonstrates why it's pretty powerful. MHP is level 7, DF is only level 6. MHP can potentially last longer, but it allows a new save every round, so it's improbable that it will last longer than three rounds anyway. At level 13, when you first gain access to MHP, the chance of each working is roughly the same (median will for CR 13 monster is 13, reflex is 10). At later levels, DF is more likely to land.

 MHP is mind-affecting, so a lot of creatures are immune to it. A lot of creatures are also immune to fire, but evocationist wizards have no problem with this. There's also nothing restricting you to applying Daze to only Fireball. If MHP fails, nothing happens. If DF fails, the target will still take a little damage. MHP does have a little bit larger area. Also, MHP might not hit allies in the area, depending on GM interpretation. If Mass Hold Person doesn't hit allies, then that plus the larger area does justify it being a level higher. But Dazing Fireball is very good at any level, and is amazing with admixture. For the Dazing feat specifically, you can also apply it to spells that don't allow spell resistance, or other damaging spells that have odd quirks that go along well with the feat.

I think that if youre an evoker and you want to use blast spells, this is almost a necessary choice for a feat. Its not perfect, but I also dont think its a trap to go for it. As I mention in my Builds section, the Dazing Evoker build does indeed blossom at higher levels, being slightly less powerful than other Wizards at lower levels. In other words while I think this Feat is worthwhile, I think its a high level feat, because thats where it really shines. Disruptive Spell: (APG) Use this with spells that don't allow a saving throw and make the argument that it uses the DC of a spell for the level. I'd like this more if it lasted longer than a round, but it's only a +1 metamagic. Still not sure if it's ever worth taking though. Echoing Spell: (UM) Use spell slots three levels higher to get two lower level slots with no extra benefits. Really crummy. Ectoplasmic Spell: (APG) Only take this if you know that you are going to be fighting a heck of a lot of ghosts, or enemies that use spells similar to Blink. Or cast spells that help your party in other ways instead of trying to affect them. If youre making a Wizard that relies heavily on one-trick, like Enervation, then youll probably still want to grab this to use with your Preferred Spell. Utilitywise, you can use this with Blink and negate the negative aspects of that spell, but its probably not worth the extra spell levels to do that all the time, making it more of a rod investment in that case. Elemental Spell: (APG) Switch out energy type for a +1 metamagic. Not worth it. Take the Admixture School instead bothering with this feat, or get a rod.

Empower Spell: The first thought is to use this with Blast spells. In general though, this is a good feat to add when you dont have to add extra spell levels to the spell - aka using Spell Perfection or a Rod. The former is a reason to pick it up, and the latter means you should avoid this feat. I actually kind of want to get an empower spell rod and empower a Summon Monster IX spell thats already buffed with Superior Summons and Spell perfection... Enlarge Spell: Theres a better metamagic called Reach Spell now that makes this almost obsolete. The only thing this can do is add even more to Reach Spells range increases to make it even more insane range. Or, you can use it to double the range on non-increment spells like Teleport to get places you need. Usually a pretty bad deal to take this as a feat though.

Extend Spell: Ive seen a lot of people recommend this, and for that reason Ive picked it up to try it out. Honestly I havent ever gotten any use out of it. Early levels it could be worth picking up, but later levels it seems to me that it would become less and less relevant. Im not a big fan based on my own experience. Flaring Spell: (UM) Dazzle is a terrible condition and adding +1 level to your spell for it is certainly not worth it. Focused Spell: (APG) Good for spells like Confusion. Probably still not worth the +1 metamagic. Heighten Spell: Ive seen this interpreted a few ways. One is that having this feat means you can apply it to any spell youve added metamagic to and have it count as the same spell level for saving throws. Another said that you have to add the spell levels with Heighten spell to get the benefit. The former interpretation makes this feat amazing. The latter... just not worth it. Persistent spell has a better effect for the level increase, though I suppose you could do both to whatever degree you can. The main reason for taking this regardless though is that its a prerequisite for Preferred Spell. Intensified Spell: (APG) Great for Magus. Meh for you. Being only +1 though it's pretty solid for a blast feat. Jinxed Spell: (HoG) While I love things that lower saves, Jinx does only lower saves by 1. The duration is a selling point, but in the end youre only making up for the fact that the Halfling doesnt get an intelligence bonus. I think this is a feat your Halfling spontaneous caster should consider, not you, as its more of a party helping spell than it is a self-help spell, and the requirements to get it are probably too much for you (the halfling requirement being the most restrictive.) The feat tax requirement to get this spell as an AOE is also restrictive, and the +2 spell level makes me wonder if the Halfling should just spend that standard action to do it as an AOE by itself instead of trying to attach it to his spells, which makes it even harder to recommend to even the spontaneous caster (Though he could attach it to a spell to target a different saving throw.)

Lingering Spell: (APG) Would be much better if it affected creatures standing in the lingering effect for another round, but can be used to create a good battlefield control area for only +1 spell level. Maximize Spell: Like Enhance Spell, this is best for situations when you dont

have to take the spell slot increase. +3 spell level is a lot, though this can really lay on the hurt with the right spell.
Merciful Spell: (APG) Not sure how often you'd get to use it, but it doesn't raise the spell level at all, so at least it has that going for it. With a powerful fireball you could knock out everyone in an entire Tavern. Might be worth taking just to do that once. Persistent Spell: (APG) Make targets roll their saves a second time if they succeed the first. +2 spell level, but it's slightly better than Heighten Spell in regards to making enemies fail their saves. Good for the save-or-die specialist, and potent on AOE spells.

Piercing Spell: (UM) Probably better for a spontaneous caster since I doubt you can plan for a foe who has an SR too high that you need this. You COULD plan to take a few spells that don't allow SR and avoid this entirely. Quicken Spell: This one is practically mandatory. Anything that lets you take more actions in the same round is extremely powerful, and while it might not technically make the spell worth the slot, it certainly makes it worth your time. There are a few spells with swift action casting times that you can fill your swift action with now, but this gives you added versatility. Reach Spell: (APG) Great for making your touch spells useful without having to cast spectral hand, but better yet you can extend your medium ranged spells to sniper range. If you use bestow curse as a 6th level spell you can cast it on someone 840 feet away. Rime Spell: (UM) This is solid. Entangle is a lot better than Dazzle, and like Flaring Spell this is only a +1 to your spell level. Cone of Cold is the first spell that comes to mind to use with this spell. Silent Spell: Better as a contingency rod than to have the feat and memorize the spell as silent ahead of time. Still Spell: You still have to make concentration checks when grappled, so this seems to be best when youre tied up or detained in a similar manner. I suppose its also good for when youre trying to cast discretely, but it doesnt get rid of the verbal components, and that seems more important. Since you might not be able to access a rod in circumstances where you might need this, you may consider this option, though I dont completely recommend it. Selective Spell: (APG) It's back, and it's only +1 level. Worth having for those spells that have a lot of potential collateral damage. Probably better as a Rod though since planning ahead for the circumstance youll want to use this in is a little dubious. Shadow Grasp: (ISM) Basically Rime Spell for any spell with the darkness descriptor, and it doesnt even have to damage them. If it werent for the feat tax, Id recommend this to any Wizard as a green spell, but unless youre actually using tenebrous Spell and Umbral Spell its not worth it. However this set of three feats in general are interesting and flavorful, making good choices if thats your character concept. Theyre not so powerful that Id recommend it to every Wizard however. One thing I will say about Shadow Grasp though is that the concealment effects of darkness spell are stunted by the fact that SO MANY creatures get Dark Vision, but even with Dark Vision theyll still be effected by this.

Sickening Spell: (APG) I happen to like Sickened as a condition since it makes your spells more effective. You can add this to your reflex save spells for the same benefits you get doing it with dazing spell. The duration sucks however, making it questionable whether it's worth the +2. Still it's kind of fun to think you made your Fireball into a Stinking Fireball. Tenebrous Spell: (ISM) I do like this. Its basically Spell Focus for every school, except you have to be in Dim Lighting. If youre making a save-or-die build this doesnt even raise the spell level of the spell, which is probably the only reason Id recommend it. If youre not focusing on save-or-die, or save-orsuck, you probably have better things to do with your feats.

Thanatopic Spell: (UM) Necessary if you want to make an Enervation one-trick pony Wizard. Besides that probably not worth having. Just cast a different spell. Threnodic Spell: (UM) uch worse than Thanatopic spell, mostly because it has a feat tax of Necromancy when you really want to use it with Enchantment spells. That and the +2 makes it extremely limiting for even using it with enchantment spells. Threatening Illusion: (GoG) Have to be a Gnome, which makes it hard to recommend this. Id think its pretty decent though if you were a Gnome, except that many of the illusion spells youd be casting with this have a duration of concentration making summoning a monster generally a better choice for creating a flank buddy.

Thundering Spell: (APG) Deafened isn't the greatest debuff, but you can add this to any spell including wide radius spells like Fireball. This is pretty nice against casters thanks to the 20% fizzle chance and targeting a caster's fortitude or reflex is definitely fortuitous to you. I just wish Deafened did just a little bit more, or that this was +1 instead of +2. Toppling Spell: (UM) This seems like it'd be great at level 3 when you can use Magic Missile as a ranged trip spell. You also have Grease as a ranged trip spell at 1st level. Also, and unfortunately, at higher levels the CMD of monsters makes this hard to pull off.*
*Shoelessinsight gave me some information regarding Toppling Spell and average monster CMD, which basically showed that after level 5 the chances of you succeding a toppling spell drop below 50% and gradually decreases to 25% by level 12 and further down as you progress (against equal CR monsters). In other words, while I think we all want toppling spell to be a great metamagic, the numbers simply don't add up. Once it drops below 50% it starts to become unacceptable for adding +1 to your spell level. The most unfortunate thing is that even considering there being a good number of npcs and creatures that have low CMDs, the ones you really want to trip are the ones with the high CMDs.

Umbral Spell: (ISM) This is a great way to save your spell actions setting up conditions for Tenebrous Spell to be effective, but at +2 spell level thats really the only circumstance I can think of that it would be especially useful. Since you need Tenebrous Spell to take this, then youve probably already set your mind to Tenebrous antics. Just keep in mind that it doesnt work with instantaneous spells. Widen Spell: Cool idea and effect thwarted by its expensive 3 level increase. Its a shame too because this might have had some great potential.

Item Creation Feats:

Treantmonk made the comment that Item Creation Feats were like trading your feats for money. So that thought bears forth a question; are your feats worth money? This completely depends on the campaign. The thing about money is that its like Experience Points that you spend and never get back. Okay you can always get more money, but its not really good to think of it that way because that takes time and effort that you may or may not have. In some campaigns, the DM showers the players with gifts and wealth, and in those campaigns you may just be better off just going and buying the items. In other campaigns wealth is much harder to come by, and the discounts for

making magic items becomes essential. More importantly, Item creation feats are necessary if the items you want or need are just not possible to come by. The problem with Item Creation feats is that it does come with the opportunity cost of other feats, meaning you should probably avoid taking more than one or two and hope that your companions can pick up the slack if you need anything else. Picking one Craft Wondrous Item is by far the best value, but a few of the others are at least worth considering. Brew Potion: Potions are normally bad, one shot deals, costing double the price of a scroll. There are a few purposes for them though. If youre considering being the Prestige Class Bloatmage you can store blood necessary for your capstone power. Also, unlike scrolls, it doesnt require Use Magic Device to activate if you arent a Wizard. Most Wizards should avoid this feat, but clever strategy may justify the desire to have cheaper potions. Craft Construct: The existence of the feat Golem Constructor makes this a bad deal for you unless you were already taking the Craft Arms and Armor feat and the Craft Wondrous Item feats. If you are already taking those other two feats, this is a better deal all around. Constructs are powerful, and may help your party immensely. I personally havent bothered with them, but there are a lot of spells that modify constructs and I can guess that a build centered around them could be pretty effective. Craft Magic Arms and Armor: This is an Ima team player feat, because you get the least benefit out of this than probably anyone else in your party. You can still get some benefit out of it though as will be discussed in the Weapon and Armor slot discussion in the equipment section of this guide. Craft Rod: This feat is more powerful than youd think thanks to the Item Creation rules. All of these have the prerequisite of having the Metamagic Feat to create them, however the rules state that the only consequence of not having a prerequisite is that the Spellcraft DC for creating the magic item increases by 5, and rods are not a Spell Completion or Spell Trigger item by the rules. This essentially means that this feat grants you access to all other metamagic feats if you create the rod. So all those metamagic feats I mentioned above that are better off NOT increasing the spell level of your spell? Well grab this feat and craft away to gain access to them. Craft Staff: Staves are good to have around as contingencies, but you also have scrolls for that. Staves do have a couple of advantages over scrolls though. For one they always cast spells at your level, scrolls need an archetype or a prestige class to accomplish that. They are also permanent(ish) friends that you can constantly recharge and replenish your moneys worth out of them. Essentially staves are extra spell slots for the day, and comparing them to similar items like the pearls of power, theyre actually pretty cheap (except that pearls of power can replenish any slot while Staves have to be whatever spell you put into them.) The drawback of taking this as an Item Creation feat though is that youll probably craft three, maybe four staves in your entire career. While theyre extremely helpful, you might want to ask if that was worth the feat if you even have a chance that you could just go and purchase a staff instead. A feat for extra spell slots though is actually totally worth it compared to other feats. Craft Wand: This is green only for the idea of using it with your Familiar. For you, theyre only an okay deal. If you plan on using wands with your familiar though you may want this, especially if the familiar is going to be using that wand every battle. Cutting the price in half in that instance would be saving

you a hordes worth of money in the long run. Craft Wondrous Item: Wondrous items are overpriced as-is, and the ability to craft them at half price could easily make you money. Besides that this is the most diverse and versatile crafting feat, getting you anything from pearls of power to handy haversacks. And since most of these items arent spell trigger or spell completion items, you only have to take an increase to crafting DC if you dont have the prerequisites. Forge Ring: My only beef with rings is that you can only have two of them. Once you get those slots filled with what you want, youre set. If you have any opportunity at all to just buy the rings then dont bother with this feat. Stacking effects on rings could make them a little more valuable, but Craft Wondrous Item or other Item Creation feats give you much more value. Inscribe Magical Tattoo: (ISM) Unless your DM has a habit of having sleazy magic tattoo shops on every corner ready to weave lead and mercury into your skin, you may just need this feat to get magic tattoos. Are they worth a feat? Yes. Very yes. ESPECIALLY if your DM is letting you use the crafting rules to inscribe whatever you want. Essentially these nearly double your item slots. Scribe Scroll: Not much point in rating this since you get it anyway and I havent found any ACF that lets you trade it off unless youre using 3.5 material. You should be using it though. You wont always be able to predict every situation so having a bag full of scrolls could have you prepared for anything.

General Feats:
Acrobatic: +2 to fly wont help you THAT much, and as mentioned in the skill section the DCs in the best part of the Acrobatics Skill become just too hard for you to invest in to improve. Additional Traits: (APG) Actually not bad if your DM didnt give you that many traits to begin with. Two traits is equal to a feat if you pick the right traits. Totally worth it if your DM lets you take this and didnt give you any traits, because some traits like Magical Lineage dont have any real Feat equivalent. Alertness: Obviously you should only bother with this if you didnt pick Familiar, but since Perception is the most used skill in the game and its not a class skill for you, its not a horrible feat to pick up. Uncanny Alertness: (UM) Huh, this feels really fluffy and flavorless. Not really a great benefit for a feat, and completely worthless if youre an Elf. Amateur Gunslinger: (UC) Guns arent terrible for a Wizard to carry around since theyre touch attacks, but this feat is the beginning of an investment that just wont pan out that great for you in the end. Arcane Blast: (APG) Sacrifice a spell slot for a really crappy single target blast. Bleh. Arcane Shield: (APG) This is a little better since it's an immediate action. It won't stack with your ring of protection though.

Arcane Strike: Add a little extra damage to your attack action. Youre better off casting a low level spell in most cases with that action. Armor Proficiency (Any): There are a lot of tricks to get some armor on your Wizard, but the best ones exploit items with no armor check penalties like Mithril Bucklers and Armored Kilts. Spending your feats on it is a bad deal, especially considering the dubious effectiveness of doing it even when it costs no feats. Athletic: Im skipping most of these add-to-skills feats, but I wanted to put this here just to laugh a little bit at any poor sucker who thought this might be a good idea at all. Breadth of Experience: (APG) This is actually a good value for a feat for the number of skill points it actually grants you, but with your high intelligence do you need it? Lets analyze! Mmk, so the DC for identifying a monster is 10 + their CR. With a +5 starting modifier to your intelligence and the class skill bonus, your total first level bonus is going to be +9 in any knowledge skill you have a point in. That means you have about a 10% chance of NOT identifying a monster with equal CR to you, and stays that way as long as you max that knowledge skill as you level up. The extra +2 from this basically guarantees that you can identify abilities and weaknesses of any monster equal to your CR. As you level up however youre going to want that +6 INT headband, and that +10 eventual bonus from tomes and level up bonuses. So at level 20 your maxed out knowledge skill would be +36, making you guaranteed to identify any monster up to CR 26, which is possibly above the relevancy point. So while breadth of experience sounds like a cool thing to have for flavor purposes if nothing else, mechanically its probably not going to be worth it to you in the long run, unless you dont plan on maxing any knowledge skills. Combat Casting: Avoid melee range. If you cant do that, then youll probably want this feat. Even without melee range there are circumstances that you may be glad that you had this. Uncanny Concentration: (UM) Probably not necessary, but if your DM is a total jerk that shakes you around like an unwanted baby, you might consider it. Combat Expertise: Unlike your BSF, you qualify for this in your sleep. Its a waste though because you have to actually make an attack for it to work, and your BAB does not progress to a point that the AC bonus becomes worth anything. Swift Aid: (APG) This is the only reason you might even maybe consider Combat Expertise. You will indeed have better things to do with your swift actions, but most of them use spell slots. Aiding another with that swift action isnt a bad plan even if its a really minor buff - its better than doing nothing with that swift action. Half red because its not worth two feats. Cooperative Crafting: (APG) Helps increase the number of magic items you can create in a day and increases your odds of creating items you dont have the prerequisites for, but its really not worth an extra feat to improve something youve already spent feats on most of the time. If you take leadership and a Cohort though it IS something you can take together and not waste your allys feats.

Cosmopolitan: (APG) Additional traits is better since you can accomplish some of the same things by taking similar traits, but this is a way to make Perception and maybe Sense Motive into class skills for a total of +6 skill points gained from this feat. Add in the 2 languages and this is basically equivalent to the other add-to-skills feats as far as value goes. Destructive Dispel: (UC) I actually really like this. Sickening Spell is normally a +2 metamagic and requires you to actually deal damage. This lets you apply sickened with NO saving throw WHILE disabling their magic items in the meantime. The text says an opponent but it says that it works with Greater Dispel magic, which suggests that Greater Dispel magic has become an AOE stun spell through this feat as well since it provides no provision for when there are multiple targets. Detect Expertise: (UM) Not bad. If your knowledge skills cant give you the same information, its something that you might want to learn about. The fact that you have to cast the detect spell on them though means that youre usually wasting a standard action on them in combat since it isnt terribly common that you have the opportunity to meet your opponent before they are hostile, at least not on an occasion that casting a detection spell on them might tip them off and make them hostile. Dimensional Agility: (UC) Ask your DM if this works with Shift, the Conjuration (Teleportation) subschool power. If it does, then that movement becomes extraordinarily versatile. If it doesnt, its still okay, since it means you can use Dimension Door and still make your move and swift actions, but probably not worth a feat. Dispel Synergy: (UC) Dont take this unless youre also planning on taking Destructive Dispel. With those two combined, if the target has an ongoing spell effect on them, they would take a -4 to all their saves on their next turn. By itself the occasion to use it is probably too rare to consider it.

Dodge: Not awful early on. Later on its a waste of a feat. Elemental Focus/ Greater Elemental Focus: (APG) Id like this a heck of a lot more if it said spells with that element in its descriptor and not actually deals the damage, cutting out the possibility of using Admixture to circumvent its weakness. This makes this feat limited in its effect since some creatures will just be immune to your damage. Eschew Materials: If your DM is anal retentive and wants you to be obsessive over every little spell component, then this is probably worth taking. Otherwise just assume youre gathering materials and have an item in your inventory called Component Pouch. However there are circumstances when this might be useful. If youve lost your spell pouch for instance. There are some polymorph spells that your DM might say that you cant cast spells in because your component pouch is phased into your body as well. Mostly, you wont need this as long as your DM isnt a jerk. Evolved Familiar: (UM) Completely inferior to Improved Familiar, but if you are thinking of using your familiar to deliver touch spells, that evolution can give your familiar Reach, more skills, or some other fun tricks. The most restrictive part of this feat is the 13 CHA requirement, locking it away from most Wizards.

Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Nets and Guns are touch attacks meaning you could get some benefit out of them. Spending a feat on them though is contradicting your role, I think. There are a lot of net feats that follow exotic weapon proficiency, and again, I dont think you should be focusing on those things. Expanded Arcana: (APG) Just spend the money to get more spells. Feats are too precious for this. If you really want a lot more free spells be a human and take the favored class bonus. False Focus: (ISM) Benly on the Paizo Forums pointed this one out to me, and its pretty darn good. Basically this lets you get a little religious and that somehow lets you avoid Material costs for various spells. If your focus is worth 100gp, you ignore up to 100gp of those costs. Benly also points out that if you start with Item Bond, your Amulet could be a religious focus, and being masterwork it is almost always going to be worth 100gp (Run this by your DM first.) To kind of put this spell into perspective, here are a list of spells that I would enjoy getting a benefit of casting free with this feat: Stone Skin: Communal (Single Target Only), Arcane Lock, Create Treasure Map, Continual Flame, Magic Mouth, Nondetection, Pellet Blast (For overcoming Damage Reduction), Iron wall, Illusory Script, Programmed Image, Animate Dead (Up to 4 HD per cast), Spell Turning. Im sure there are others, but there are some awesome permanent ones up there and this spell allows you to put them everywhere. Programmed Image is probably my favorite - could easily make a funhouse out of your keep without busting your wallet. Fleet: Not a bad idea, but later on its useless when you can be doing things like Overland Flight, which increase your movement by 10 and add a movement mode. Great Fortitude: Fortitude is one of your weaknesses, and this does a little to help circumvent that weakness. Improved Great Fortitude: Once per day makes it okay. Rerolling any roll adds on average a +2.5 to the check. Could save your life, probably not worth the extra feat. Improved Counterspell: In general, counterspelling is a bad idea. Holding your actions to force the enemy to not take actions is a waste of your actions. Parry Spell: (APG) Just as counterspelling is a bad option, parry spell is a bad option. If you picked the counterspell subschool, you can cast spell turning as an immediate action without having to prepare for it in advance like normal and in that circumstance this isn't the worst thing ever. Generally though you should probably avoid this feat. Improved Familiar: Improved Familiar is amazing. See the Arcane Bond section of this guide for more info. Improved Initiative: Going first is extremely important as a Wizard. Take any initiative bonus you can get. Improved Share Spells: (APG) This is a pretty cool idea. When you cast a spell you on yourself you can share it between you and your familiar by halving the duration of the spell. What makes it extremely limited in use is that as soon

as your familiar walks away, he loses the benefit. This cuts out a lot of the ideas I immediately had for this spell, like casting Shapechange on both of you and double teaming the enemy as two dragons. Im sure theres something cheezy you can do with this though that Im not thinking of. Burning Gaze on both of you and doubling up the damage comes to mind (Maybe even a Dazing Burning Gaze - but thatd target Fortitude.) Im going to leave this as a Maybe because I could see it having something awesome about it that I dont know about yet. Iron Will: Not a major weakness for Wizards, but if you have room for this feat it isnt a terrible pick. Improved Iron Will: In most cases you wont need this. Iron Hide: Have to be half-orc, but this will stack with other Natural Armor. But, in the long run a mere +1 to Ac is probably not worth a feat. Leadership: If your DM allows this, the Cohort will do wonders for your ability to craft magic items. In fact, your Cohort and minions should take all the crafting feats instead of you. There are also of course a lot of other creative uses for this. If you take this at exactly level 7, and you dont have any major penalties to your Leadership Score, you can get the maximum level of cohort you can normally have. Since you probably dumped Charisma, you can still pull this off by obtaining one of the other modifiers (A base of operations being the most useful and easiest one.) You dont really need a high Charisma to get a good Cohort, but you will be missing out on the little people. Lightning Reflexes: You may want this to help circumvent the Wizards weakness in Reflex. Resist Energy spells can have similar helps, but making the saving throw AND having the proper resist energy usually means you take little to no damage. Also, if your DM starts abusing Dazing Spell, youll most definitely want this. Improved Lightning Reflexes: Like improved great fortitude, this is an okay benefit which could save your life. Magical Aptitude: Putting this here to point out that your Familiar gets your skill Ranks but not necessarily benefits from feats like these. Thus youre only using half of this feat. Its not completely worthless, but its certainly low value for you. Minor Spell Expertise: (APG) I guess this is a sort of Sorry for not converting the Archmage Prestige Class feat. And then they made the save DC be Charisma based just so they can say Psyche! and then laugh at us. There are some first level spells that you dont need to worry about the save DCs though (like Enlarge Person), and this feat effectively gives you two more castings in a day. But this is worth 2000 gold if youre using pearls of power to accomplish the same thing, which I think in most cases is the better route to take. Major Spell Expertise: (APG) Second verse, same as the first. However you can pick a 5th level spell this time, making it more worth considering since two 5th level pearls of power is worth 50,000 gold full priced. Except you have to be level 17 to take this feat, and you have to take minor spell expertise as a prerequisite. I think you should just take the Craft Wondrous Item feat and get priced pearls of power.

Mounted Combat: When youre sporting your fine Phantom Steed you may want this feat to avoid losing your legs. Nimble Moves: Because of the propensity of spells that let you create difficult terrain, you may consider this feat since 5-foot stepping is the preferred way to avoid making concentration checks when casting. Acrobatic Steps: Spending two feats on this is probably unnecessary. Light Step: (APG) Good flavor, but not worth three feats. Another way to accomplish this is to fly. Preferred Spell: (APG) One of three ways to spontaneously cast as a Wizard. This is better than Greater Spell Specialization because casting metamagic does not increase the casting time. It's worse because it's inorganic. Even though you can pick this up at level 5, you may just want to wait until you get to a spell you're more permanently satisfied with casting all the time. One of the greatest things about this feat over Greater Spell Specialization is that you can take it multiple times, making it a great pick for those spells you never seem to have enough of (And now you dont have to memorize them at all.) Using Admixture you could use this feat to make Fireball (Or other favorite preferred elemental spell) usable with Rime Spell. This is also a great feat for making that one-trick pony Enervation Wizard. Sharp Senses: (APG) +2 skill points for a feat is a really bad deal. Skill Focus: A decent bonus to whatever skill you want to put this into. Your role isnt really to be using skills besides Spellcraft and Knowledge checks, and youre going to be awesome with those without this. You may consider this if youre having difficulty crafting items you dont have the prereqs for, and its a better deal than Magical Aptitude. Eldritch Heritage: The biggest problem with this feat is that it requires a lot of Charisma. CHA 13 isnt too hard to accomplish though and there are a couple of first level tricks you might consider. Improved Eldritch Heritage: 15 Charisma starts to be too expensive for this to be worth it. You basically get nothing out of a Charisma that high besides this feat. Is it worth it? Greater Eldritch Heritage: 17 Charisma really hurts. But some of the 15th level sorcerer powers are just plain amazing. I bring this up any time the opportunity to take Sorcerer Abilities comes up, but one example of a good power is the Abyssal Added Summons ability. This would trigger Superior Summoning on Summon Monster IX, letting you summon 3 max level monsters with that spell. Combine that with Spell Perfection and you have 4. Thats a pretty good trick. Is it worth the expense though? I really cant say, Ill probably never get to try it. Spell Focus: While its pretty easy anymore to lower enemys ability to make saving throw, its difficult to raise your DCs. This is helpful to almost any school you can put it in, but its especially helpful for Conjuration or Evocation, the latter specifically if your exploiting metamagic. Its also a prerequisite for some other great feats. Greater Spell Focus: Not a bad pick, but it doesnt lead to anything else, and its otherwise a minor buff.

Augment Summoning: Make your Summons take more damage and put out more damage. This is a great benefit and you should definitely consider picking it up if youre summoning at all. Diviners Delving: (APG) Makes your divinations work better. If youre specializing in divination this might have been worth picking up. I like that things like Detect Thoughts come to you a round sooner, that can be helpful when it comes up. The requirement for Spell Focus Divination seems a little too high to recommend though. Skeleton Summoner: (UM) Add two skeletons to your summon monster list, and have the ability to add the skeleton template to monsters you can add it to. This increases the defenses of your summons, but not so much the offenses. In some cases it could lower the summons HP, so pay attention to that. It does make it immune to mind-affecting spells too so an enchanter trying to use Control Summons is thwarted by this feat. Applying the skeletal template is only once per day though, and Im not sure the other two skeletons it permanently adds to your list are heads and shoulders better than the other options on the list. Spell Specialization: (UM) This is green solely for how organic it is. +2 to level dependent effects is best for blast spells since it's most potent in those situations (+2 to a spell like Grease adds a whopping 2 minutes to the spell not worth it.) The thing that makes this feat worth it is the Greater Version. The ability to change your specialized spell on every even level makes that feat more solid. Greater Spell Specialization: (UM) This is one of two options for spontaneously casting a spell for the Wizard. What makes this one better than Preferred Spell is that it's organic thanks to being attached to Spell Specialization, meaning you can switch your spontaneously cast spell as you level up. What makes it worse is that casting metamagic with your specialized spell increases the casting time. Not a problem for the Conjurer who's spending his swift actions to move, but definitely a bummer. You also have to wait 4 more levels before you can get it. Superior Summoning: (UM) You have to summon creatures that are a level lower, but +1 monster = +1 meat bag = +1 square of battlefield control. It also means +1 Vrock to use with their dance of ruin. Pick this up if youre summoning. Tenacious Transmutation: Makes your transmutations harder to dispel. Pretty circumstantial and most likely not useful for combat in a lot of those circumstances. Undead Master: This one is interesting. Control an extra 16 HD of creatures with animate dead. Doubling the duration of Command Undead is nice since the spell is originally days per level. This is basically superior to Spell Specialization for Animate Dead. Dont forget the Material Cost though. That extra 16 HD of creatures costs you 400 gold. The command undead portion of this is definitely better for earlier levels in campaign dungeons where youre taking a rest often. Spell Mastery: Were all afraid of our spellbooks being destroyed or stolen, but this isnt the best solution for avoiding the effects of that. Its a terrible deal, especially since you could argue that Greater Spell Specialization or Preferred Spell gives the benefits along with spontaneous casting. Spend the extra

money to make a copy of your spellbook and keep it in a safe place instead. Spell Penetration: You will probably need this at some point in your career. Even if youre focused on battlefield control or summons that otherwise dont have a problem with spell resistance, the time will come when youll have to overcome it. Greater Spell Penetration: Even if youre an Elf, you may consider this if you find you cant avoid using spells that avoid spell resistance. Because only 40% of the bestiary has Spell Resistance starting at level 10, you probably dont need to pick this up until after level 15 when spell resistance will be on the majority of the monsters you may be encountering. Spell Perfection: Pick a spell and add free metamagic to it whenever you cast it. This is a great deal like a super versatile rod. The only downside to it is it can only be one spell, and it doesn't let you do things like Quickened Time Stop. It's a great thing to tack on to your Preferred Spell though, leaving your higher level slots open for casting other things. The goodness doesn't stop there; this also doubles the effects of other feats like Spell Focus when casting this spell. If you're making a Save or Die build, then pick your favorite SoD spell and get a +2 to your intrinsic DC thanks to the focuses you already have stacked on it. This should almost always be your level 15 or level 17 feat. Dont underestimate that last part, Im thinking about taking spell Perfection on Summon Monster IX, doubling Augment Summoning and Superior Summons. That is certainly worth a feat even if I wont be able to apply metamagic. Theurgy: (UM) Mystic Theurge basically gets this anyway if this is something you want to try doing. Toughness: Basically the equivalent of +2 constitution for HP. This is a great feat to pick up, especially if youre looking for ways to buff your familiars HP.

Arcane Discoveries:
Arcane Discoveries are basically just feats that are exclusive to Wizards, hence me putting this here instead of in the archetypes section Arcane Builder: This one really depends on the DM or the campaign, but it's hard spending feats on crafting feats in the first place, much less a second feat which makes it faster. Unless you're some kind of scroll addict and have a ton of money, I don't see this as worth it. Fast Study: The key here is that it lets you memorize single slots in a single minute. A minute is still a long time for combat casting, but it lets you take the day as it comes a whole lot better. An extremely circumstantial spell like Blood Biography isnt something youd wake up in the morning and memorize, but since the spell already has a minute casting time, an extra minute to memorize it isnt so bad. That circumstance is probably a bad example though, since youd probably still have 15 minutes to memorize it too. Potentially this can save you a lot of money on scrolls for those circumstantial non-combat spells, youd need a little bit faster than 15 minutes. Feral Speech: This is worth a Hex to Witches, and coincidentally Hexes are also feat equivalents. I like being able to talk to things you wouldn't normally be able to talk to, it's fun. I'm just not sure your super-nerd Wizard who dumped

Charisma should be the one doing all the talking. Some spells like Speak with Dead let you talk to things and it forces information out of them. This just lets you converse, which doesn't always accomplish anything. I do like how it's at-will though, and it would help that Wizard who's been putting a skill point into Linguist every level have a more complete ability to speak with anyone or anything. Now if you can just figure out a way to get speak with dead on your spell list... (Oh wait, with this Improved Familiar, you can!... Sorta.) Golem Constructor: This is kinda nice, I guess. It IS worth 3 feats, it seems. I've never really looked into making Golems so I'm definitely not an expert on whether this is worth it. If you do get this feat, build a lot of Golems with it to make it worth it. Immortality: There are a few advantages to taking this feat. One of them being that if you abuse the Create Demi Plane spell you wont age when youre crafting and whatnot in double time. Besides that its level 20 and youre not going to be facing much else, why not achieve immortality? Multimorph: This one is kind of neat. It turns every polymorph spell into lesser Shapechange. Emphasis on the Lesser though. The standard action to use this feat makes it kind of suck in combat. Out of combat I'm sure there is a use for it that I can't imagine though. Opposition Research: Took Necromancy as your opposed school but want to start casting Enervation without the penalties? Well look no further! And actually you can grab this with any of the Elemental schools and basically negate the drawback of specializing. The existence of this feat makes being a Universalist that much worse. Split Slot: When you're at levels where this feat might be useful, you probably have enough spells per day to tide you over for most days. This feat is a bad deal all around. Staff-Like Wand: If your DM likes to give you Wizard spell wands as treasure then this is probably better than otherwise, making this feat dependent on the kind of campaign youre playing in. The requirement of the Craft Staves feat makes this hard to recommend in general though since it means you wont get any benefit out of this until level 11 when wands might be irrelevant for you. True Name: This is dubiously powerful. This basically gives you a sort of limited use bound pet. The pet has to be less than 12 HD though, so I'd pick something with a lot of useful SLAs to keep it relevant for the next 9 levels before the level cap. The feat says you can get a better monster if you pick it at level 15, but that doesn't help you if you picked it at level 11. Also, most DMs will totally exploit the implications of that last paragraph if you try to abuse this. One thing I like and dislike about this feat is that it gives no time frame on how quickly the bound creature arrives. Being that you speak the name you could argue that they arrive within a round after you make that free action. A more level-headed DM would probably make it take 10 minutes like the Planar Binding spell though. With either arrival time, it might be a good idea to get this just as a fall-back in a bad situation.

TRAITS
Traits are great, and give your characters a boost they probably dont need. If your DM is using them though, these are definitely ones you should think about. Magic Traits: Focused Mind/ Desperate Focus: +2 to concentration could help at lower levels. Magical Lineage: If you already have your spell perfection in mind, then get this trait for that spell. This is powerful. Dangerously Curious: Gives you Use Magic Device as a class skill. Youre still probably dumping Charisma, but this one might be worth considering. Diabolic Dabbler: Makes your fiendish summons have slightly more HP. Usually they dont need HP, but this isnt terrible. Gifted Adept: Raises a selected spell by one caster level. There arent a ton of spells that get heads and shoulders better when you raise their level, but might be worth popping on your spell perfection spell, or one of those spells that have above level 20 progression. Greater Adept of the Society: An extra 0 level spell slot. Not major, but nice. Two-World Magic: Get a 0-level spell off of another class spell list. Create water, detect poison, or Guidance come to mind. Combat Traits: Reactionary: More initiative means more win. Deft Dodger: +1 reflex is decent. Resilient: +1 fortitude is also good, and protects against some of the nastier stuff thatll be targeted against you. Faith Traits: Birthmark: Not as good as Latent Psion, but still a good trait and can be taken even if youre not human. Indomitable Faith: +1 to your already impressive will, but if youre dumping Wisdom you may want to counteract that with this trait. Loreseeker: +2 on spellcraft to identify items. Social Traits Child of the Streets: Gets you slight of hand as a class skill, which as an Elf Wizard you could be pretty good at. Suspicious: Gets you sense motive as a class skill. Race Traits

Forlorn: +1 to fortitude if youre an Elf. Warrior of Old: An alternative +2 to initiative if youre an Elf. Elven Reflexes: Half-Elfs warrior of old; +2 to initiative. Latent Psion: If youre human +2 to Mind-affecting spells might be better than just a plain +1 to Will saves since many Will Saves are Mind-affecting. Regional Traits: Vagabond Child: Choose one of three skills as a class skill, I recommend Escape Artist if youre not a Conjurer. Religion Traits: Asmodean Demon Hunter: If youre considering Planar Binding, you might consider this trait. Eyes and Ears of the City: Get perception as a class skill with a +1 to it. Magic is Life: Get a +2 bonus against death spells, and always stabilize if youre brought under by a spell.

Arcane Bond

Item Bond Vs. Familiar

Your arcane bond is a very powerful class feature upon close analysis, and you should really consider it a staple feature of your Wizard. Both options have a chance of costing you a decent amount of money if you lose your arcane bond for any reason, but the benefits generally outweigh those consequences. Generally speaking though, the Familiar is the better choice. It brings to the table something that Item Bond never can - extra actions every round in combat. Besides that it doubles a lot of your skill rolls, basically letting you retry knowledge checks, and it has a better perception than you since its a class skill for them. Even if you keep your familiar in your jacket and never pick up Improved Familiar, they can be a relatively powerful feat as well though I think if youre using it for that reason only the Item Bond is a better option. But, an additional argument in favor of Familiars is that if you lose your familiar there is basically no consequence besides the monetary cost. If you lose your item bond, your casting is completely gimped until you can get it replaced, and thats pretty harsh. Item Bond is not something you should completely ignore as an option though, even if I do recommend the Familiar as the superior choice. There are a few circumstances in which Item Bond could be a better pick, which I will list here: 1. You are in a low wealth campaign. The Item Bond gives you a free item that you also enjoy the crafting feats for. This not only saves you a feat, but it saves you money on enchanting it with powerful buffs to yourself. In addition, to get the most out of your Familiar it can be a real money sink; buying wands and alchemy items for your familiar drains your wallet. The Item Bond only saves you money, and not just through the enchantment aspect of it; the spontaneous cast option will save you on crafting a lot of scrolls too. 2. You are picking a Prestige Class or you are Multiclassing. I really dont recommend Multiclassing at all, but if youre going into a Prestige Class, the Item Bond is really the way to go. It doesnt seem to scale with your Wizard Level at all, and actually, the only thing that does seem to scale is the cost of replacing the Item Bond if you happen to lose it, making it actually cheaper to replace the item bond if you lose it. 3. You dont like micromanaging, and youre less of a planner. This is more of a preference reason, but I think its perfectly legitimate. Familiars add a good level of accounting to your character planning to be effective. Some people just dont want to bother with that, and thats fine. The Item Bond is perfect for that kind of personality and playstyle, because not only is it simple to keep track of, but it also gives you that opportunity to always have that spell you need once a day. Or put differently, if you have ever failed to plan, you can always fall back on that spontaneous cast.

All that said, Familiars are extremely powerful when handled right, and I still give them the edge for the better option in most cases.

Item Bond
You have five options for your Item Bond, but which one is the best? The answer is Ring, but Ill talk about each of them individually. Amulet: An Amulet is a decent choice for a Bonded Item since it cant be disarmed or as easily removed from your person. However, Craft Wondrous item is one of the best Item Creation feats in general. For that reason the Amulet isnt the most optimal option since you may just pick up the crafting feat and create a redundancy. Still, its a safer pick than the rest, and actually the best option if youre not going to be surpassing level 7. Ring: The Ring is the most optimal choice for a couple of reasons. It cant be disarmed and its not easily removed from your person. Besides that, the Forge Ring feat is one of the least optimal item creation feats to pick up. Taking this as your Item Bond lets you skip that feat entirely but still enjoy some of the great benefits of enchanting that Item slot. Staff: Its a long haul before you can start enchanting your staff, making it a bad pick for lower levels. Theres an FAQ that states you can find a different familiar if you want though because it isnt stated anywhere that you cant, so I assume that you could take a different item bond and pick up staff at higher levels for a fee. If you are at high levels, its also not an awful pick for your Item Bond because Craft Staff is another item creation feat that you would benefit from skipping entirely, and maybe its even higher value since Craft Staff is basically a selfish feat anyway. The downside to the staff over ring or amulet is that it can be disarmed and easily sundered, making it a more vulnerable item bond. Wand: Wands are kind of an expensive thing for you to be using, and I generally recommend having your familiar use them instead. Taking it as your Item Bond obviously restricts that option though. That said, there are spells that you might be casting every combat that you may want to put on a Wand just to fill your spell slots with something else. Haste is one that comes to mind - and 5 rounds of haste cast every combat is a good idea. If you go this route, the Staff-like-Wand feat might be more useful to you. I just think its going to fall off in usefulness as soon as you get to the higher levels (But nothing says you cant pay to switch it for a staff later.) Weapon: A weapon is possibly the worst choice of the bunch. BUT, there are enchantments that you can put on weapons that can help you. A dueling enchantment doesnt raise the effective enhancement bonus of the weapon at all, and gives you a +4 to initiative. Spell Storing on a Gun or Bow could have some creative uses. And thats about all Ive got.

Roles for your Familiar

If you chose Familiar, its important that you use them. Some people might argue that a Familiar is best left in the Wizards jacket because when he leaves the jacket the DM starts to notice him and may start targeting him. I say man up.

If youre going to just keep your familiar in your Jacket, then you might as well get Bonded Item, because at that point its probably better. If your familiar dies, it costs you money, but at least you can say you got something awesome out of your class feature. Familiars cant fulfill any role that a regular player character can, but they have many that they can fulfill. Here are some that I recommend: All Familiars Alchemist: This can get a little expensive, but its an option you should consider since these are really effective actions your Familiar can take and could mean the difference in a battle. Youre definitely going to want to max out your alchemy skill too, not only because the best alchemy items are DC 25, but also because youre going to want to get the discount. I recently did a thread talking about which familiars can drop Tanglefoot Bags on enemies. If you have a Hawk, you can carry up to two at a time with the massive strength of 6 that choice enjoys. Tanglefoot bags always entangle the target and reduce their attack rolls, and theyre thrown at Touch AC, making it a great thing for your familiar to do. Alchemists Fire can be placed by your familiar to use with Pyrotechnics. Acid is really cheap and is better than your familiar trying to attack (And it can help you snuff out trolls a little faster.) Smokesticks can create battlefield control. There are a lot of options here. Caltrops Patrol: Outside of Alchemy your Familiar can easily drop items like Caltrops around the battlefield making a one-square battlefield control. Treantmonk specifically recommends in one comment on his thread that you have your familiar drop caltrops between you and the enemy Barbarian making it difficult for him to charge you because youve broken his straight line. One advantage of Caltrops over Alchemy is that you can pick them up afterward. Plus theyre super cheap (Though a bit heavy for your noodle armed Wizard to be carrying too many of them before a Handy Haversack, so have your BSF carry them for you.) Self Spell Exploitation: Burning Gaze, Touch Injection, Cloak of Dreams, there are a lot of spells that arent very good on you, but could be wonderful on your Familiar, especially if youre boosting them with Metamagic. Encyclopedia: Since your familiar shares your skills he acts as a second chance (with a lower roll) on any knowledge check. Nice! Aid Another: Thanks to them sharing your skill ranks, they can add +2 to any skill. Whenever possible its probably better that you have them make a second roll instead - like with Perception. However many skills, like with Crafting, a second roll isnt possible, making this an excellent option. Scout/ Errand Runner: This is probably the most thought of use for a Familiar, so I dont really need to go on about it. Touch Spell Delivery: If you use the below option this is a little better. Its pretty risky though since your familiar only has half your HP and can get expensive to replace. Flanking Buddy: It is indeed possible for you to use your Familiar for this role, and not just with Improved Familiar thanks to Transmutation or a Small Familiar. Its actually a reason to cast Battlemind Link on your familiar and your BSF instead of on your self and some other buddy. Generally speaking

this isnt a role you want your familiar to fulfil without Transmutation spells buffing it out, and even then its precarious. The advantage your familiar has over a summoned monster is that it can share any personal spell with you, giving it some options to shine with, like the aforementioned Battlemind Link. Improved Familiar Only Magic Device User: This is an extremely potent way to use to use your Familiar, and Ill be considering Charisma Bonuses to UMD when looking at the Improved Familiars. You can get this a little early if you use the Anthropomorphic Animal Spell. Like learning Craft: Alchemy, you should consider maxing UMD for this reason alone. Spell Like Abilities: There are some incredible spells on some of these familiars lists that should be considered. Commune: Many improved familiars are servants of their respective alignment deities, and they come with the ability to commune with those deities once a week. Unlike the Wizards Contact Other Plane spell these questions have to be answered correctly, if the Deity knows the answer. Depending on your DM this could be powerful or the Deities of his world could be completely Naive to anything going on. I personally like the idea, but I do tend to prefer asking questions to NPCs in the actual situation.

Base Familiars
I am right now avoiding going over ALL the Familiars, since they arent all good choices. Instead these are the main ones I recommend. Hawk/ Owl: As far as dropping things around the battlefield goes, this is the superior option for doing that as a flier because of its high 6 strength. It also has a lightning fast 60 movement. One is better as a scout in daylight, and the other is better at night. Raven/Thrush: The thrush is a step below the Raven because it has one less strength, but these choices are popular for their ability to speak at first level. This allows you to take advantage of their Knowledge check earlier, and it makes it possible for them to deliver messages and scout better. Not so good for dropping things on the field. Bat: The skill bonus is more usable than the other fliers, but its an inferior choice otherwise. Fox: Gives a nice Reflex bonus and has a great strength for Caltrops or Alchemy. Your DM might argue against the Foxs ability to make touch attacks with thrown alchemy items, and might also argue about where the Fox carries things, but as far as RAW is concerned I say it should be able to do it. Donkey Rat: Can be used as a Flanking Buddy and also provides a nice bonus to your fortitude. Has a good enough strength to drop things too. Goat/ Pig: A poor options as flanking buddies, mostly because the Donkey Rat enjoys one more AC and actually gives you a bonus you care about. Hedgehog/ Rat/ Weasel: These three only serve the purpose of giving you a bonus to your saving throws.

Compsognathus: Has an excellent 8 strength and 40 movement making it a great alchemist, and it can even get in there to deliver touch attacks - though its not defended as much as other options. It also gives you an amazing +4 to intitiative, which is up there with the Greensting Scorpion as the best bonus a Familiar can grant its master. Its kind of a jack of all trades, though I wouldnt necessarily use it for Touch Attacks with its slightly lower 15 AC. Centipede: 17 armor and a 40 movement rate makes this one to consider for delivering touch attacks. Also has stealth and darkvision, making it easier to sneak up on opponents to deliver them. Rhamphorhynchus: Sort of a jack-of-all-trades option for your Familiar. Gives a +2 initiative that while its not as good as the Compsognathus and the Scorpion, its a flier with the same strength as the Owl or Hawk, though not as fast. Greensting Scorpion: 30 movement and 18 armor makes this a great pick for delivering touch attacks. Its not as fast as the Centipede but has the same stealth options and darkvision. What really makes this option shine is the +4 to initiative it grants you. Turtle: +1 Natural Armor is very minor, but its fun to note that this one potentially has the same armor as the Greensting Scorpion when its in its shell, so its a little more protected when youre delivering touch attacks with it. A shame its a turtle and cant move in there very fast. Monkey: This one seems good because it has hands, but its low strength restricts a lot of what it could be doing with them. Toad: +3 hp is decent at first level, but the familiar has very little else to offer.

Improved Familiars
Generally speaking its better to just grab Improved Familiar once you get to level 7 because you get your familiar for free that way. However if you want the benefits of an Improved Familiar early you might consider taking the expense of dismissing your familiar later and just grab the feat at level 3. With that in mind Im going to rate these for the 2 levels they cover up until level 7, where I am going to rate them as permanent familiars. Also, keep in mind that just because a base familiar is Blue it doesnt mean that its better than an Improved Familiar. The +4 initiative some of the familiars grant is hard to give up, so Id consider that before picking an orange or red option, but the green and blue improved familiar options at level 7 are definitely worth it.

Level 3 options: Celestial X: It says specifically Celestial Hawk on the OGC, but it has the note that you can get a celestial version of whatever familiar youve got. Smite Evil adds damage equal to your character level, but base Familiars have very little in the way of Charisma. Im pretty sure you dont subtract charisma however, so you might consider this on your Flanking Buddy if hes actually attacking and not just delivering touch attacks. The Damage Reduction at level 5 is nice, but at that point you can swap out for a different better familiar.

Dire Rat: I almost would rather stick with a Donkey Rat, or a Celestial Donkey Rat than bother spending a feat to get this guy. Hes an improvement, but not by much. Entropic Monkey/ Resolute Owl: Same as Celestial, except in most campaigns Smite Law/Smite Chaos isnt going to be as useful. Interestingly the OGC doesnt list these as a pick an animal option. Fiendish X: Unless youre playing an Evil campaign, Celestial is better than Fiendish. Severed Head: Ew... I think its funny that this one is available to any alignment. It can fly and has an 11 strength, and its undead, but like all of the level 3 options its not a huge step up from your base familiar. Ask your DM if you can add a variant or two to it.

Level 5 options: Carbuncle: I click the link for this thinking Final Fantasy and then laugh when I see the picture they have on the OGC. As a Familiar, this is pretty sub-par. It is cool that it has Dimensional Door, but its a Standard Action, so it wont help you that much. Besides that it has only 20 movement, though it has tongues, its a poor choice. Elemental (Air): 100ft flight (!). Whirlwind is neat, and you get more rounds with it as you level up. It also sounds like you can use Whirlwind defensively too. This is probably not worth losing the Initiative bonus of a base familiar, but this makes a great flanking buddy and can really put the speed on delivering touch attacks and dropping Alchemy. Elemental (Cold Iron): This guy is a little slow, but with a 16 strength and 17 armor he makes a decent enough flanking buddy for the level. Also has tremorsense for invisibility detection and can burrow. Elemental (Earth): Basically the same thing as the Cold Iron, except he has less strength, doesnt strike with Cold Iron, and he gets Earth Glide which is a more useful overall movement mode, and can be good for getting him out of a bad situation. Elemental (Fire): Doesnt have any extra movement modes, but 50 feet is pretty fast. Probably cant be an alchemist since, you know, fire. Burn could be a cool addition if the DC wasnt so darn low. I think the other elementals are more worth considering. Elemental (Ice): Mixes Earth and water. This has a relatively fast swim speed and its burrow only works in ice. All of its movement modes are too circumstantial to consider for a normal choice. Elemental (Magma): The Earth and Fire elementals mixed. Says in the description that the heat is internal, so it probably could drop things around for you. This is also the only elemental with an SLA - it can create difficult terrain in a square that also deals damage. It gets burn and Earth Glide too, and overall is probably a better option than the Earth or Cold Iron elementals. Deals a lot less damage though.

Elemental (Mud): Also really slow like all the other earth elemental mixes, but this one has an even slower Burrow speed. Looks to me to be an inferior choice all around (Though entrap might be good in a lake.) Elemental (Water): Slow on land, fast on water appropriately. Consider this over Air in an aquatic campaign. In land based campaigns, its not worth considering. Sprite: Has a good flying speed with perfect maneuverability. Awful strength though. Damage reduction and AC make this a good pick for delivering touch attacks. More importantly this seems to be one of the earliest picks for Use Magic Device, making it well worth considering. Its diminuative nature might make it impossible to actually handle such devices though, but that doesnt preclude it from casting it from your person. Detect Evil and Detect Good could be useful. The other SLAs have too low DCs to consider. Stirge: I had a DM that made me hate these things. Draining foes sounds good since theres no saving throw, but its a great way to get your familiar killed with how it lowers its AC and ticks off the host. Id avoid this one. Stirges are better in groups anyway. Zoog: This walking flashlight offers little more than a base familiar and you dont get to enjoy things like Improved Initiative. If it did a little more damage than just one it might be worth considering because of the ghost touch, but it doesnt.

Level 7 options Inevitable, Arbiter: Hes got hands and can speak, so theoretically this guy can use magic devices. Can fly, but not very good maneuverability. Has a crummy blast SLA, and the other SLAs arent very exciting either, except for maybe Commune, but other better familiars have this skill too. One thing he does have is Flyby attack, meaning he can drop alchemy and get out of there. Kind of a nice, and so far unique feature. Also has Regeneration (Chaos) which means youre probably never going to have to worry about him dying, meaning you can take more risks with him. This alone pushes him into green. Kyton, Auger: Has good defenses with 5/good or silver DR and 17 AC. Also regenerates and is immune to cold. Flies at 50 with perfect maneuverability. May make a good bad touch Familiar, and seems to be a great scout with his constant deathwatch, but the other SLAs and lack of hands and small size make him good for little else. Also has commune. Brownie: Like the most Improved Familiars, he has DR, but this time the weakness is the less common Cold Iron. Mirror Image and Dimension Door makes him a good candidate for a touch familiar, but his low speed kind of restricts that. He does speak a few good languages and could use magic devices. Overall a decent pick. Cacodemon: Another floating orb guy like the Auger. He smiles though so hes good for being the party face. Besides that hes basically better than the Auger with superior defenses and energy resistance, and even includes fast healing. Also has some languages that people speak as well as Telepathy. The addition of Invisibility to his otherwise unexciting SLAs make him a great pick for a touch familiar or a Scout. You might be able to use him as an Alchemist too if you think he can carry things in his teeth. He can even Commune. Too bad

hes an orb and cant polymorph into anything that can UMD, because he has a slightly higher than normal Charisma. His Soul Lock has some implications if youre dealing with lower planes, so keep that in mind. Angel, Cassisian: This flying helmet is a real team player. Its faster than the other floating orbs so far discussed and has the same Darkvision and detection additions making it a great scout. It doesnt have as good of armor as the other orbs, usually, but if the creature is evil it gets a +2 that almost evens it out. That Aura can be extended to benefit an adjacent ally, which precludes it from being a flanking buddy as well, but its worth noting that the small size allows it to do that too. It lacks the strength to carry too many alchemy items, but its small size helps it carry most things. The Aid SLA is a nice 1/day benefit. Also it can change shape into a small human-like angel, letting it use magic devices. It also has the ability to contact a good Deity for answers to questions. Overall seems to be a great versatile pick. Qlippoth, Cythnigot: Has Commune, and Soften Earth and Mud is cool, but Warp Woods DC is going to be too low to use on ranged weapons or anything like that. Other extraordinary abilities have the same fault - the DC makes them not worth using. There are better picks than this guy. Div, Doru: This guy has a much higher than normal defense with a 10/Cold Iron DR and 18 AC. Invisibility and Minor Image are good SLAs, and he has good detection abilities for scouting. The invisibility at will making him a superior pick for a touch familiar. Hes a little slower than the other orbs, but a decent pick. Id like this a lot more if it was Small sized so it could be a flanking buddy without Transmutation, but with such high defenses its still a great pick to get in there with cloak of dreams or some other highly effective close range spell that would otherwise put your familiar in an unacceptable position. Also has commune. Dragon, Faerie: 60 perfect flight and greater invisibility make him similar to the Doru as a touch familiar. Grease and Silent Image are good SLAs, and he has some nice cantrips to cast on top of that (meaning you dont have to memorize them yourself.) Makes a great UMD familiar because his 16 Charisma. Note that you could even skip UMD since he casts as a Sorcerer, so he can use your Wizard spell trigger items pretty much the same way you can without the skill. Not as good at scouting as a Doru is because of the lack of other detection abilities. Archon, Harbinger: The Cassisian is better, except when it comes to dealing damage with melee attacks or SLAs. The damage is minor though, and this guy isnt even small. He also gets Cure Light Wounds 3 times a day, but so can the Cassisian if you put a wand in its hand. The saving power that keeps this guy from falling into the red is his ability to plop protection from evil on your allies 3 times a day, though the Cassisian has a similar power through its aura. He also enjoys a lawful good commune. Homunculus: Not really a fan of this one. Its not awful because you can at least put a wand or a scroll in its hand, and it enjoys construct traits. Besides instant feedback on scouting it doesnt offer any SLAs and other options have invisibility making being a scout much better. Imp: Near perfection. Perfect flight, at will invisibility, good detection abilities, ability to use magic devices, awesome strength for carrying things, fast healing... If youre evil, or at least Lawful Neutral, this is one of the best picks. You can even have him ask the devil 6 questions every week. It could use a few more SLAs to be absolutely perfect though.

Azata, Lyrakien: This option has probably the best stats out of all the Improved Familiars with a 20 Charisma for UMD, 17 Wisdom for Perception (Which is a class skill btw), and 19 Dexterity for... I dunno, but its high! The Charisma makes her the best UMD familiar available. She also is very fast with 80 perfect flight, which puts her in third place for fastest familiar, and she has constant Freedom of Movement so nothing will stop her. She has truespeech, so she works as a universal translator. Silent Image is a great SLA and she packs a few decent cantrips so you dont have to memorize them. Finally she can remove Fatigue and Exhaustion in a minute, and has a charge of Cure Light Wounds every day for emergency use. Lacks the at-will invisibility the Imp has, but starts with an 18 stealth to help it in everything but combat (outside of the first round.) Mephits, General: All mephits are great choices as UMD familiars; most of them get +2 to their UMD for Charisma. They also are potential flanking buddies because of their small size. Which one you should go with basically comes down to pick your SLA though some options are definitely better than others. All of them have decent strengths to be Alchemists or Caltrops patrol, though they dont all have the best movements. Most of them have Fast Healing too, but they usually require some odd circumstance to work. Ive rated some of these Mephits red, and thats mostly because theyre being especially compared to other Mephits. Generally speaking you cant go wrong with what these guys do innately without considering their SLA. Mephit, Air: Gust of Wind is the signature SLA here, which isnt terribly useful for every day. He does get perfect 60 flight though. Mephit, Dust: Basically a slower version of Air, except Wind Wall is definitely something he could be casting every day. Also note that Blur can be cast once an hour, and while this isnt the greatest spell normally, remember its your mini-me thats casting it and not you. Mephit, Earth: Gets Soften Earth and Stone, which is as cool as when the Cythnigot brought it to the table. The Earth Mephit can still be a flanking buddy and use magic devices though, which makes him the better Soften Earth and Stone SLA familiar. Mephit, Fire: Fire is always lame. He gets Scorching Ray and Heat Metal. Mephit, Ice: Basically as lame as fire, but instead you get Magic Missile and Chill Metal, making it possibly worse. Mephit, Lightning: Gets Lightning Bolt and Shocking Grasp. Its worthy to note that this one does have 60 flight, making it faster than the other two standard energy Mephits. Mephit, Magma: Pyrotechnics is a good SLA, and he can turn into a small badzone that doesnt explicitly say its difficult terrain. Mephit, Ooze/Water: Stinking Cloud is a great SLA, but note that these Mephits are the only ones that cant fly. Mephit, Salt: Glitterdust is this ones SLA, and though the DC is probably not going to blind too many things, it does have the secondary effect of revealing invisibles. Dehydrate is also a relatively painful AOE for a familiar to be putting out.

Mephit, Smoke/Steam: Has the blur effect of the Dust Mephit, but not the better SLA. Instead it gets a slightly worse AOE like the Salt Mephit, and its breath weapon has a pretty good effect (though theyll probably succeed the saving throw.) Smoke and Steam are basically the same Mephit. Nosoi, Psychopomp: This strange little masked Bird has almost all the right things. Decent Strength, decent flight, at-will invisibility, decent DCs on the SLAs that matter (though not fantastic). The biggest thing I like about this guy is his addition of a very good spell thats not on your spell list: Speak with Dead. If youre not familiar with this spell, its basically the interrogation spell where you kill first and ask questions later. The Psychopomp casts it at a very high level too. This guy really needed the ability to use Magic Items, and he would have been a Blue pick for sure. Gremlin, Nuglub: Like a brownie without the SLAs. Actually, he gets 120 Darkvision and is Small Size with decent defenses. With his nasty number of attacks and very small chance to apply some Combat Maneuvers (And I mean small) hes not an awful flanking buddy. Can also UMD. Aeon, Paracletus: All his SLAs have low DCs and though hes a small guy, there are much better flanking buddies. Also doesnt seem to fit the description of something that can UMD. Seems like a poor pick. Pseudodragon: The saving grace of this guy is his blindsense. Hes got no SLAs, and is average in just about everything. He does however seem to have the ability to UMD, so as a shoulder scout who uses wands he turns out to not be a completely terrible pick. He also has telepathy, but since its in the language section it seems to require that you can only communicate with the pseudodragon. This is useful for getting information back and forth secretly, but not really enough to push him into the same rating category as some of the other green choices. Demon, Quasit: The Lesser Imp. Lower AC, lower DC on his mind-affecting SLA, but can still do all the things an Imp does. Rakshasa: Can work as a universal translator for writing, but then you can just cast a first level spell for that. Similar to the Homonculous, you can use this as an instant information scout (He doesnt have to come back and report.) The change shape aspect of this guy is strange and doesnt seem terribly useful. What kills him for me is his inability to fly and his awfully slow speed, making his instant scouting ability a little lackluster and almost necessary (An Air Elemental could run out and report back as fast as this guy can run out in the first place.) Not the best pick of the litter. Ratling: Another that cant fly, but this guy does a lot to make up for not being the greatest scout. If youre only interested in UMD for using scrolls, this Ratling can save you a bunch of skill points on UMD because he can treat any scroll like its on his spell list when hes casting from it, and he has constant read magic to help him do this. Like the Rakshasa this guy works as a universal translator too, with his constant tongues SLA. The other SLAs invisibility (though not at-will), dimension door, and rat swarm are solid. He even gets commune. If your DM lets you choose Ratfolk as your race, this guy could totally be named Mini-Me. Even though he cant fly, his strengths do well to make up for it.

Kami, Shikigami: Another non-flier that has a few benefits, like at-will invisibility, completely fouled by some drawbacks, like immunity to Polymorph effects. That later one really hurts his other perks, like decent damage and improvised weapons - you cant even Alter Self him to actually make him threaten his adjacent squares since hes tiny. Would have been decent, but inherently flawed. Agathion, Silvanshee: A really fast flying black cat with some odd tricks. Heroic strength sounds like an awesome +8 bonus... except its base strength is only 3. Still its a welcome addition if not a little restrictive - could have just had 3 strength. It knows some good cantrips and Dimension Door, but cant turn invisible like other scouts. It does get Gaseous Form which might get it into places you couldnt with other familiars. It can give a +1 luck bonus to all saving throws to an ally once a day, which is cool and sort of ironic. Also has a weak lay on hands and the ability to commune. It IS the second fastest familiar (Next to the Air Elemental) and does have tongues AND the ability to speak with animals, meaning it can talk to almost anything. Also can self stabilize, which might come in handy from time to time. I think a big selling point is that his 90 flight is supernatural, meaning he keeps it if you polymorph him. He also gets to pounce if you polymorph him into something like a 12 headed hydra. Additionally, his Lay on Hands likely uses your hitdice to determine its power, which can save a lot on healing items. I think this grab bag is worth considering. Oni, Spirit Oni: This slow flying guy pretends hes a base familiar by having the ability to give you a +2 to perception. He can turn invisible at will, which keeps him from the garbage can, and he has fast healing so hes worth getting into melee for touches. Not easily recommended for much else. Asura, Tripurasura: Geh... 20 speed with no flight. No real strengths except maybe the non-detection constant, but its got a really weak defense anyway. You could use him as the Cho-Aniki UMD familiar, but Id look elsewhere. Protean, Void Worm: Has Blindsense like the Pseudodragon, but its not as long range. Can also cast obscuring mist, which is a good SLA with no saving throw. Has some good cantrips, but he basically strikes me as average.

Prestige Classes
Paizo seems to have something against Prestige classes, as there were none for the Wizard (that I know of) in the UC, UM, or APG. Most prestige classes are very weird options available in the other sources. Well discuss a few here. I am only considering PrCs that give you full caster levels unless a specific request is made and it looks worth reviewing. Most of the Prestige Classes in the Core Rule Book are hybrid class options that I am only listing here for completeness. They are different enough that the Wizards primary role as a support class isnt necessarily the best option for them. I place them in Black Text because I feel they deserve more treatment than I am willing to give them within the scope of this guide. Most of them deserve their own guide entirely. It has been clarified that you do not gain the 2 spells per level when you go with a prestige class. This hurts. Additionally youll stop gaining level dependent benefits from your school powers, like the Diviners improved initiative, which also really really hurts. So unless youre in a high wealth campaign and youre specialized in a school where you might not care as much about the wizardlevel dependent powers, I would avoid Prestige classes entirely unless they give a lot. These are going to be rated with this trade-off in mind. Also, if you do a PrC I recommend going with Bonded Item rather than a Familiar, since that doesnt have level progression. In fact, doing a PrC actually makes the Bonded Item cheaper to replace. Arcane Archer: This is more of a Gish build option than it is a Wizard option for someone who wants to fulfill a Wizard support role. There are some neat tricks it can perform however. One Treantmonk points out is using Imbue Arrow with Anti-Magic field. The 9th level spell available in The Rival Guide called Echeans Excellent Enclosure makes this strategy obsolete if your DM will allow you to take that spell. Basically lets you accomplish the same thing without losing a ton of spell levels. This is a hybrid PrC that deserves its own guide on whether it can deliver as a class equal to straight class options.

Arcane Trickster: This hybrid class makes me think that 3 levels of Wizard is all youre going to want, even though it gives you full spell progression. Interestingly enough, you can combine this with the Alchemist Archetype Vivisectionist, which makes me wonder which spell list would be best to continue with (or even if Wizard is the best choice.) Im actually interested in seeing a guide that explores that option. Until that is added, this guide at least talks about using this to fulfill the Rogues position. For the sake of this guide, I dont really consider this a Wizard prestige class. Bloat Mage: (PFC: City of Strangers) Be a fatso full of delicious cherry juice who can drink his own blood to get more spell slots. Just preparing for this PrC makes you bloated like an old man with a glandular problem, which lowers your speed, but most painfully limits the benefit you can get from your dexterity to your AC. At higher levels thats going to suck, because youll probably want to have a Dex/Con belt of Physical Might just to up your survivability. Once you actually get the PrC you get some natural armor to compensate, but its only a small amount. If you arent planning on spending the money on that though I suppose that drawback wont matter to you. The

movement speed drop isnt as big a deal once you get overland flight and you can become a fatso blimp. If you pick this up at level 6, the earliest you can, youre going to get the most out of your Blood Pool because you get exactly one blood point per level, so you will start to be able to re-cast a highest level spell slot every day without risk starting at character level 10. While you can increase your pool beyond its limit with Bloat, I would avoid it because it could kill you. In fact, I would avoid using Bloat until your second bloatmage level, and then I would only use it to replenish an empty pool. Extra spells per day are nice, but the capstone power is what makes this PrC really worth considering. I recommend taking brew potion and collecting blood from the creatures listed whenever you can even before you reach this point. If you only go Bloatmage and Wizard you get your full character level when determining Sorcerer powers. This is worth 5 feats and a high Charisma if you went with Eldrich Heritage feats to try and accomplish the same thing. The first worthwhile power that comes to mind is Abyssals 15th level power which was Treantmonks whole reason for going Malconvoker in 3.5 - it lets you double your fiendish summons for your highest level summon monster spell. For one hour a day you can get some great benefits that make this PrC worth it if you can stick it out the whole time. Cyphermage: (ISM) This is the PrC of the Scroll. It actually has the level 10 benefit of the Scrollmaster Archetype as an option at first level, albeit that he can only use it a certain number of times a day, though once you hit level 10 with this PrC you can make it permanent. A lot of the scroll benefits are nice. You can add metamagic to scrolls, increase the DC of resisting from scrolls, and quickdraw scrolls, just to name a few. Cypher lore isnt all just scroll benefits though. Thessalonian Summoning adds some nice monsters to your summon monster list, and you can improve trap spells. Its also nice that you get an extra 2 skill points per level, and Use Magic Device as a class skill. This class looks like itd get very expensive though, especially since youre not getting your 2 spells per spell level. I would only consider this PrC if I knew we were going to be well endowed with gold and silver. Diabolist: (PC: Princes of Darkness, Book of the Damned Vol. 1) Not one Id choose if I had a Paladin in the party, but this is the PrC for the Planar Binder. The Capstone power is reminiscent of the True-Name feat, but this time its clear that you can bind the creature within a round, which is powerful. There are some great benefits this PrC gives to dabbling with devils, like hefty bonuses to Charisma checks or half cost service if youre going to bother offering. I think they are all useful. Besides that you essentially get 4 more spell slots with the SLAs it grants you. Overall, if youre evil and you like the idea of summoning Devils, Id check this out. My only qualm with it is that Devils arent as good as Demons, at least not with what is presented with the Planar Binding Spell on the OGC. Dragon Disciple: Another hybrid class that may be better to focus on the Gish aspects of it rather than trying to be a support wizard. There is actually a guide for this class already. Its right here. Eldritch Knight: Basically the quintessential Gish hybrid class. Theres a guide here if youre interested in exploring that option. Harrower: (ISWG) I dont really feel like learning all the rules of harrowing, so unless I get a lot of requests from people who actually use Harrowing cards, Im not going to rate this.

Genie Binder: (PAP Vol# 22) Same concept as the Diabolist, but doesnt give enough to justify what you lose in general with PrCs. The seals are interesting, but not powerful enough. The bonus to binding Genies is cool, but Genies arent the most powerful thing you can bind. Also the requirements have a feat tax and require level 11 when the abilities granted are especially irrelevant. Loremaster: The five secrets you get from this are cool. You miss out on Two Wizard Feats for 5 feat equivalents, one of the options being an actual feat. Bonus languages arent a big deal since putting points into the Linguist skill accomplishes the same thing. The bonus to your knowledge checks seems insane to me though. If youre maxing the relevant knowledge skills anyway youre probably going to be nearly too good with them - the Loremaster does a great job making sure there isnt anything he doesnt know. The real drawback of this class is that while it gets you 5 feat equivalents, it requires four feats to get in, and one is a throw-away feat. The cost of entry and the loss of 2 spells known per level and specialization school progression make this tough to recommend, but it does seem to work as advertised. Mystic Theurge: The existence of the below Pathfinder Savant makes this even harder to recommend. As Logicninja said, Its a trap! It may sound cool to be able to cast both Cleric and Wizard spells, but youre going to end up being just gimped in both. When you finally get past looking at what you could have been for 6 levels instead of being a wannabe half-wizard half-cleric hybrid, this class will start performing decently, and combining Cleric Magic and Wizard Magic does lend to you being a decent support. Another big drawback of Mystic Theurge is that you are going to be suffering heavily from MAD problems since both classes have different primary stats for casting. In the very long run, I wonder if youd be better off being a Oracle/Sorcerer so you can at least use the same Charisma stat for everything. The capstone power Spell Synthesist

is actually kind of neat, even if its only a minor bonus. I think youre better off just putting your Ima Wizard! sticker on your chest and avoiding this class.
Pathfinder Savant: (PfC: Seekers of Secrets) Remember Mystic Theurge? Well this class lets you add 6 spells from the Clerics Spell list to your Wizard spell list, using your Wizards intelligence based DC on those spells. Its not exactly the same as the Mystic Theurges benefits, but Im sure with those 6 spells you might find the versatility youd be looking for with that multiclass PrC option. The 6 spells can be from any list too, not just Clerics. The spell is treated as if it is one level higher, but it gets it on your list, and some spells might be worth it. Check the Inquisitor, Bard, Summoner, and Magus lists to see if you can get the early entry spells to negate this effect. If the spell is on your list, it doesnt raise the level, so you may interpret that as getting haste as a level 2 spell by getting it off the Summoners list, as an example. Remember the Scrollmaster Archetype and what it gives up to be able to cast scrolls at your caster level? Well this class gets that benefit without giving up your Arcane Bond. This class is also good for using Magic Devices, it lets you add silent spell to casting with Scrolls and other Trigger devices. It gives you a few SLAs that arent incredible but are kind of nice when you do need to identify magic items or when the chance to use it comes up. Dispelling Master is welcome too, since it means youll never have to memorize Dispel Magic. This PrC only has one feat tax (But its a feat you can still use) and you lose a spellcasting level, but it has some nice benefits, and in my opinion if you want a few key spells from the Cleric spell list, its just better than considering the Mystic Theurge.

Sphere Walker: (PF2: The Skinsaw Murders) Efficient sleep is duplicated by a ring of sustenance, returning starknife is stupid, and Divine Luck makes it obvious that this PrC wasnt meant for Wizards.

Archetypes
In the APG, UM, and UC books, I really disliked all of the Archetypes they added for Wizard. If it werent for the adventure paths, this would be just a Prof_Q bashes ACFs section. There are however some decent options in other sources besides the Core+ sources, so its worth checking some of them out. Arcane Bomber: What is so great about the Alchemist Bomb ability that its worth FOUR OPPOSITION SCHOOLS!? ahem... doing this without Bias... Okay, so you trade your Arcane Bond for the Alchemists Bomb ability, but you cant add discoveries to them which is the only reason the Alchemists Bomb ability is any good at all. To top it off, youre locked into a single energy type, so it becomes worthless against some of the enemies youll inevitably run into. The Familiar is better. The Item Bond is better. So far, so bad. Second, you give up ALL of your Cantrips so you can Sacrifice Spells -- Alright, this is already a double negative -- So you can sacrifice spells to add twice the spell level to your bombs as... damage. Wow. So a level 9 spell sacrificed adds 18 damage? And now you have to cast detect magic as a 1st level spell? Sorry I just woke up from my mind snapping at the stupidity. No offense to anyone whos done this Archetype. Finally these abilities that I mentioned are SO AWESOME that you dont get to have a specialization school. This means you dont get extra spells per day, and you get to pick 4 opposition schools to boot. Do I even need to say anything about how bad a deal this is? Sure the damage is relatively high, but its one-type, and you have BAB progression making you awful at lobbing them. This option is so inferior I almost want to turn all of this text red. Scrollmaster: Okay, you give up your Familiar, which is potentially extra actions every round (amazing!) or you give up Item Bond, which has incredible versatility, for the ability to wield a piece of paper as a weapon using your BAB progression. In addition, the weapons disintegrate as you use them, destroying the increasingly expensive scrolls you might use for this piece of paper weapon. It does get an enhancement bonus to help you hit, but any smart fighter is going to have weapons with enhancement bonuses WITH their full BAB progression. You can give also your scrolls reach. Thats cool but still not redeeming by any means. Being able to turn the scroll into a shield is more useful, and doesnt seem to replace anything more. It still gradually disintegrates, but thats only if youre getting hit, which the scroll expressly helps against. Using it as a shield sort of redeems the ridiculousness of the first part of this Archetype. And its actually not completely terrible as you level up. The bummer part of it is that it only gets the scrolls spell level. The normal Arcane Bond is still better, but the shield part of this makes a little more than useless. Improved Scroll Casting helps make this archetype a lot better. You can start writing down scrolls that you can use in combat and actually have them use decent DCs when casting them. Wait... why are you using scrolls in combat? And why do DCs matter, you should be using scrolls for situational utility! Whats wrong with you! Actually I can think of some instances that pulling out a circumstantial scroll in combat might be helpful. Banishment comes to mind as something you

wouldnt be memorizing every day, but definitely want it to have as high a DC as you can give it. The level 10 ability is a good benefit of this Archetype, but its a pretty expensive feat. Seige Mage: Oh goodness... Im having flashbacks to Arcane Bomber. But this is only 3 schools lost... cant be as bad. Actually its pretty bad losing the extra spell per day as well as taking the opposition schools. But I digress, what does this Archetype do for us? First thing is that you lose the ability to scribe scrolls for proficiency in Siege Weapons. That sounds like a cool trade for manly people. Siege weapons turn out to be not too bad. They are great for toppling buildings, which is the point I guess. Indirect Fire weapons use your Intelligence to fire, and thats a wonderful thing for your poor to-hit. So go figure, siege weapons are great for Wizards. The next benefit of this Archetype is the ability to remote control siege weapons within 30, later not even needing a crew to reload the weapon. This is strangely awesome. You lose your arcane bond for this, and Im not sure the remote control aspect is really that useful since it still takes all of your actions to utilize the machine. I guess you could hide in a tiny hut while you make your Nightrider car do all the busy work. The next ability makes you give up cantrips so you can sacrifice spells... oh goodness. Yeah, its basically the same thing as the Arcane Bombers ability except it buffs your to-hit and does more damage. This archetype could have been cool, but like the many aquatic archetypes out there for other classes, this archetype is very campaign specific. Even in those campaign circumstances I dont think its a very optimized choice either. I just dont think losing your spells per day is worth it at all. Spellslinger: Another one that has 4 opposition schools and doesnt get bonus spells. You see why I hate these Archetypes? However, this one actually sort of works because Guns are all touch attacks. You dont get as many multiple attacks through your guns as a more martial class, but you can add your guns enhancement modifier to your Spells DCs for certain kinds of spells. Rime Cone of Cold, or Dazing Lighting Bolt comes to mind for this. Mage Bullets is bad not only because your sacrificing powerful spells for a moderate effect, but it also gives an enhancement bonus that wont stack with any permanent enchantments youve put on your gun. Ultimately this option is still bad because the payoff isnt as good as the costs, but it takes a slightly better direction than the other two similar options. Adding a +5 to your spell DC for a 3 turn Daze effect is a pretty good trick. Primalist: (ISM) If you hate your familiar (you shouldnt) the first level power of this archetype actually seems like its a trade-off you get something out of. Essentially it gives you 5 extra spell slots by level 20 as long as you can make the concentration check when you cast. Naturally this means youre going to want combat casting as a Blue Feat, as well as any traits you can get to make this better. If you take this and combat casting at first level while maxing your intelligence, your odds of success with a first level spell are about 40%. Its about 50% if you can get one of the +2 concentration traits, so Id recommend considering this Archetype only when you can have traits. Even then the 50% odds arent very acceptable, but I personally like Random things like Primal Magic Events (PME), it makes the game interesting and I personally would still think about taking this Archetype. Besides, the rest of the powers of the Archetype are about improving your odds when you trigger the PME. Probably not the most optimal Archetype, but

its certainly a fun one that doesnt insult your intelligence with nonsense Wizards should never be doing. Scroll Scholar: (PSFG) Interestingly, this requires the base Diviner specialization or the Universalist specialization, so it almost works like a subschool as much as it does an Archetype. Obviously Diviner is the better choice of the two. You trade your minor buff power or your telekinetic weapon power for whats basically lesser bardic knowledge. Considering that you have to be a Wizard to pick this archetype, Im not sure why it has to say the knowledge skill becomes a class skill - I guess its a provision for multiclassing? The 5th level replacement feat gives you spell like abilities for some okay spells. It fits the flavor of the scholar, and will save you some spell slots on the minor utility the granted spells provide. Its worth the feat it replaces as far as value is concerned, especially since it grows as you level up. Comprehend Languages as a permanency costs 2,500 gp. Identify cant normally be made permanent, but since its basically improved detect magic, its worth at least 2,500 gp as well. The final power is also good. Being an immediate action it is worth more than the 4th level slot it replaces as a Diviner, because the spells you could be casting in that slot arent all phenomenal anyway (Well... Arcane Eye is cool.) Whats important though is that as an immediate action you will be using it more often, and you eventually get more uses of it per day than another 4th level slot would give. Overall Id say this is a great choice if you go Diviner, though not as good as going Foresight with the base Diviner school. I guess what Im trying to say is that if this fits your character concept - a Scholarly know-it-all who is a master linguist and knows what every artifact in the world is - this is a very good option. I dont recommend doing this as a Universalist because I dont recommend Universalist in general. Shadow Caster: (ISM) This one is interesting. The ability to prepare extra spells in your shadow is similar to Item bond in that it gives you extra spells, but without the versatility. Im going to say its worse than Item Bond, mainly because the biggest attraction of Item Bond is being able to pull that one really odd spell out when you really need it. That said, the Shadow does not have the drawback if you happen to lose your item. Instead it has the drawback of forcing your DM to tell you what lighting youre in. Considering that you have limited control of lighting as a Wizard though this shouldnt be a huge problem. Permanent Darkvision is nice, but comparing it to just casting permanency it makes your feat about 5,000 gold. That makes it reminiscent of the Scroll Scholars 5th level replacement feat. Its only okay, in my opinion. At level 9 if you want Darkvision as any other kind of Wizard, you can just fork out the gold. In my experience, because almost every class that casts has light, most DMs Ive played with barely pay attention to lighting conditions unless a spell is cast. However, combined with antics related to Tenebrous Spell and Umbral spell, Id say that something that gives you permanent darkvision is necessary. The ability to cast more real shadow spells is quite interesting, but I dont think its terribly good. Shades seems like a versatile spell, but its only Wizard conjuration spells, and basically youre changing a 9th level slot for a lower level spell. Unlike other similar spells like Miracle, it doesnt give you access to a huge variety of spells that you couldnt just be casting with your lower level slots anyway. Extra damage on Shadow Evocation and Conjuration is also lackluster. Honestly I think Id rather have the feat.

Overall, Id say the Shadow Caster has an semi-interesting replacement for your item bond, one decent feat replacement, and one pretty lackluster replacement. The problem with Shadow spells isnt that they are partially real, but that they mimic powers that are already less relevant at the spell slot youre casting them at. Spell Binder: (ARG: Elf) This is a popular option and as such I feel like I need to use a few more words to describe my feeling on this than I would normally. The idea is very nice, but when you start breaking it down its really not better than the item bond than the Familiar. This power lets you have one set spell per spell level that you can use to replace one of your memorized spells by spending a full round action. So that begs the question: Why would you want to do that? The obvious answer is so that you can spend your time memorizing a variety of things but then have your more used spells on standby. The issue I have with Spellbinder is that since you have a limited number of spells you can choose for swap out (A total of nine) youre going to be picking spells youd want to cast all the time. Since you want to cast them all the time the first spells that come to mind are things like Haste or Telekinetic Charge you know, the kind you use in combat all the time. But if you dont already have it memorized, Spellbinder requires you to waste a turn to get it memorized. You could easily grab Heighten Spell and Preferred Spell for that spell you cast all the time, and then you dont have to worry about bankrupting the action economy. For that matter, if you pick Item Bond, you can cast any spell that you know. Item bond gives you an extra casting for the day it doesnt mess with your existing memorizations. It seems to me that there are better ways to get the spells you need when you need it in a timely matter. So then, from a rational optimization standpoint, the best kind of spell that you would want with your Spellbinder are the kind that you dont cast all the time, but may need in a contingency. You know, things like Teleport. But do you know what that starts sounding like? Scrolls. And of course you could also get Fast Study and then leave some slots open. Its ten times longer to do it that way but losing a round in combat is pretty harmful so in either case I would recommend doing it out of combat for Utility spells. Lots of substitutes for either use of Spellbinder making me think that Id rather have the more unique Familiar or Item Bond. Im not saying Spellbinder is a completely poor choice. Maybe you dont want to deal with the accounting of the Familiar and maybe you dont want to take the risk with Item Bond. Thats fine. Take Spellbinder in that case. I just dont think its as good as the regular Arcane Bond options in general. And hey, you can even get your cake and eat it too. Someone on the forums recommended getting Eldritch Heritage to get your Arcane bond back with the Arcane Bloodline. That costs two feats and a 13 Charisma, and some of the recommendations I gave to duplicate Spellbinder take at least two feats, so thats not so bad a deal (Though achieving 13 Charisma might be a bit expensive.) I think spellbinder sits quite solidly as an Orange option. Its okay. Cruoromancer: (ARG: Dhampir) Okay, the Dhampir doesnt make a very good Wizard in the first place, but Ill try not to let that influence my opinion here in case your DM lets you take this Archetype without the race. Blood infusion with the first level powers isnt very good. There arent enough really awesome saving-throw based necromancy spells to really get a lot of benefit out of the bonus to Necromancy DCs (The best of Necromancy barely relies on DCs.) And sickened for 1 round isnt really worth the self inflicted damage, although it does seem like the sickening is automatic it doesnt allow for a saving throw. Not worth giving up your Arcane Bond.

The 5th level feat replacement is actually not too bad if youre making an undead army. It doesnt reduce the cost of the minions though, so essentially the infusion aspect part of the feat just makes it take less time and fewer spell slots to raise your army. The passive modification of what you can control at a given level is a measurable increase in power. This feat is good. The 10th level feat doesnt seem worth it. The Desecration only boosts the attack, damage, and saving throw rolls by +1, which is a relatively small amount by level 10. Granted its a little more effective the more creatures you are controlling that benefit from it. It is nice that you can pull it off as a swift action though, and it does have a good duration. Blood ability is kind of cool, but by level 15 you have a ton of scouting abilities. I think its a little late to the party, and I dont think its worth a feat. By level 20 when you can use infusions without taking damage the damage is as minor as its going to get. I dont think its worth losing your level 9 slot for it, or your feat for that matter. Overall I think this Archetype has one decent ability mixed with a bunch of lacklustre ones. As usual, Im going to say that you should probably be a divine caster if youre going to be a necromancer, they just get more benefits from the stats you need. Wind Listener: (ARG: Sylph) Perception as a class skill. Nice. Spontaneous casting of Divination Spells is also cool. Similar to spellbinder it takes a full round action to cast spells this way, but you actually cast the spell when you do this. Is this worth giving up Arcane Bond? Well, divination spells can be notoriously circumstantial though and this lets you fill your spellbook up with otherwise worthless spells so you can have them ready for the very specific occasion they were made for. I think this is a good deal. The 5th level feat is a little weird and I dont think its worth that much. Some of the trap spells are abjuration, but many times the trap is enhanced with a spell from another school, like Evocation. The feat is oddly specific. Whispy Form is pretty cool and probably worth the feat. The 15th level feat can also be very useful for gathering information (Diviners are good at that.) Not really worth a feat when you can just memorize Legend Lore yourself though. Overall I think this Archetype has some good things at the sacrifice of two basically wasted feats. I think it could easily have been at least green if it werent for that.

Equipment
This is actually a section I wasnt going to do, but I thought it would be good for me anyway, and some people requested it. If your DM is open to you using the item crafting rules to make your own custom items (eg. not using just the examples they give in the book) I could spend a good portion of six months describing all the different things you can do. Instead Im going to be making recommendations with what already exists, and hopefully that will inspire you for the types of things equipment can do for you. My general recommendation is to remember that money is a limited resource just like feats or skill points, and its important to think of it that way. You can only play so much, and your DM is only going to give you so much. Spend it wisely and avoid costly spell components and items that only sort of help you.

Weapons
The plural nature of this sections title is a bit misleading, because I only really recommend a couple of weapon enhancements. In reality, you should be putting a Rod in your hand, and not a weapon. You DM may let you have one in your off-hand though, and the recommendations I give here have little to do with actually attacking. Having a weapon in your main hand does let you threaten your squares. As a Wizard though you want to fulfill that role with summoned fodder rather than putting yourself in danger. The Mundane Without enhancements I would recommend using a Gun if you have the exotic proficiency feat. Otherwise just use a Crossbow or a Longbow if youre an Elf until you reach levels that youre better off not wasting your standard action attacking. One problem Guns do have is that by default bullets cost a ton of money, and you may be better off just tossing around Alchemical items. With enhancements youll want a one handed weapon. Again, if youve take exotic weapon proficiency: firearms, a Pistol is probably the best choice so you can make ranged touch attacks. The Enhancements Defending: An FAQ clarified that you do have to be attacking to receive the benefit of this, but if you are attacking the extra AC could be helpful, though as will be mentioned in the armor section, spending money on AC takes a lot of wealth to have any major payoff in the long run. Dueling: (APG). The extra +4 initiative granted from this item is the strongest argument for using a weapon instead of something else. Guardian: A resistance bonus that says it stacks with all others which I assume means stacks with other enhancements, including your Cloak of Resistance. Spell Storing: There are probably a lot of antics that can be had with this enhancement, but I cant think of any off the top of my head at this moment.

You basically have to reload the spell once youve fired it off too, which could restrict some of the antics you could be pulling off with this enhancement. It doesnt say that you have to be the caster to fire off the spell though, so this is probably an enhancement better off going on your BSF and having him choose when to cast it as an ace in the hole.

Armor and Shields

Like with weapons, the enhancements you put on armor are better than what you normally think of armor for - that is for raising your AC. It can certainly help, especially at lower levels, but as you level up the average BAB of monsters level up as well. The average CR 20 monster has an attack bonus of 32, meaning you have to have an AC of at least 35 before you have more than a 5% chance of avoiding an attack. Pouring money into raising AC is not worth it in the long run, and in the short run you have things like Mirror Image, Displacement, and other defensive spells that have a much better (and cheaper) effect. I think Shoelessinsight outlines it best with this chart. This is a chart of the AC needed at each level to give monsters a 10% miss chance against you. In other words, it is the point at which your AC actually starts doing something, and any AC lower than that value might as well be no AC at all. The chart is based off the median attack roll modifier on the first melee attack for each challenge rating. CR AC for 10% Miss 1 6 2 7 3 9 4 10 5 13 6 14 7 16 8 17 9 19 10 20 11 23 12 24 13 25 14 27 15 28.5 16 30 17 33 18 35 19 36 20 35 21 37 22 41.5 23 39 24 40 25 43.5 It ultimately becomes extremely expensive to buff your AC, and its not even necessarily a worthwhile venture considering this chart is outlining what it would take to have a 10% avoidance chance. In general youre probably better off casting something like Blur or Mirror Image for defensive purposes.

If you have the money though, it is worth considering some of the other defensive benefits of magic armor though. The Mundane Its basically a waste to spend feats on being able to cast spells as a Wizard while wearing armor for the very reasons I described above. There are a few items however that grant no armor check penalty and no arcane failure chance. Haramaki: If eastern armor is available to you this is the best choice. It only weighs 1 lb. and gives you an extra +1 to your armor. Best of all, it costs only 3gp. Silken Ceremonial Armor: The only reason youd pick this over the Haramaki is for style. It weighs four times as much and costs ten times as much. Armored Kilt: The armored kilt can be worn alone, but Id ask if you could add it to your force Mage Armor. If you cant still consider it for the armor enhancements listed below. I would only consider this item if Eastern Armor isnt available to you, since it weighs 10 lbs. and is more expensive than the Haramaki. Mithril Buckler: Grants a Shield Bonus to AC with no arcane spell failure chance which is normally only attainable by casting a spell. Bracers of Armor: Included in this section because they are basically just armor without any base armor bonuses. Mechanically inferior to Armored Kilt and the Eastern Armors by one AC point, but that one point probably isnt going to matter that much anyway. The Enhancements Determination: Gives your armor a 1-up essentially increasing your HP by 5d8 once per day. This is a good effect, but its also an expensive effect, being 30,000 gold to add to your armor (Though it is not a plus bonus to the item cost.) Energy Resistance: 18,000 is a little too much gold for something you can get from a level 2 or 3 spell. Energy Resistance, Greater: 66,000 gp is definitely not worth doubling the effect of energy resistance when you can cast a spell that does more anyway. Etherealness: A staff that does the same thing would cost 36,400, if thats all it does. At 48,000, to be able to cast this once a day, its not a horrible deal. Its 1,000 less than a 7th level pearl of power. So if you see yourself going Ethereal as a major part of your defensive strategy then consider this. Glamored: Think the armored kilt looks ridiculous? Well for only 2,700 gp, you can make it go away. Invulnerability: Damage reduction is quite nice, and its a better enhancement than the straight up numerical bonus. Will be a little more difficult than many enchants though because of the Level 18 CL, making the DC a little higher. Reflecting: At a +5 bonus cost this could be worth it or overpriced depending on where your armor is at. Reflecting spells could be hilarious when it comes up.

The best part of this enhancement is that it gives no provisions on the level of spell you can reflect, so you could assume that it just reflects one spell a day, any spell. (Though most DMs would probably make you roll to see if the effect is partial.) Shadow, All Types: The lesser version might be worth it early on, but anything higher starts to get too close to the price of a 20,000gp Invisibility Ring that makes this basically obsolete. Slick: A relatively cheap enhancement that helps you avoid grapples. Definitely consider this if youre not a Conjurerer. Ring of Freedom of Movement replaces all of these slick options though. Slick, Improved: Double the bonus, and probably still worth the gold cost if your DM uses grapple tactics against you. It is something like 6 times the cost of regular Slick though. Additionally, the Ring of Freedom of movement is only 5,000 gold more, though it does take up the ring slot. Slick, Greater: Definitely not worth double the cost of Improved Slick. Still, you may still consider it if you really have a problem with grapplers. Spell Resistance: The amount of spell resistance this gives is pretty sad, even at a +5 bonus.

Rings
Blinking: The advantage of this over something like a ring of invisibility is the fact that you can use it in combat. The 50% miss chance is amazing, and much better than any amount of AC you could add (Assuming the creature doesnt have ethereal touch.) The 20% spell failure, however, ruins this as anything but a decent defensive option. Combined with an Ectoplasmic Rod though, it can be made to work. Counterspells: This ring helps make counterspelling be something other than a total waste of your actions. Its a ring your BSF would enjoy more than you though. Delayed Doom: Not a bad idea for contingency reasons, but for an expendable item its an expensive contingency, costing 5,000 gold every time you use if you paid full price. Energy Resistance: A much cheaper alternative to putting energy resistance on your Armor. Not a bad enhancement to add to one of your rings. Evasion: Probably not worth the expense, but could save your life, particularly if your campaign has you fighting a lot of dragons or other similar area of effect monsters. Energy resistance is cheaper, but specific. Feather Fall: Anything smart enough and with the proper abilities will be trying to dispel your overland flight or your phantom steed. For that reason this enhancement is worth having your ring slot. Force Shield: The armor bonus from this is negligible and it cant be improved at all. Its also about the cost of a +3 enhancement bonus, making it not very efficient for the AC. At lower levels it might be useful, but I personally wouldnt bother.

Forcefangs: This is a relatively cheap enhancement, but force damage isnt particularly common. Its effective when it is relevant though. Freedom of Movement: Completely negate grapples or just about anything else that keeps you from doing what you do best. Friend Shield: This is a great thing to share with your BSF. Its expensive, and it takes up a slot, but still worth considering. Invisibility: I shouldnt have to explain why this is good. There are so many spells you can cast while invisible, and persistent invisibility is excellent and surprisingly cheap. If you picked up an Improved Familiar that doesnt already have persistent invisibility (Aka, youre not evil) then you might want this for your Familiar as well. Protection: This grants relatively cheap bonuses to AC in the form of a deflection bonus. Worth picking up. Regeneration: Very expensive for a small per-round benefit. The average battle lasting 3 to 5 rounds, this basically only grants you an extra 3-5 HP. It can pick you back up if you happen to fall below 0 hp though. Spell Storing, All: Costs double what it would take to just pick up one pearl of power for the equivalent highest level spell that can be stored. Not worth it. Spell Turning: 3 times a day justifies the 100,000 gp cost comparing it to similar options. Command though means it uses a standard action, making it not as good as putting spell turning on your armor. Overall I think its too expensive. Splendid Security: Id be ecstatic if I just found one of these. To see if its worth actually seeking out, lets add up the cost of buying all the items this replaces separately. A Ring of Protection +5 is 50,000 gp. Cloak of Resistance +5 is 25,000 gp. Mantle of Spell Resistance is 90,000 gp, but has one less spell resistance. The total is 165,000. This costs 180,000. So basically youre paying another 15,000gp to change your armor so its fashion fits the season. Overall this ring is just too expensive for what you get, but if you have Forge Ring or Item Bond, it gives you a good idea of what you can stack together. Sustenance: Change your 8 hours necessary sleep to replenish spell slots to 2 hours, and make it so you never have to buy food again. Plus the enhancement is super cheap. Totally worth putting on one of your rings. Telekinesis: I love the Telekinesis spell, and being able to use it on command is pretty sweet. Im not sure if its 75,000 gold sweet, but its something Id carefully consider stacking on one of my rings. Activating Telekinesis at-will could be powerful and versatile. Wizardry: the Ring of Wizardry I isn't worth the cost of 10,000 gold because you could buy 10 pearls of power for that price. In fact, every level isnt worth the cost for the very reason that you can accomplish more bonus spells with another magic item for a cheaper price. The advantage of doubling your base slots is that it does let you pick a different variety of spells. I dont think that advantage is good enough to justify the price though. Id take it if I just found one of these, as Im sure we all would, but I wouldn't bother seeking it out.

Sihedron Ring: (Pathfinder 6: The Spires of Xinl-Shaast) Another cornucopia of effects. Ring of Protection +3 is 9,000 gp. Cloak of Resistance +3 is 9,000 gp. Endure Elements is effectively 2,000 gp. This leaves 15,000 gp for the appearance changing effect. Well, at least the costs are consistent. I think you should look into making a custom item if you want something like this.

Rods
You pretty much want any rod you can get your hands on, but the lesser ones are cheap enough to seek out. Here are a few I especially recommend. If you have the Craft Rod feat you should take advantage of the upgrade rules to make these affect your higher level spells as you accumulate more wealth. Silent: This is mostly for contingency reasons. Most of the time the Silence spells arent going to be too common, but when they happen youre completely gimped without something like this. Elemental: The lesser version is a mere 3,000 gold, and if youre using Dazing Spell tactics at all, its not a bad idea to take this along if youre not an Admixture Wizard. Persistent: This gets a little more expensive for a lesser rod, but itll make your lower level spells a little more effective and more useful as you level up. Quicken: Like the feat, this is practically mandatory at some point. You want as many actions in a round as you can get. Dazing: Dazing spell is an expensive 3 level increase. Even a lesser rod is broken. Piercing: Another contingency rod that you should keep around just in case you ever bite off more than you can chew. Maximize/Empower: Cant use both rods at once, but these too are huge level increases without. Extend: I prefer getting one of these instead of wasting a feat on it. Once you get to higher levels it gets less relevant. Reach: This is a crazy good Rod and if you have a greater version it makes some of the higher level spells pretty much broken. Selective: For when you have awesome dazing fireball memorized and your BSF decides to be a hero and run into the fray before you drop it off. Widen: The restrictions on the types of effect areas you can increase still limits this metamagic, and the +3 spell level makes this expensive. But a 40' burst dazing Fireball could be a beautiful thing.

Wondrous Items
There are SO MANY items here that anyone is happy getting. Im going to focus on the ones that you should definitely seek out, or the ones that look like you should, but have something dubious about them.

Amulet of Magecraft: Lets you spontaneously change spells in a specific school. A shame that you A) have to be a universalist and B) Have to take Item Bond as your Arcane Bond. Amulet of Natural Armor: The lesser versions of this are a reasonable way to raise your AC for a little more avoidance before it becomes too expensive at higher levels. Amulet of Spell Cunning: For the price, its about equal to a Ring of Wizardry, which has too little effect for the value. Annihilation Spectacles: These are a little pricy, but because the Transmutation school is SO MASSIVE, this is totally worth picking up, especially if you are collecting spells to put in your book. Basically you can just memorize whatever and spontaneously cast whatever Transmutation you need (Which by the way is one of the best utility schools.) Being able to cast Disintegrate once a day is a meaningless addition unless you dont plan on ever scribing Disintegrate into your spellbook. Handy Haversack: What makes this better for you than the Bag of Holding is that it weighs only 5lbs. Youll want this as you start lugging around more expensive components, crafting materials, and lots of scrolls. Belt of Physical Might (Dexterity and Constitution): See the stat section for why this is good. You want at least a belt of constitution if youve got a Familiar, but dexterity is another way you can increase your initiative. Blessed Book: This is especially worth it if you craft it. Scribing 1,000 1st level spells is normally 5,000gp, which is 1,250gp less than the crafting cost of this book. Scribing higher level spells only increases the value. Tome of Clear Thought: Seek this out whenever you can. A permanent bonus to INT is basically necessary. Manual of Bodily Health/ Quickness of Action: For the same reason you want a belt of Physical Might. The expense and the fact that these are secondary stats for you makes it less urgent though. Cloak of Resistance: Theres nothing worse than a disabled Wizard. Keeping as high a bonus on this cloak as you can afford can help prevent that. Crystal Ball: This is pretty expensive for what it does. Being able to scry whenever you want is great, but the DC is much worse than if you just memorized the spell. There is some use for it however. Dweomers Essence: I would keep a bag of this stuff just as a contingency. If youre good enough, spell resistance wont be a major problem, but a +5 to your ability to penetrate that spell resistance may be all you need to get off a crucial spell. Metamagic Gems: These will get expensive if you start crafting them and using them too much. Use them if you find them. Dont make them or buy them - UNLESS theyre part of a one-time plan and you have no other way of acquiring the respective rod.

Glove of Storing: This is a good place to put your Rods when you arent using them so you can draw them as a free action. Doing it from your Handy Haversack is normally a move action, a move action you may want to be using. Headband of Vast Intelligence: This is the main item you should be seeking out. Intelligence is one of the only ways to make your spell DCs better and it grants so many other benefits. Spare no expense trying to upgrade this. Cracked Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone: For 500 gold you get +1 initiative. Totally worth it. And if youre worried about enemies knocking Ioun Stones off of you, youve already won initiative so they can knock it off all they want. Orange Prism Ioun Stone: Fairly expensive way to get +1 caster level to your spells, but there may be some spell that can make it worth it. Eyes of the Eagle: +5 to perception for the price of a custom item. Helps circumvent the fact that its not a class skill for you, or just give it to your Familiar. Muleback Cords: Half the price of a Handy Haversack, lets you not look like such a wuss when hiking around. Once youre done with them (After you get your Haversack) you can give them to your fighter and make him carry out the furniture from the dungeon as loot. Pearl of Power: These start out as a good cheap deal and progressively get too expensive for most games at higher levels, and probably unnecessary. They are cheaper than other similar options, the downside being that you are repeating a previous memorization instead of enjoying variety. In most cases this is not a problem, especially for low level spells. Pick up some first level pearls and consider higher levels if you are crafting them. Robe of the Archmagi: Another package deal I get to calculate out. +5 armor bonus to AC is 25,000gp. Mantle of Spell Resistance shows that its about 77,142gp for 18 spell resistance. But if you had just a +5 bracers of armor of spell resistance 19 it would be 25,000gp, so Im going to go with that amount for right now. Cloak of Resistance +5 is 25,000gp. Without even counting the +2 to caster level for spell resistance checks, youre already over the 75,000 gold cost to get this thing. Its attuned to a specific alignment, but I would definitely seek out or craft this for your own alignment if you can. Im pretty glad this doesnt have a 15,000gp fashion tax.

Wands
This section is basically for your familiar, but if you are looking to save daily spell slots, it can be good for you too. This is a good time to mention that having your Familiar use Wands takes a 20 DC use magic device check. You may want to craft a special magic item for it to boost its UMD check, because at level 7 the base UMD the Familiar has a 40% chance of success when using wands, which is pretty low (A Lyrakien has a 65% chance of success.) It would cost 10,000 gold for a +10 to UMD or 2,500 for a +5. Also consider that while it is useful to use your Familiars action to use wands, it can be expensive just like using Alchemy items with your familar.

Here is the cost of using a Wand per charge for quick reference. The left side of the slash is the full purchased price and the right side is the crafted price. This is assuming the minimum caster level for crafting the wand. Spell Level...Cost (Gold) 0..............7.5/3.25 1..............15/7.5 2..............90/45 3............225/112.5 4............420/210 I was discussing this cost with Shoelessinsight who thinks that Familiars using wands is overly good. His argument did make a good point in favor of going with the expense. Here is his argument directly quoted from the Email he sent me:
Using standard rules (and medium progression in Pathfinder), where XP is awarded for killing things, it's supposed to take about 13 challengeappropriate battles to gain a level by design. This would actually require a little experience outside of combat, as otherwise it would require more like 16 battles by my math. This means that you're looking at roughly 195 battles to get from level 5 (when you can make wands of Haste) to level 20. At 50 charges a piece, that means you need four wands of Haste throughout your adventuring career to cover every fight. That's a total of 45,000 gold (22,500 if you craft them yourself). The closest thing to Haste is a Speed enhancement for weapons, though Haste is actually a little better due to the +1 hit/dodge and the 30-foot movement enhancement. You can argue that these extra bonuses are offset by the fact that your familiar might not win initiative and might not have the enhancement ready at the immediate start of every fight. Then again, Haste affects the whole party, while a Speed enhancement only affects one weapon. By the end of your career, a Speed enhancement will cost 78,000 gold (39,000 to craft) per person. This is the cost to add it to a +5 weapon (which I assume everybody will have regardless of their other enhancements). It also assumes that you never, ever lose or replace the weapon that had the Speed enhancement on it, requiring you to pay for a second enhancement. Assuming you have only two melee or archer characters in the group, Speed enhancements are worth 156,000 gold to the party. You could get the same benefit to the whole party, plus some extra bonuses, for only 45,000 gold (less than a third the price) from Haste wands (or a little extra if you want to increase the duration of each use). You also gain access to this bonus earlier than you can with the weapon enhancement. You could argue that a party could get the same effect for no gold cost from a wizard just casting Haste himself at the start of every fight, but at least then the wizard is using a standard action and one of his 3rd-level slots (or a swift action and a 7th-level slot). The familiar gives you an action-free compromise for a small gold fee.

When you look at those kinds of buffs in this light, the extra actions from your familiar do look like they could be worth it if your campaign has enough wealth. So when selecting your wands, you need to think of buffs that you would like every battle, but would rather not spend the standard actions placing on your party. Here are a few that I consider worth the trouble:

Blur: Not usually worth the standard action to cast on yourself, but its potentially worthwhile to cast, making it perfect for your familiar to do. Enlarge Person: You need to be 9th level to get the Permanency spell and put this on your fighter forever. But, four wands of Enlarge Person (For the entire career) is 500 gold more than the 2,500 gold cost to make it permanent. Either way it may be worth picking up until level 9 just to save yourself the actions. Enervation: Also expensive, but as far as actions your Familiar could be performing, if the target has no spell resistance, this is probably the best thing ever. Protection from Evil: An easy AC bonus and an extra saving throw if your allies happened to have been enchanted by an evil creature. Haste: An expensive 3rd level wand, but this is something you definitely want every combat. Magic Missile: You may want to make the extra expense for the 5 missiles. Makes a decently reliable damage source from your Familiar. Mirror Image: This one your familiar cant help you out with because the range is personal, but it is a defensive buff thats overall better than trying to boost your AC. Having it as a wand can save you immensely on spell slots. Mage Armor: Since you can cast this on your buddies, this could be an easy 4 armor to them if they arent wearing any armor. Considering your familiar cant really use Wands until level 7, only your Monk will be really happy you went this route instead of snagging a pearl of power earlier on to cast it on both of you each day. Invisibility: As a contingency for before you have a Ring. Silent Image: Duration of Concentration really hurts you, but if your familiar is concentrating instead, you can pull off all kinds of great things with this. Telekinetic Charge: This gets really expensive to use since its a one-time benefit, but this spell is already amazing for getting your BSF into position for his full round of attacks. Saving yourself the standard action only serves to make it more amazing.

Summon Monster
Summoning Monsters, as its been said, is an effective mode of casting because it it doesnt bother with saving throws or spell resistance. It can be an overwhelming spell because of the various options, and this guide is meant to help divide those options up between the good and the bad through analyses. I have included a list of the various features available at the top of each Summon Monster spell for quick reference if you are looking for a specific effect or combat maneuver. In brackets Ive displayed the stats with Augment Summoning, and in one case with Smite Evil. Alternate Summons: I have included in this guide all of the alternate summons listed on the OGC. These all come from various sources which are listed next to the monster in parenthesis. Read more about them in the OGC entry. Basically, they are completely non-core and usually require some decidedly unwizardly things to acquire officially. But, in case your DM allows you to use them for some reason, theyre here for comparison. I include their stats in purple in the summaries.

Table of Contents
Back to Main Document Summon Monster I Summon Monster II Summon Monster III Summon Monster IV Summon Monster V Summon Monster VI Summon Monster VII Summon Monster VIII Summon Monster IX

Summon Monster I
Spell-Like Abilities
None

Combat Maneuvers
None

Special Attacks
Disease: Filth Fever (DC 11 [13] Fort) Dire Rat Poison: Con Damage (DC 10 [12] Fort) Poisonous Frog

Special Features
10 Radius Light: Luminescence Fire Beetle

Best Damage: Eagle (3 attacks at +3 dealing 1d4 [+1]) Best Tank: Pony (13 hp, which is high for this level.)

Monsters
Dire Rat: Nothing more than a weak flanking buddy with an annoying disease that has too long an onset to consider. Dog: Only a little better than the Rat for damage and HP. The tracking ability would be good if this spell didnt last 1 round/level. Dolphin: Has a good chunk of HP, but basically the same thing as the Dog and Rat. Necessary for Aquatic areas. Eagle: Surprisingly good for damage, sporting 3 attacks and the ability to fly. The mobility is moot when youre trying to make all three attacks at once, but for damage is a good choice. Still small sized for flanks. Fire Beetle: For such a cool name, all this thing does is shed light. Its stats are bad compared to the other options, even with its ability to fly. Poisonous Frog: Terribly slow and does no damage. Tiny size means it also wont flank. Poison is an interesting feature, but the DC is too low to consider. Pony: Has two attacks, but theyre pretty weak. The feature most unique to the pony this level is that it has the most hitpoints, being just ahead of the Dolphin. The speed is nice for getting into flanking positions, but the Dog has just as good speed. The Summon Mount spell can also summon a pony though and it lasts 2 hours/level there. Viper: A bit faster than the Frog, and harder to hit, but overall not worth your attention. Alternate Summons Bloody Human Skeleton: (AP47) A good grounded creature for damage with its 2 claw attacks. Also has Damage reduction which could be helpful for making up for its low HP.

Conclusion
Summon Monster I is not really worth the 1st level slot. Most of these guys are only really worth considering when you have Augment Summoning, and you cant get that until youre able to cast Summon Monster II (unless youre human.) Overall this is able to provide a flanking buddy, and thats about all its good for (Well, besides creative uses like Trapfinding that is.) Final Rating: Orange

Summon Monster II
Spell-Like Abilities
3/daydisguise self, entangle (DC 13), invisibility (self only), pyrotechnics (DC 14) - Grig

Combat Maneuvers
Grapple: Squid (+8 [10]); Giant Frog (+7 [9]); Octopus (+5 [7]) Trip: Hyena (+3 [5]); Wolf (+2 [4])

Special Attacks

Poison: Dex Damage (DC 13 [15] Fort) Giant Centipede Poison: Str Damage (DC 14 [16] Fort) Giant Spider Disease: -2 Dex -2 CHA (DC 12 Fort) (One Application) Goblin Dog Fascinate: Dance (DC 12 Will) Grig

Special Features
Scent: Giant Ant Worker; Giant Frog; Goblin Dog; Hyena; Wolf Tremorsense: Giant Ant; Earth Elemental See in Darkness: Lemure

Best Damage: Lemure (2 attacks +2 to hit (1d4) damage) Best Tank: Giant Ant Worker (18 hp, 2 hit dice) Best Previous Level Summon: Eagles Monsters
Giant Ant Worker: Fast and full of HP, but not much else to contribute. Small Elementals: A lot of energy coverage here, and a host of different movement modes and quirks. My favorite is the Air Elemental for speed and for the ability to change into a whirlwind. Giant Centipede: The Poison DC is decent if you have Augment Summoning, though Dex damage isnt as good as hitting Constitution. Besides the poison, this has little else to offer. Giant Frog: Its HP isnt as good as the Giant Ant Worker, but it has a +9 to grapple (with augment summoning) and the unique 15 reach on that ability to grapple. Grab is part of its bite as well. Swallow whole is interesting if youre fighting small creatures, since you could effectively grapple two creatures at once with it. Giant Spider: Tremorsense and a relatively high DC poison that targets strength makes this guy worth considering. If you know something is invisible in the room, summon this guy and then glitterdust the square he starts attacking. Goblin Dog: Slightly more damage with its single attack than some of the other options, and while Allergic Reaction is a disease it has an instant application. The DC is a just a little low on the disease though, and if this guy gets attacked hes going down pretty quick. Horse: Besides being celestial, there isnt THAT much reason to summon this guy instead of just casting the level 1 mount. With the Ant in this group, he doesnt even get to be a tank. His large size takes up space, but as mentioned, you could do that with a level 1 spell. Hyena: Like the goblin dog for damage, but gets Trip with his attack. The CMB isnt terribly high (+5 with Augment Summoning), but it is part of the attack. Lemure: Has two attacks with a decent to-hit, making him potentially a good damage dealer if you can get full round attacks with him. Not really much else to say. He can see in any darkness including deeper darkness so that gives him some niche use. Octopus: A great underwater option that has it all. +7 grapple (With augment summoning), super fast speed, a decent poison, grab as part of his full round action, and an Ink Cloud. I didnt list his abilities up above because hes not a

general use summon, but definitely think about him if youre fighting in water. Squid: A more specialized octopus with a +10 grapple (With augment summoning). I like this more than the Octopus, but the Octopus is more well rounded. Wolf: Pretty much outclassed by the Hyena for anything he does except perception. Alternate Summons Elk: (AP32) Fairly bland option, but does slightly more damage than the Ant because of the secondary attacks. Grig: (AP50) If youre allowed to summon him, hes your first option for SLAs. Pyrotechnics and Entangle are pretty good SLAs, both having good effects even if the enemy makes their saves. His addition to the list makes Summon Monster II that much more versatile as a memorization slot. Hell Hound: (AP29) Fantastic damage, incredible HP, and AOE make this a pretty good option if all youre looking to do is provide a body and damage support. Merfolk: (AP 38) Compared to the other three water options, completely uninteresting. Reefclaw: (AP55) As good as the squid at grappling, but lacks the same mobility options. The poison and two opportunities to grab however may make you consider him over the squid. Snake, Venemous: (AP42) Im starting to see a pattern with these creatures whose only feature is a low DC poison and nothing else. I wouldnt bother with this guy. It is worthy to note that his poison does target CON which in my opinion is a better target than the other physical stats.

Conclusion
For the level, Summon Monster II has some great options that will certainly tide you over until Summon Monster III. Grappling is your best option here. The Hyenas trip is a few steps below what your fighter or even you with Toppling spell could do, though it is part of his attack. Final Rating: Green or Blue if you can summon alternatives.

Summon Monster III

Spell-Like Abilities
1/daycause fear (DC 11), stinking cloud (DC 13) - Dretch At Willaid, continual flame, detect evil - Lantern Archon At willinvisibility (self only) 1/dayhide from undead, sound burst (DC 15) 3/dayspeak with dead (6 questions, CL 12th) - Nosoi Psychopomp

Constant--know direction, speak with animals At will--dancing lights, prestidigitation, stabilize 1/day--dimension door (self plus 5 lbs. of objects only) 1/week--commune (6 questions, CL 12th) - Silvanshee Agathion

Combat Maneuvers
Grapple: Leopard (+7 [9]); Choker (+8 [10]); Constrictor Snake (+9 [11] ); Monitor Lizard (+9 [11]); Crocodile (+11 [13]) Trip: Cheetah (+5 [7])

Special Attacks
Poison: Dexterity Damage (DC 14 [16] Fort) Monitor Lizard Silence: Strangle (Grapple) Choker

Special Features
Scent: Giant Ant Soldier; Ape; Cheetah; Leopard; Monitor Lizard; Wolverine Blindsense: Dire Bat

Best Damage: Leopard (5 attacks on a pounce, +8 to hit on each, 1(1d6+3[+3]) and 4(1d3+3[+3]) damage) Best Tank: Crocodile (22hp, 3 hit dice) Best Previous Level Summon: Hyenas (Though not better than anything this level, may get lucky on multiple trip attempts.) Monsters
Giant Ant Soldier: With the addition of grab, this is a big step up from the level 2 version. Ape: Two slam attacks for decent damage with a rather lackluster to-hit. Thats about it. Auroch: Trample is something you could take advantage of with Summon Monster IV and Superior Summons, but the damage isnt as good as some other options. What youre really looking at here is the +7 to-hit and the 1d8+9 damage (more with Augmented Summoning.) That makes it a very nice damage option included with its large size for battlefield control. Boar: I almost typed Bore, which pretty much describes this option. Damage isnt as good as the Auroch and its only medium sized (And there are better Medium Sized options.) Cheetah: Definitely a step up as a tripper from the Hyena, and it has more attacks with fairly high to-hit on each of them, making this a good wellrounded option. The multiple attacks make it pretty equal to the Auroch as a damage option if it can make full-round attacks, but it doesnt take up as much space. 500 feet on a charge is awesome and nothing is going to get away from that. The CMB on trip isnt high, but it enjoys being part of the Cheetahs attack. Constrictor Snake: Basic grappler good for locking out a single target and still doing damage to them with Constrict. +9 [11] grapple is a natural step up from the SMII options and the damage is pretty good.

Crocodile: A vicious option dealing damage similar to the Cheetah and Auroch on a full round of attacks (though the to-hit is low on the secondary attacks) but the key seller here is the +11 [13] grapple check on a bite with grab. The death roll is just icing on the cake if the creature is medium or smaller. Dire Bat: It can fly. It also has Blindsense so it can be an invisibility detector. Its damage is decent. Dretch: An SLA summon that doesnt surpass the Grig of the previous level, but you might not even be able to summon the Grig. Without the Grig as a competitor the Stinking Cloud is a decent thing to drop and then have this guy take up space, but the DC on Stinking Cloud is so low that you might just end up with an effective obscuring mist. Not an awful summon, but I think Id rather take a crocodile and have a better chance at locking a single target out. Electric Eel: This aquatic type gets a touch attack that has a DC 15[17] stun effect, and it can be part of its full-round of attacks. Damage is minor, but the stun could be a big deal, and makes a good alternative to combat maneuvers for locking a target out. Lantern Archon: The nice thing about buffs is that DCs dont matter. Aid isnt particularly good, but its not wasting your standard actions to do it, and could mean more party damage than the Archon just attacking. Aura of Menace is neat, but that DC is low. Touch attacks mean decent and consistent damage, but the fact that its ranged means that it cant be a flanking buddy. Definitely something that is worthy to note when you can summon mulltiple Archons however (with SMIV), its light rays are dependable damage and multiple auras and Aids could be very helpful. Abraham Spalding in the Paizo Forums suggests using this with Bardic Performance to get bonus damage from Inspire Courage. If you dont have a Bard, you can also use the Summon Monster VI Lillend for at least a half powered inspire courage. Also note that this guy has a splendid 10/evil DR, pretty high for the level. Leopard: The inclusion of Rake with Pounce as well as Grapple make this a fairly strong damage option, particularly if you use Smite Evil. Monitor Lizard: A grappler on par with the snake, but has poison instead of constrict. Shark: You think that this would be much cooler, but the Eel or even the Crocodile are simply better aquatic options all around. Wolverine: Even with the Rage (which requires him to get hit) his damage is too close to the Cheetah to consider him as a better option. He can burrow though, and has good perception, so I guess thats a little unique. Alternate Summons Blink Dog: (AP41) Cool movement with Dimension Door, making him easy to position for Flanks, and hes really hard to hit. Thats all hes really got going for him. Choker: (AP23) An otherwise inferior grappler that has one niche - it can silence the foe it grapples. Consider this when youre up against casters since the inferior CMB on grapple wont matter as much on them anyway.

Dire Boar: (AP32) Wait, they added this guy to Summon Monster III? What about the Boar? He feels left out! Well, the regular Boar feels left out anyway, because he sucks. This guy though does great damage and is full of HP for this level. Iron Cobra (No poison): (AP35) Dire Boar is probably too good for the level, and this guy is a total stinker. No poison means there isnt anything to like about this guy, except maybe his actually pretty high defenses. Nosoi Psychopomp: (AP44) Oh hey look! You get Speak With Dead on your spell list now! (That is if your DM allows it.) That makes this guy blue without considering everything else. Damage Reduction would make him a decent tank if he wasnt tiny. Silvanshee Agathion: (AP50) And another Improved Familiar now on your Summon Monster list. This one isnt quite as helpful as the Nosoi. It can do Lay on Hands though, so its a healing spell. A very expensive 3rd level healing spell for 1d6 damage healed. You can use him to speak with Animals, which is all I can think of using him for.

Conclusion
Summon Monster III has some fairly powerful options for damage and grappling especially, and it is diverse enough to make it a very versatile memorization. Final Rating: Blue

Summon Monster IV
Spell-Like Abilities
1/day - Gust of Wind, Blur, Wind Wall, Soften Earth and Stone, Scorching Ray, Heat Metal, Magic Missile, Chill Metal, Shocking Grasp, Lightning Bolt, Pyrotechnics, Acid Arrow, Stinking Cloud (DC 15), Glitterdust, Ember Storm- Various Mephits

Combat Maneuvers
Bull Rush: Bison (+14 [16]); Earth Elemental (+11 [13]) Grapple: Giant Ant Drone (+9 [11][13]); Lion (+11 [13]); Giant Mantis (+9 [11]); Tiger (+15 [17]); Gibbering Mouther (+7 [9]) Trip: Dire Wolf (+8 [10])

Special Attacks
Poison: Strength Damage (DC 13 [14] Fort) Giant Ant; (DC 17 [19]) Giant Scorpion Poison: Dexterity Damage (DC 18 [20] Fort) Giant Wasp Power Attack: Bison; Earth Elemental; Water Elemental Poison: Constitution Damage (DC 14 [16] Fort) Amphisbaena Dimensional Anchor Bite: Cerberi (DC 18 Fort) Confusion: Gibbering (DC 13 Will) Gibbering Mouther Blind: (DC 18 [20] Ref) Gibbering Mouther Difficult Terrain: 5 Square Gibbering Mouther

Special Features

Scent: Giant Ant Drone; Bison; Deinonychus; Dire Ape; Dire Boar; Dire Wolf; Hound Archon; Lion; Pterosaur Tremorsense: Earth Elemental; Giant Scorpion Detect Evil: Hound Archon Incorporeal Scent: Cerberi All-Around Vision: Gibbering Mouther

Best Damage: Lion (5 attacks on a pounce, +9 to hit on each, 1(1d8+5[+5]) and 4(1d4+5[+5]) damage) Best Tank: Bison (42 HP, 5 Hit Dice, and 5/evil damage reduction.) Best Previous Level Summon: Lantern Archons. DR penetrating lasers that can even be buffed with Bardic Performance or similar type buff. Monsters
Giant Ant Drone: Poison mixed into attacks is a nice bonus from the previous level, but what really makes this usable is the fact that hes actually got some Charisma on him, making his smite evil grant a +2 on to-hit and grapple. This raises the Grapple with Augmented Summons against evil targets to +13. +13 on grapple is pretty last level but he isnt terrible with the other features and the DC on the poison is relatively high. HP is however about half of what it should be for the level.
Bison: Has lots of HP and can Bull Rush. Pay attention to the feats - it gets Improved Bullrush, increasing its base Bullrush CMB to +14. Also gets Power Attack letting it increase its damage as you please. Overall a good large-sized tank with a little bit of Control. Deinonychus: Gets pounce and four attacks. None of the attacks have a very good to-hit though, so the damage isnt as good as it looks. Pounce is nice though. Dire Ape: Ugh, what happened to this guy? Hes got no combat maneuvers, his attacks have low to-hit. His strength is poor compared to the Bison. I wouldnt ever bother summoning this guy. His damage is only decent if the target is evil. Dire Boar: In this level hes gotta compete with the Bison, and its just not happening. Dire Wolf: Hes a natural step-up from the cheetah as a tripper but lacks some of the pizzazz the Cheetah had. With a +10 to trip (with augment summoning) his chances to knock enemies prone are still pretty low as usual, but the CMD scaling really hurts him. Medium Elemental: Damage isnt that great. Earth Elementals get Tremorsense for detection. Air elementals can still whirlwind but the DC is pretty low now. If youre fighting a metal creature, The Lightning Elemental will completely own them with its +18 bonus to four combat maneuvers when it charges them. Besides that kind of a mediocre option.

Giant Scorpion: Slightly low to-hits, but the poison actually has a half-way decent DC. The poison damages strength and could shut down many nonpoison-immune targets with lower fortitudes. Giant Wasp: A good level for poison. This ones DC can reach 20 with Augmented Summoning. Damages Dexterity. Grizzly Bear: Another summon that should be much cooler, but sucks for the summon level. Hell Hound: Was a much better option as a Summon Monster II alternate. Not so good in its original level. Could add some fire damage if you need fire though. Hound Archon: The Aura of Menace has a little better DC now, but what really makes this one worth considering is the constant magic circle against evil. You get your flanking partner and protection spell in one go, potentially saving you actions. His damage is decent with the Greatsword and he gets Power Attack to boost it. Also sports the 10 damage reduction that some of the other celestial creatures have this level. Not bad. Lion: An upgrade to the previous levels Leopard. The grapple is a big step up, but it isnt better than the Crocodile of the previous level. Five attacks on the pounce is really what makes this guy shine. Mephit: The various mephits provide a host of different spell-like abilities, but you have to choose which mephit you bring out, and you can only bring out one of them. Most of their SLAs are going to be one-time shots and not terribly good one time shots. Just cast the spell yourself. Once the SLA is gone, these provide little else to combat. However, completely unplanned situations might merit a Mephit Summon just to get the spell you need in the nick of time. Pterosaur: The only thing good about this guy is that hes a flier. His damage is weak and literally offers nothing else (Im feeling a little redundant here this level.) Rhinoceros: The only contender against the Bison this level for damage, and thats only for his charge. The problem is to keep contending he has to keep charging, which means hes gotta keep moving. As a tank you want them to stick around and be a flanking buddy. Alternate Summons Amphisbaena: (AP42) Has a pretty good to-hit with two bite attacks that can apply poison. DC on poison is mediocre, but youll get multiple shots at it, and it damages the better Constitution. The split factor is interesting but it may never come up. Cerberi: (AP29) This has a massive number of HP and a couple of unique features - it has built in Dimensional Anchor that pierces spell resistance (But has a Fort DC of 18) and it can scent out incorporeal creatures. Giant Mantis: (AP53) With a relatively low grapple, low to-hit and low damage, this guy feels out of place in this level. Gibbering Mouther: (AP23) This guy has a lot of things he can do. Blind as a Free Action, 6 bites that all allow a grapple, create difficult terrain, and even confusion. Id avoid the Confusion unless youre out of range though.

Grick: (AP23) A strange giant worm that doesnt seem to serve any purpose. Tiger: (AP53) You heard it here first; Tigers are better than Lions. A fantastic option for grappling and damage.

Conclusion
This level lacks a lot of viable variety compared to level 3. Without using the non-core alternatives, the Bison, the Lion, and the Hound Archon are the only things really worth summoning at any given time. Those options are good enough to consider still memorizing this though. You also could just use it to take advantage of superior summons and rain Crocodiles on the place. Its also worthy to note that some creatures like the Bison actually have 5 HD this time around which activates the Celestial/Fiendish damage reduction, making them even better tanks. Final Rating: Blue

Summon Monster V
Spell-Like Abilities
Constantsee invisibility At willdarkness, dispel magic - Babau At Willblur, charm person (DC 13), gust of wind (DC 14), mirror image, wind wall 2/daylightning bolt (DC 15), cure serious wounds - Bralani Azata Constant--detect evil, mage armor, speak with animals At will--invisibility (self only) 3/day--charm monster (DC 17), dispel evil (DC 18), flame arrow, holy smite (DC 17), dimension door (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), remove disease 1/day--major image (DC 16) - Vulpinal

Combat Maneuvers
Overrun: Ankylosaurus (+19 [21]) Bullrush: Akylosaurus (+19 [21]) Grapple: Dire Lion (+18 [20]); Xill (+16 [18]); Salamander (+15 [17]) Greater Bullrush: Earth Elemental (+20 [22])

Special Attacks
Daze: Dazing Attack (DC 23 [25] Fort) Ankylosaurus Bleed: 2 hp per round (DC 17 heal) Barbazu Disease: Devil Chills (DC 17 1d4 days Fort) Barbazu Blast: 3d6 damage (DC 17 [19] Ref) Bralani Azata Power Atack: Earth Elemental; Water Elemental Great Cleave: Water Elemental Chain Dance: Chain Devil Shaken: Gaze Attack (DC 15 Will) Chain Devil Poison: Constitution Damage (DC 17 [19] Fort) Emperor Cobra Fear/Nausea/Paralyses/-2 Debuff: Moan (DC 15 Fort or Will) Cloaker Calm Emotions Aura (DC 15 Will) Vulpinal

Special Features

Scent: Dire Lion

Best Damage: Babau (3 attacks, +12 to hit each, 3(3d6+5) damage when flanking) Best Tank: Ankylosaurus (75 hp, 10 hit dice, and 5/evil DR) or Large Earth Elemental (68 hp, 8 hit dice, and 5/- DR.) Best Previous Level Summon: Lions Monsters
Ankylosaurus: Right out of the box this guy has a better CMB than weve seen so far, but he even comes with Improved Overrun and Improved Bullrush. To top it off his attacks all have a Dazing effect with a very good DC on them - strength based even making it even more effective with Augmented Summoning. Huge Size is also a good thing, though can be restrictive. Babau: A great damage dealer with a 2d6 sneak attack and 3 attacks with decent to-hit. Since youre going to be using him for flanking anyway, youre totally going to be taking advantage of this. Also comes with some good SLAs including straight up See Invisibility and Dispel Magic. Longspear gives him a reach option, but the to-hit on the claws are generally better. Barbazu (Bearded Devil): His damage isnt as good as the Babau, he can cause bleeding, and if they stack that could be devastating if your target is susceptible to that. The disease, like all diseases, has too long an onset to bother with most of the time. Bralani Azata: Has a good number of SLAs, but most of them with low saves. Has two cure moderate wounds for a jam (See the various threads on why healing in battle is usually not worth it.) Its damage is okay in general but mostly for its AOE damage support. Dire Lion: Pounce, grab, and rake. This time around with a decent CMB, nearly double what it was last level. Large Elementals: Next verse same as the first... and second... Actually no. This time the Earth Elemental has greater bullrush, getting your buddies Attacks of Opportunities with it. Lightning Elementals are still amazing against metal creatures. You should also see if your DM will let you summon positive and negative energy elementals for the channeling. A few good options here. Earth Elemental is probably my favorite though. Giant Moray Eel: An underwater grappler but the CMB is a bit low compared to the level and what other monsters here are doing. As one of two options for underwater though you may have to use him, or not use Summon Monster V. Evangalist Kyton (Chain Devil): Damage-wise not as good as the Babau. Has a minor gaze attack that causes the shaken condition, but has a relatively low DC. What makes the Kyton interesting is the Chain Dance ability. Depending on how you interpret it, it can be amazing or pointless. The text says The chains attack as effectively as the Kyton itself which raises the question whether or not the chains threaten their squares. If they do threaten their squares, then the Kyton can be effectively 5 monsters as far as flanking is concerned. If they dont then the Kyton is merely a decent damage option with reach. Carry your own chains for your Kyton to animate if your DM agrees that they threaten their squares.

Orca: Huge size is cool. Last level damage is not as cool. Its base CMB is higher than most monsters here though if you want to force it to do some combat maneuver tricks. Salamander: Surprisingly fills a similar role to the Lion with Grappling. Fire damage might be something that would make you summon this before the Lion, but the Lion seems to do the job a little better. Woolly Rhinoceros: Only a small step up from the previous level which suggests to me you should just summon two Rhinoceros for more damage. This can trample, but you really want it to do the powerful charge. Xill: A very well rounded option with good damage output with its many many attacks along with ample opportunity to grab someone. It doesnt say anything about the multiple arms allowing it to still make two attacks while its grappled something, or that it can use its other two arms to grapple something else, but you may be able to convince your DM that it makes sense that it should. Its ability to implant eggs is gross and it bears the question whether the eggs disappear with the end of the spell. Paralysis also takes too long to take hold, not to mention the low DC. Alternate Summons Emperor Cobra: (AP42) Someone looked at SMV and decided that it was missing a monster whose only point was to poison its target, so they gone added one. DC is okay and it targets CON. Damage on Bite is decent. Cloaker: (AP41) The main attraction here is the Moan ability that can target either Fort or Will. It would be a lot better if the DC was better, but the fact that you can choose makes it possible to metagame a bit and choose one that the enemy is less likely to resist. Engulf would be impressive if the creatures CMB wasnt so low. Saltwater Merrow: (AP55) A better grappler than the Moray Eel, but thats about it. Vulpinal: (AP50) Look at all those SLAs with decent DCs. With that list Im sure this thing will have plenty to do without noticing that its attack is mediocre. Also has 6 lay on hands for 3d6 healing if you have extra rounds leftover (Though I wouldnt spend the 5th level slot just for the healing.)

Conclusion
The cream of this summon monster level is the Earth Elementals ability to use greater bullrush. I also like the Babau as a flanking buddy because of his damage output. Aside from that there is a lot of viable variety here, but nothing that stands out as something you gotta have every battle. Final Rating: Green

Summon Monster VI
Spell-Like Abilities
Constanttrue seeing At willfear (single target, DC 19), minor image (DC 17), unholy blight (DC 19) - Erinyes Devil

3/daydarkness, hallucinatory terrain (DC 18), knock, light 1/day charm person (DC 15), speak with animals, speak with plants (Spells) 3rd (2/day)charm monster (DC 17), cure serious wounds 2nd (4/day)hold person (DC 16), invisibility, sound burst (DC 16), suggestion 1st (5/day)charm person (DC 15), cure light wounds, identify, sleep (DC 15) 0 (at will)dancing lights, daze (DC 14), detect magic, lullaby (DC 14), mage hand, read magic (DC 16) - Lillend Azata

At willdeeper darkness, fear (DC 18), telekinesis (DC 19) 3/dayshadow conjuration (DC 18), shadow evocation (DC 19) - Shadow Demon At willcharm monster (DC 22), detect thoughts (DC 20), ethereal jaunt (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), suggestion (DC 21), vampiric touch 1/day dominate person (DC 23) - Succubus
At willdeathwatch, invisibility (self only) 3/daybestow curse (DC 16), locate creature, searing light (DC 16) - Vanth Psychopomp

Combat Maneuvers
Grapple: Dire Tiger (+23 [25]); Dire Bear (+19 [21]); Greater Bullrush: Huge Earth Elemental (+25 [27])

Special Attacks
Power Attack: Huge Earth Elemental, Huge Water Elemental Great Cleave: Huge Water Elemental Entangle: +15 touch attack (DC 20 Escape Artist) Erinyes Devil Panic: (DC 16 Will) Shadow Mastiff

Special Features
Scent: Dire Bear; Dire Tiger; Elephant

Best Damage: Dire Tiger (5 attacks on pounce, +18 to hit on each, (4(2d4+8[+14]) and 1(2d6+8[+14] 19-20 crit) damage) (!) Best Tank: Huge Earth Elemental (95 hp, 10 hit dice, 5/- DR) or Dire Tiger (108 hp, 14 hit dice, 10/evil DR) Best Previous Level Summon: Ankylosaurus (Daze baby daze) Monsters
Dire Bear: Is this guy for real? Hes barely an improvement on the SMV options. Dire Tiger: Now were talking. Pounce and grab and rake away, this time doing some serious damage and while holding them down with a +25 grapple check (with Augmented Summoning.) This guy also hits 10 damage reduction for being celestial/fiendish thanks to his high hit dice. Elasmosaurus: Boring and barely an upgrade from the Orca.

Huge Elementals: Think last level but with more CMB, more damage, and just better. Earth elemental is still the prime pick. Air elemental is as usual a fast flier too, which applies to all levels, but this time he could carry a few of your party members. Elephant: Damage is okay. Base CMB however is incredible, making this guy pretty versatile for any Combat Maneuver youre willing to risk an Attack of Opportunity for. Also has a very good +21 perception with Scent, which at CL 11 is phenomenal. Erinyes Devil: If you want to Entangle something, she can do it pretty quick, and then cause fear as much as she wants while her duration lasts. She can also do some good AOE damage with Unholy Blight, but targeting Will with a 19 DC means that shell probably be doing half damage about half of the time, and thats only if youre targeting good creatures. Her ranged damage is also decent, so she makes a good Anti-Flier. Giant Octopus: What? No Ink Jet? Anyway, pretty par for the course for aquatic creatures now. Nothing really amazing, but if you must summon and it is an aquatic environment, you have little other choices. Invisible Stalker: Im not entirely sure what advantage being invisible gives this guy except that he cant draw attacks from your allies. Sure he gets to attack flat-footed opponents, but his damage isnt that great when he does, at least not for the level. Im pretty sure invisible targets dont flank either. This is more of a problem if an enemy NPC summons it, not so good for you. Lillend Azata: Bardic Performance! This is a good thing if you dont have a bard. A very good thing. And its even +2 inspire courage. Even if she does nothing else during the summon, shes adding a great deal to your partys output just by that. But, she also has some good SLAs and Spells, including Invisibility which cast round after round could help your Rogue or even your BSF get a Flat Footed round of attacks. Besides that her damage is mediocre (But increases with Inspire Courage), and her grab ability has a really low CMB. Damage is still a minor contribution in addition to her inspire courage if the spells arent helpful to you. Shadow Demon: Wait, this guy gets Magic Jar? Too bad you cant use it because of the expensive material component. The other SLAs are decent. He could provide telekinetic support if nothing else (Though the combat maneuver bonus is going to be a small +13.) The other SLAs arent exciting. One interesting factor about this guy is that all his attacks are touch attacks, so if youre going up against something with a ton of AC he might be able to touch through it. That and hes incorporeal with a decent damage reduction to boot, making him hard to hit and take down. Shadow Mastiff: The AOE panic is interesting, but the DC is just too low - youre better off causing fear with the Erinyes Devil. Everything else about this guy is lackluster and his ability to trip is pathetic even though its part of his attack. Succubus: Youre not going to be able to pull off Energy Drain with that grapple bonus (unless you get them to come over with suggestion instead) but the other SLAs have very high DCs compared to other summoned monsters, and if youre in need of Enchantment antics this can get you Dominate Person, Charm Monster, and other decent goodies.

Triceratops: Whoa, the Rhinoceros turned into a Dinosaur! And just like before, youre better off summoning multiple Woolly Rhinoceroses instead of this guy. Alternate Summons Bulette: (AP35) Rather sub-par compared to its competition in this level. A shame that the typo on the OGC wasnt correct, because he would be amazing in SMIV (Though admittedly broken... probably.) Griffon: (AP26) Basically a flying Lion from two Summon Monsters ago. Without the grab feature. Tylosaur: (AP55) A much better aquatic monster with a phenomenal +27 [29] grapple and the swallow whole ability. (and actually a note on the side on the OGC says that the CMB is an error and should be +35.) Gargantuan size also means you can eat pretty much anything (besides the obvious.) Even if youre on land Id think about summoning this just as a wall of flesh. Vanth Psychopomp: (AP44) I didnt put the Fear Aura up top because its irrelevant by this point. And that just about describes everything else about the Vanth. He seems to be a Summon Monster level too high for his abilities.

Conclusion
Summon Monster VI is the SM of the SLAs. Besides the upgrade to the Earth Elementals Greater Bullrush and the Dire Tigers grapple rakefest, theres little in the way of Combat Maneuvers. In exchange we get the Succubus and her ability to replace the need to memorize Enchantment spells and the Lillend and her amazing ability to replace (somewhat) a party Bard. Fantastic level for Summon Monster. Final Rating: Blue

Summon Monster VII

Spell-Like Abilities
Constantfly At willdimensional anchor, invisibility (self only), major image (DC 17), wall of ice 3/dayquickened invisibility (self only) Bone Devil At will telekinesis (DC 18) 1/dayheroism, mirror image - Vrock Spells: 3rdbestow curse (DC 16), contagion (DC 16), dispel magicD, inflict serious wounds (DC 16) 2nddeath knellD (DC 15), hold person (DC 15), inflict moderate wounds (DC 15), resist energy, spiritual weapon 1stcause fearD (DC 14), command (DC 14), divine favor, obscuring mist, shield of faith 0bleed (DC 13), detect magic, guidance, resistance - Daughter of Ugathoa

Combat Maneuvers
Greater Overrun: Brachiosaurus (+32 [34]); Greater Earth Elemental (+29 [31]) Greater Bullrush: Greater Earth Elemental (+29 [31]) Bullrush: Brachiosaurus (+32[34])

Grapple: Tyrannosaurus (+32 [34]); Dire Crocodile (+30 [32]); Giant Anaconda (+30 [32]); Roc (+29 [31]); Behir (+22 [24]); Emkrah (+21 [23])

Special Attacks
Dismantle Armor: CMB check (+23 [25]) Bebilith Rot: 2 Constitution per round (DC23 [25] Fort every round) Bebilith Web: +11 ranged (DC 23 [25]) Bebilith Power Attack: Bebilith; Brachiosaurus; Greater Earth Elemental Great Cleave: Greater Water Elemental Poison: Strength Damage (DC 20 [22] Fort) Bone Devil Fear: Fear Aura (DC 19 Will) Bone Devil Stun: 30-foot radius (DC 21 [23]) Vrock Damage Over Time: Free Action Spores Vrock Area of Effect Damage: Dance of Ruin 100 radius Vrock

Special Features
Scent: Bebilith; Mastodon; Tyrannosaurus

Best Damage: Tyrannosaurus (+20 to hit, (4d6+22[+18]) damage.) Best Tank: Brachiosaurus (171hp, 18 hit dice, 10/evil DR) or Tyrannosaurus (153hp, 18 hit dice, 10/evil DR.) Best Previous Level Summon: Dire Tigers Monsters
Bebilith: This guy is a beast. He has an unusually unique use with removing a targets armor, but more importantly each round he has a fairly high DC poison that drains constitution and the ability to toss fairly high DC webs around to entangle foes. His damage is mediocre, but he makes up for it with oddball utility. Bone Devil: His full round of attacks deal decent damage, but the to-hit is low for the level. Poison has a decent DC, but not so good that Id go out of my way to summon this guy for the poison. The Fear Aura could be useful and wont hit your allies since its so short ranged. Dimensional Anchor is cool if you have this memorized and not the actual 4th level spell. Brachiosaurus: Gargantuan size and +30 CMB. His damage is decent, but more importantly hes a great wall of flesh. Also note; Greater Overrun. Greater. Overrun. Stompy stompy. Dire Crocodile: Also known as the maw of OH MY @*$@ LET ME GO!. Fantastic Damage with Grab as part of the attack, and top it off with Death Roll and Swallow Whole. Also, Gargantuan Size. Its really a shame that that means there might be times you cant summon this guy. But when you can hes pretty dang good. Dire Shark: The not as good aquatic version of the Dire Crocodile, except the Dire Crocodile has hold breath. The Shark DOES have keen scent and blindsense though, so he may have a niche. Greater Elementals: An upgrade from last time, but is now falling behind the other options available. The Huge Size may be more feasible than the

otherwise better gargantuan options here though, so you may still consider this. Giant Squid: More damage than the shark, not as good of grapple. Smaller size may be necessary in some cases. Mastodon: Still has the perception benefit, but really kind of lackluster in this group. Roc: Cant rip things to shreds like the Crocodile, but it can pick things up (grappling them) and carry them off with its ability to fly (Preferably dropping them in your hungry pit or something.) Tyrannosaurus: Very similar to the Dire Crocodile. Once the Crocodile actually swallows something, it does more damage. The T-Rex does more damage upfront and has a better grapple check. That extra +2 to grapple edges out the dinosaur in my mind, not to mention its better mobility. Oh, and remember what I said about the Mastodon having a perception benefit? Yeah, he doesnt. The T-Rex has a +37 perception. Vrock: Once per summon you can cast Heroism and a decent DC 21 AOE stun (Just watch your allies). These are pretty good, but youre going to have him for at least 13 rounds. During those 13 rounds he can do mediocre damage supplemented by the strange spores ability that does damage over time with no discernible saving throw. Dance of Ruin is dangerous with its 100 radius, and more importantly its 3 round casting time. Once you can summon multiple Vrocks you might find a strange situation where dealing 20d6 damage to a 100 area is something you just gotta do. One other advantage the Vrock has is that hes only large sized, so in closed quarters he might be the best summon you can get this level. Alternate Summons Behir: (AP35) CMB for grapple is mediocre and so is the damage afterward. It tries hard with its 6 claws with rake, but its not likely going to keep creatures for very long with such a low CMB. Daughter of Urgathoa: (AP47) Though she has a selection of spells, theyre all pretty low level with too low DCs for a 7th level spell. Her damage isnt particularly impressive either (Though if she crits its painful.) Emkrah: (AP23) Another mostly uninteresting option like the Behir, though it does have a possible niche with its acid damage. Giant Anaconda: (AP 42) This guy is trying to be the Dire Crocodile, and he does such a good job he beats the Dire Crocodile. Massive damage as this guy puts the squeeze on the enemy. Young Frost Giant: (AP38) Not particularly good nor does it add much.

Conclusion
Summon Monster VIIs biggest problem is that its best options are Gargantuan, which in many cases thats wonderful, but in some cases youre just not going to have room to summon them. But if you have the room the monsters here are wildly powerful. Final Rating: Blue

Summon Monster VIII

Spell-Like Abilities
At willhold person (DC 17), major image (DC 17), produce flame, pyrotechnics (DC 16), scorching ray (2 rays only) 1/dayorder's wrath (DC 18), unholy blight (DC 18) - Barbed Devil At willchaos hammer (DC 18), unholy blight (DC 18) 3/daygaseous form 1/dayblasphemy (DC 21) - Hezrou

Combat Maneuvers
Grapple: Hezrou (+23 [25]); Barbed Devil (+22 [24]) Greater Bull Rush: Elder Earth Elemental (+34 [36]) Greater Overrun: Elder Earth Elemental (+34 [36])

Special Attacks
Fear: DC 20 Will Barbed Devil Power Attack: Greater Earth Elemental Great Cleave: Greater Water Elemental Nausea: DC 24 [26] Hezrou Petrify: DC 21 [23] Gorgon

Best Damage: 1d3 Tyrannosauruses Best Tank: 1d3 Brachiosauruses Best Previous Level Summon: Tyrannosaurus Monsters
Barbed Devil: Causes fear with each attack and is able to grab foes as well. Grapple CMB isnt very high especially for level 8. As far as the SLAs go, weve seen better in lower levels. Elder Elementals: The final step up from the previous elementals. Still not adding much to actual abilities, but their ability to do them has improved. Especially if your DM is allowing all the various alternate elementals, Im sure you can find something good here. Hezrou Demon: CMBs still a lot lower than last level (Though no gargantuan size so you might be able to actually fit this guy.) If you do grapple a target, the nausea is fairly effective. Damage isnt great, but not horrid. Alternate Summons Frost Giant: (AP38) Same thing as before. Not particularly good nor does it add much. Gorgon: (AP35) The gas breath is the best thing here as a save or die option, but he can only do it every 1d4+1 rounds. Without that hes really not very good. (And even the DC is low on the petrification breath.)

Young Cloud Giant: (AP38) Still not terribly exciting for the level. These giants just arent hacking it.

Conclusion
Summon Monster VIIIs main purpose seems to be summoning multiple monsters from a previous list. Besides a couple of elementals, nothing here really does anything better than whats been done in a previous level, and thats saying a lot. Final Rating: Orange

Summon Monster IX
Spell-Like Abilities
At Willaid, continual flame, detect evil, discern lies (DC 20), dispel evil (DC 21), dispel magic, holy aura (DC 24), holy smite (DC 20), holy word (DC 23), invisibility (self only), plane shift (DC 23), remove curse, remove disease, remove fear 7/daycure light wounds, see invisibility 1/dayblade barrier (DC 22), heal - Astral Deva

Constantdetect evil, holy aura (DC 21), see invisibility At willaid, charm monster (DC 17), continual flame, cure light wounds, dancing lights, detect thoughts (DC 15), disguise self, dispel magic, hold monster (DC 18), greater invisibility (self only), major image (DC 16), 3/dayglobe of invulnerability 1/daychain lightning (DC 19), prismatic spray (DC 20), wall of force Spells Prepared (CL 13th) 7th holy word (DC 21) 6thbanishment (DC 20), heal (DC 20) 5thflame strike (DC 19), true seeing 4thdeath ward, dismissal (2) (DC 18), divine power, restoration 3rdcure serious wounds (3), searing light (2) 2ndaid, align weapon, bear's endurance, lesser restoration (2) 1stbless, command (DC 15), divine favor, obscuring mist, shield of faith 0 (at will)detect magic, purify food and drink, stabilize, virtue Ghaele Constanttrue seeing At willchaos hammer (DC 19), confusion (DC 19), dispel magic, mirror image, reverse gravity (DC 22), veil (self only), unholy blight 1/daypower word stun - Glabrezu Constantfly At willcone of cold (DC 20), ice storm, persistent image (DC 20), wall of ice (DC 19) - Ice Devil

Constanttrue seeing, unholy aura (DC 23) At willcall lightning (DC 18), feeblemind (DC 20), greater dispel magic, slow (DC 18), - Nalfeshnee Constantmagic circle against evil At willaid, continual flame, detect evil, message Spells Prepared (CL 14th) 7thmass cure serious wounds (2) 6thbanishment (DC 21), heal (2) 5thdispel evil (DC 20), mass cure light wounds, plane shift (DC 20), 4thdismissal (DC 19), divine power, neutralize poison (DC 19), spell immunity 3rdcure serious wounds, daylight, invisibility purge, magic vestment, protection from

energy 2ndbull's strength, consecrate, cure moderate wounds (2), lesser restoration (2), owl's wisdom 1stbless, cure light wounds (3), divine favor, sanctuary (DC 16), shield of faith - Trumpet Archon Combat Maneuvers
None

Special Attacks
Bypass Damage Reduction: Touch AC Light Rays Ghaele Daze: AOE (DC 22 Will)

Special Features
Detect Evil: Ghaele See Invisibility: Ghaele True Seeing: Nalfeshnee Aura of Menace: Trumpet Archon Magic Circle Against Evil: Trumpet Archon

Best Damage: Glabrezu (5 attacks, +20 to hit each, 2(2d8+11/ 19-20) and 2(1d6+10) and 1(1d8+10) damage.) Best Tank: Ice Devil (161hp, 14 Hit Dice, 10/good DR.) Best Previous Level Summon: Tyrannosaurus Monsters
Astral Deva: Heal, Holy Aura, and on occasion, Blade Barrier are all good casts. The stun effect after two successful hits seems good. But, at CL 17 when you first get this summon, the average monster AC is 35, meaning that the Deva has a 60% chance of hitting with the first attack, and a 35% chance of hitting with the second to activate the DC 25 or 20% chance of the enemy failing their saving throw. This is better with Augment Summoning and Spell Perfection, but Im sure you can see that this isnt the most dependable feature. So how is her damage? Not as good as some of the previous levels. With defenses taken into consideration, shes a decent cast, but not fantastic. Ghaele: Also gets Holy Aura and Heal, with the addition of Wall of Force, Restoration, True seeing, and possibly a few others that are worth her casting where the DCs dont matter. Besides that she has niche support with her light rays, which target Touch AC and bypass Damage Reduction. The damage isnt great, but it may be what you need to even affect some creature. Glabrezu: You might get the occasional use out of Power Word Stun and Reverse Gravity, but the other SLAs are all low DC. His damage is decent but his to-hit is just a bit lower than what it should be. Ice Devil: No SLAs really worth casting, and this guy wants to be the Astral Deva with his slow effect on his blade. He does have the advantage that he gets a chance to apply it on every hit though. Too bad his regular to-hit is sub-par for the level (Though augment summoning helps.) Nalfeshnee: Greater Dispel Magic at-will could be useful, except hes using his CL12 to try and pull it off. With a combination of his decent to-hit and damagedice, he rivals the Glabrezu as the best damage dealer this level.

Trumpet Archon: Comes with a now low DC Aura of Menace that could be good if it actually works, but it also comes with the pretty decent magic circle against evil. Besides that, hes got heals. The rest of the SLAs are kind of weak or dont stack with the magic items you undoubtedly have.

Alternate Summons Cloud Giant: (AP38) Sadly this is one of the better damage options you have this level. Young Storm Giant: (AP38) Better damage than anything else this level even with the Young template.

Conclusion
Im sadly underwhelmed. I came in here expecting to be excited because of all the hype Treantmonk gave it, only to find a bunch of irrelevant options with barely enough to-hit to harm anything. These guys are barely relevant at level 17, and at level 20 Ill be reaching for a different spell to cast for sure. They still provide the warm bodies that Summoning can provide, but I recommend looking at lower lists to try and get multiple warm bodies if you can fit them. To put things into perspective, the Tyrannosaurus of SMVII has the same tohit as the Glabrezu and does more than double the damage on each hit. He doesnt have multiple attacks, but multiple Tyrannosaurus not only give each other flanking bonuses, but even two could outdamage the SMIX demon. Final Rating: Orange

Spell List
THE COMPLETE Professor Q's Guide to the Wizard

Sources: This list contains all the spells that are on the Pathfinder SRD website. I have included the source for each spell in parenthesis, as well as a link to the spell on the OGC. If there is no source listed, then its core. Everything else, make sure you check with your DM if its legal in your campaign. Combining Spells: A lot of spells are crummy by themselves but can be awesome with other spells. Some spells are awesome by themselves and get more awesome with another one cast on top of it. I try to mention what comes off the top of my head when Im rating these spells, but I try to make the color of the spell based off of what it is by itself. Some spells will have split colors to represent how good they are in a combo with metamagic or other spells. Because there is a nearly infinite number of possible spell combinations (or at least too high to consider in a single guide) I recommend you look at this thread on the Paizo Forums if you want some ideas.

0-Level Wizard Spells (Cantrips)

Abjuration
Resistance: Not bad for early on when you dont have the (relatively cheap) Cloak of Resistance. With its minute duration you could be tapping your allies on the shoulders as you walk around the dungeon like a crazy nerd with an OCD, hopefully extending it into combat. During combat probably not worth your standard action.

Conjuration
Acid Splash: While youre not likely to miss with this compared to using your crossbow, Id look for other things to do with your actions even early in the game. It does have a function against regenerating creatures though. Drench: (Blog) Clerics everywhere use Create Water to duplicate a similar effect to this spell whenever theres a fire. This spell is a lot more efficient about it. If you see a lot of things on fire (even if youre the cause of it) then you might want to memorize this spell.

Divination
Detect Magic: Players are always interested in what is magical, meaning youll probably have this memorized all the time. Detect Poison: I have gotten some use out of this in a few murder mystery plots. Great for social roleplaying where theres a lot of backstabbing going on. In a dungeon, probably not as good. Read Magic: Your replacement for Use Magic Device for activating scrolls and writing them in your spellbook. Just remember you only need to read a particular spell once, meaning you might not have to memorize this every day.

Enchantment
Daze: At the earliest levels its better than trying to deal 1d3 damage with Ray of Frost or Acid Splash. The one-minute immunity makes it undependable as a time-filler spell by itself.

Evocation
Breeze: (Blog) At first glance this doesnt seem like much, but it has an hour duration, and targets a creature, suggesting that it should follow them around. That alone makes this worth considering in its circumstance. In a sense, this is like a lesser endure elements for hot places too. Dancing Lights: My preferred light spell. The range on this invites a lot of creative uses as well, such as making a distraction. Flare: Dazzle is an awful condition making this a candidate for the worst use of a standard action. Light: The advantage this has over Dancing Lights is the duration, which may make you want to memorize it instead. Penumbra: (Blog) This one was apparently replaced by Protective Penumbra which uses a spell slot. If you have a Drow in your party or a similar creature with light blindness and this Cantrip is available to you, this is a better option since it can be kept up all the time and doesnt use spell slots. Most players

wont get much use out of it. Ray of Frost: Very minor damage, though it does target touch AC making it a little easier than firing your crossbow. Acid Splash has better utility as an energy type though, making this one basically irrelevant. Scoop: (Blog) This one is cool, but rarely useful. I cant think of too many situations in which youd need to move liquids that you couldnt just use a bottle for. Scooping Lava and dropping it on your Crazy DMs Adventure Game Puzzle comes to mind, and if you have a DM like that, hell probably give you this spell for that circumstance anyway Spark: (APG) I like Spark. You light things on fire at a range. It uses verbal or somatic components, so no ones going to know youre the Arson if youre discreet about it. Probably not a memorize every day spell though.

Illusion
Ghost Sound: Like other Illusion spells with no real set effect this is extremely versatile and worth keeping around.
Haunted Fey Aspect: (UC)The flavor text is a lot better than the actual effect. The extremely short duration and the standard action to cast makes this prevent 1 damage next time you take damage spell just as bad as it sounds.

Necromancy
Bleed: Way to be a jerk dude. Anyway, you can make someone resume dying by using acid splash on them and you still get the range. Not really any reason at all to memorize this. Disrupt Undead: Hup tut buh Wha? A wizard dealing POSITIVE ENERGY? Yes its true. And if youre going against an undead dungeon at early levels, this is actually not a bad pick. Touch of Fatigue: Make sure your palms are sweaty and you havent washed your hands in a while before you do this for extra creep factor. Not bad for a zero level spell, but touch range makes it useless.

Transmutation
Jolt: (Blog) Hooray. You can now deal 1d3 damage with Electricity too. Not generally worth the standard action. Mage Hand: A personal favorite of mine. Yeah yeah, Prestidigitation says you can do 2 lbs of telekinesis which probably makes it the better memorization, but I dunno, having a fetch me a soda spell for a 25 range is kind of cool. Oh, and Ive used it to remove caltrops placed in a hallway before, thwarting a trap that some goblins had set up for us. Mending: Ive seen this used too, and even though it has a 10 minute casting time, its not a bad one. Message: If your DM is like some of mine, there is no out of character discussions about the situation at hand. This lets you keep your planning secret. Or you can use it to send messages across a room. Open-Close: A trapfinding spell, a distraction, or prankful antics, this spell has its uses.

Root: (Blog) Its not a big bonus, but its a bigger bonus than most 0 level spells. Youre probably never going to cast this since its difficult to size up an opponent before battle and say I bet he trips people. If you know your opponent however then you might consider this spell.

Universal
Arcane Mark: Good for Magus technicalities for extra attacks, not really terribly useful for general use. Though I can think of a few creative uses for it, so dont forget you have it if you ever need to mark something. Prestidigitation: Ah yes, everyones favorite spell. Just keep it memorized. Youll find some use for it I promise.

1st-Level Wizard Spells

Abjuration
Adjuring Step: (UC) Lets you take two 5 steps in a round negating the need for making concentration rolls, but the effect goes away as soon as you move or do something harmful. Sounds really cool, but its not worth a standard action. Also it lasts only one round per level, so its completely worthless at lower levels where youd probably need it the most. Would be worthwhile if you could cast it on your fighter, letting him make more full round attacks because youve effectively increased his threat range, but you cant. This is outclassed by Vanish even at first level. Alarm: Im sort of a fan of this one since Ive used it a couple of times as a DM. Works well as a sort of ranged divination that lets you know if anything has moved toward your well laid trap. I would make this green but it does have some very specific uses - not really general memorization material. I think its definitely worth having in your spellbook. Endure Elements: Not going to get to use this very often, but the 24 hour duration from the get-go means that it does its job well enough to consider having in the spellbook. Hold Portal: A good idea, but too specific a situation to be generally useful. Peace Bond: (UC) Sort of tries to keep an enemys weapon in its sheath. Cool flavor. Most of the time if you think youre going to need this theyve already drawn their weapons and you wasted your time memorizing this spell. Protection from Evil/Good/Law/Chaos: Immunity to mind-affecting spells and summoned evil creatures natural attacks is a good (and very powerful) thing. Not something youll need every day, but not a bad memorization especially at early levels since it also gives you a bonus to AC and resistances. Shield: +4 shield bonus to AC. Without a mithril buckler, this is going to be the easiest Shield Bonus you can get. Can be helpful if you need that extra boost to your AC, and +4 is a pretty good boost. Try to remember that it affects Incorporeal Touch Attacks too, in case that ever comes up. Shock Shield: (UC) A crappy version of Shield that you can dismiss for really crappy damage that also allows a saving throw. Theft Ward: (ARG:Tengu) Youre the only one who gets to enjoy the bonus, but circumstantially useful if you happen to have the Macguffin Muffin in your possession. Winter Feathers: (ARG: Tengu) Endure elements for colder climates. Good for the right campaign.

Conjuration
Abundant Ammunition: (UC) Circumstantially useful. Id be more impressed if this gave you a supply of black powder, since that stuff is expensive. If your DM is a stickler for keeping track of arrows, or if youre in a situation where youve run out for some reason, your party member will appreciate the gesture of making him more than a warm body.

Air Bubble: (UC) Also circumstantially useful. At least it would be if the duration wasnt so low. I like to think that this makes you look like a freaky space man. Corrosive Touch: (UM) A really crappy damaging touch thats not even cool enough for the word Blast. Grease: Love this spell. Quintessential battlefield control. Creates difficult terrain and works as a ranged trip that will make your trip monkey jealous. Greasing up weapons or even yourself has its uses too. The minute/level duration on this is very nice as well. Icicle Dagger: (UM) You can conjure a weapon. Or you can carry a weapon and not memorize this. Ki Arrow: (UM) While the effect of this is really cool for its flavor, its not for you. Infernal Healing: (ISWG) Heal 10 hp over 10 rounds with the power of evil. Its not very powerful and probably not worth your standard action in combat, but it does heal 10 damage at level 1 outside of combat, which is difficult for even your Cleric to do. That usefulness drops off quickly as you level up though. I personally wouldnt memorize this very often. Mage Armor: Eventually this is cast and forget. Basically this is your armor unless you want to spend the funds to enchant some bracers or one of the noarcane-failure options listed in my equipment section. Mount: 2 hours/level duration large sized chunk of meat. Takes up space in battle, or gives you a long duration getaway vehicle. Mudball: (ARG: Goblin) First level blind spell targeting reflex. Not bad for first level, especially since it has no set duration. Standard action to remove makes it a little too easy to get off though Obscuring Mists: The fact that it has to be centered on you potentially messes over your nearby allies, but if youre in the back of the group and need to make a visual divider for the battlefield, this is a go-to option. Sow Thought: (ARG: Changling) Good roleplaying instrument. Permanent Duration. I like it. Stone Shield: (ARG: Oread) 1 round duration, but an immediate action. Not a horrible way to use your first level slots when they dont matter so much. Stumble Gap: (APG) Not terrible. I like how it does stuff even if they succeed their saving throw. The area is inferior to Grease which has the same reflex effect. The benefit over grease is that it causes any creature moving through it to actually trip instead of treating it as just difficult terrain. I still think Grease is a better memorization though, not to mention it lasts a lot longer. Summon Minor Monster: (UM) Tiny creatures dont threaten their squares and they dont do much damage either. If you memorize this this and take Superior Summons though you can summon a Rave of Rabid Rats, for what thats worth. You can add smite evil to all these little critters though... Maybe there is some benefit to casting this. Not as much as with Summon Monster I I dont think. You probably dont want to cast it unless you have Superior Summons because you might roll a 1 on the number of creatures and then look like a real buffoon. By the time you get Superior Summons youre casting better spells

with your actions. Summon Monster I: Not really worth the 1st level slot. Most of these guys are only really worth considering when you have Augment Summoning, and you cant get that until youre able to cast Summon Monster II (unless youre human.) Overall this is able to provide a flanking buddy, and thats about all its good for (Well, besides creative uses like Trapfinding that is.) Unseen Servant: Effectively 20 lb. telekinesis that lasts 1 hour per level. Its the duration that makes it worth considering, and you can get this guy to do a lot of great things. Eventually when its cast and forget, theres not really any reason to fetch your own drinks when this guy is around. Web Bolt: (ARG: Drow) Single Target Web spell. Not really enough extra effects to make it worth considering over some of the other movement impairing effects at this level.

Divination
Anticipate Peril: (UM) Aptly named because you basically have to know the peril is coming to benefit from this as it has only a minute per level duration. The improvement to initiative is nice though, and you could be casting this before you turn corners or open doors. I think it gets progressively better as you level up and first level spells stop being as important for in-encounter slots. Comprehend Languages: Usefulness depends on the DM and campaign, but this is definitely one youll want to keep in your spellbook just in case. Detect Charm: (ASol) A very specific form of Detect Magic. In a very rare circumstance this is better than Sense Motive, and if youre dealing with a mystery plot where you think someone is using compulsion to frame someone else, then youll want this spell. Otherwise you can probably safely skip it. Detect Secret Doors: Useful depending on what kind of dungeon youre in. Concentration or minute/level duration means you basically have to suspect the existence of the secret doors in the first place though. I think that this is a great way to use up spell slots for no reason when you should really just be using perception (or more appropriately, having someone else do it.) Detect Undead: I dunno, this doesnt seem that useful to me. I mean, if you were trying to detect if someone was a vampire in disguise or something it might be worth checking out. Or maybe youre tomb raiding and want to know which corpses might come bite you and which are just corpses. For the most part though I dont think you need it in your spellbook. Identify: Good for early levels, useless once your spellcraft is high enough. See Alignment: (UC) Detect Evil, except you have to choose the exact alignment. So if theyre Neutral Evil, and you said Chaotic Evil, this spell was a worthless cast. One thing this does have going for it is that unlike Detect Evil it doesnt have the level 5 floor, so you can detect creatures below that level. True Strike: Touch attacks are the only thing I can think of you using this with as a basic Wizard, and generally with those you dont need this. Its personal range is pretty restrictive.

Enchantment

Bungle: (UM) The offensive form of True Strike. This isnt a mind-affecting spell, so thats nice. Whats not nice is that it doesnt affect creatures above 10 HD. So even if you might have considered this worth it (I dont think it is, it even offers a saving throw), its not worth it in the long run. Charm Person: A Wizards replacement for putting points into the Diplomacy skill, however, you need Charisma to ask the target to do anything. Thats not entirely true, it only says that you need an opposed Charisma check to give orders which in my opinion doesnt discount you asking them nicely. But many DMs in an attempt to make Charisma not a dump stat might require you to make this Charisma check when you ask them to do anything at all. Still useful for asking questions or general social roleplaying. Long duration too. This is not a combat spell by any means. Dazzling Blade: (RG) Feint isnt very good, but disarm can be decent. I like that this spell grows as you level up. Its a bonus to a specific and slightly circumstantial Combat Maneuver though, and though the Dazzle Discharge effect is a free action for the Wielder, its not worth your standard action to let him do that. The Blind is okay for first level, but its only one round. If you have an ally that disarms people, hell be very grateful for a cast since CMDs are pretty hard to beat. Of course, grease will do a similar thing and has a multi-function. Delusional Pride: (UM) This is like a double effect version of the Clerics Bane spell, except that instead of lowering their saves, it actually raises them against other mind-affecting spells. Bad. Hypnotism: Perhaps better than charm person at earlier levels, but has no longevity. To top it off the duration is poor and you can only make them friendly for one request. If youre ever in a Talk it out situation in a dungeon or similar instance one request is all you might need. Lock Gaze: (UC) You force an enemy to look at you if they fail their will save single target. They go blind if they stop looking at you for one round. If the duration on the blindness was longer Id like this more, but even then its still a really weak single target save-or-suck spell. Moment of Greatness: (UC) This sounds cool. Double the effects of a single morale bonus of the targets choice that lasts a good duration before they use it. Obviously this is more useful if your allies are the type that bolster morale bonuses - like Barbarians or Cavaliers. But when you consider it, many common morale bonuses arent completely amazing when doubled, at least not for a single action. Its still AOE though and its still its better than the a lot of other picks Ive run across so far so if you are playing in a circumstance that can make this good then pick it up. Sleep: The most game breaking spell against CR1 or less creatures (That arent undead.) And the most useless spell after level 4. Unprepared Combatant: (UM) Targets Will to lower their Reflex. Could be good in the right circumstance, but that makes it a poor pick for regular memorization, especially being single target

Evocation
Burning Hands: One of two early reflex targeting spells that can be used for Dazing Spell later on. The short range on this makes it tough to recommend for that purpose though. In the earliest levels its good for rooms of mobs, but

Color Spray is a far superior option in that instance. Ear Piercing Scream: (UM) This is a pretty solid level 1 spell memorization in general. Moderate Damage (better than Shocking grasp for energy type though its damage progression is slower) with the chance to make them dazed. Single Target makes it less cool, but its better than other level 1 blast spells. If youre building yourself to lower an enemys saves, you could lock down your target with this spell. Flare Burst: (APG) As flare, but wastes a spell slot. Floating Disk: Another one of those odd grandfathered spells that have been around forever. The idea here is nice, but with Ant Haul and other options the duration on this just doesnt seem good enough to consider. This can do some unusually unique things like transport liquid though. Just because Im rating it red for general use doesnt mean you should forget it exists in case you need to transport lava or something. Hydraulic Push: (APG) This can be great at lower levels, but like with Toppling Spell, as soon as you pass level 5 your odds of actually succeeding with this drops off significantly. Your odds with Grease being successful also drops off, but thats AOE and there are other ways to improve it besides just raising your intelligence. This doesnt have that benefit. Still it could be good at lower levels, and pushing things around is something that could be somewhat useful for creatures with low CMDs too. Magic Missile: Straight up and straightforward damage. Nothing really exciting and a good way to blow all your slots real fast. It is super reliable if all you want is damage though, and it is one of the few out-of-the-box ways to hit incorporeals, so keep it in mind for that. Shocking Grasp: They made the Magus so this could be a staple spell for somebody because it certainly isnt for you. Touch attack and a blast... Memorize Magic Missile instead if you need to do damage. Touch of Combustion: (ARG: Ifrit) I see this as an upgrade to the Spark cantrip since you should probably avoid getting into melee for this. You also better be sure you have Fire Resistance before using this.

Illusion
Blend: (ARG: Elf) A bonus to stealth that mimics the duration and drawbacks of invisibility. +4 isnt a huge number in the long run, but in the long run you might as well just cast invisibility. I think in many cases Vanish will do a Wizard just fine, but you can cast this on your Familiar if you want to give him a little extra cover while hes scouting around. Color Spray: The other early level game-breaking spell. This will rock your enemies hard. The range is precarious, but Ive seen battles completely halted thanks to this spell. Later on it drops off, but not completely since it is still an early stun option. Dazzling Blade: (RG) Feint isnt very good, but disarm can be decent. I like that this spell grows as you level up. Its a bonus to a specific and slightly circumstantial Combat Maneuver though, and though the Dazzle Discharge effect is a free action for the Wielder, its not worth your standard action to let him do that. The Blind is okay for first level, but its only one round. If you have an ally that disarms people, hell be very grateful for a cast since CMDs

are pretty hard to beat. Of course, grease will do a similar thing and has a multi-function. Disguise Self: +10 to disguise with a longer duration than just casting invisibility. Im sure that some use for this may come up. Illusion of Calm: (UC) This is an interesting way to avoid attacks of opportunity while casting. The duration is also quite nice. The will save to disbelieve could possibly thwart your plans though, and the standard action to cast this is expensive if you dont cast it ahead of battle. Magic Aura: Day/Level duration makes me consider this being something you might consider in the very odd circumstance youll need it. Ive never personally needed it but I can think of some scenarios that you might not want someone noticing the pimped out loot you have on your person. Negative Reaction: (UC) Turn someone into a total jerk. This is funny, but probably not that useful generally. Shadow Weapon: (UM) See Icicle Dagger. Although this is somehow a little worse... Silent Image: Pick your own spell, essentially. Basically your imagination is the only limit of your power on this one, at least until someone touches it and gets to make a will save. It makes a suitable distraction if nothing else. Vanish: (APG) Great level 1 spell to memorize especially at higher levels when you want your higher level slots to be spent on other things (like Metamagic). Its got a really short duration, but makes for a great escape spell. Ventriloquism: Between Ghost Sound and Silent Image, the uses for this arent very many. If youre hiding invisible and want to carry out a conversation you might want it.

Necromancy
Cause Fear: Single target lockout spell that targets 5 HD or less has to be compared to Color Spray and Sleep which are multitarget and more devastating. The only advantage this one has is that it causes the Shaken Condition no matter what. Chill Touch: Puts you too close to danger and actually doesnt do that much damage. The 1 strength is cool though as it is permanent and does stack with itself. You can have your familiar do this, but it would only take a couple of successful bad touches before you have a dead familiar. Better for your Magus to use. Decompose Corpse: (UM) Weird spell for those with a Skeleton Fetish. A slight save or suck for undead with flesh. Great for sanitary purposes, otherwise it doesnt seem to be worth much. Interrogation: (UM) Limited questions and the fact that your fighter could be just as good at doing this makes this a bad pick. Ray of Sickening: (UM) Ray of Enfeeblement is better because something actually happens if they fail their save. I like Sickened, but its not good enough for a single target spell that will likely fail.

Ray of Enfeeblement: Always inflicts some amount of Strength damage. The short duration and inability to stack with itself though makes it limited in its use. Restore Corpse: (UM) Weird spell for those with a Skeleton Phobia. It doesnt even have a secondary effect unlike its brother spell. Heck you cant even eat the flesh! I guess these two spells are meant for the undead masters that want to pick either Zombie or Skeleton minions. With that in mind, couldnt these have been AOE so you didnt have to blow a spell per minion? Sculpt Corpse: (APG) An interesting way to fake your own death, or hide your murder. Probably not going to use this too often though. Undines Curse: (ARG:Undine) Kind of pointless. Basically makes the target die... if theyre unconscious. Yeah.

Transmutation
Alter Winds: (APG) Extremely circumstantial that I cant really think of too many uses for. I wish it let you change it by greater than a single step as you leveled up. Alchemical Tinkering: (ARG: Ratfolk) If you went Spellslinger, youll get more use out of this. Animate Rope: Kind of neat how you can direct it around as a move action. Not so neat that its 1 round per level. That kind of means that its irrelevant before its really useful. It also doesnt sound like you can even move it around, just cause it to entangle nearby creatures, which strikes me as a bit too weak. Ant Haul: (APG) Good to cast on your BSF before you get Handy Haversacks. Great duration, but wont last the whole day until it becomes irrelevant. I wouldnt go out of my way to get this. Break: (APG) Would be better if attended objects didnt use their users fortitude saves. Nice way to debuff foes, or break their armor. If you cast this twice, the item is destroyed. Might not want to do that if you want to sell their stuff later though. ZomB on the Paizo forums suggests using this to break a Wizards bonded item, which is an excellent idea! (He specifically suggests lower level Wizards to do it to higher level Wizards, which sounds more like DM antics to me, but still a good idea, and very insulting :O... Burning Disarm: (CEoD) I really like the Catch-22 nature of this spell. They can either drop their weapon and be disarmed, or they can take damage. The damage isnt that much though, and if the creature knows this then they can just be a man and keep their weapon. This spell raises some interesting questions about adding metamagic to it. Dazing spell and similar feats dont work unless the target takes damage, so would they have to save again if they fail their reflex, because that is when they actually take damage? Crafters Curse: (APG) Get this and write your book on How to be a Jerk to NPCs. Crafters Fortune: (APG) The duration on this makes it a fine spell to keep in your spellbook.

Damp Powder: (UC) If youre in a campaign that uses guns, this is like Break in its usefulness, though not quite so long-term. It does force the target to waste an action essentially, using the objects will save again, so pretty solid I think. Dancing Lantern: (APG)As entertaining as this sounds, you have to already have a lantern to use this, and the Light spell is a cantrip. It is a way to transport a flame to use with Pyrotechnics though, and put it into position a little easier. Enlarge Person: Oh boy oh boy! Give your BSF +1 damage and increases your weapon damage category, but more importantly, it gives you reach. The biggest problem your BSF will have after level 6 is moving around to get his full round attacks. Making him a big boy gives him an extra 5 that he doesnt have to move. That and hes got more attacks of opportunity and hes more of a shield for you. Expeditious Excavation: (APG) This is like a lesser create pit spell, but creates an actual pit so it has some utility. You can also use it as an obscuring cloud a la Obscuring Mist, though that spell is a little better for that. Not the worst spell Ive run across so far. Erase: The rune eraser. If your DM uses this a lot you may want this and it doesnt matter if I rate it red. For most people, red. Expeditious Retreat: If you really need to be mobile, get on your summoned mount. +30 movement will help you in the right circumstances though. Fabricate Bullets: (UC) Abundant Ammunition is better. You have to already have the lead, and it only creates 10 bullets. The only thing good here is the permanent duration. Feather Fall: Kind of need this spell as a just in case measure. Its a good one to keep in your spellbook if you have item bond. The problem with this spell is that when you need it, you really need it. Its something you can also plan

for though and it eventually affects your whole party too (except your BSF that you cast permanent enlarge person on.)
Forced Quiet: (UM) A +4 stealth spell? But it only lasts 1 round a level... Lowering the DCs on someones sonic effects seems like itll probably never come up. Gravity Bow: (APG) A pretty sweet Ranger spell is not as good for you. Definitely want it in your spellbook if you go Arcane Archer though. Jury-Rig: (UC) Seems a little short lived and not terribly useful. A misfire on a gun will become destroyed though so it might be worth picking up if you went Spell-Slinger. Jump: A +10 jump adds a couple of feet going straight up and 10 feet across. At level 5 when you get to +20 you can just cast fly instead. Liberating Command: (UC) I like that its an immediate action. At higher levels you can cast grease on your ally and then command them to be free. Its kind of a dubious memorization though... Lighten Object: (FoB) You can either half the weight of one object, or you can cast Ant Haul and triple the carrying capacity of the person carrying any

objects. Your choice. This does have the option of reducing the armor check penalty on armor, but the duration and benefit is too low to consider that option in my opinion. Longshot: (UC) Eh... Im not even sure if this is generally good for a Ranger to cast, much less you. Maybe for a Spell-Slinger. Magic Weapon: Depending on whether you run into BBEGs with damage reduction before you get magic weapons, youll get to cast this once or twice. After early levels, its just a page in your spellbook. Marids Mastery: (ARG: Undine) Touch range is restrictive, but -4 to hit and damage isnt awful if they fail their will save. Mirror Strike: (UC) Hit two opponents with a melee attack for half damage. Im not even sure if this is good for the Magus. Polypurpose Panacea: (UM) This is a very flavorful yet mostly useless spell. I dont know why you would need this for any other reason than to be a weird drug addict roleplayer. Reduce Person: While reduce person is an okay buff for you, it doesnt give quite as many benefits as enlarge person does to your BSF. All the scenarios I run through my mind for the use of this spell end with the conclusion that its just a minor buff. Initiative is taken care of by the better Anticipate Peril better. AC is better gained from Shield. I have a few wild ideas about making your Tiny Familiar Diminutive, but it still only gives them a +2 dex and +1 to hit according to the spell as written, though you may find some opportunity to squeeze him through some crack you couldnt fit into without this spell (or arent high enough caster level for gaseous form.) Maybe make your party Halfling Tiny for some reason? Reinforce Armaments: (UC) This is like Jury-rig in that it doesnt seem to be generally useful because of the shorter duration than just casting make-whole. Recharge Innate Magic: (ARG: Gnome) Gets your Speak With Animals back if you need it. Since thats not on your spell list normally, that makes this spell somewhat useful. Id pay more attention to it if your DM lets you take it when youre not a Gnome and if you have something that youd be likely to cast more than once a day. Snapdragon Fireworks: (UM) 1d4 damage + dazzle is garbage at early levels. You can do this as a move action after the cast though, and being a first level spell that deals damage and targets reflex makes this an awesome choice for Metamagic effects. This spell only gets better as you level up. Cibulon on the Paizo Forums recommends Snapdragon Fireworks + Dazing Spell + Heighten Spell. Quoting him: For example, at level 11 (my current level in the game I play in), I can prepare this as a 6th level spell. For 11 rounds I can lob a firework with a maxed out save DC. If they fail (which they almost always do since you're targeting Ref), they're dazed for 6 rounds (thanks to heighten spell). After your first round, you can use your standard for a new spell, your move for a firework, and your swift to move (teleportation school) Stone Fist: (APG) See Icicle Dagger and Shadow Weapon.

Strong Wings: (ARG: Strix) Short duration bonus to movement speed for your fly as a strix. Your fly speed is already 60, probably dont need the boost at low levels. A little faster than the fly spell at higher levels though. Touch of Gracelessness: (APG) There needs to be a higher level AOE version of this, because this makes me laugh. The wording suggests the dex penalty goes away after the duration is up, and its a single target touch spell. Kind of a shame because this could have been more. Touch of the Sea: (APG) Like Air Bubble, the duration kind of hurts the utility here, even in an aquatic campaign. Circumstantially useful though. Unerring Weapon: (UC) Cast this on your TWF buddy who specialized in Critical Hits. Otherwise dont get it at all. Urban Grace: (ARG: Half-Elf) For you this is a very short duration longstrider. The ability to seamlessly move through crowds does give it its circumstance in Urban Campaigns. This spell seems like it was added just to attract Rogues with the Major Magic talent. Vocal Alteration: (UM) A worse version of Disguise Self. Weaken Powder: (UC) Wait... Isnt this just a worse version of Damp Powder? What the... Windy Escape: (ARG: Sylph) Immediate action makes it worth it for when your 1st level spells dont matter. Magic weapons thwart it pretty easily though. Youthful Appearance: (UM) Flavor with no nourishment.

2nd-Level Wizard Spells

Abjuration
Arcane Lock: Increase the DC of any lock by 10 permanently (Until dispelled.) Unique if nothing else. The 25gp cost is just part of building your keep I guess. Keep it in mind if youre safeguarding something. Book Ward: (SoS) 1 day a level makes this worth casting and forgetting, but it isnt terribly necessary, unless your DM is a jerk. Bullet Shield: (UC) Gives you up to +8 against ranged attacks, and lasts a lot longer than the Shield spell. Not too shabby. If your campaign uses guns, this is one of the only ways to protect against them. Wont stack with Ring of Protection, but +8 is higher than a ring can go. Death From Below: (ARG: Gnome) Wow... this is total garbage. Its 1 round per level and most likely will grant a +1 to +3 bonus to AC. At level 2 I would expect the spell to be at least a little better than the 1st level Shield spell. Especially since its a circumstantial bonus. Endure Elements, Communal: (UC) As Treantmonk says, Circumstantial at best, but now you can share it amongst your friends. Escaping Ward: (ARG: Halfling) Get a free movement every time you dodge an attack by a creature larger than you (Which if youre a halfling is a good number of creatures.) Not really worth the standard action like the similar spells of this and the previous levels, thanks to the duration. Protection from Good/Evil/Chaos/Law Communal: (UC) Nice because you can protect all of your friends from the respective alignment. Not so nice because you have to touch all of them when you cast it, and you divide up the duration. If you have time to prepare right before a fight against an evil outsider, this isnt bad. Miserable Pity: (UM) Wizards sanctuary as a level 2 spell with more drawbacks. Yuck. Obscure Object: Basically a campaign specific spell in case you have to hide the Macguffin Muffin from the evil breakfast monsters. If you have no such delicious pastry, then skip this. Protection from Arrows: This is powerful., if you know youre going to be going against arrows. Especially powerful if youre using guns in your campaign, because it says ranged weapons. Drops off in usefulness as soon as magic weapons become more common from your challenges. Resist Energy: Fantastic buff against energy attacks and only gets better as you level up. The problem with resist energy items is that there are 5 energy types, meaning its only effective 20% of the time. This you just make your knowledge check and choose the right buff before the fight you need it. Warding Weapon: (UC) Better than 1st level options for avoiding attacks of opportunity while casting in that it doesnt allow a save, but worse because of the duration. Not really worth wasting the standard action I think.

Conjuration

Acid Arrow: Pierces spell resistance which makes it a good candidate for metamagic later on, especially with the turn after turn effect of something like Dazing spell (though itd target will and not Reflex.) Before metamagic, not that great. Piercing spell resistance isnt a big deal early on and the damage is boring. Arrow Eruption: (APG) Weird spell that basically lets you reuse a piece of magic ammunition. Not really good for you. Says you cant reuse arcane archer imbued arrows either, so not even good for that. Create Pit: (APG) I love this spell. Even though it says its a 10x10 pit, its basically a 20x20 area that it affects since surrounding creatures might fall from the pits slopes (This also restricts your friends from standing on the edge of the pit and dropping things on its contents.) It also doesnt require Anchors like Web. Worthless against flying creatures and not as good against creatures with a climb speed. Also the duration isnt as good as Web. Ive always wanted to put a wall of stone on top of the pit and then dismiss the spell. Overall a great battlefield control. ZomB points out something interesting about this: While in a pit you cant access your Handy Haversack because Create Pit and its subsequent spells are dimensional spaces, in the which you cant access other dimensional spaces. This probably wont ever come up, but if it does, make sure you give a big hut tut tut! to your DM. Cushioning Bands: (UM) The duration and DR/2 against bludgeoning attacks make this worth casting on your meat shield once it lasts an entire day. I recommend a Wand if you have the Staff-like Wand feat. Dust of Twilight: (APG) Sort of a lesser Glitterdust. Fatigue is fine for enemies that will charge you, but those enemies will probably succeed on the fortitude save. Lowering light sources in a 10 radius is also circumstantially good, but its a circumstance you have a little more control over. Fiery Shuriken: (UC) Kind of a weird and worse version of Scorching Ray. Fog Cloud: Obscuring mist at a range. A good upgrade making it a lot more usable. Glitterdust: Blind is amazing, but besides that it has the utility of shutting down stealthers and invisibility users, and there are a decent number of those throughout various campaigns and in the monster manual. Mount, Communal: (UC) Its mount, but you can summon up to 6 meatshields in combat. Wall of Horseflesh I say. Solid. Reloading Hands: (UC) Youll want this if youre a spellslinger. I dont recommend you be a spellslinger though. Guns in general arent too bad for Wizards to wield though if you pick up the feats. Returning Weapon: (UC) Could be good if you have someone in your party whos built a Treantmonk Ranged Monk. There are some good Ninja Shuriken Builds too and if hes got some nice enchanted Shurikens, hell love you for casting this. Retrieve Item: (CTR) Very flavorful, but if you interpret that snapping your fingers and saying a word to be anything but a swift action or a free action, its kind of empty flavor. Also, it says permanent until discharged, but it

doesnt actually say what circumstance in which its discharged, except when its in the possession of another creature. This is also an interpretation that determines how good this really is. If all the stars are aligned this is probably green, especially if its a free action to grab things. If the interpretations are completely unfavorable, its probably red. Slipstream: (APG) A level 2 longstrider for wizards that works better when youre going downhill and has a shorter duration. You can cast Mount instead for land, and other spells for water. This does have the advantage that it stacks with all these options though. Stone Call: (APG) Battlefield control that covers a 40 area and is a great pick for a level 5 dazing spell (Though itd target Will.) Not bad by itself. This is especially good at low levels since the damage has no saving throw. Thats a huge area to be casting this at level 3 and dealing that much damage. Summon Monster II: For the level, Summon Monster II has some great options that will certainly tide you over until Summon Monster III. Grappling is your best option here. The Hyenas trip is a few steps below what your fighter or even you with Toppling spell could do, though it is part of his attack. Summon Swarm: A bit of a loose cannon, but good for early levels when you have fewer things to do with your actions because the duration is concentration. 1d6 damage a round with no to-hit is solid or at least better than nothing. Bats for bleed, Spiders for Poison, and I probably wouldnt bother with the rats, unless you want the enemy to be able to hit them with their weapon attacks (Which could be a good thing since it draws attacks from you.) Web: If you have anchoring points, this is at least as good as create pit for battlefield control. The entire area is potentially disabling and instead of targeting climb checks they make escape artist or combat maneuver checks instead. Create pit is a bit more hard as Battlefield Control though, giving it the edge in the competition for a spell slot. This can capture fliers though as it doesnt say you cant use it in vertical space, its got a longer duration, provides cover, and its easier to attack creatures that are grappled. *Muses about the idea of putting a Web IN a created pit.* Web Shelter: (UM) Rope trick is better for what I think this spell is supposed to do. The minute casting time makes it so its not much good for anything else.

Divination
Blood Transcription: (UM) Youll probably never memorize this, but I love the flavor. Sure its evil, but you need your spells, yeah? Create Treasure Map: (APG) Wow, this level for Divination is pretty macabre. Love the flavor, and its totally worth it if you KNOW the corpse has a stash somewhere but you dont know where. Just dont forget that this costs 100gp to cast, so make sure you KNOW hes got a stash worth more than that. Commune with Birds: (ARG:Tengu) Long range speak with animals for a single question. Actually pretty useful if you want to gather information for a mile. Detect Thoughts: Not foolproof effective, but works as a decent interrogation spell.

Elemental Speech: (APG) Maybe necessary if your DM is a real stickler about communicating with summoned elementals. Personally Id just not summon them in that case. Its more versatile than feral speech since you can talk to a lot of similar creatures but including creatures with elemental subtypes. Probably not worth a second level spell. Locate Object: Often referred to as find my keys since you have to know the object before you can find it. The short range further limits its use. Share Language: (APG) This accomplishes basically the same thing as Tongues when conversing with one creature, but its a level earlier. Yay for a cheaper scroll! This is also good for giving your party face one of the plethora of languages you probably know so he can be the party face instead of you. Share Memory: (UM) Cool flavor. I think you can accomplish similar things by narrating a Silent Image though. Or just by telling them about the memory. See Invisibility: More like See Glitterdust. The obvious advantage this has over Glitterdust is that you can spot creatures that are already invisible, and it has a long duration. The disadvantage being that your friends dont get to enjoy the benefits in the same way. Combining the two could be effective, but then youve used two spell slots. Glitterdust having other uses makes this spell inferior and redundant (But still useful.) Spell Gauge: (FoB) Seems like it might be a good idea for a counterspeller, but then you have to prepare your spells too, so this is kind of a useless standard action. Track Ship: (PoIS) This is cool, but only really useful in aquatic campaigns.

Enchantment
Bestow Weapon Proficiency: (UC) Just about everyone who can cast can cast this, and it doesnt benefit you that much, so I wouldnt bother with this. Bestow Insight: (ARG: Human) You dont have too many ways to directly affect skills like this, and the bonus is nice even if the duration is short. Makes a good scroll or fast study for when you need it. Compassionate Ally: (UM) Good flavor, but something like Hideous Laughter is better. Daze Monster: Garbage to the level of insulting. Especially when its in the same level as Hideous Laughter. Delay Pain: (UM) Since taking HP damage doesnt hurt until you hit Zero, this spell seems pretty useless since mechanically its only there to counter a couple of spells. Hideous Laughter: Unlike divine casters, you dont get Hold Person this level. Instead you get this. Its not as good as paralysis, but its certainly entertaining. Its neat that it also knocks them prone too. Generally better than other single-target-will-save-mind-affecting lock out spells because it sounds like you only get two saves to avoid the full duration and youre done, which is a one-up on Hold Person which allows a save every turn to end the effect. The lack of a secondary effect puts this in save or lose territory, and you may end up just wasting your turn and your spell slot.

Opressive Boredom: (UM) Better than Daze monster in that it doesnt have an HD limit, but worse than Hideous Laughter in that it doesnt make them prone. Potentially has more coverage than Hideous Laughter since its not language dependent. Qualm: (UC) A massive -10 penalty to a lot of things that probably arent that useful in combat, and they can get rid of the effect in a single turn. Ricochet Shot: (UC) This looks like a decent spell to cast on your archer buddy if youre fighting more than one monster. Its basically cleave for ranged attacks, except that you cant add anything to your projectile except the base damage. Thats where it falls off and becomes red. It can affect a couple of shots beyond a single one, but youre almost better off just casting Scorching Ray or some other blast spell rather than this. Seducers Eyes: (FoB) The first thing I think of when it comes to spells that increase Charisma checks is Planar Binding. With that in mind reading this spell, I think I need to go brush my teeth and wash my face or something. Since you likely dumped Charisma, this probably isnt going to be terribly useful to you. If you have a mini humanoid Familiar however, you might get some creepy usage out of this. I vote Brownie. Tactical Acumen: (UC) This spell excites me. I love how it affects everyone in the radius, and I love how it encourages taking the most advantage of your battlefield control. Its only moderately powerful though. This is a great spell to combine with Bedevilng Aura (From the Phantasm Illusionist Subschool.) Touch of Idiocy: Lower three ability scores with a decent duration. Stacks with itself and no saving throw. Cool. Touch range. Ew. Might be worth it though, especially with Reach Spell. Unnatural Lust: (UM) Not sure why youd NEED to make a character kiss or caress another character. It makes them lose their actions, and is potentially superior to Daze Monster since it makes them move, but generally its inferior to other options. I will be tucking this one away to keep in mind for when Im DMing though.

Evocation
Admonishing Ray: (TEoG) Basically scorching ray with Merciful Metamagic. Saves you a feat I guess. Burning Gaze: (APG) Dont read this as Just another crappy blast spell. Read it as Make your Familiar a team player. For you, a several round spell that lets you use your standard action to do crappy fire damage is a bad deal. Since the range is self though your familiar can take over and deal damage for you. Not too bad. After level 7 you can get an improved familiar that will probably have better things to do, but its still a solid option for an otherwise non-combat companion. Possibly broken once you can make your familiar Daze everything it sees on top of the other ways you have to do that. Burning Arc: (HoG) A chain spell that targets reflex and is an excellent candidate for metamagic later on. Continual Flame: Basically a more than half-priced everburning torch. Costing 50 gp a cast for something you can do at will as a cantrip though... not sure if its worth it.

Darkness: This can be good, particularly with a few metamagic feats specifically designed for it. The advantage of this over other options is that if you have darkvision and they dont theyre out of luck and you have an advantage. Generally speaking though a web or fog is more effective. Defensive Shock: (UM) Its a little ambiguous if this requires the enemy to hit you. If they dont its a decent passive ability. You shouldnt be standing where things are going to hit you a ton though. The duration makes this decent, but probably not really worth the standard action. Now you could make it a Dazing Defensive shock (targeting will), and that would actually be a better spell (though not much better.) Flaming Sphere: Damage with a dash of battlefield control. One of the earliest things you can do with your move action (Others being things like Animate Rope and Snapdragon Fireworks.) Gust of Wind: Most useful as an anti-fog, but if youre going against smaller creatures its pretty good. Elemental Touch: (APG) Touch damage that has some sweet side effects. Great for a Magus, but Im not even sure Id have my familiar go in to use this. Cold and Electricity are pretty good though. Fire Breath: (APG) Not very good by itself, but you can do the targets-reflexdazing effect 3 times as a level 5 spell with a single cast, which could make it worth picking up at higher levels (pretend its a 5th level spell.) Fire Sneeze: (Gob) This spell has to be compared to Burning Gaze. It lasts half as long, but deals double the damage and always deals damage regardless of save. Has a minor chance to knock prone, but its a double threat either way. Sounds better so far. The only part where it falls short is the range, which requires potentially precarious positioning. Your familiar (youre casting this on your familiar btw) isnt going to be able to do anything else while its in effect, but what else is he doing most of the time anyway? Especially at level 3? Maybe not hands down better than Burning Gaze, but a pretty potent pick anyway. Frigid Touch: (UM) Even better than Elemental Touch for the Magus Still not the greatest for you, especially since you cant boost your critical hit chance like the Magus can. Frost Fall: (UC) I was hoping for a good low level spell to use with Rime Spell with this one, and its not bad, just not as good as say, the third level Spiked Pit spell. By itself the spell creates a very small battlefield control area that lasts a couple of rounds and initially can cause the staggered condition for one round. Thats not terribly good but not completely worthless. As a Rime Spell you could argue that anything walking into the spell could get entangled for 2 rounds though. Not bad, but not as good as other 3rd level control spells. Imbue with Elemental Might: (ARG:Suli) Second level spell for a one shot +1d6 energy damage to one attack. Not very good unless you happen to burn your item bond spell right before you go to bed to take advantage of the long duration. Pilfering Hand: (UC) This has the same problem that all the other replace combat manuever spells have -it just drops off so hard in usefulness. The ranged Sleight of Hand or Disable Device would be good for an arcane

trickster... but they get this spell anyway. Protective Penumbra: (UM) Totally circumstantial and campaign specific, unless you make a habit of befriending vampires and taking them on walks in the park. Scorching Ray: Pure blast, but decent damage for the level. No save is also nice. Shatter: Kind of like break of the previous level, but it has a level limitation on what kind of item you can break and it targets will instead. Will is a saving throw that a big stupid fighter is less likely to succeed, but you wont be able to use this on magic items either (Which discounts the Wizards Arcane Bond if hes enchanted it.) Spontaneous Immolation: (UC) Ridiculously bad blast spell. Steal Breath: (ARG:Catfolk) Basically a single target Silence spell that deals minor damage. Not really a fan, but could be cool if you could pull it off on a Dragon or something.

Illusion
Blur: Concealment, or a 20% miss chance, isnt terribly good. However, at higher levels when AC is more expensive, its better than spending money on AC. Doesnt have the drawbacks that Blink has. Disguise Other: (UM) Is it worth an extra spell level to cast this on other people? Ghostly Disguise: (UM) Delicious flavor that can be duplicated as a first level spell Silent Image and the concentration duration shouldnt really hurt you in most of the situations I can think of this being useful. Haunting Mists: (UM) A slightly better Obscuring Mist that can lower enemys wisdom and cause them to have the shaken condition. Normally this is a +2 metamagic, so I think its a solid upgrade. Except it is completely fouled by its ranged locked as 20, and that its always dangerously close to you. Hypnotic Pattern: Not a huge step-up from Hypnosis - basically this only lets you affect more kinds of creatures. Fascination isnt a bad effect though since as long as you leave them alone they dont get any extra saving throws. Like all HD limit spells, useless later on. Invisibility: Invisibility is a great defensive state to be in. Read as written there are a lot of things you can still do that wont break the invisibility. Dropping Battlefield Control outside of the range of an enemy, Summoning, casting illusions, are all game. 1 minute per level duration is also very very nice. A+ spell. Get a ring and marry this spell. (Seriously, get a ring.) Jitterbugs: (ARG: Gnome) Bah... Why cant this be more than one creature? Basically this is Target Will to lower the targets reflex. Unprepared combatant did basically the same thing last level. It does more than just lower reflex though. It restricts ready actions and fly checks, which potentially has some use when combining with other spells. Still not a fan with this being single target.

Mad Hallucination: (UM) If you can bypass a single targets will with this spell, you can make it easier to lay on other spells that target will. Why not just cast the spell youre weakening them for? The odds are the same. However if your saves are better than your party members who also have will targeting spells, this might be worth casting in a rare circumstance. Magic Mouth: This right here is the pinnacle of arcane power, what you spent YEARS of studying to accomplish! Creating... mouths... that talk for you... and give out information to people that have the password... What the heck? All joking aside, Im sure theres some creative use for this spell, and many of the ones Im thinking of right now could be accomplished by other spells including first level ones. Minor Image: Includes a couple of nice upgrades from Silent Image including not having to enhance it with Ghost Sound and an additional two rounds of duration after concentration stops. Maybe not worth the second level slot, but its a powerful enough line of spells that you might consider it if you have some second level slots open. Mirror Image: Otherwise known as saves your life. No joke. This is better than any armor you could ever don, and has a decent duration to boot. If you know youre going to be targeted by attacks, cast this, and you wont regret it. Misdirection: In case you want the breakfast monsters to think the Macguffin Muffin is in Pancake Land instead of Raw Egg Man-Shake land. Best if combined with Obscure Object. Phantom Trap: Id much rather have an actual trap, especially if Im going to be spending money on it. You can waste peoples time with Caltrops too, and those are 1/10th the cost of this. Shadow Anchor: (ARG: Wayang) I like the flavor of this spell, but its a single target will save spell at the very level that you get like four of these. If you really just need to lock a person into a certain place, this is fine. I just think its super redundant already. Symbol of Mirroring: (UM) This one is a little confusing, but if Im reading it right, the rune is triggered and everyone in the area has a double. If you have Arcane Sight or True Seeing and your opponents do not, I could see this giving you an advantage. If not then it seems like itd just be a big charlie foxtrot. Im not sure what that Will Partial thing means in the spell description. Casting time and cost at the level you get this are also restrictive.

Necromancy
Blindness/Deafness: Targets fortitude instead of Will, but besides that Glitterdust is just a better option. Deafness does give casters a 20% fail chance, and they tend to have lower fortitudes, so it does have some use. Brow Gasher: (UC) It probably takes too long for the best effects to take place, but there doesnt seem to be any saving throw involved, and could equate to quite a bit of extra damage. A lot of things are immune to bleed effects, limiting the use of this spell. I dont remember seeing too many creatures versed in the heal skill though so them stopping the bleeding is about 3040% chance of success if they spend a standard action to try. Its also a touch spell that lasts rounds per level, but if your near your BSF at the beginning of combat that shouldnt be a problem.

Command Undead: Charm person for undead, but with a MUCH longer duration. That and non-intelligent undead are your free unintelligent thrall. Defending Bone: (GaM) For a second level spell, this is very good. Bludgeoning is relatively common, but the hour per level duration totally makes it worth it. Not necessarily must have, but solid. Defoliate: (StLC) This is a very oddly specific spell in its usability. Consider this a better rating if youre in the jungle and concealment by plants is a major issue. False Life: Maybe not worth a slot when 2nd level is your highest level, but later on its not a bad pick for a little extra buffer on your HP. Might want to pop it on your Familiar instead, depending on what youre using your Familiar for. Ghoul Touch: Oh hey look, its like Hold Person... Except not Will, and instead Fortitude... And touch range... Yeah. Actually, I kind of like this, and I especially like the extra sickened effect once they go down, its a nice touch. And its not Mind-Affecting... Still save-or-die and still something too precarious to use, but might consider having your familiar or spectral hand deliver this at some point. Limp Lash: (Gob) This is reminiscent of Strangling Hair, but a level earlier, and it grapples only after it drains its target. The fact that it drains all three physical stats at once though gives this a good chance of succeeding at a paralyses though because many creatures is going to be weak in at least one of those areas. This says nothing about you not being able to do anything after you strike your foe either, so if your DM thinks you can, then this a definitely great pick. Otherwise youre basically locking out both you and your opponent. Of course, since there is not saving throw involved with this spell, your familiar will be able to make good work of it on a wand. Pernicious Poison: (UM) No saving throw which makes this potentially a good pick... except that its a touch attack. You also dont have too many ways to benefit from this for yourself, but consider it in the right party. Scare: A step up from Fear, but one creature per THREE levels? Thats just insulting. Its not even useful after level 6! Sentry Skull: (ARG:Orc) Get a minor benefit for 10gp, but it is a permanent duration. Not an awful way to set up a permanent ward.

Skinsend: (UM) What the crap. This spell is freaking weird. Steal Voice: (UM) Cool that it targets Fortitude which is great against casters. Caster Croak Spellblight is also pretty vicious in reducing the enemys effectiveness. A cool one to keep around for when you know youre going to be facing a caster. Spectral Hand: Heres a good idea. Cast and use touch attacks from a range, without having to raise its level. Its just that it takes a standard action to cast and the duration isnt long enough to cast and forget. That and the unignorable problem that most touch attacks are still not necessarily worth casting two spells to be able to use. Still, works as advertised, and is normally a +2 metamagic.

Unshakable Chill: (UM) Inflicts severe cold which isnt that great for genocidal PCs.

Transmutation
Aboleths Lung: (ARG:Gillman) Good long duration spell for aquatic campaigns. Accelerate Poison: (APG) I might consider this if it didnt have a saving throw. It does make some poisons better for combat situations though. Adoration: (UC) Receive a very minor bonus on Diplomacy or Performance Combat. I cant think of any other morale bonuses on Diplomacy off the top of my head, so its not completely useless. Animal Aspect: (UC) This has some versatility in its movement modes, but other spells, even first level spells like Expeditious Retreat, are more potent and better casts. Ant Haul, Communal: (UC) Share around that Ant Haul spell increasing your carrying capacity exponentially as you spread it across your party. This will let you take home loot like Pianos and Furniture that you not have considered before. Alter Self: Upgrade to disguise self. Not too bad. Its one way to get Darkvision and Scent. I hate the duration, but I hate the duration on most of these polymorph spells. Badgers Ferocity: (UM) You give up your actions so your buddies can have double crit ranges. Your actions are more valuable than that. Boiling Blood: (UM) A very bad deal all around. Unless you have an army of orcs. But if youre at the point where you have an army of orcs, you probably still dont need this. Bears Endurance: Besides the Fortitude bonus, False Life is better. Can use it to beef up your BSF though, unlike False Life. Also pretty easily replaced with magic items. Id consider using this on your summons for a DC boost to some of the DCs, but the Augment Summoning feat is also an enhancement bonus and wont stack. Bouyancy: (PoIS) Appropriately campaign specific that could work as crowd control if youre underwater Blood Blaze: (ARG:Orc) Interesting effect, but too uncontrollable to consider. Even if that wasnt the case, the damage is too minor for a standard action and such a short duration. Bulls Strength: Early on your BSF will love you for this. Later on hell have a belt that replaces it. Certain Grip: (UC) A +4 to CMDs against some popular Combat Maneuvers is solid, and a good duration too. The skill bonuses are a nice icing on the cake. Not a worthless cast if you know whats coming. Cats Grace: Dex has a lot of value, but is it standard action valuable? Depends on the situation. Still an unstackable enhancement bonus.

Darkvision: Hour per level makes this worth considering, especially if youre using Darkness antics. Can use it on your BSF too so he doesnt have to hurt from your darkness spell. Codespeak: (SD) Speak secretly with your companions, and write gibberish that can only be understood while under the influence of your spell. This must be the magic behind many of the Beatles songs. As far as how youd use it in game, the only thing I can think of could be accomplished by excusing yourself, or by casting Magic Rope and inviting your party up, or something like that. If youre constantly being scryed upon, I could see it, but I think for the most part you can safely skip this one. (Seriously, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds huh?) Destabilize Powder: (UC) Im not sure the odds are good enough here to make it better than Damp Powder, which is a first level spell. Disfiguring Touch: (UM) Part 2 of How to be a jerk to NPCs. There are some slight debuffs involved here, but nothing combat worthy enough to justify the touch reach and second level spell slot. Eagles Splendor: Since youre probably not going to be buying a Charisma Headband any time soon, might want to keep this around for Planar Binding or other times when Charisma is useful. Foxs Cunning: A good way to raise your DCs early on. Later on youll have replaced it with your own permanent INT headband. Glide: (APG) A personal feather fall that lets you control the direction you fall a little better. Not as good as Feather Fall and too circumstantial. Greensight: (RG) The less violent version of Defoliate. Except this only benefits one creature, so Id almost say just destroy the plants. This can see through solid wood which I dont think Defoliate can do though. Hidden Knowledge: (SD) Very interesting flavor, but I dont see it being all that useful. You can also completely lose the knowledge, and thats just not cool. I could see it if youre going to pass through somewhere where creatures have ESP, and you dont want them to know that youre there to kill them... and if thats the case then find this spell and use it. Kinetic Reverberation: (UC) Just cast break. Touch range, doesnt straight up break, has the same fortitude save. Inferior. Knock: If you dont have a skill expert, you might find some use for this. Levitate: A mode of utility transportation with some glorious defensive implications, especially early on. If they cant reach you they cant hit you. Magic Siege Engine: (UC) Well thats just not fair! The Siege Mage gets to add double his sacrificed spell to the Siege weapons damage, but this only adds a measly +1! Depends on the campaign/I still wouldnt cast it. Make Whole: Cures your constructs, which youll probably want if you have a construct (unless theyre cured by something like Electricity, then last levels Shocking Grasp is better.) Also, if your BSF has a habit of sundering magic items, this can help you piece them back together (Though if you want the magic item, youre probably not going to be high enough level to be able to

restore the magic.) Masterwork Transformation: (UM) Saves you the time of finding a masterwork smith to get weapons and armor to use for your enchanting. Its usefulness waxes and wanes depending on the campaign youre playing in though. Owls Wisdom: Might be good if you need just a little boost to your Will save. Your Cleric would like this of course, but then he can just cast it on himself (and not have to pay to have it in his spellbook to boot.) Pyrotechnics: The reason why you gave your familiar Alchemist Fires. You get the choice of two very powerful effects. The blind is redundant with Glitterdust, but doesnt allow a will save every turn and affects 120 feet. The Smoke Cloud is redundant with Fog Cloud, but it obscures ALL vision and has a debuff with a decent duration even after they leave the cloud. Recoil Fire: (UC) Id like this more if the fired shot hit something. As it is though its a good low saving throw way to help your rogue out. Being a one-shot deal though you might as well cast invisibility on him instead so hes defended in the meantime. Reinforce Armaments, Communal: (UC) Making this communal doesnt make it any better. Rope Trick: Your night time safety spot... at least once you get third level spells and can extend the spell long enough to last all night. Says the rope cant be hidden, but that doesnt mean it cant be hidden. Ahem, what I mean is that if you find a nook in a dungeon that something isnt likely to look in you can still be relatively safe throughout the night. Sculpt Simulacrum: (UM) A really weird companion to a 7th level spell. Not sure its good for anything. I suppose its cheaper than making a new Simulacrum if you want to change its appearance though. Silk to Steel: (UM) I doubt youll be using the Whip with any success, so I see this as a +2 to your AC... as a level 2 spell that lasts 1 round per level. Spider Climb: A bit redundant with Levitate and to some degree even rope trick, but the duration is long and sometimes you just need to climb across a ceiling. Squeeze: (ARG: Vishkanyas) Using that word Circumstantial again. I wonder how many times Ive used that word writing this guide. Stabilize Powder: (UC) Like its brother spell, Im not sure this is worth a level 2 slot. Staggering Fall: (RG) Add injury to insult with your Grease spell, or add some damage to your party trip monkey. The immediate action makes this worth considering, but the will save every round for the stagger effect makes you wonder if its worth a slot. Telekenetic Assembly: (UC) Ill admit it right now. Im not familiar enough with the Siege Engine rules to really know if this is worth anything. I dont feel like I have a need to find out at this moment either, so Im just going to rate this with a gut feeling about how useful it might be for now.

Thunder Fire: (UC) This is cool. I just wish that Deafened was a better condition. It has overall pretty good odds for the guy holding the gun, even if this spell is a bit circumstantial (and campaign specific.) Twisted Space: (UC) Sort of a weird lesser confusion. Between the Will Save and the randomness of the effect, Id say this is a poor choice. Whispering Wind: Your medieval cell phone service. Campaign specific, but something that I could see needing here and there before you get other communication abilities. The fact that it isnt two-way though makes me wonder if its worth the spell level or the cost of scribing.

3rd-Level Wizard Spells

Abjuration
Ablative Sphere: (HoG) This is pretty sweet, kind of like a self wall spell, and it even includes a note that confirms you can cast spells from behind it. It grants you +4 to AC through its cover and its stackable with normal cover pretty darn nice. It has a 10gp casting cost, but for the protection it provides its almost better than Stoneskin or other options. Fine option for False Focus if you happened to pick up that feat. Cloak of Winds: (APG) This is a really fancy swarm protection spell. Circumstantially useful if youre fighting smaller creatures that clamor around you (or your target), and it also stacks with other ranged protection spells. Might be good to part a fog spell or two as well, though the spell doesnt offer any specific mention of that use. I think overall it might be a slight bit too weak for a level 3 spell. Dispel Magic: Dont underestimate this. Removing someones buff, suppressing a magical item, or removing a debuff on your ally could change the tide of combat dramatically. Explosive Runes: Ah, pillowcase nuke fun. Oh right, legitimate uses. Force damage is cool, but its not going to kill everything. I do like that its permanent, which means you can put it on things you want to trap and then take a nap and its like you never lost the spell slot. Magic Circle Against Good/Evil/Law/Chaos: Necessary for Planar Binding, but also good for that mind-affecting immunity discussed with Protection from Evil. With communal Protection from Evil now its not as good for that use, but its there. Nondetection: When Obscure Object isnt enough to protect the precious Macguffin Muffin. Protection from Arrows, Communal: (UC) Kind of nice that you can cast it on your whole party with one casting (And the duration is still solid.) Planning ahead this spell could be useful once or twice before magic weapons take precedence in your proper challenge rating. Protection from Energy: Not really as good as Resist Energy in general (For the spell level and for the effect), but if you interpret the overlaps as resist energy works first, and then you subtract from protection from energy this could still be worth casting for near invulnerability to that energy type. Resist Energy, Communal: (UC) Also saves you a lot of second level spell castings if youre prepping up to fight something that exclusively uses a specific energy type.

Conjuration
Ablative Barrier: (UC) Instead of giving you straight up damage reduction, you take non-lethal damage instead. Since in combat non-lethal damage means about the same thing - youre going to fall down and not be able to participate - Id say that this a really weak mage armor in the end.

Aqueous Orb: (APG) This spell makes me laugh. The most potent part of this spell is that it gives you something to do with your Move action (You know, besides move) and it can potentially move creatures up to 30 every round as long as theyre failing their reflex. Compare this to Force Punch a little lower on this list thats a one shot deal and isnt quite as versatile in its movement. The entanglement factor means that they can just move out on their turn, but you can turn it around and pick them up on your turn. Id personally look for a cliff to run them off of. Ash Storm: (UM) This is extremely reminiscent of Sleet Storm, except Sleet Storm is definitely better. Difficult Terrain is slightly different from Sleet Storms description in that it explicitly states you cant charge through it, but moving at speed will ruin a charge anyway, and if they dont make the acrobatics check theyre stuck. Not a bad spell, but theres a better spell right next to it. Gloomblind Bolts: (ARG: Fetchling) With all the AOE spells this level, this is a little bit lackluster. It is a way of inflicting Blindness targeting reflex however, and it deals a good amount of damage for a ranged touch attack. Basically a minor upgrade of Scorching Ray from last level. If you are doing the undead thing or have some Dhampir friends, this is also one way the Wizard has to heal your minions. Mad Monkeys: (UM) Even compared to what you can summon with Summon Monster III, this is a great spell. They take up a 10 square dealing 2d6 damage per round for multiple rounds. At that point the nauseating effect and combat maneuvers are delicious gravy. Pellet Blast: (UC) A cone blast spell that is subject to damage reduction. Sounds bad, but heres some cheese to go with it. With this spell you can affect Constructs. With Dazing Spell you can affect constructs targeting a Reflex Save, so theyre not immune to it, at least Daze isnt on the list of the constructs immunities. If your DM doesnt rule against this, this could have some circumstantial, but hilarious benefits. Regardless of what your DM says though, this spell does bypass SR, which actually makes it worth considering for metamagic later on over other 3rd level blast options. Phantom Driver: (UC) In most campaigns this is too circumstantial to consider. It does completely eliminate the need for someone in your party who has the skills to drive. Phantom Steed: Yes please. A super nice mount that only gets better as you level up. Extremely good utility. Rain of Frogs: (UM) Not quite as good as Mad Monkeys, but they are immune to weapon damage, though Id almost rather enemies attack the summon. Very solid, and you can slightly increase the DC on the Poison effect with Augment Summoning. Returning Weapon, Communal: (UC) While returning weapon is circumstantially good, I doubt youre going to have a party of characters that can benefit from this. Sepia Snake Sigil: A super expensive trap that you have to read to trigger and offers a reflex save to negate. I stopped at expensive.

Sleet Storm: Obscures all line of sight, creates terrain that they have to make an acrobatics check just to move through it, and can even knock creatures prone. Did I mention the 40 radius. Awesome battlefield control. Stinking Cloud: Im not sure I like this as much as Sleet Storm for a few reasons, but Nauseated is a very bad condition to contract, and its got a large Area for applying the effect meaning youre going to gross out at least a few of the baddies in the cloud if there are many of them. Spiked Pit: (APG) A great improvement on an already awesome spell. While its easier to climb out of a spiked pit, its deeper, and they take damage climbing out. Fantastic battlefield control that can lock out several creatures and give you something to drop your Aqueous Orb into. The only problem this spell has is that its not a huge upgrade to Create Pit and it has to compete with other level 3 conjuration spells. (And Transmutation, and Evocation.) Summon Monster III: Summon Monster III has some fairly powerful options for damage and grappling especially, and it is diverse enough to make it a very versatile memorization.

Divination
Arcane Sight: Makes your eyes glow blue? Sold! Okay, Ill rate the actual spell... This is one I wouldnt mind making permanent, but Im not quite sure its worth casting at 1 minute per level. It basically combines all the Detect Magic-like spells up till now. Kind of nice, but as I said the duration turns me off. Im sure you can find some kind of use for it though. Blood Biography: (APG) Reminiscent of Speak With Dead, but you need a lot less than a full corpse to get answers, and the kind of answers you can get are extremely limited. When a mystery is afoot though they are the kind of questions youd probably be asking anyway. Its kind of nice that you can use this on living creatures as well. It also almost explicitly says you can use it on animals or other creatures that bleed. Clairaudience/Clairvoyance: Great for eavesdropping or setting up a trap, but the first level alarm spell gives you what you need to know for the second one a lot of the time. So basically this is for dropping eaves. Real shame you have to actually know the area. I sure wish you could like, pop your eyeball out and send it off to scout or something. Shut up familiar! Im rating spells here! Harrowing: (ISWG) Im not going to learn the rules of the Harrow Deck just to rate a couple of spells and a prestige class. Locate Weakness: (UC) One of your buddies would love having this spell cast on him. Too bad the range is personal. A Magus would get some benefit from this, especially as his spell damage is multiplied on a crit too. Its not for you though. Seek Thoughts: (APG) A more focused detect thoughts spell. Good for specific information gathering, and you can do it discretely, giving it a slight advantage over using Detect Thoughts to perform a similar task. Share Language, Communal: (UC) Again, put your superior intellect into good use by sharing your knowledge of foreign languages with people who are better off using them than you. This way you can get the whole party involved without having to play translator the whole time. In many situations this is better than Tongues (Assuming you already know the language.)

Spherescry: (CTR) If Im reading this right, you can scry a little earlier by taking off chunks of your body and placing orbs in places. Huh. I could see this being useful enough to rate it orange. At least I would be saying that if it werent for the hour casting time for a minute per level duration. Tongues: The existence of this spell can save you a bunch of skill points trying to become a master linguist. Just memorize this. Unravel Destiny: (APG) I dont play in campaigns that use Hero Points, and I think Id have to be a little more familiar with how much theyre passed around to make a good evaluation for this spell.

Enchantment
Deep Slumber: An anonymous commenter did point out that unconscious targets are considered willing, which allows you to use this spell for some potentially unique things. Just like the level 1 sleep though it drops off in usefulness after level 10, and starting at level 5 youre probably going to be able to target only two creatures in combat. Think about it using it for the unique benefits of making a creature unconscious rather than as a combat spell. Heroism: This is nice. +2 to-hit actually does a lot for your allies who are just now getting their second attacks that dont hit as well. It may be the difference between them using Power Attack effectively or not too. I think its a good buff. And theres not even too many things that replace it making it unstackable (Except for maybe like the Cavaliers Banner if people are charging, but nobody plays that class.) Hold Person: Paralysis and the helpless condition is powerful. Maybe not a whole level higher than Hideous Laughter powerful, and maybe not when you consider that your Cleric could do this last level. Lovers Vengeance: (ISWG) A weird level 3 contingency spell for the Rage spell. Even if Rage was a good spell to cast in the first place, this has a 100gp spell component. Nixies Lure: (ARG:Undine) HD limit, but its a high HD limit. Humongous radius. All these things are pretty good and make it worth it for when its useful. Rage: You can affect multiple allies, so thats kind of cool. But really, why would you even look at this spell when you could be casting haste instead. This is really just kind of weak. Reckless Infatuation: (UM) Part 1 of a weird pair of spells that are great for roleplaying, but maybe not so great for daily memorization. The effect of Stagger is really nice though, making it slightly more powerful than other flavor spells, and I can see some fun circumstances where this could be good. Otherwise Id skip it. Suggestion: Charm person makes you think you still might need Charisma, but this one straight up replaces it. And if youre a smooth talker in real life, you can even give them a penalty on their saving throw. Unadulterated Loathing: (UM) Part 2 of this strange pair of spells. This one could keep the target away from you though, and makes a great stalker control if you can overwhelm their Will save. These two would be better level

2 spells for being single target Will save spells, but I suppose the duration makes them appropriate for level 3.

Evocation
Battering Blast: (DoG) As far as CMD targeting spells go, this one is superior to the rest because it has the option of adding that whopping +10 to the CMB by hitting the same target more than once. As such, this spell is mediocre initially and becomes much better once you can start throwing more than one blast. But, the trouble with Bullrush is that a bare success means only a 5 pushback, making a spell like Force Punch or Aqueous Orb a superior spell if your goal is moving the enemy around. This does enjoy the prone effect as well as being a great damage option using Force so its effective against basically everything including incorporeals. Its also ranged, which makes it overall a better option than Force Punch, assuming 5 is enough movement (And it could be more with a +10, or even +20 when you get to level 15.) Blacklight: (CS) This just seems better than Deeper Darkness to me. It gives you the ability to see, and your allies werent being helped by Deeper Darkness in its circumstance either, so just cast this. One thought I had was cast this on your Familiar and send him in with a Wreath of Blades around him. Or cast the below Call of the Void spell. Call of the Void: (DEP) Creatures next to your familiar take 2d6 damage a round (if they have lungs.) If they fail their saving throw, they also become fatigued. Even if they save, they cant speak, which means they cant cast spells like a silent spell. This is a great spell to cast on your familiar. You might even think about casting it on yourself since most casters dont bite very hard when youre standing next to them and they cant cast. Not the best if you dont have a familiar, or if your familiar isnt very well optimized for being in the fray. Also nothing stops the enemy from stepping away, but this is another instance where you should ask your DM about your familiar crawling into the enemys pants again. I dont care if he said no the first time. Campfire Wall: (APG) I actually wouldnt use this as a nightime protection spell, because causing total concealment looking out of the barrier would prevent you from well-knowing the dangers that could be coming. As a combat spell functioning a little more similarly to Pyrotechnics though it could be a good way to section off combat. As a 3rd level spell its probably not worth it. Chain of Perdition: (UC) You get this Combat Maneuver buddy at about the level that enemys CMDs start getting to high for you to affect them. However, Dirty Trick, Drag and Reposition are all things that you may want to do against creatures with low CMD, making it a little bit more useful. Additionally, theres nothing that says that the Chain doesnt threaten its squares, making it a possible flanking buddy. Overall a solid spell even with the drawbacks. Channel the Gift: (GaM) I can see this being useful if your teammate has a completely necessary spell that you dont have on your spell list. Except it seems silly to memorize it since it only saves the ally on an existing slot. Id recommend this as a scroll, but then why not just make a scroll of the spell youre replenishing? The self use part seems cool though, since it makes your 3rd level slot into a fluid slot of things you already have memorized, except now youve taken 2 turns to cast the same spell. I dunno, just make scrolls, I know it costs money, but this seems hardly worth messing with.

Daylight: When you really just need more light. It dispelling darkness is really the best use of it that I see, and by that I mean magical darkness, not like I attack the darkness darkness. Diamond Spray: (AP: LoF) Short range cone blast spell that deals Adamantine Damage. The Adamantine damage is worth considering because of its general coverage, but the range is just so short. Distracting Cacophony: (UM) Not as good as Silence, but would affect all spells, not just ones with verbal components. At the level you get it, if the enemy is casting a first level spell and matches your CR, he has about a 55% chance of failure. Next level that moves to 50%. Theres no saving throw for this effect, and its especially good if you can catch a bunch of casters in a group together and possibly crowd control them into staying in the cacophony's area. At level 10 that 1st level spell becomes a 25% chance of failure, and a 5th level spell is a 45%. The percentages are a just little low to use this against a single caster after that point in the game. Would be green if this was a 2nd level spell. Draconic Reservoir: (APG) This is a little confusing on whether the swift action added damage has to be the same damage that you absorbed. Not that a favorable interpretation helps this spell much at all, +1d6 per attack is weak for a 3rd level spell and your BSF could easily have better things to do with his swift action. As a protection spell it sucks since the level spell its based off of absorbs double the damage. Elemental Aura: (APG) You dont really want to be adjacent to enemies when youre casting this on yourself, but you should see what your DM says about your familiar crawling into an opponents pants with this spell active. You should also see whether the familiar can be invisible while this is active, because with the secondary effect itd be a step up from Burning Gaze. If your DM thinks invisibility is okay, you might bump this up to Green and send put your Familiar to use (Though it may not be worth two spells.) Fireball: Berated and scoffed at for so many years for not being as good as it was in second edition, and now its everyones favorite spell to combine with Dazing Spell. Huge radius, targets reflex, can become a slimy acid ball with admixture, its like every rule-exploiting wizards dream! Oh and as a third level spell, its not as good as it was in second edition and I hate it. Firestream: (ARG: Ifrit) If youre trying to save on spells per day and you just want to blast, you can let loose this flamethrower. Not a bad candidate for a Dazing Spell if youre going against mooks. Force Punch: (UM) The most important thing here is the amount of knockback you get with this spell. When you get this a successful punch knocks them back 10, and increase to 15 shortly thereafter. Bullrush gets 5 if they can beat their CMD, which is often hard all in itself. The touch range is restrictive, meaning that you dont want to be using this unless you have a pretty good idea that its going to work. You can also make your familiar look pretty hardcore if you deliver this attack through him (Mighty mouse!) Heatstroke: (StLC) This is the same thing as Ray of Exhaustion except it deals negligible non-lethal damage and it cant affect fire-immune creatures. Also affects creatures in armor better. Its give or take, Id say its at least the value of Ray of Exhaustion even if it does have some benefits though it doesnt have as wide a coverage.

Hydraulic Torrent: (APG) Upgraded to an AOE from the first level spell. While combat maneuver checks are tough, the AOE makes this one worth considering. It lets you break things, but if Im interpreting the spell right, your effective strength is pretty low. I think this is outclassed by Force Punch and Aqueous Orb this level. Lightning Bolt: We were sitting around the table poking at this spell and talking about how its just not as cool as fireball, and then my DM made the comment its got one advantage over fireball, and thats that its surgical. Still not as cool as fireball. Spellslingers like it though. Pain Strike: (APG) This is just bad for a 3rd level spell. Its a single target sicken effect with fortitude save that doesnt even deal real damage. Meh. Sheet Lightning: (RG) An AOE daze for one round spell that doesnt deal hardly any damage. Not horrible, and its pretty low level for an AOE daze effect. However you could AOE nauseate them in a badzone, or drop them in a Pit a level ago. I think you have better control options to be honest. Tiny Hut: Give yourself Total Concealment in exchange for you not being able to move outside of a 20 radius area. Actually pretty good for battlefield control if you really need to lure enemies into a specific location, or if you just want to make a location where youre safe. Oh, and I guess you could like sleep in it too. The duration suggests that was the original intention. Twilight Knife: (APG) Slightly better in concept than the first level summon weapon spells, but not very good in execution. The fact that you have to attack with it negates the usefulness of this spell. Wind Wall: If creating a wall of concealment isnt enough for you, you could just deflect projectiles using this. The larger wall area makes it more useful for when youre out in a field compared to the other similar battlefield control options.

Illusion
Dazzling Blade, Mass: (RG) Giving all your allies a free action to blind a different target is nice, but you could also cast Glitterdust. I doubt all your allies are going to enjoy the extra Disarm bonuses. Displacement: Upgrade to blur with a much shorter duration. Mirror Image is generally a better cast for the level and the effect. Fearsome Duplicate: (ARG: Halfling) Fun Flavor. Not sure its really that good though. Can use it to scout out within the medium range, but there are better spells (and familiars) for that. Gives you a bonus to your Intimidate, which probably isnt good with your Charisma. Again, fun flavor, cast it for that reason, but from an optimization standpoint I would skip it. Illusory Script: Another spell that I would think is otherwise not worth your time that I have to consider rating it orange because its duration makes it work really well for you. I really cant think of too many times youll need to conceal a message though. Illusory Poison: (GnoG) This is like Phantasmal Killer, except its a poison. This baffles me.

Invisibility Sphere: Mass Invisibility except you have to stay close together. Actually not a bad spell and could have some good applications. Just remember the minute/level duration if youre planning on sneaking into places other than the next room to get a surprise attack on the enemy. Loathsome Veil: (UM) You get this spell when its already a little past its prime. Its disappointing that a first level spell, Colorspray, even though its a oneshot deal its still seemingly a better cast than this. The area is pretty nice, but the conditions probably arent worth it. Major Image: Another minor upgrade to minor image, which apparently makes it major. Not really feeling the spell level increase being worth it here, but depending on your DM the extra effects could be good. Minor Dream: (ARG: Gnome) Nice. This is basically sending but two levels early and with the restrictions of dream. Communication with NPCs or players can be very important and the unlimited range of this the key seller. Vision of Hell: (UM) This is a lot like Loathsome Veil. I like the big area of effect though, and theres no HD limit, making it a better pick overall. It does have the disadvantage of being evil though, so you may not want to cast it.

Necromancy
Animate Dead, Lesser: (UM) You get this a level later than divine casters, and its not very good. You can create one zombie or skeleton, and for a third level spell, thats just not acceptable. It does have the advantage of being permanent though. The not-lesser version is a little better for overwhelming a dungeon with filled squares. Deathwine: (AP: RotR) An interesting but possibly expensive way to cast Necromancy spells at a higher level. No tricks for this come to mind, but Im sure theres some use for this. Eldrich Fever: (UM) Eldrich Ague is a good debuff against casters - better than Distracting Cacophony as far as concentration checks go. Unlike Cacophony this allows a fortitude save. In a lot of cases this is going to be a poor save on the target youre going for, and the permanent sickening part of this spell elevates it slightly above Cacophony in my mind. Gentle Repose: This corpse refrigeration could save your buddys bacon while you find a cleric (or 10,000 gp.) Not a bad one to keep a scroll of until you can rest up and recast it at full duration. Halt Undead: Whoa, Triple Hold Person for Undead. Definitely consider this if youre in an undead heavy campaign. Healing Thief: (UC) If this was Final Fantasy or World of Warcraft, this would be a good spell. Since this is Pathfinder, a world where you dont see a lot of in-combat healing, and where touch attacks are total crap for Wizards, that makes this spell crap. Howling Agony: (UM) Not useless because its an untyped penalty, but there are better spells to cast at this level. Ki Leech: (UM) This is extremely important for replenishing your Ki Pool. Actually if they had an archetype that actually gave you a Ki Pool, itd probably give you 4 opposition schools and remove your ability to use cantrips

in favor of a crappy spell sacrificing option (using your Ki Pool too, no doubt.) Malediction: (APG) See Unravel Destiny Marionette Possession: (UM) Willing Creature kind of kills this, and makes it strange like the Skinsend spell. Ray of Exhaustion: Ray of Dont Charge Me Now works pretty well, and will always do something. Exhaustion is a pretty painful ailment for physical creatures, and while they might resist the first time, they cant resist the second. Sands of Time: (UM) I like how theres no saving throw. I dont like how it makes you go to find the age statistics to see how good it is. That and its a melee touch attack. By the way, I went and looked up age statistics, this isnt very good. Toxic Gift: (UM) This one is kind of creepy... And not very good. Even in its circumstance the poison is probably not good enough to get into melee range. Vampiric Touch: The damage is untyped and it cant be resisted for half, which is cool. Might be something youd have your familiar do if youre using him for touch attacks since hell need the temporary HP more than you, especially if hes in there touching people. Overall probably not worth the standard action though.

Transmutation
Ape Walk: (StLC) Why this is a level after the superior Spider Climb, I dunno. I guess it does let you jump around, but this is the level where you can just fly. Ancestral Regression: (ARG: Drow) Turn into an Elf for 24 hours. Duration makes it worth it for the effect for when you need it. Anthropomorphic Animal: (UM) Furries rejoice! The rest of us shun this spell! This is really only useful if you have an animal companion since as the commenter has pointed out, our familiar is now a Magical Beast instead of being targetable by this spell. Beast Shape: Barely better than Alter Self the level before, and on yourself you cant even cast once you change shape. Not worth the standard action. Blink: Its like Displacement except... Better? Half the time youre just not there so true seeing doesnt help. The drawback being that 20% of the time you cant do anything. Thats like casting deafness on yourself. There are some tricks that make it possible to cast, but as is, I would avoid this spell. (Oh, that and its 1 round a level making it a dubious standard action anyway.) Blood Scent: (ARG: Orc) Weird spell with weird restrictions. If you have Ragers in your party, heroism is still a much better spell for the level. Blot: (Gob) Do you know what else ruins writing? Fireball. I guess you could use this if you want the writing to come back, but I cant think of any often arising uses for it. Burrow: (UM) Its a little before you get Elemental Form and Earth Glide, so this spell has uses when you first get it.

Countless Eyes: (UM) Give someone improved uncanny dodge with a potentially all-day duration. Solid. This could use a communal version, but its a good cast on your BSF if hes not a Barbarian or a Ranger. Darkvision, Communal: (UM) A better spell to cast if you use Darkness spells so youre not cutting out your friends. Less useful if you hang out with Dwarves and Orcs. Devolution: (APG) Nerf an enemy Eidolon. Will Negates and circumstantial nature make this one too rarely useful to take. Improve Trap: (ARG: Kobold) Does what it says. Might be occasionally useful. Fire Trail: (ARG: Goblin) This is kind of silly. Duration isnt very long and the trail lasts even less time. The damage is also very small. Id say this is something youd consider using metamagic on later, but there are better spells that use your move action at earlier levels. Flame Arrow: It doesnt say it doesnt stack with other magical enchantments, so its not a bad thing to throw onto your archer buddys quiver, particularly since Archers are designed to have multiple attacks that would get a lot of benefit from the otherwise minor damage increase. Fly: Necessary. Gaseous Form: Ultra defensive utility spell. The fact that you cant cast is indeed restrictive, but when it comes to fitting into places its better than a lot of the uses that I can think of for Beast Shape, and it has double the duration. Haste: The power boost you get from this is so significant that it may be worth making it a preferred spell or a wand just so you can always have enough for the day. This is the buff. Fractions of Heal and Harm: (AP:SS) Deal less damage to heal yourself. Has to be an AOE spell. Also has to be below level 3. I think you should go make friends with a Cleric or buy a wand of Cure Light Wounds instead. Enter Image: (APG) A lot of weird spells like this.. and none of them seem all that useful. If it had a longer range and let you enter any object like you were Sissel from Ghost Trick, thatd be a little bit better. As it is, its just too limited in its usefulness. Eruptive Postules: (UM) Ew.. Just... yeah... And its not really that great an effect either. You could do this to your familar and tick him off though. Excruciating Deformation: (UM) It takes too long for this to really take a good effect, but there doesnt seem to be any initial saving throw, so its better than other pain spells but not by much. Fins to Feet: (ARG:Merfolk) Probably want this as a Merfolk. Lasts a good long time. Flash Fire: (UC) Youve got better blinding spells by now that dont require a gun to use. Hostile Levitation: (UC) This is funny, but its only single target. It could make your chain of perdition more effective though.

Keen Edge: Most of your party members who really want this are going to get an enchant or pick up the Improved Critical feat. Until then the allies who want it will appreciate the cast. Greater Magic Weapon: In a normal wealth game, this progresses at about the same rate that youll be finding magic weapons, making it kind of useless. In low wealth games, this is priceless (And it has a good duration.) Monstrous Physique I: (UM) Better than Beast Shape in that you can still cast spells. The best effects are better duplicated by other spells though, and even the armor bonus is lackluster considering you can cast a 1st level Shield spell and get more armor for the duration (Of a type youre probably not already using.) Paragon Surge: (ARG: Half-Elf) Free Feat for X number of minutes. There is a lot of versatility here slightly stunted by the need for the prerequisites. The INT bonus isnt going to benefit you at all by this level, most likely. Prehensile Pilfer: (ARG:Vanara) This is probably better if you have Prehensile Tail allies who happen to be focused on Dirty Trick or Steal. Short duration and stupidly circumstantial. Pup Shape: (UC) Its kind of like a baleful polymorph for magical beasts. A save-or-die a few levels early is nice, but extremely limited in coverage. Also, while this is basically a save-or-die spell, would you really feel good about putting down a creature with such cute little eyes? Raging Rubble: (ARG: Oread) Very weak compared to the other summon spells from this level. Resinous Skin: (UC) This is a pretty solid defense spell if you have to be somewhere where youre taking weapon damage. Secret Page: Boy there are a lot of ways to protect writing in this game. Heres a suggestion, stop writing down things you dont want people to read! But, duration of permanent makes this kind of nice if you need to hide a text. Since there is no level scaling on this guy, just buy a scroll of it for the one time you might use it in the really odd situation. Shifting Sand: (APG) Maybe not quite as good as Sleet Storm, but you can move it around, which gives it an advantage. The area off effect is small, so you might not have enough time to really remove your tracks with it. You also move entangled creatures along with it making it similar to Aqueous Orb. Combine with Sleet Storm to take advantage of how this reduces Acrobatics Checks and create a deadzone for movement. Shrink Item: Great duration and great effect. The loot anything spell for single objects. Can also be the bring your own cannon spell if you have seige type weapons in your campaign. Slow: See, why would you cast a single target lockout spell when you can completely gimp many creatures and affect at least a few of them even if many of them save? Staggered is an awful condition that lets you run circles around the enemy. They cant make full attacks against you, and they cant move away from full attacks against them. Great debuff spell. Possibly the best because of its creature coverage (Unlike spells like Confusion it works on

almost everything.) Spider Climb, Communal: (UC) A lot less relevant on a level that everyone is learning how to fly, but a circumstance could arise where youll be glad you had it for a fast study. Strangling Hair: (UM) Grappling is definitely something youll want to do against creatures with low CMDs, and the flavor on this spell is incredible, especially if youre using your beard or mustache. Alas, the concentration Duration and range makes it not quite as good as it could be since you casting more spells is far better battlefield control than just locking out one person a lot of the time. If you know youre going to fight a low CMD caster though, memorize this by all means. Or summon a monster. Touch Injection: (UC) This one is really interesting. You can turn your Familiar into a short term combat medic, or Heroism Potion injector using this spell. If youre brave, you can also turn your familiar into a walking syringe of poison. Undead Anatomy I: (UM) this is basically the same thing as Monstrous Physique except you detect as undead. I think this makes this spell a little more useful in the odd circumstance youre trying to blend in with a bunch of ghouls. Versatile Weapon: (APG) This might be worth keeping around in case your BSF forgot his cold Iron weapon, but I think its just as easy for you to keep this in your spellbook as it is for him to just bring along a different weapon. Water Breathing: Long duration does its job well for when the situation comes up. Also has built in communal.

4th-Level Wizard Spells

Abjuration
Curse of Magic Negation: (UM) Not as good as some of the other Spellblight inflicting spells weve looked at. This time its a will save, making it harder to land on what youd want to land it on, and the spell resistance could be a little higher. Dimensional Anchor: Nothing sucks more than when youre fighting that BBEG that teleports away right before the kill. This keeps that from happening so you can finally take him out. No save is awesome, though youll have to beat his spell resistance. Fire Trap: Half the price of Phantom Trap (man that spell really seems to suck now) but not a very huge effect. Its permanent nature means you can throw it in your spellbook and forget about it, but I dont think its even worth it then. Globe of Invulnerability, Lesser: 3rd level or lower spells are becoming a little less threatening now, but if you know that youre going to be up against a caster specifically this could save you some headaches. Note that if you or your players are abusing Dazing Spell with Third Level or lower spells, this is a great way to shut them down since they still count as Third Level or lower spells. This fact bumps this up to green in my opinion, even though its immobile. Nondetection, Communal: (UC) Circumstantial just by itself, its not much better a level higher as a communal spell. Protection from Energy, Communal: (UC) It really depends on how you interpret overlap. If Resist energy works before protection from energy takes its damage, it might be worth doubling up the two. If it doesnt work that way, this is useless. Just use Resist Energy. Remove Curse: Curses arent terribly common, but youll need this when you need it. Especially with spellblights being a thing now. Stoneskin: 250 gold a cast means you shouldnt be using this often, but it may be worth it if the thing youre going against cant pierce the DR and if it makes the difference in a win or loss. True Form: (APG) Lets you counter a level 5 spell with a level 4 spell, which makes this worth considering. Also lets you force change a bunch of polymorphed targets back to their original forms. Id stick it in your spellbook and memorize it when you need it, especially if youre preparing to face a bunch of lycanthropes or something.

Conjuration
Acid Pit: (APG) Its sorta an upgrade to Spiked Pit, but think of the Loot! This thing melts their stuff! That and it deals acid damage, giving it slightly less coverage. At this point I think casting the lower level spell is better. Black Tentacles: This is a party favorite, I know, but the CMB on this is awful. At level 7 when you first get it, CMD is 26 vs your CMB of 11, meaning a 15

or higher. At level 9 the average CMD is 31. The CMB of these tentacles is 13. That means you have to roll a 18 or above to grapple most things at this challenge rating. This is only going to get worse as CMD scales faster than 1 point a level, which is all youre getting added to your CMB here. Granted you could be going against things that have low CMDs, and against those this is awesome, especially with the area of effect. But its not quite the awesome that everyone makes it out to be. (Now excuse me while I go make preparations for all the OH NO YOU DINTs Im going to get for calling this out.) Dimensional Door: Obviously not as valuable to a Conjurer, but even then I defy you to make a withdraw or full run action that instantly moves you 800. Not happening. Positioning is key, and this does positioning well (And you can even take your friends.) Fleshworm Infestation: (UM) A decent effect that doesnt seem to offer a saving throw besides delaying the worst part of this spell for another round. The touch range of this makes it tough to use, however, and its evil. Ghost Wolf: (ARG: Half-Orc) Phantom Steed a level later with a very minor and basically useless fear aura and the option to cancel the duration to make it into a Summon Monster with worse stats than actually casting SMIV. I dont think it has enough benefits to justify the level increase. Infernal Healing, Greater: (ISWG) Like the first spell, not exactly a great thing in combat, but out of combat this equates to 40 HP, which the Cleric cant do with Cure Critical Wounds at all at level 7, and barely makes it at level 8 if he gets max rolls. This also has the added effect of making creatures detect as Evil, which could have some strange utility benefit. Minor Creation: Wait... plant matter? What? Phantom Chariot: (UC) Screw Overland Flight, this is the way to travel in style! If you have fewer than 7 party members, thisll tide you over until you get Teleport, or help you discover new locations to use with Teleport. Phantom Steed, Communal: (UC) Circumstantially better than Phantom Chariot and certainly better in combat situations. Saves you a lot of 3rd level spell castings to make this for your entire party. Secure Shelter: An upgrade to your rope home, and it does its job well. Solid Fog: It really is difficult to recommend this when Sleet Storm of the previous spell level seems to perform better in just about every category except that this prevents ranged attacks. Summon Accuser: (RG) Actually not bad. Hes not amazing for Combat, except he has some SLAs worth looking at. The big thing here is that he lasts 10 minutes per level and provides instant feedback for scouting. Moving at 60 per round and having self invisibility, hes pretty much better than the same level Arcane Eye for scouting. This spell has a really odd focus with rotton meat, and this is an Evil Spell, but its good. Summon Monster IV: This level lacks a lot of viable variety compared to level 3. Without using the non-core alternatives, the Bison and the Hound Archon are the only things really worth summoning at any given time. Those options are good enough to consider still memorizing this though. You also could just

use it to take advantage of superior summons and rain Crocodiles or Lantern Archons on the place. Its also worthy to note that some creatures like the Bison actually have 5 HD this time around which activates the Celestial/ Fiendish damage reduction, making them even better tanks. Touch of Slime: (UM) Inferior mechanically to the just discussed Fleshworm Infestation. Web Cloud: (ARG: Drow) This is pretty cool. Im not sure its cooler than just casting web if you have anchor points, but it is nice that the creatures remain trapped after it passes by. Nice big spread, and it lasts a very long time which boosts its overall usefulness. Vomit Twin: (ARG: Goblin) This has a lot of strange strategic implications being essentially a fourth level teleport buddy that could soak up an attack or two. Since the teleportation is not even an action - it just has to be at the beginning of your turn - you could have your Vomit Twin wander off as a contingency, though the 1 round per level duration makes it a short contingency. This is a very unique spell that will definitely keep your enemies on their toes. A few possibilities here, Id think about it if I were a goblin Wizard.

Divination
Arcane Eye: Okay, its not popping your own eye out cool, but its pretty cool. I mean, its slow, with a 10 minute casting time and 30 movement, but its also safe for scouting, especially if it seems too precarious for your familiar to be snooping around. Detect Scrying: For when you discover youre the last of the Macguffin clan, and there can only be one muffin baker! I do like the duration here at least, for when it does come up. Locate Creature: Not only have you lost your keys, but now youve lost your friends? How do you function? Again, the range on this makes me sad, though the need for this may come up on an occasion. Named Bullet: (UC) The fact that this is an auto-crit saves it from being a total waste of space. Ranged attacks often have x3 or even x4 damage on a crit, so if you know what youre going up against, making a few of these ahead of time (take advantage of the 10 minute per level duration) could make easy work of your target. Its still a little too expensive as a standard action in combat, so dont bother if you havent planned it ahead of time. This is especially good if your ranged character has any of the crit feats to apply. (Thanks to Rogue Eidolon for pointing out the auto-crit that I missed.) Scrying: Here we go. Unlimited distance. Dont necessarily have to know the target (But it gets harder to perform.) This is a great way to get info to teleport into someones lair. Share Senses: (APG) This is an early access to Scry on Familiar thats probably too circumstantial to consider. Symbol of Revelation: (UM) Looks like a fortress spell to me. Not worth the 1000gp. Tongues, Communal: (UC) In many cases Share Language is better for the spell level, but something might come up where youd need this spell.

Enchantment
Aura of the Unremarkable: (CEoD) So many eyes, so many saving throws. However mundane NPCs, the usual target for this spell, probably have low wills, and your save DC should be almost 20 by this point. I think you have good odds for this to work, and its a hilarious spell to boot. Gonna give this a half green to make people notice it, and for urban campaigns. Charm Monster: I like Charm Person for social situations. Youre not going to have a cup of tea with a monster. That said the duration is nice, and if you didnt dump your Charisma this is a minor thrall maker. Control Summoned Creature: (UM) Stupidly circumstantial, but good in that circumstance assuming whatever was summoned is worth taking control of and doesnt have a high will save. Like Banishment, this would be a fine spell for a Scrollmaster to have on a Scroll. Confusion: Its more powerful effect than slow makes the mind-affecting restriction worth it. Basically gives the target a 25% chance to attack, and if you affect more than one creature in an area and they end up hitting eachother, youve just started a fight that will lock them out for the entire duration. No save every round, none of that other Enchantment School Sucks nonsense. This is a good spell. Crushing Despair: Aw, you get the Good Hope counterspell, but not the Good Hope spell? Stupid emo wizard. Im so growing my hair out and putting piercings on the tips of my elven ears. Oh right, the spell. Will Negates. Nuff said. Okay Ill say more. I like that the penalty is untyped and that its an AOE, but the range and effect is small for level 4, and if youre draining saves to do a crazy save or lose spell, well this spell requires a save, making it less than optimal. Daze, Mass: (UM) There are better spells now that lock out multiple creatures for longer than a round, not necessarily with Daze, but definitely more potent. Id consider the Confusion spell to be a better cast, for instance, as it lasts multiple rounds and could have the same effects over that time. Additionally, you can duplicate this to a limited degree with a Dazing Burning Hands spell, targeting Reflex and creatures immune to mind-affecting attacks. Forgetful Slumber: (ARG: Half-Elf) Extra points for uniqueness, I just wish it didnt have that HD limit. Though the forgetting aspect of this spell might be best used on NPCs who fall into the 10HD category. I can think of a lot of things you can do with this. Geas-Lesser: Will save, spell resistance, and HD limit that makes it worthless the level after you get it. Geas is cool, lesser is not. Malfunction: (UM) Circumstantially good if youre fighting constructs because a lot of your magic wont affect them. Might be red if the average construct has a high fortitude. Ill leave that up to Shoelessinsight to check out, and Ill edit his later. Malicious Spite: (UM) Another interesting RP catalyst spell that could be good in the right campaign and situation. Not very good for combat, but very nice for a more social game for inciting intrigue. Definitely not a memorize every day spell. Moonstruck: (APG) Weird flavor. Completely inferior to Confusion.

Overwhelming Grief: (UM) This is Hideous Laughter except the target has a big sad and loses his dexterity modifier. By this point youre going to have several ways to allow your Rogue to get his sneak attacks such as providing Flanking Buddies through summons or positioning with Telekinetic Charge or Greater Invisibility for targets that rely on sight. When those things fail though, this can give your rogue some free hits. If you have a rogue. And if you overcome the targets will save. Terrible Remorse: (UM) Save-or-Become-Emo spell. While this is a single target mind-effecting Will save spell, it locks them up pretty good and even when they save they are still staggered for a round. Not the best spell, but better than some of the others.

Evocation
Agonize: (UM) Seems like a good idea if youre going all Malconvoker and binding creatures, but what if they save? Then they can look at you and be all like What did you just try to do and youll be like Uh... Nothing? and then the awkward silence will just be dreadful at that point. Honestly I dont think you need this, its probably going to make things worse than before you tried it. Ball Lightning: (APG) As a level 4 spell, these are okay. They take up squares and let you control the battlefield a little bit with the duration. As a level 7 Dazing Ball Lightning spell they are a turn by turn nuisance that if they fail to lock down their targets on the first turn, they get to try try again. They even get a nice bonus against anything wearing metal armor. Almost broken. Detonate: (APG) A blast spell with no extra effect except that it deals damage to you, and costs 50 gold a cast. The only thing that would make this better is to make it a level 7 Dazing Detonate so youd have to make a fortitude save or be dazed for 4 rounds. Dragons Breath: (APG) A versatile blast spell that basically has Admixture built into it. It makes a nice one to use with metamagic without too much worry about enemies being immune to it when you decide to cast it. Fire Shield: 1 round per level restricts a lot of uses of this spell, and the retaliation effect is crap. But taking half damage from fire or cold could be useful on occasion. Hurricane Blast: (AP:LoF) A slightly better effect than Gust of Wind, but a less usable area of effect. Would like more if it lasted more than a round. Ice Storm: Blast + difficult terrain. Not a bad combo if you need to blast. Youve got better spells than this for battlefield control, but a lot of them also include obscuring sight. If you dont want that this is another option. Resilient Sphere: A single target lockout spell that targets reflex. Great duration. I can see uses for this. Technically they can eventually force their way out... that is if their attacks can beat the 30 hardness. River of Wind: (APG) A very long line knock prone spell that targets fortitude. Many creatures you want to knock prone have higher Fortitudes than anything, but some have a higher reflex, so as far as spells that knock enemies prone go, this one increases your resistance coverage a bit.

Shout: Meh, minor blast with an extra effect. Deafness isnt the greatest debuff. Telekinetic Charge: (UC) Give your BSF a free attack and position him a little better on the battlefield. Says you can move him anywhere within the range of the spell, which means you should get Reach Spell and cast this as a 6th level spell, allowing you to move him 800. By itself, its good, especially since the Benign Transposition line doesnt have an equivalent in pathfinder yet this is the closest thing (that Ive found so far.) Seriously, this is crazy good. Your BSF will be your best friend for life as you position him to get full attacks off on the enemy. Vitriolic Mist: (UM) Fire shield, except acid elemental, and less versatile for the slot since you cant pick between two elements. Volcanic Storm: (UM) The fire version of Ice Storm. Everything is pretty much exactly the same.

Wall of Fire: The damage here isnt very good and thus the wall isnt going to deter anyone who knows that. Id still recommend it for the psychological effect, but then you have Wall of Ice as an actual all to cast instead. Of course, there are times when you might not want an actual wall, particularly if you have archers in your party. Wall of Ice: Hard battlefield control that can be used to divide up enemies without worrying about their saving throws (If you throw it up in the right place.) Its not terribly strong, but could be enough to slow enemies down. While the wall is easy to break (Being 24 hp when you can first cast it), it still deals some damage to the enemies that pass through it.

Illusion
Hallucinatory Terrain: Has a nice long duration. Unless you can fool a Ranger into being in his favored terrain though, I cant think of very many (practical) uses for this. Illusory Wall: Still blocks sight even if they know its there. Permanent duration with no component cost is also amazing. The area of effect isnt huge, but I really like this. Greater Invisibility: The reduction of the duration makes this in many ways worse than regular invisibility, but it does have the benefit of making your Rogue your absolute best friend in the world, and sometimes even you need to target enemies while remaining hidden. Minor Phantom Object: (ARG: Gnome) Considering this does basically the same thing as Minor Creation but a target gets a will save to resist it, Id say just take Minor Creation. Phantasmal Killer: Your first true Save-or-Die is a save twice or die. I dont like those odds. Rainbow Pattern: 24 HD means that youll be able to use this for a while, but it still means that when you first gain access to it the largest number of creatures you can fascinate is three or four (compare to confusion). That and the duration of concentration undermines the otherwise good fascinate condition.

Shadow Conjuration: Not a fan of the Shadow spells, especially the conjuration line. You spend a higher level slot for versatility, except that versatility adds a will save to just about any spell you cast regardless if they offered a save in the first place, so youve just spent a higher level slot on a less effective lower level spell. Shadow Step: (UM) Being in the same spell level as Dimension Door, which does not need to be in shadows to be used, this is a poor pick. In fact, you might say its overshadowed. (And gosh, it even has somatic components, thats like one of the best things about Dimension Door...) This should have been a swift action, or level 3. It does have the slight advantage that you can still take actions after you cast it unlike Dimension Door though. Shocking Image: (UC) I like how theres no saving throw for the damage, but Im not sure that its worth 2 more spell levels over Mirror Image. Still, solid spell just because its Mirror Image, and the shocking part MIGHT help dump some of the aggro against you specifically. Simulacrum, Lesser: (UM) Or, Create Killer Snowman. Treantmonk was split minded about the original spell because it let you create creatures that have a greater than your own. This one is a heck of a lot cheaper, but has to be a creature equal to your level. Being that simulacrums have half the power of the original, this creature is essentially half your level. Im not sure thats worth the money or effort. Wandering Star Motes: (APG) Its like a level 2 spell with an infinite bouncing spell effect (Like Hideous Laughter, for instance.) A level 2 bouncing spell would be a level 3 metamagic. This spell is level 4 and underwhelming, even with the infinite effect. However, it does outline invisible creatures, and doesnt say that The nearest creature has to be visible, so its a secondary effect that might make this worth casting circumstantially over its superior competitors (Besides opposition school reasons.)

Necromancy
Animate Dead: You get this a level after divine casters, but since its permanent the spell slot isnt the important thing. Some of the later skeletons are nice tanks, and its great that you can have them follow you through dungeons without using your actions to bring them out. It does cost money for your shambling army, and you have an achilles heel to just about every divine caster and undead targeting spell out there. Plus, you cant heal your army the same way a Cleric can since you cant channel negative energy.

Bestow Curse: Normally Id love this spell because of its open endedness, but this is the very spell that taught me the wiles of Save or Die tactics. It allows a saving throw and you have to penetrate SR, and while reach spell or spectral hand makes it more usable, at this level its not even worth considering. Boneshatter: (OLoP) This is like Ray of Exhaustion but it deals a little damage too. I guess the damage is worth the level up, but the Fatigue is limited in duration, making me more apt to recommend the 3rd level spell. Contagion: Its like Bestow Curse, but instead it inflicts a disease that takes a long time to incubate. Avoid this...(puts on sunglasses)... like the plague.

Enervation: You can make an entire build centered around this spell. You still have to break spell resistance, but bestowing negative levels is everything youve dreamed of. Even without focusing on this spell with all kinds of metamagic to buff it out, its a great way to lower the enemys saves for another save or lose spell. False Life, Greater: (UM) Still a useful cast like False Life, but maybe not so much right when you get 4th level spells. Once 4th level spells become irrelevant and you find yourself having plenty of extra slots for the day, then this makes a fine cast and forget spell for your daily preparations. Familiar Melding: (UM) This spell looks familiar, where have I seen this before? This is better than Skinsend and all the other strange possession spells theyve added because if you die while in your familiars body, youre still okay if youre in range. This is the closest thing you can get to casting from your Familiar that I know of, but even though it doesnt say your body is helpless this time, I dont like the idea of leaving it behind. Fear: Wizards intimidate with a chance of creating a little crowd control. The range is a little short, but besides that this is a great spell, and you should have a quickened spell ready to take advantage of the -2 to their saving throws that the savers have received. Shadow Projection: (APG) Now this is how its done. This is the same thing as all these other possession spells, except that it has infinite range and it adds some nice things to you as well. The duration is a bit restrictive, and you still want to find a good hiding place for your body, but I could actually see casting this spell on a regular basis. Its been suggested that you can cast while in objects, if you can this is definitely a better spell. I personally dont see you doing either Verbal or Somatic components in any object. Skeleton Crew: (PoIS) Animate dead with a purpose other than to have a shambling army. Cool, but stupidly circumstantial. Id hang onto the spell in case I needed it, but in most campaigns I doubt itll ever come up.

Transmutation
Absorbing Inhalation: (ARG: Sylph) Very circumstantial way to remove clouds and turn them into your own weapon. If you have Item Bond, might be worth keeping in your spellbook. Age Resistance, Lesser: (UM) You might consider this if youre starting a campaign at higher levels, because you can exploit the age system and just cast this every day. Wait... Not this, but the next version. This version sucks. Animal Aspect, Greater: (UC) Like its lower level version, I dont feel like the benefits are very good for the level. Beast Shape II: Now that Monstrous Physique is around, this is even worse, even for your Familiar. Calcific Touch: (APG) A fantastic spell for a Magus to expand his arcana with. For you, well you dont want to be in Melee. This spell lasts a decent amount of time though and can eventually be a save-or-die spell without the save, while continually debuffing the enemy. Many battles wont last that long, but some bosses would still be effected by this. Might be worth sending your familiar into melee for, but beware that hell probably immediately get targeted if you start this slow and steady process of death. Good candidate

for Reach Spell. Cloud Shape: (ARG: Sylph) Kind of weird upgrade to Gaseous Form. I guess if you need to disguise yourself as a cloud for some reason. Darkvision, Greater: (UM) I see you, you cant see me. Since most creatures have 60 darkvision if they have it at all, this is great when youre walking around in caves as you (or whoever you cast it on) can detect things before they do. Earth Glide: (ARG: Svirfneblin) Stone shape is a little better at this level, but if you need to be discrete this isnt terrible and is an earlier level than Passwall. Elemental Body: If you can still cast, it may be worth doing this for the natural armor bonus. This will also help your familiar be a better flanking buddy if you are so daring. I like Earth Elemental for your Familiar and Water elemental for you. If you have the improved share spells feat then you being a water elemental also increases your familiars HP. Find out from your DM if you can cast in this form. Enlarge Person, Mass: On a regular basis, Im not sure youll have more than one or two people that this would be important for, but if youre heading an army or just need some NPC meat shields this is handy. Firefall: (APG) The only really redeeming part of this spell is the range, and with Reach Spell, you might as well cast the better Pyrotechnics spell. Hellmouth Lash: (ARG: Tiefling) Cant speak or cast spells while this spell is out. Damage is meh. Spell is meh. Magic Siege Weapon, Greater: (UC) As I said with the original Magic Siege Weapon, the buff is too weak for a Siege Weapon. Miasmic Form: (ARG: Sylph) Like scorching ash form but causes nauseation or consitution damage. Being a level earlier than Cloudkill this isnt too bad. It would be good if it didnt cost 100gp a cast. Mnemonic Enhancer: With a 10 minute casting time and the existence of the Fast Study feat, what little I could recommend about this spell is moot. Might be worth considering as a scroll or a staff. Monstrous Physique II: (UM) Not a big improvement over the first one. The net armor youd get from going large is still only +3, so a lower level spell is still a superior standard action for that. Circumstantially some of the movement modes might help. However, the existance of this spell suggests you can give Pounce to your allies with the Polymorph spell of next level, which improves that spell significantly, especially if your BSF cant get it otherwise. Obsidian Flow: (UC) A level late to the Difficult Terrain party, but I guess this deals damage too. That by itself is probably not worth the extra level, and the other effects arent anything impressive. The difficult terrain is however permanent... So this spell could be used to set up a battlefield ahead of time, maybe. Also gives your Ki Throwing monk somewhere he can toss enemies and deal a tiny bit of extra damage - Though Create Pit is a much better candidate for that.

Reduce Person: Reduce person is a small buff, and as a 4th level spell it falls a little short. Resilient Reservoir: (ARG: Half-Elf) I... am a BOMB! Sorta. The duration is a bit short to make it terribly useful, but I do like the effect. As a Wizard I see this as a wasted spell slot because I would rather not be somewhere where Im being hit. If you are playing a Gish build of some kind though, I think this might be worth casting (With a quickened spell.) The fact that it actually negates the 1 point of damage damage does make it a little more attractive, especially if you already have Damage Reduction. Ride the Waves: (UM) Solves all your swimming problems with an excellent duration. Great for when the occasion arises and blue in aquatic campaigns. Scorching Ash Form: (ARG: Ifrit) An offensive form of Gaseous form. Since Gaseous form is a pretty defensive ability, this is a great way to deal damage while remaining pretty safe. Good thing to cast on your familiar. Shadowy Haven: (ARG: Fetchling) Slightly upgraded Rope Trick that can also be a way to travel to the Shadow Plane. This is the same level as Secure Shelter, and I think as a resting place that is the better spell. Stone Shape: Nice and open ended. Makes you feel like an earthbending superhero. Be creative and this will work well for you. Symbol of Slowing: (UM) Also not worth the gold. Vermin Shape I: (UM) Oh joy! You can turn into vermin now a level after you can turn into animals for the first time. Village Veil: (ARG: Halfling) Similar to Mirage Arcana but with a much longer duration and without some of the cool benefits. There are some interesting roleplaying benefits to this, and the spell is very effective for what it does.

5th-Level Wizard Spells

Abjuration
Break Enchantment: One minute casting time restricts this from being a game changer, but something you may want to keep in your spellbook for fast study when you might need it. Covetous Aura: (ISWG) I dont like how it ends right after you get the effect, and this really requires that you know whats coming to make it even worth memorizing. Dismissal: Effectively save-or-die for an outsider. I think that a multi-target lockout spell from a previous level would be just as, if not more effective most of the time. Being single target and not actually killing the target makes this kind of low value for the level. Life Bubble: (APG) Seems to work as advertised. Like a super upgraded Endure Elements. One nice thing is the immunity to cloud spells. Would be worth keeping around as a scroll, or with a duration like that you may want to cast this on yourself every morning. Mages Private Sanctum: 10 minute casting time makes this a planners spell, but there are a lot of uses for this if you have the time to prepare. You can also use it to hold secret meetings and stuff, which is what I think it was intended for, but think outside of the box and you might be well-pleased you had this in your spellbook. Soothe Construct: (UM) Not as familiar with construct rules because I havent had much chance to use them, but it sounds like youd want this at least as a contingency. Stone Skin, Communal: (UC) One interesting benefit of this version of the spell is that if you cast it only on yourself it only costs 100gp as opposed to 250. Divided between 2 people its still cheaper. A much better value and a much greater benefit. Unbreakable Construct: (UM) Shares the same problem with Stone Skin, except its a lot more circumstantial, and its a MUCH lower duration. Wreath of Blades: (UC) The focus is a bit expensive, but it turns you or your familiar into a whirling area of death. This is a decent deal for both - for you if youre stuck in Melee because it means that medium creatures arent going to want to be near you, and for your familiar because it means you have a decently damaging field you can command to move around.

Conjuration
Acidic Spray: (UM) The damage is pretty decent if the enemy fails their save. No utility like Disintegrate, but the AOE aspect makes it a fine blast spell. Being this high level and only being a line makes it less of a choice for metamagic however. Corrosive Consumption: (UM) No save, but can easily be removed. Plus touch range. Cloudkill: A successful fortitude save halves the [constitution] damage about sums up how awesome this is. There is no escape! Well, I mean, assuming

you can hold them still for a couple of minutes while this takes them out. Great spell to combine with Create Pit or similar lockout option that will also contain the ever-moving cloud. Even if you just use this normally theyre going to lose at least a few constitution if theyre not immune to poison. Damnation Stride: (ARG:Tiefling) Dimension door a level higher with minor fire damage added. Nope. Unless you add Dazing Spell and just need to teleport. Geyser: (APG) A creative spell that doesnt pan out as very good, at least not for the level. Its a single target trip spell that targets reflex that creates a minor badzone as long as you concentrate. I like the spell, I just dont think it should be level 5. Hostile Juxtaposition: (UC) Hey! Its baleful transposition! A 2nd level 3.5 spell! Okay, this is a little different, since you can use it to force the target to take a blow to the face for you. This is potentially very good, but the will save with no secondary effect kind of gets to me. Still if you know the target is likely to fail a will save, you can use them as your meat bag. Even just using this to switch places with something to gain a tactical advantage would be a fine use of this spell. If your DM thinks that the target knows about the link when you establish it, then this is worse. The size limitation is also a saddening thing. Hungry Pit: (APG) Better than Acid Pit since youll be able to keep the loot, and a fine upgrade to Spiked Pit. This gets really deep too. At this level more creatures are able to fly though, making this less of a stellar choice. If you can catch them in the pit before they can fly though its a DC 20 fly check to get out because they are ascending at a greater than 45 degree angle. As the commenter points out, this is one situation where Hold Person or Hold Monster will really mess up someones stuff. Or you could get your Cleric to Command them to Fall. Mages Faithful Hound: Alarm does the watchdog part better as a level 1 spell, and Summon Monster V does the damage part better, especially since it reduces the duration to 1 round a level when this thing starts attacking anyway. Major Creation: Unless youre using this to create Uranium and Nuclear devices, the duration says to me that this is mostly useless. Planar Binding, Lesser: A great way to get a mostly permanent companion for whatever task you want to set them out for. 6 HD or less doesnt give you the most options, but the potential duration is the selling point. Secret Chest: An expensive chest, but a great place to hide your second spell book in case your main one gets stolen. It has a fantastic duration, and you can just reuse the expensive chest once it runs up. Summon Infernal Host: (RG) Magaavs are decent summons for the level, comparing them to the Bralani they do less damage, but they can cause infernal wounds and make somewhat decent grapplers for the level. The lesser Gaavs are probably better if you just want damage and battlefield control, and are multiplied with superior summoning. I dont think its better than Summon Monster V and I dont think what it brings is unique enough to really consider it, but its not a bad spell. Summon Monster V: The cream of this summon monster level is the Earth Elementals ability to use greater bullrush. I also like the Babau as a flanking

buddy because of his damage output. Aside from that there is a lot of viable variety here, but nothing that stands out as something you gotta have every battle. Teleport: This spell represents when your campaign becomes less of a journey and more of a series of events. Save yourself so much time with this awesome utility, or get your party out of a bad situation. Unseen Crew: (PoIS) Wow, this campaign setting really wants you to go all anti-social on the NPCs doesnt it? This is better than Skeleton crew since it doesnt need bodies, but youre just not going to use this in most campaigns. Wall of Stone: Hard battlefield control. Has some versatility as a bridge, a trap, or as a building block for your Castle since its permanent. The only drawback is that you have to have solid stone to support it, but youll usually be around something you can use.

Divination
Contact Other Plane: Im all for getting information, but this information is hardly reliable and could gimp you for a good amount of time. Prying Eyes: Love the range, number, and duration. Not as much a fan of how they have to come back to you to report their findings. Not a bad scouting tool though. Telepathic Link: For 10 minutes a level, you can start talking about the situation like you would out of character, except in character! Truespeak: (ARG:Aasimar) Not too shabby, though two levels higher than Tongues which does basically the same thing under most circumstances. This DOES let you talk with anything though (Including Animals and arguably Plants), making it a great pick for a Sorcerer as it is an avoid all redundancy spell. As a Wizard, Id keep it in my spellbook as a contingency and maybe write up a scroll. Symbol of Scrying: (UM) So many expensive symbol spells...

Enchantment
Apparant Master: (M:GoD) Similar to Control Construct, except 2 levels earlier and with an hour duration. Im not sure how to interpret Any command that directly results in damage breaks the spell. If that means that you cant attack with the construct, which I think it does, then this is only really good for temporarily putting the construct out of commission. But thats okay, because Constructs are normally immune to most of what you do, so this isnt a bad spell for the circumstance. Constricting Coil: (AP:SS) Same deal as Hold Monster. You might think that the fact that it deals damage makes it better than Hold Monster, but since theyre helpless you can just coup de grace them to death anyway. The damage is nice, dont get me wrong, but their odds of escape are the same, and Ive personally used Hold Person in non-violent/non-combat ways that the damage isnt always what you want to do. Curse of Disguist: (UM) A powerful RP flavor spell, but were getting too high level for it to be this weak. Theoretically, this isnt more powerful than the effects Bestow Curse can inflict, so arguably you could create this curse and

cast it at level 3, or make it a reach spell and achieve the same effect at level 4. Dominate Person: Im sure this is why anyone goes enchantment. Full and absolute control. At first I looked at this as a combat spell, thats a mistake. It becomes just another boring save-or-lose spell in that light. In reality though this is an upgrade to Charm Person, except with far more benefits. Be wary of your DM giving your target saving throws for doing things against their nature though or this might get you into trouble. Feeblemind: Another mind-affecting will save single target save or lose spell. The effect is hilarious, and permanent, but it really just boils down to the same thing weve been seeing all along. It doesnt help that most class-based characters youll be using this on have Will as a good save. The -4 that arcane casters take to their save does balance the redundancy out a little bit, and actually bump this spell up a little bit. Hold Monster: Helpless is a good condition, and thats the only thing keeping this otherwise deja vu enchantment spell from the garbage. This is about the level where Will saves start to become much harder to target on average. This is also the level where flying becomes more common though and this will knock them out of the sky. Definitely keep it in mind for targeting will though, even though at this level you can have a similar effect casting Icy Prison while targeting Reflex. And as I mentioned in Constricting Coil, sometimes dealing damage isnt what you want to do. Mind Fog: Duration is nice and long, and this is an AOE debuff. Even if the thought of Make a will save and your future will saves are going to suck seems a little self-defeating, youre bound to get one or two of those inside the fog, and the ones affected could be the next target of your Dominate Person spell or something similar. Do you actually know if they are affected though? Because if you dont then you really cant even use this. Smug Narcissism: (UM) Too high level for the effect, even with the RP value considered. Symbol of Sleep: 1,000 gp material cost and 10 HD or less. Yup.

Evocation
Cone of Cold: Fantastic range and area of effect and easily modified with Rime spell. Dazing spell is a little less recommended unless you have a rod. At this level, well its pure blast, but a step up. Fire Snake: (APG) Sort of a blast spell with a slightly built in selective spell. Not particularly exciting. Just to clarify, using this with Dazing Spell would make it a level 8 spell. Adding Selective Spell to a Dazing Fireball would make it a level 7 spell. Icy Prison: (UM) A great Save-or-Suck spell, with a dash of die if they arent cold resistant. Its sort of like Hold Monster but it entangles them for the duration if they happen to succeed their save, and still deals your level in damage every round of the spell. If they fail, and they have no resistance to Cold damage, theyre pretty much dead unless someone breaks them out. Absolutely fantastic duration and targeting Reflex instead of Will is a nice advantage too.

Interposing Hand: A really high level way to get +4 AC, which the only advantage this AC has is that it stacks with just about anything. The problem is that you have to choose a single target to get this AC against, and that just strikes me as too weak for the level considering at level 1 you have things like Mage Armor or Shield that last longer than one round a level and dont require move actions to choose new targets. But it is a unique bonus, and might help you in a particular circumstance (Such as your familiar flanking and aiding another for your BSF.) Lightning Arc: (UM) Has a creative effect area, kind of like a tripwire between two creatures effecting everything in between. One of many elemental damage options this level. Pain Strike, Mass: (APG) Pain Strike wasnt good enough, and neither is this. Sending: Good for when you need to get information to someone. Infinite range is where its at. Sonic Thrust: (UM) This is almost word for word the Violent Thrust use of Telekinesis. Why not just memorize Telekinesis and add some versatility to your slot? Wall of Force: Has a few advantages over Wall of Stone; it has a much better hardness and more HP, its double the size, it doesnt have any provisions for being broken with a single attack, and it doesnt require a solid stone surface to work with. And then it has a few disadvantages; it has a duration of 1 round per level instead of permanent, its close range instead of medium range, and it doesnt have the same utility as Wall of Stone. Id say that Wall of Stone edges out as the better slot memorization because of the utility, except that it does have a circumstance it needs to be cast. I think theyre both great spells with a balance of advantages and disadvantages. One other quirk to mention - gaze attacks work through this - so that can be either good or bad, but its something you can plan for. Wall of Sound: (UM) A level after Solid Barriers start coming up, Evocation gets this spell. Its outclassed. I think Wind Wall is a better cast being 2 levels lower and having the same Battlefield Control effect. It could also be used as a really odd blast spell, but Id probably avoid that too (unless you can really take advantage of this spells quirks.)

Illusion
Dream: Capable of sending longer messages than Sending but with a few restrictions. May be worth having if the message needs to be long. False Vision: For just 250 gold, you can fool the Breakfast Monsters into thinking the Macguffin Muffin has been eaten! (Dramatic Note!) Major Phantom Object: (ARG:Gnome) You didnt choose Conjuration as an Opposition School did you? Why not just cast Major Creation? Oh, I guess you can use spellcraft instead of a crafting check for the creation. Still not sold. Mirage Arcana: You get to do buildings now. I really think this spell is cool, and Id love to cast it for fun, but I cant think of any practical use for it. Actually, I take it back. This spell is like Illusionary Wall, except you can create many buildings and walls. Well, that is if your DM rules it that way. If your DM rules that if the Will save is made they can see through the buildings instead of it providing cover and blocking sight, then just mark this red. The one standard

action cast is what makes this even possible to recommend. Nightmare: Im not saying its completely unusable, what I am saying is that if you do get to use it effectively, itll probably only be once or twice. Persistant Image: All youve loved about the other illusion spells, except now there is no concentration required. Phantasmal Web: (APG) Like web, but targets will and specific creatures rather than creating a physical web. Grappling a group of critters targeting Will is already nice for the saving throw coverage, but adding in the possibility that they might not be able to act at all is also nice. What makes this better than say, mass daze is that it takes one saving throw and then theyre grappled for the duration instead of letting them break free every round. Seeming: Mass Disguise Self with a very usable duration, but still needs to be supplemented with an points in the disguise skill because it only gives a +10 to the check. Shadow Evocation: Or you can just, you know, cast an actual spell from evocation 4th level or lower. If you have Evocation as one of your opposition schools, Id probably still memorize a 4th level or lower evocation spell with two slots instead of this. Symbol of Striking: (UC) Another befuddling trap spell in the Symbol Line.

Necromancy
Absorb Toxicity: (UC) In many cases where youre able to use this, inflicting it back on the target wont be terribly effective. Stupidly circumstantial, and not terribly useful. Astral Projection: (UM) Campaign specific, and thus hard to rate. Im not sure how being on the Astral Plane is going to help you much though, unless you really needed to see something the DM wants you to see for his story or setting. In that case hell probably provide you with the spell. Black Spot: (PoIS) Basically a level 5 Bestow Curse that slightly buffs your BSF against the target. Not terribly good for the level, nor is its application very easy. Blight: You must really have a thing against plants if youre spending a fifth level slot on a blast spell that specifically targets plants. Magic Jar: Im going to get Edumacated by the forums about how stupid I am, but whats the big draw of this spell? First off, your body is completely vulnerable, and I hate that. Second, you get to lock out a single target for the duration of the spell targeting a will save? Its nice that its not MindAffecting like the million other options there are for this, but spells like Dominate Person cause a similar duration. You can get a disposable body for the duration, but youre still going to be casting like a Wizard, so the only benefit is extra disposable HP if it works. I dunno, I think its good, just not blue good, and I dont see how its so broken that youre just a big cheaty face power gamer for using it. If you could jump from one body to another instead of having to go back to the jar every other round, I could kind of see it being broken, but if youre trying to clear a room of enemies youre going to be spending a lot of actions making that trip back to the Jar. And things are going to resist your possession, making even more wasted turns. And I hope

your body is in a safe place, which will be tough considering the 10 per level range. Plague Carrier: (UM) Unlike Contagion, this can be cast on anything with natural attacks and spread the disease, meaning you can transmit it with a summoned monster, or you can give your Rangers pet rabies. Like Contagion the onset is too long to be of any use to you, so its only useful in the very rare RP circumstance. Possess Object: (UM) Has a few traits that make it better than its lower level version. I certainly like the idea of this spell, but off the top of my head I cant see it being wildly useful, and its weak as a combat spell. Youre also one level away from getting the much superior Magic Jar. Suffocation: (APG) A nice save or die spell that lets them try to keep themselves alive, but even one failed save reduces their odds to pretty much nil. If they fail even one fortitude save in these three rounds they are reduced to 0 HP and are unconscious, which is good enough, but this spell likes to make sure it gets the job done. Even if they succeed they are staggered for a round which makes this better than a lot of other save-or-die options in general. Summoner Conduit: (UC) I can see uses for this (Especially as a DM dealing with summoners.) Whats interesting is that the close range of this spell suggests its for targeting the Eidolon or Summoned Monster, so theoretically if the Wizard is one of those Drop the summons and teleport away NPCs, then you can use this spell and then find a save or die that also deals damage to cast on the Summoned Monster (I cant think of any off the top of my head though.) The drawback of this spell is that it only links the effects of spells that deal damage, making it hard to recommend on top of its circumstantial nature. StreamOfTheSky was astute enough to point out that this doesnt specify HP damage, so something like Calcific Touch theoretically would channel through the summon too. I just dont see being able to use this often enough to recommend it. Symbol of Pain: You know, I wouldnt even be upset about the cost of all these symbol spells if they didnt all provide a saving throw on top of it. Waves of Fatigue: No saving throw goodness. Decent range. Not a huge effect for a 5th level spell, but at least you dont have to worry about failure (sans spell resistance.)

Transmutation
Animal Growth: If youre feeling particularly like you want to buff your Summon, you can make your Huge animal- monsters into amazing gargantuan monsters quite a bit earlier than when you get Summon Monster VII. If you have a Druid or Ranger in your party, making their animal grow saves them an action at least. This is an amazing buff by the way, +8 strength is incredible. Baleful Polymorph: Basically save or die, this is kind of the opposite of the previous levels phantasmal killer. The best effect is the first effect, which basically incapacitates the creature entirely. The second effect just seals the deal. If youre basing your build around save-or-die tactics, this isnt a bad choice for your preferred and perfected spell (Though I personally prefer flesh to stone.)

Beast Shape III: With the magical beasts youre finally not losing anything to your transformations, but the bonuses are a little small for a fifth level spell standard action (That and you cant cast in this form.) Echolocation: (UM) Probably too high level for the effect, especially since my main thought for this is to detect invisibility. It does detect other things, but in most cases a lower level spell is going to do the trick. It would let you detect things in deeper darkness though. Elemental Body II: A bit of a step up from last time. Decent if you can cast in this form, and Earth Elemental is decent for your potentially flanking buddy familiar. Energy Siege Weapon: (UC) On a rare circumstance I could see changing the full damage of a siege weapon to an energy type being good. Too rare for recommendation though and the secondary effects are generally sub-par for the level (though the duration is nice for them.) Fabricate: A faster crafting spell, essentially, though it doesnt make magical items any faster. Your BSF might be happy if you found a chunk of Adamantine and you used this to make him some armor real quick. Fickle Winds: (UM) I consider this a fine upgrade to Wind Wall. It takes away a lot of the drawbacks and makes versatile. Half-Blood Extraction: (ARG: Half-Orc) Um... Im not sure how often youll want to do this. Neat? Not worth 3,000 gp? Target loses intelligence? Monstrous Physique III: (UM) Finally offers enough in to make it worth spending a standard action casting this. +4 total armor, all-around vision, fast flight, plenty of sight modes to add, and some Im probably not seeing. Now the question is whether its worth a 5th level spell. Still, some good combined buffs thatll still let you continue casting. Overland Flight: Basically fly at-will, or at least until someone has the audacity of casting dispel magic on you. Saves you on magical items, which are interestingly in short supply for providing a decent means of persistant personal flight. Passwall: If you have stoneshape from level 4, and the wall is stone, this is redundant. If the wall is plaster or wood, then this could be worth something. Most of the time though stoneshape is better for the level. Planar Adaptation: (APG) A necessary precaution for your planar vacation. Considering that Planshift is a 7th level spell though, and Planar Adaptation, Mass is at that level, Im thinking this is too early to get any use out of this. Tonyz on the Paizo Forums points out that Clerics do get Planeshift at level 5, so in that situation and maybe others youll get some mileage out of this. Plant Shape: Im not really seeing too many advantages here. Polymorph: Finally get to use the polymorph spells on your friends. You should ask your DM if you can use the Monstrous and Undead forms with this too. Still, at this level, its probably not worth casting for the spells it duplicates for your buddies (Though its better than casting them on yourself.)

Rapid Repair: (UM) Depending on the construct, you might just want to cast a lightning bolt or similar Heals the Construct spell on it instead when it gets low. Outside of combat though this is worth a maximized lightning bolt at level 10, so if youre into Constructs and it doesnt already have fast healing, might be worth picking up. Telekinesis: The CMB on this is pretty low, like anything that targets CMD. The average creature is resisting your maneuvers about 75% of the time at this level. It appears that it is possible to increase this CMB through the respective combat maneuver feats since nothing says its worth it, but even if you had Improved and Greater Trip, that only makes it work about 40% of the time (Though causing attacks of opportunity with greater trip would be awesome.) Violent Thrust deals 15d6 to a single target if you can find a big and hard enough object to throw, which isnt terrible if you just need to do damage. The utility of Sustained Force is probably the most reliable use of this spell, and theoretically you could disarm creatures targeting their will save instead of trying to do a combat maneuver (Though most DMs would probably disapprove.) The utility is really what saves this spell. I want to really like this spell just because I think Telekinesis is cool, but the odds are just stacked against it in most of its aspects. Transmute Mud to Rock: These really should have just been the same spell. The problem with this spell isnt that its necessarily bad, but that you dont run into mud half as often as you run into rock. This IS a good spell to follow up transmute Rock to Mud with. Just have some way of quickcasting it if thats what you intend to do. Transmute Rock to Mud: Has some good versatility compared to its companion spell that makes it not horrible, but there are a lot of similar spells too. Treasure Stitching: (APG) Sort of a mass Shrink Item. This is a great way to move loot that you otherwise couldnt bring around, but this time it says you can move anything in the 10 square, which I think makes it more powerful than the third level spell even for one object. Take the furniture in the dungeon and put it in your handy haversack. Might want to cast ant haul on your BSF to move things onto the cloth. 100gp is potentially a small investment compared to the loot you could carry out with this. Undead Anatomy II: (UM) The Damage Reduction is nice, but the undead traits are a double-edged sword. Circumstantially good though, and you can still cast. Vermin Shape II: (UM) A bad deal for you, but maybe theres something you can turn your familiar into that Im not thinking of. Wind Blades: (ARG: Sylph) Not so sure about this being a 5th level slot, and touch range makes drops it off of my want list. Interesting idea though, gives the enemy a reason not to move. So does Web for that matter though.

Universal
Permanency: So you can permanently lose all these to Dispel Magic, but anything that saves you some standard actions is worth checking out. Enlarging your BSF is the first thing that comes to mind with this, and some of those symbol spells might actually be worth something while permanent.

6th-Level Wizard Spells

Abjuration
Antimagic Field: Very potent, and a shame it affects you too. Definitely worth considering if the occasion calls for it though. Dispel Magic, Greater: A fantastic upgrade to an already fantastic spell. Globe of Invulnerability: The effect isnt exactly two levels higher, but as mentioned before if metamagic is something your DM is using a lot, this is worth something. This will wreck your enervation build if your DM catches on to using this. Guards and Wards: This is really cool, and you know where it says 30 minute casting time? Well it actually means at least 30 minutes of real life game time while you sit down and figure out exactly where youre going to stick all the goodies you get with this spell. Most campaigns you wont get any chance to use this, but itd be fun to play with at least once. Repulsion: The area of effect on this gets huge. This might be one you want to use Selective Spell with, because a Will Save effect that restricts movement is a good idea. Undeath Ward: (DoG) This is actually pretty good. The fact that it completely blocks with no saving throw anything thats your level or lower makes it well worth considering for an undead situation. Symbol of Sealing: (UM) I liked the sound of this when I clicked the link for it, thinking maybe this time theres a Symbol spell Id like, and then I saw the material cost.

Conjuration
Acid Fog: The damage isnt really great enough to justify the level increase from Solid Fog, which was already overshadowed. Conjure Black Pudding: (UM) Which if I recall is the chocolate flavored, and fantastic for parties when you invite over your Ogre Mage friends. Its a CR7 monster like many of the other monsters on Summon Monster VI, but that spell is a lot more versatile. Its nice that this Pudding is huge for Battlefield control, and can split up when it gets hit by weapon attacks making more potential buddies. The grapple CMB is pretty low compared to average CMDs. Not a bad summon, but just plain worse than Summon Monster VI. Having no control over the creature and that it costs you 10gp a casting makes it even worse. If you want just a big lump of flesh for battlefield control, you can summon a Celestial Elasmosaurus or a Triceratops. Getaway: (APG) Unlimited range and swift action make this the ultimate oh crap lets get out of here spell. The 30 range for activation is sort of restrictive, but doesnt keep this from being awesome. The duration is the only thing keeping it from being a perfect contingency. Theres nothing that says you cant cast it in one place and then teleport to where there might be danger though. Ice Crystal Teleport: (UM) Single target and will negates is crap, but the effect is awesome. Mostly because you can teleport them miles away. Rated green simply for the utility implications of that and not so much for the combat

usefulness of it. Would be blue, but you have to actually wait for it to teleport the target. Planar Binding: Some good tricks you can pull out with this one. Check out the Glebrazu and his wish granting capabilities, as well as a longer duration Succubus whose SLA DCs are pretty good for the level (Watch out for her hard to beat Charisma though.) Summon Monster VI: Summon Monster VI is the SM of the SLAs. Besides the upgrade to the Earth Elementals Greater Bullrush and the Dire Tigers grapple rakefest, theres little in the way of Combat Maneuvers. In exchange we get the Succubus and her ability to replace the need to memorize Enchantment spells and the Lillend and her amazing ability to replace (somewhat) a party Bard. Fantastic level for Summon Monster. Wall of Iron: A stronger Wall of Stone but costs 50 gold a cast and isnt quite as versatile.

Divination
Analyze Dweomer: A good way to assess a situation for a Dispel Magic spell. I do think the duration is a little bit short for this glorified identify spell. Battlemind Link: (UM) This is a fantastic spell, but you only get to use onethird of it. The initiative roll is the selling point if you are anticipating combat however. If you really want to waste your actions, you can also spend them attacking and give your BSF a better chance to hit (But since you dont have multiple attacks, that only helps one or two rolls instead of all of them.) If you have another caster in the party, this is great for a save-or-die party. Legend Lore: The find quest spell might just tell you where you can to find the mythical Macguffin Muffin. Might get to cast this once or twice to move the plot forward, or find treasure. Named Bullet, Greater: (UC) Not really a huge improvement over the lesser version. Two extra spell levels isnt worth the +11 damage youd get from this when you could be casting a maximized fireball in this slot instead. True Seeing: There may be times where you just need this. The 250 gold casting cost is a tiny bit restrictive though.

Enchantment
Cloak of Dreams: (APG) Id normally scoff at this, but sleep is powerful enough an effect to consider casting this. Additionally it appears to effect creatures that even enter the square next to you, giving a great buffer against melee attackers. You can also cast it on your familiar for some potentially interesting antics. If you have a Widen Spell rod, then its worth putting on this, but its not worth making it a level 9 spell. Envious Urge: (UM) Another multiple creatures lose their actions spell for enchantment and get a will save every round to remove it. I like this one more than the other spells, but it makes them attack friend or ally. The fact that you can choose between Grapple (Nice!), and the other effects makes it better, especially if you didnt manage to overwhelm the dangerous casters that have higher will saves. RAW doesnt tell you if you have to command all the creatures to do the same thing, or if you can be picky. Overall, Confusion 2 levels lower is better because it doesnt offer a will save every round, but not a bad effect if it lands.

Geas: If you can hold someone down for 10 minutes, this is awesome. Heroism, Greater: Substantially shorter duration than Heroism, and still single target. The bonus is greater, but maybe not have to cast in battle greater. (Wizards really would have liked Good Hope.) This does give immunities to fear, however, and while the Duration still sucks, if you have any inkling that your enemy might be employing fear tactics take this along. Serenity: (UM) Multiple creatures dont lose their actions here, but they get punished if they try anything violent. It doesnt offer multiple saves which is nice, but this is the level slot you could be using for a Persistent Confusion spell or a Dazing Fireball. There are better picks than this for combat, but it could be good for RP/diplomatic purposes. Suggestion, Mass: Its like suggestion... but Mass. Symbol of Persuasion: Yup. A quite expensive mass charm spell. Utter Contempt: (UM) First, Im not sure why youd want to do this, and second, arent there earlier spells that have similar effects? Does this really fit as a level 6 spell? Vengeful Outrage: (UM) The duration seems to defy the description. The bonuses arent good enough to cast on allies, and Dominate Person is superior in duration and effect and was last level.

Evocation
Chain Lightning: Remember what I said about Lightning Bolt being surgical? Well, this is the surgical spell. Lots of damage, built in selective spell, and the only downside is that a Dazing Chain Lightning is level 9 (But maybe worth it. 6 rounds of daze targeting reflex and 17d6 damage isnt too shabby. Still, get a Rod if you can.) Chains of Fire: (ARG:Ifrit) A palette swapped chain lighting. Slightly worse because of all the fire resistance out there. Cold Ice Strike: (UM) A blue blast spell? Well, take a look at the casting time. A quickened 3rd level spell is a level 7 spell. This is a level earlier and does more damage. Circumvent the action economy and do three things in a turn with this spell without the need for Metamagic. Contagious Flame: (APG) Upgraded Scorching Ray with more rays and keeps attacking for two rounds after. No saving throw, but you do have to roll to-hit with all of them. At this level its probably not too hard to hit most creatures touch AC. Not too bad as far as damage spells go as this can deal 20d6 damage a round if youre firing at multiple targets. Being that directing the rays is a free action, between Cold Ice Strike, this, Ball Lightning, and whatever standard action you like youre now doing 4 offensive things a round for two rounds after you cast this. Contingency: Long duration means cast it ahead of time. Do things like Autofly if you ever happen to be falling, Globe of Invulnerability if youre targeted by a metamagicked 3rd level or lower spell, or cast suffocation immediately on anyone who touches your familiar.

Hellfire Ray: (BotD1) Single Target no save Ray Spell that deals damage. Kind of underwhelming. Its nice that they cant save, but I think you have even better damage spells by this level. Forceful Hand: At level 11 your odds of pushing an average target back 5 feet is 25%. Not really worth the spell level higher than interposing hand. Freezing Sphere: A double sized fireball with a little extra utility. Now heres a question, since you can hold the charge as a touch spell can you have your familiar hold it? In either case, with metamagic this is a huge area and might be a consideration as a level 9 spell. Leashed Shackles: (UM) This is a good idea, but its after you get Black Tentacles and a plethora of spells that target reflex through metamagic. Path of the Winds: (ARG: Sylph) A controllable windwall spell. Doesnt do too much more than the lower level spell, but you can shift it around. Concentration isnt terribly attractive. Sirocco: (APG) This spell takes me back to my Hucksters guide for Deadlands which had a spell with the same name... It was a mediocre spell in that game, but its pretty good here. It knocks enemies prone targeting Fortitude, which is generally bad for knocking down the targets you want to be prone, but you can use it to take down fliers, which is good. The fliers have a good chance of avoiding this though. It also fatigues creatures regardless of save, which is very nice, and makes this a very worthy badzone. Its made better that if they stay in the badzone they become exhausted. The length of the spell and damage makes this a very good pick.

Illusion
Mislead: An interesting lead-in to Greater Invisibility. Nice effect, still allows a saving throw or your awesome wizardly getaway will be thwarted. Permanent Image: Really cool and inviting for creative uses. Programmed Image: Better than magic mouth for what it does, and a creative person can come up with some great things just like with the previous spell, but it does cost money (A small amount, but its there.) Shadow Walk: An interesting travel spell that is one level too late since now you can scry and teleport to places. Not to mention your stylish flying phantom chariot. Unwilling Shield: (APG) I think Unwilling Shield is good if used on a willing target since you dont have to worry about the Will Save. Its a good way for your meat shield to take damage for you when you have to take damage. If you have a target that you know you can beat the will save, its obviously better if you cast it on someone unwilling. At this level the duration is probably fine but makes it contend a little more for your standard actions since you probably wont have time to cast it in advance and still get much use out of it. Veil: A step up from Seeming in that you can make them look like anything you want instead of just the limitations of Disguise Self (like a group of civilized oozes instead of humans for instance.)

Necromancy

Circle of Death: Mass save or die for weaklings you could probably just kill with a damage spell at this point. That said, you may keep it around in case you start facing armies later on.
Contagion, Greater: (UM) A meaner version of Contagion, which is still too slow to be of any use to you, unless you really like being evil to NPCs. You anti-social jerk. Create Undead: A better version of Animate Dead, giving you a step up on the creatures relevancy. Much weaker creatures than Summon Monster VI even, but the duration is the selling point I guess. Also it doesnt seem to adhere to any HD limit. Curse, Major: (UM) The benefit of this spell is not that its harder to remove, but that it now has a close range rather than touch. The open endeness and permanency of this spell makes it worth considering, but if you can try to do it outside of combat because the saving throw and the spell resistance aspects may get you a wasted turn. Eyebite: Gives you something to do with your swift action for the duration, which basically equates to a fortitude check against a target of your choice to see if you can sicken them thanks to the HD limits. You may have better things to do with your swift action starting this level (like Cold Ice Strike) but its potentially better than doing nothing with your swift action (Though it takes a standard action to cast the first time.) Symbol of Fear: Another expensive trap, this time the effect being more incombat like and less trap-like even. Undeath to Death: Not something youd throw around because of the material cost, but there are very few save or die spells that target undead, which mind you come in hordes as part of their flavor.

Transmutation
Age Resistance: (UM) On the off chance that youre starting at level 11 in the campaign youre playing in, then start your Wizard as an old man and get a +2 age bonus to intelligence and just cast this every day. The 24 hour duration makes this perfect for exploiting that (if your DM will let you.) Otherwise, ignore it. Bears Endurance, Mass: When you have buffs like Haste that do things that actually stack with your equipment, I can only recommend this line of enhancement spells for buffing NPCs. Bears Endurance wont stack with Augment Summoning either. Beast Shape IV: Id recommend this for your familiar, except the elemental shape spells are generally better. This can add things like Web and Poison that can give your familiar something to do though. Bulls Strength, Mass: See Bears Endurance. Also wont even stack with Augment Summoning. Cats Grace, Mass: Still might not be worth casting for your standard action by this level, but some summons might benefit from this because they have Weapon Finesse which does not get augmented by the feat, making it more applicable than just situations where youre commanding NPCs around.

Control Water: A weird utility spell that strikes me as a bit weak for 6th level, and maybe even only useful in aquatic campaigns. Disintegrate: A blast spell specifically made to be good at destroying objects as well. Its dual nature is what makes it worth memorizing, because Ill admit, sometimes you just need to blast. Having that slot usable for making a hole in the dungeon or countering a Force Wall makes it a little more versatile than other blast spells without metamagic. While the damage sucks if they save, this is incredible single target damage if they fail. Eagles Splendor, Mass: Add +2 to hit on your superior summons that have Celestial templates and a Charisma 10 or higher. Other than that, not terribly useful. Elemental Body: Orange for you if you can cast while in this form, orange for your Familiar anyway. This is getting more and more worth the standard action to cast. Thanks to the penalty to dexterity on the Earth Elemental, the Air Elemental is suddenly the better pick this time around for your buddy. Undead Anatomy kind of takes a little bit of this spells thunder since it offers 5/- damage reduction a level early from this spell line. Enemy Hammer: (APG) Oh how I wanted this spell to not suck, but it does. The last of the single target lock-out spells were 5th level, now you should be affecting multiple targets. The effect is funny, but it takes a standard action to use, and doesnt deal that much damage. To top it off they get to save every round. Why must you mock me with your awesome by making it not awesome Paizo!? Energy Siege Weapon: (UC) A level higher just to affect larger siege engines with the exact same effect? No thanks. Flesh to Stone: Only creatures made of flesh, but this is a true single save-ordie spell without messing with Will saves to keep your memories or garbage like that. Dont bother if youre not building yourself around this tactic. Fluid Form: (APG) Slashing is a common weapon type, but a lot of monsters use slam attacks (I think Bite is Piercing and Bludgeoning too) so the DR is decent circumstantially in combat. The 10 reach and utility makes this a decent spell. Form of the Dragon I: Overshadowed by Undead Anatomy now thanks to the option for damage reduction while still retaining energy resistance and a few other options. Still not bad. You may need to argue with your DM about technicalities concerning material components on this one too. Foxs Cunning, Mass: Despite what you keep telling people, you are one of the few exception classes that absolutely needs intelligence. But, if your party isnt grabbing INT enhancement items for skill slots, this can temporarily grant them ranks in skills which potentially makes this more powerful than Inspire Competence if you ever need it. Hardening: (CS) Permanent duration. Nice. Pop that on your permanent duration Stone Wall or Rampart, the latter which does not come with its own hardness.

Mages Lubrication: Wait, trade a 6th level slot for a lower level slot? You sir, have just memorized Bad Deal. However, if youre a spellbinder or if you craft staves, this isnt actually a horrible choice - especially for the aforementioned spellbinder since it can multiply your without making the 6th level slot necessarily worthless. Monstrous Physique IV: (UM) The last of the Monstrous Physique line that gives some minor upgrades to the previous levels benefits. If you can get a good combination of them, this is the better cast. Move Earth: The spell description describes this spells primary use quite well. The area of effect is nice and so is the permanency. A decent utility for if it ever comes up. Owls Wisdom, Mass: In case youre facing something that you need a higher will save for and no one is wearing wisdom headbands (Which is actually not an unlikely scenario.) Plant Shape II: Still not seeing any major benefits especially when compared to other polymorph spells. Stone to Flesh: You may find yourself needing this at some point. If nothing else you can make some pretty disgusting fleshy sections of your nemesis castle with this. Tar Pool: (UC) This strikes me as really out of place at level 6, but the effect radius is large and it makes a good place to drop a Sirocco. Transformation: Even if it was remotely a good idea to give up your spellcasting to become a BSF, you should have dumped your strengh and a +4 isnt going to make you into a very good fighter anyway. To make matters worse, this has a material component cost of a bulls strength potion. Undead Anatomy III: (UM) Straight up damage reduction this time is better than last level, and you can easily find a good combination of abilities to make this worth casting. I will point out that the +8 untyped bonus to mindaffecting spells is better than the 8th level mind-blank spell, so keep that in mind (Though obviously it lacks the duration.)

7th-Level Wizard Spells

Abjuration
Banishment: Dismissal, but multi-targeting. The 2 HD a level is better than it sounds if youre using it against summoned monsters. Will negation makes this save or lose against BBEGs you might use this against, but I like how you can add bonuses to your spell penetration and DCs as part of your preparation. Circle of Clarity: (UM) Anti-illusion spell that has a relatively weak effect for the level, but circumstantially useful. Expend: (APG) A great idea, but a lot of what you want to use it on will have a high Will save. Sequester: For when you want to take a vacation from all this Macguffin Muffin nonsense. It is cast and forget, making it a little better than other options. Spell Turning: Good duration, but not many spell levels, and 100gp per cast. Good for when you need it. Teleport Trap: (ISWG) Even though this has a component cost, it covers a pretty big area for the price. Not a memorize every day spell, but a great way to set up your stronghold or prepare for a battle if you know its coming and you have 10 minutes (11 if you have fast study because youre probably not going to have this memorized.)

Conjuration
Caustic Eruption: (UM) Raw blast, but the built in lingering effect is nice, and the area is larger than most other blast spells. Note that this blast ignores SR, which is pretty major. Create Demiplane, Lesser: (UM) This is the first of a line of spells that make the idea of God Wizard have a little extra meaning. At this level it seems to be a great refuge spell. A lot of forum threads recommend plane shifting creatures onto this. This isnt a bad idea for singling out the Big Scary Monster from his minions, but you have to beat his Will Save. The biggest reason for having this spell, I think, is to get started on your Extraplanar home a couple of levels early before you start getting the toys later on. Hostile Juxtaposition, greater: (UC) Same as the first in usefulness, though nice that you can do larger creatures now. Instant Summons: If you have some great item sequestered, like maybe even a spare spellbook, this is another method of having a spare item to call back like the secret chest spell. The advantage of this compared to secret chest is that you dont have to carry around the miniature to get the item you want back, so if youre stripped down naked for any reason you can call it from anywhere. 1,000gp a cast, but it could be worth the investment. Joyful Rapture: (UM) Interesting that a Wizard would get a sort of lesser restoration for mental stats. I dont see being able to use this often, but its unique, which makes it circumstantially useful.

Mages Magnificent Mansion: A true nighttime safety spell, the door becoming invisible and the rest not on your plane gives reasonable security against wandering monsters. Phase Door: With Passwall and Stone Shape, this is a little redundant, especially for the level. This isnt a permanent doorway though, and it disallows creatures from entering it without your permission, so there may be a time when its the better choice. Plane Shift: Start your interplanar travel with this spell you get four levels after your divine companions. There may be a lot of reasons you need to use this besides campaign specific ones. Rampart: (APG) Compare this to Wall of Stone which is two levels earlier. Rampart doesnt have to have an adjoining rock surface, and it covers a wider area. Wall of Stone explicitly says it can be shaped and has a hardness of 8, though Rampart makes up for this with raw HP. There are a lot of similarities here that make it difficult to recommend at this level in comparison, but Rampart is still a good spell thats usable in more places than WoS. Summon Monster VII: Summon Monster VIIs biggest problem is that its best options are Gargantuan, which in many cases thats wonderful, but in some cases youre just not going to have room to summon them. But if you have the room the monsters here are wildly powerful. Teleport, Greater: Put away that crystal ball and go where you please. Teleport Object: Better than Shrink Item for getting the loot you really want out of a location, and one step toward you becoming the master thief. Walk through Space: (UC) Teleport 30 as a move action. If youre a conjurer youre probably moving 35 as a swift action by now. Even still, you can act after you move with this, and its still solid for anyone who isnt a conjurer.

Divination
Arcane Sight, Greater: Arcane sight without fumbling with the dice to figure things out about the auras you see. Not really worth two more levels, especially if youve made regular arcane sight permanent, but your DM may make you use this to identify artifacts. Scrying, Greater: Adds a lot of detection spells for you to scrying, which is useful, but perhaps more importantly it increases the duration. Vision: Fatigued doesnt hurt you too bad, and this is a lot better than Legend Lore for getting that answer you need right now.

Enchantment
Hold Person, Mass: Making this mass makes it more usable if youre facing groups of humanoids at this level, which makes this slightly campaign specific, but still potent because of the paralysis effect. Insanity: The best part about Confusion was its multi-target nature. Take it away, and youve got another boring enchantment spell with all the same problems. The duration is great, and there may come a time where that is useful, but in general skip this; its just another save or lose.

Power Word Blind: The average HP when you first get this is 173, jumping above 200 at level 15. So right out of the box its pretty effective, though the duration is short, and it still has to go through spell resistance. Not as good once its not an insta-blind at the start of combat. Symbol of Stunning: Im getting really tired of these. 5,000 gp for something your dazing fireball does (basically) more effectively. Waves of Esctasy: (UM) I really like how this does something if they succeed their saving throw, but Id venture to say Id rather cast Slow or a metamagic spell (Or a metamagic Slow spell.) Stun is a little more powerful than daze, but not powerful enough I think. To top it off, its still mind affecting like so many other enchantment spells.

Evocation
Ki Shout: (UM) Really? This is Level 7? *Facepalm* Delayed Blast Fireball: A fireball grenade that you can choose to go off after a set amount of time. I honestly cant think of too many occasions when it would be better to wait for the fireball to go off, except maybe if you were setting up some during a timestop spell, though you CAN set it up to go off instantly. The damage has no cap, which is a plus, and while its a little high level to be useful for metamagic, if you can afford a dazing rod, its definitely a good one for that. Forcecage: A potent aoe lockdown that would be good if it werent for the 500gp per cast limiting it dramatically. But, once you get timestop this is one method for holding your enemies still for whatever effects you stack down on them. Grasping Hand: mmk, so when you get this the CMB for the grapple is 24. Thats about a 40% average chance of success on a grapple or bullrush. If you summon a Tyrannosaurus with Augment Summoning, his grapple CMB is 32, which is an 80% chance of success. The T-Rex is gargantuan, sure, but even with that in mind 40% isnt very good odds. (Incidentally, Black Tentacles at this level has a 5% average chance of success.) It does provide you cover with what it tries to do though, and it can attempt to lock out enemy casters with a decent chance of success (Of course the T-Rex could swallow that caster whole.) Mages Sword: Actually fairly substantial cast and forget damage with little risk. Not as good as summoning, but without disintegrate or similar option, theres not much the target can do to stop the sword. A great harrassment tool. Prismatic Spray: This has about a 37% chance of doing boring damage, but its a large AOE so if there are a lot of monsters, this is a nice chaotic spell to hopefully mess a good number of them up. Not really as good if your DM makes you roll once for all the creatures in the area to save time. Scouring Winds: (UM) Its nice that you can move this around. Its not nice that its a pretty small area compared to what your other wind spells should be enjoying right now. Vortex: (APG) A great DM spell for aquatic campaigns if your players are piloting the ship because I doubt theyre going to have many ranks in Profession: Sailor. DC 25 is high for most NPCs though, so if youre into

sinking ships, this is the spell you should be using. Used for campaign specific circumstances.

Illusion
Invisibility, Mass: Great utility with numerous uses. Lunar Veil: (UM) For making things dark, Deeper Darkness is better and a 3rd level spell (Though not on your spell list.) For reverting Lycanthropes, True Form is a 4th level spell. I guess 3+4 is 7, but Im still not convinced the effects add up to a 7th level spell, especially such a circumstantial one. Phantasmal Revenge: (APG) Its phantasmal killer, except you can use it as a murder detection spell. If it fails the creature you cast it on was not murdered. If it succeeds, well, I wonder if you can track the ghost somehow. Either way, I think its a little better than phantasmal killer because of its relatively unique use. Might be worth keeping around for the rare circumstance you have to become a detective. Or you could have your Cleric cast Speak with Dead. Project Image: A good way to cast from safety. Shadow Conjuration, Greater: Same problems as the previous shadow spells. Simulacrum: While expensive, you can create anything you want with half the power of the creature you want. At level 13, the first thing that comes to mind is a Jabberwock. Even with half power, something like that would be an incredible companion. The description says nothing about needing to have actually seen a creature, or have anything from the creature, so all youd really need is the appropriate knowledge check. It seems to me like you could just make up a level 20 character and then use half the level as well, getting you a level 10 companion, which is still amazing for the level. There are a lot of possibilities here, many of them pretty cheesy and probably will be stopped by any sane DM.

Necromancy
Control Undead: A better version of Dominate Person for undead, and controls multiple undead including intelligent ones. Best if used in a situation where the multiple targets have a good chance of getting you a thrall or two.
Epidemic: (UM) Like Contagion, this isnt necessarily going to be good for you, but if youre charged with a genocidal quest like Clear out the Ogres this could possibly be a way to setup your invasion. (Ogres at this level are probably a bad example though.) Finger of Death: I definitely like disintegrate for damage more since it has a little utility and its a level earlier. As far as fortitude save or lose spells go, suffocate is generally better. Plague Storm: (UM) Doesnt have the passive advantage of Epidemic, and has the drawbacks of Contagion still. Symbol of Weakness: A decent amount of strength damage, but for the gold cost, you could be casting 20 force cages.

Temporary Resurrection: (UM) If youre unfortunate enough to not have anyone who can do a real resurrection, its interesting that youre able to do this, and itd be helpful then. The 500 gold cost is a bit much for a temporary solution, but if youre close to finishing a dungeon or something it might be worth it just to finish up and then find a Cleric somewhere. Waves of Exhaustion: A super nice upgrade from the previous spell. -6 to strength and dexterity is a pretty good debuff too.

Transmutation
Age Resistance, Greater: (UM) +3 to your mental stats is going to give you the same bonus as a +2 a lot of times, but it could save you on your point buy if you happen to be starting at level 13 and want to exploit the thing I mentioned with the earlier version of this spell. Arcane Cannon: (UC) Summon a cannon that you can fire with a move action, but it can only fire every other round because it has to load between rounds. It does weapon damage making it situational, but the focus is super expensive and I dont really think its worth it. Control Construct: (UM) A great idea ruined by concentration duration. Control Weather: Obviously not really a combat spell, but great for setting up a situation in your favor. (High winds can subvert fliers, tornados can clear out land, etc.) Elemental Body IV: Some upgrades from the previous level and straight up damage reduction this time. There are some things that make this worth considering over Undead Anatomy III (if you can cast in this form), like how the Flight is a lot faster for the Air Elemental than anything else you can cast so far, and the AC boosts are just better in general. Fire Elemental is probably the best personal form for you. Ethereal Jaunt: On a personal level, this does all the things that Passwall and Phase Door does and more. Also makes a pretty good defensive spell in case the enemy is pretty good at seeing invisibility as well. Its too bad the duration is so short, meaning youll likely have to use another slot so you can cast it again and get out of where youre at (Whether that slot is another Jaunt spell or if its a Teleport.) Firebrand: (APG) At level 13 you can put this on 3 creatures, so your whole party besides yourself if you have a typical 4 man party. +1d6 is extremely poor at level 7, not to mention fire resistance is becoming more and more common. The laser effect is cool, but it ends the spell after they use it. Fly, Mass: (APG) Saves you a lot of third level spells and standard actions to cast this. Also has ten times the duration. Its two levels after you get overland flight though, which has 60 times the duration of the original fly spell. If youre going to be casting fly spells at this level, Id almost say cast and forget is a better way to go (But you should really start looking into magic items for your grounded buddies.) This is faster than overland flight however and has its uses. Form of the Dragon II: Still overshadowed by the previous levels undead anatomy I think, though some of the weaknesses of undead anatomy might turn you to this spell (if you must spend the standard action buffing up.) Also, I think that the various elemental forms are generally better than this if you

can cast while an Elemental. Giant Form I: Not a bad form for your Familiar to take on, but the elemental forms are better. Regeneration could save your familiars life though. Could also use this to have your familiar throw rocks. Ice Body: (UM) Gives you a very nice set of immunities and damage reduction. Think about this for any situation it might be useful. Planar Adaptation, Mass: (APG) Magical sunscreen for when you want to bring your friends along with you on your planar vacation. Plant Shape III: A combination of damage reduction and regeneration might make this decent to cast on your familiar, particularly if youre using him to deliver touch attacks. Polymorph, Greater: Ask your DM if you can do monstrous physique and undead anatomy with this, and then youre set for giving your BSF great things like Pounce and strength bonuses. Even without those two options some of the elemental forms are good buffs to your party tank. Resonating Word: (UM) Meh. Could be good against a caster with low fortitude, but you have better single target lock-out spells than this by now. Reverse Gravity: If the creatures you are against cant fly, this is incredible. If nothing else it divides out the creatures that cant fly nicely. Just make sure that your people can fly before you cast this, or try Selective Spell. Especially note the lack of spell resistance. Statue: Being a free action, every other round you can spend the time between your rounds as a statue, effectively getting 8 damage reduction. Not a bad idea, but there is some risk if the enemy is especially good at sundering things. I especially like the duration. Note that you can cast this on your friends too.

Universal
Limited Wish: For 1,500 gold you can cause a no-save -7 penalty on an enemys saving throw. Depending on the BBEG that might be worth it to be able to pull of your save or die. Except you may want to bring some Dweomers Essence too to make sure you also beat their spell resistance when casting this. Besides that, duplicating lower level spells for 1,500 gold has some versatility, but its really expensive. Not bad to have around as a contingency for a bad situation.

8th-Level Wizard Spells

Abjuration
Dimensional Lock: AOE Dimensional Anchor with an incredible duration. Very potent for what it does, though I am a bit confused about how the Spell Resistance thing works, the wording does sound like it doesnt matter once the lock is in place, but maybe when the lock is first put into place? Mind Blank: By this level this equates to +3 to your resistance against mindaffecting spells because youre already going to have a resistance bonus to your saves. Undead Anatomy III is a better Mind Blank, except that its only personal range. If you are being hunted for any reason, or if you really need that extra +3, this may be worth casting though the 8th level slot is an expensive slot for such a preparation. There is one factor that does bump this up to blue though, and thats the fact it does give you complete immunity to Divination. That includes True Seeing thwarting your Invisibility ring and your Mirror Image spells. Prismatic Wall: This is pretty cool, and very hard to take down. Its not particularly big compared to other wall spells you have, but its extremely potent and deadly. Protection from Spells: For 500 gold a cast you can get a +3 to your resistances to spells. I dont think this is worth it. You can cast this on your whole party at once though, if you all have the expensive focus as well.

Conjuration
Call Construct: (UM) A fairly expensive transportation for your construct. Might want to just take him with you somehow and save on airfare. Create Demiplane: (UM) I get the feeling I could make an entire guide about this spell alone. At first glance it doesnt seem very useful except as a very customizable escape place. If there was a super reliable way of transporting baddies to this location I could easily see it as a custom battlefield. As it is the spell is really cool, but as Im sure world creation is beyond the scope of what Id want to work on at this very moment, Im just going to color this green and say check it out. Incendiary Cloud: Its like Cloudkill dealing HP fire damage instead of CON damage. There are other damaging badzone spells that arent using an 8th level slot and do more damage (though not necessarily providing a fog cloud cover like this one does.) Maze: No-save, NOT mind-affecting, single target lockout spell. Whoa, its like enchantment, but not sucky. Potentially this can lock them out for 10 minutes, but the average creature at this level (CR15) will have a 25% chance of escape each round, and at best theyll have a 50% chance of escape. Thats pretty potent. Those odds are actually better as you level up all the way up until CR25 thanks to the fact that Intelligence isnt a particularly high stat in the beastiary. Planar Binding, Greater: The planetar is pretty good if you have no qualms of sealing up an Angel in your service, and you can get some early access to Summon Monster IX creatures. Marilith and the Horned devil are also pretty

good choices. Most of those creatures are will lose relevance in a couple of levels. Its pretty good when you first get it though, so use it while you can. Seamantle: (APG) If youre going to the fire plane, this is a great way to mess the place up. You may want to consider this if youre fighting Red Dragons too. The armor bonus is also potent and since its cover, I doubt youll have anything that stacks with it (besides taking cover of course.) Summon Monster VIII: Summon Monster VIIIs main purpose seems to be summoning multiple monsters from a previous list. Besides a couple of elementals, nothing here really does anything better than whats been done in a previous level, and thats saying a lot. Rift of Ruin: (BotD2) Sort of a super level 8 create pit spell, except you can cover a super area with it. Also lets you perform a summon monster spell at the end. The last time we saw a pit spell was Hungry Pit, and this spell only does 2d6 more damage than that spell. However, this one does do random damage, so if you can catch something in this itll probably hurt. The additional chomp down part for double damage is also kind of nice. Ultimately I think this spell tries to do too much, but it does a lot so I do recommend it if your bread is buttered on the evil side. Trap the Soul: Simply circumstantial. In the proper campaign and circumstance, the no save version of this is good and would be a great way to end a story arc. Wall of Lava: (APG) Wall of Stone has a higher hardness and more versatility. The advantage of this wall though is that it can repair itself, which Wall of Stone cant do. I dont think its enough to justify 3 levels higher though.

Divination
Discern Location: Finally a spell shows you exactly where you need to go with little recourse. That said, remember that enemies can also use this against you if they are looking for you. Moment of Prescience: Long duration contingency spell or even a preparation spell for succeeding in things like Charisma checks. Level 8 is a good level for Diviners. Prying Eyes, Greater: Well this is nice. True seeing without the component cost. Granted these guys arent your eyes, but the duration is nice, and you can just bring them along with you and they can give you warnings as necessary. Prediction of Failure: (UM) This spell is full of win. It automatically makes them both shaken and sickened for at least 15 rounds. If they fail their save it just makes it permanent. Those two conditions combined stacks on a -4 to their future saving throws. The only drawback is that this is a mind-affecting spell. The random spellblight is just icing on the cake.

Enchantment
Antipathy: Off spray for your party paladin, or something more useful than that if you want. I do like how it has some effect if the creature makes their saving throw stays in the area you ward off, though -4 to dex isnt that great. Hour casting time is restrictive, but this makes a decent preparation spell.

Binding: For this to really work well you have to get the whole party on it, but it is a cool way to bind up a creature you just cant defeat yet. Still an expensive means of creating a temporary solution to a problem, but it may be the only means you have. Charm Monster, Mass: Still need a high charisma for this to really work beyond locking enemies down, but now you have Moment of Prescience if you really need to get them to do something specific. The mass effect of this lockout spell is pretty nice, but I think the lower level confusion is better for the level for the short term if youre just trying to disable them for a battle. Demand: Basically a long ranged suggestion spell, which could be good. Euphoric Tranquility: (APG) Melee touch range, but no saving throw, so they arent going to retaliate after you cast this. With this youve become the ultimate diplomatic catalyst in any social situation for a minute or two. Did you know that many Demons are not immune to mind-affecting spells? Irresistible Dance: Maze is more effective as a lockout, I think, but this lets your allies reign in some havoc even if its only for one round thanks to the debuff this includes. Plus you can cast this and then a Dazing Cold Ice Strike for a highly likely to succeed 6 round daze effect. Power Word Stun: At this level youre going to have to do some damage before this works, and with no-save lockout spells available this level, Im not sure its worth waiting a few rounds so that you can pull this off. Symbol of Insanity: No more symbol spells, please. Sympathy: Attract a creature into your trap. This could be worth the 1,500 gold with the right setup, and its even recommended to use this with the Binding spell.

Evocation
Clenched Fist: I like how this has a stun chance with each effect equal to YOUR DC, and that makes the attack form of this worth it. CMB-wise its not any better from previous levels. A potentially potent cast and forget harassment spell. Polar Ray: Too bad split ray is no longer a metamagic, because this isnt too shabby. Basically no-save single target blast with minor dex damage. Probably a little weak for the level, but not awful. Shout, Greater: A decent AOE stun overshadowed by Stormbolts and Waves of Ecstacy. The AOE is large enough to consider in groups of enemies, and youll at least deal damage and have some stun effect, but overall not as great as more specialized spells. Stormbolts: (APG) Reminiscent of Horrid Wilting for blast damage. This does more damage and has a chance of stunning, and has built in Selective Spell. The only drawback is that its electric damage. The only thing that makes it less than blue is that you can have metamagic effects that lock enemies out for longer. Sunburst: Huge area of effect and permanent blindness make this worth considering. Not really worth it for the damage unless youve run across Raccoon City or something.

Telekinetic Sphere: Capture creatures and then move them into a different trap. Could capture a couple of creatures with this, and its difficult to get out. The movement aspect isnt necessarily worth the 4 level increase on this though. Has some utility use.

Illusion
Scintillating Pattern: No-save confusion while disabling the lower level minions isnt too shabby.

Screen: I cant see this being useful being so high level, especially since this is the level that if the enemy was really looking for something, Discern location is going to find it and this spell doesnt help against that. May be useful in a blue moon still though. Shadow Evocation, Greater: Not worth an 8th level slot to cast 7th level or lower Wizard Spells.

Necromancy
Clone: This is a little ambiguous on whether you can preempt a death by creating a clone, but I think you should be able to and this spell is rated with that in mind. Basically, you can make clones of your entire party and keep them in your Demiplane for safe-keeping. If your party wipes, youll have saved them from death. Create Greater Undead: Some more really low level creatures you can make permanent minions out of. Horrid Wilting: The only advantage this has over Stormbolts now is that its damage is just plain vanilla as long as the creatures are living. Orb of the Void: (UM) Sounds cool, but the fortitude save every time it moves into the square kind of kills it in comparison to enervation. The turn after turn effect might make it worth the level 8 slot, but you also might just be wasting your move action with this guy. If it did more than one negative level in damage, itd be more worth considering (Id take 1d4.) Symbol of Death: And this is the spell I should direct all my hatred towards for spawning the numerous expensively bad deals it has.

Transmutation
Form of the Dragon III: More HP and Armor than Frightful Aspect, as well as immunity to a particular energy. Doesnt include the spell resistance, and more importantly, the auto-shaken effect though. Still a good solid buff though.
Frightful Aspect: (UC) This a very nice buff defensively. The Shaken aspect of this also has no saving throw which is awesome, and it excludes your friends. Giant Form II: The other polymorph spells this level are really just better for you or your Familiar. Iron Body: Would have been good if not for the Arcane Spell failure chance, but that doesnt preclude you from throwing it up on your Familiar.

Polymorph Any Object: Use this to gradually give your fighter friends permanent better forms, or come up with all kinds of creative uses for using it on objects. Temporal Stasis: The Somac spell (+1 if you get the reference. ) And extending your longevity is the only thing I can think of using it for. Undead Anatomy IV: (UC) After just looking at Frightful Aspect, this seems underwhelming. This also offers a few things Frightful aspect does not, like a fast fly speed, energy resistance, and the aforementioned +8 against mind affecting spells and other great saving throws.

9th-Level Wizard Spells

Abjuration
Echeans Excellent Enclosure: (RG) Seems to be pretty much the ultimate lock out spell. No save, and very little will get through that 40 hardness. Keep your familiar next to your BSF and then have your familiar touch your BSF with this spell once hes next to something that hell annihilate when they cant cast spells. That touch range is can also broken since it can be extended with a Reach Spell rod. Freedom: A very specific counterspell that targets only one creature. Keep it in your spellbook in case you ever need it, but probably too specific to ever cast it. You should have a Freedom of Movement ring by now. Imprisonment: This is like the single target will-save-or-die spell to end all such spells. It does have one advantage though, that wonderful -4 to the enemys saving throws built in if you know something about them. This could also save some money on casting temporal stasis on a buddy who wants to see the future, if youre ever thinking about doing that.

Mages Disjunction: The ultimate in dispel magic, removes anything positive that the enemy has cast on themselves or even equipped with little repercussion.
Mind Blank, Communal: (UC) If youre being chased this could be worth casting, and there could be the rare occasion when you really need that +3 to your Mind-Affecting Resistance. In such a case, this saves you a lot of 8th level slots. Prismatic Sphere: If you just want to sit safe like a pansy, this is a good spell. Otherwise Prismatic Wall is more useful. Symbol of Vulnerability: (UM) If I were going to spend 15,000gp on a spell, itd be on Gate (and I would keep the change.) Wall of Suppression: (APG) Sounds like it could be good, but the 1,000 gold cost makes it hard to recommend for daily casting (Though that should be a drop in the hat at this level.)

Conjuration
Clashing Rocks: (APG) I read this as Knock target creature prone and deal some damage too. You have little chances of not knocking the target prone with this spell, and there doesnt seem to be any size limitation either, so it might be worth a cast. If they fail their save, theyre buried, if they succeed, theyre probably prone. Overall a pretty good deal. Create Demiplane, Greater: (UM) There are so many things you can do with this. The 24 hour duration per level makes this being a level 9 slot completely irrelevant. For one, you can make it a timeless area where you can prepare a limitless supply of magic items and enhance your magic to make it even more potent for this. That seems to be just the tip of the iceburg. As I mentioned, there could be a separate guide for this spell alone.

Gate: I like to think of this as a precision planar travel first, and then as a potentially potent summon spell. This is particularly good as a two way door to your Demiplane. The cost of the potent summon is too expensive to consider under most circumstances, but then this is endgame territory anyway, nothing wrong with being a little spendthrifty if youre going to stop playing soon. Interplanetary Teleport: (UM) If you ever have occasion to use this, youll need this spell. Infinite range lets you teleport to the other side of the planet, which is probably something youll use more often. Otherwise just keep it in your spellbook until the aliens come to get their pyramids, then you can chase them and get them back. Refuge: This is a fine contingency, but with the 6th level getaway spell, its a little redundant if youre anywhere nearby. You might not be nearby though, and this can be good for complex plans. Summon Monster IX: Im sadly underwhelmed. I came in here expecting to be excited because of all the hype Treantmonk gave it, only to find a bunch of irrelevant options with barely enough to-hit to harm anything. These guys are barely relevant at level 17, and at level 20 Ill be reaching for a different spell to cast for sure. They still provide the warm bodies that Summoning can provide, but I recommend looking at lower lists to try and get multiple warm bodies if you can fit them. To put things into perspective, the Tyrannosaurus of SMVII has the same to-hit as the Glabrezu and does more than double the damage on each hit. He doesnt have multiple attacks, but multiple Tyrannosaurus not only give each other flanking bonuses, but even two could outdamage the SMIX demon. Teleportation Circle: A fantastic way of teleporting an army to a specific location, or as a permanent solution to kingdom trade issues (For a small fee of course.) Tsunami: (APG) Take out a City if you so choose. Might be good to keep in your spellbook for the rare occasion you might want to do that, or if you end up facing an army (Which you might at this level.) Wooden Phalanx: (UM) This summons a good number of them, but theyre still CR7 monsters. Summon Monster IX can summon almost the same number of CR9 monsters. 1 hour per level is nice, but Id rather they were permanent. (Boy am I spoiled :P)

Divination
Foresight: This spell makes the diviner a sad panda who will be grasping for preferred spell to sacrifice their specialty slot for something else. Not that this spell is bad, its just redundant with the Diviners passive. If youre not a diviner, it gives you a portion of the Diviners passive with some minor buffs.

Enchantment
Dominate Monster: Its that whole gets a new saving throw if it does something against its nature thing that worries me about this spell. But this is a planners spell, and its got a freaking long duration. Thinking about this as a combat spell is a big mistake, one that I fell into, but when you consider it as a non-combat spell, the possibilities are great.

Heroic Invocation: (UC) Wha- Eh- De- Yeah, a morale buff that leaves the party fatigued at the end. Granted combat is going to be way over by then, but level 9?! I mean, it even has a 10 minute casting time! Hold Monster: If you have a lot of creatures jammed in the same area, this is potentially better than Overwhelming Presence. Otherwise just stick with Overwhelming Presence for this kind of effect. Paralysis does have a few benefits over simple helpless prostration though. Overwhelming Presence: (UM) A level 9 save or lose spell. This is like mass hold monster, but it does a little more than just hold them, making it pretty much superior in every way. (Well except that Hold Monster can affect every creature in a 30 area, which cubed could mean up to 216 creatures if they filled every possible 5 cube in that area. This only affects one creature per level.) Cool effect, but there are a lot of save or lose spells in previous levels that even dont offer a save every round to get free (Though the save here still really messes them up.) Symbol of Strife: (UM) Did we really need 2 symbol spells this level?

Power Word Kill: Or deal 100 damage to a creature thats already had the snot beaten out of them. Yeah, skip it.

Evocation
Crushing Hand: The final spell in the line of mostly underwhelming hand spells. This one doesnt stun, but instead deals lots of damage on a grapple. At level 20 your CMB on this is going to be 32. A Summon Monster VIIs tyrannosaurus grapple is also 32. I shouldnt have to continue that thought, go read the other hand spells and youll get the gist of my objection to this spell. Icy Prison, Mass: (UM) Making this mass is incredible. No save damage each round which is higher than ever being at least 17, meaning that anything caught in this is going to hurt if theyre not immune to Cold damage regardless of their save. If they fail their save, they just die without cold resistance. This is a far better option than Overwhelming Presence and is a worthy level 9 spell. Meteor Swarm: Its just not a very good blast spell. If you have a greater Dazing Spell Rod, its not terrible if you make the ranged touch attack against the creature since that reduces the Reflex Save by -4, but thats a big if. Ride the Lightning: (UM) This is a swift action to cast movement spell that lets you take a standard action each round to move 120 and deal damage on the way. If you really need to hop around the battlefield and want to save on lower level spells, then this might be worth it, especially if youre not a Conjurer. I cant help but feel like this could be a lot better for a 9th level spell, a standard action alone is an expensive commodity at this point. Winds of Vengeance: (APG) The ultimate wind shield spell that has too short a duration for a level 9 spell slot. That said it blocks every ranged attack including gigantic boulders. Its potent, just expensive for the return. The retaliation ability sucks because the creature has to hit you for you to use it, and it blows your precious swift action.

Illusion

Shades: The Masterpiece of the Illusion Schools ability to duplicate lower level spells with higher level slots. Wouldnt be that great if you read this spell as just an upgrade to Greater Shadow Conjuration because that would continue to restrict this to just Summoning and Creation spells. However the wording here suggests ALL conjuration spells and comparing it to the 3.5 text, it also suggests it includes spells not on your casting list. This has many great implications indeed, like for instance this could be used as a resurrection spell without any material component, or a standard action planar binding. The spell isnt perfect, as it was designed that way, but its certainly slot efficient unless your DM rules that it was intended to be just an upgrade to Greater Shadow Conjuration - in that case this spell sucks. Weird: With the several other save-or-die spells available, this one is possibly the worst choice.

Necromancy
Astral Projection: This is a nice safe way to travel to other planes for whatever business you need to attend to. Canopic Conversion: (OLoP) This is a ton of work, and probably too much work and risk for what you get. Cursed Earth: (UM) This is a cool evil power thwarted by an expensive material cost and that it only covers a mile-radius. Plus its the evil final chapter in How to be a jerk to NPCs. Energy Drain: This upgrade to Enervation has a few perks, but isnt quite as good as Enervation with a lot of metamagic through rods and spell perfection. Since not every Wizard is going to have lots of metamagic Rods and Spell Perfection on Enervation though, this is a great spell and the duration could mean that you can weaken a BBEG before he escapes to find him still drained next tim you meet him. Soul Bind: A method of preventing resurrection, but you can kind of doing that with the previous levels Clone spell anyway. A need for this might come up though, pretty campaign specific. Suffocation, Mass: (APG) The new level 9 mass save or die spell since the nerf to Wail of the Banshee. At the very least every creature targeted by this is staggered for a round, but being mass, youre going to get at least a couple of creatures reduced to 0 HP with this spell. Wail of the Banshee: Mass finger of death without the extra effect if they saved. Not good at all.

Transmutation
Etherealness: Mass Ethereal Jaunt with the even better benefit of being ten times the duration. Fiery Body: (APG) Wait, why is this level 9 when Ice Body is level 7? The number of immunities is still very nice, but being only a minute-perlevel... Well it still might be worth casting occasionally. There are some nice immunities in there. Transmute Blood to Acid: (UM) Heh, realistically this should be Save-orDie almost instantly, but as it is its just Die, eventually... You have to

concentrate the whole time and they die after they take damage, and it is still single target. Its powerful, but too much to compete with at this level. Salvage: (PoIS) This is really cool, but will you ever use it? If you can answer that question as Yes then it really doesnt matter what I rate this spell. Shapechange: I dunno, the benefits of the various forms arent really good enough to consider switching between them except maybe to get a different energy immunity through form of the Dragon. The real draw here is the duration, and thats better than casting extend spell on one of the lower level polymorph spells. Also a fun thing to use on your Familiar. Timestop: Gain 1d4+1 rounds to shape the battlefield exactly how you like it. Especially potent if youre winning initiative often. World Wave: (APG) This spell is crazy, and definitely encompasses the concept of All powerful Wizard. You bend the world to push you along comfortably while you sleep. As far as usefulness goes, it can level cities from its structures and has a lot of similarities to the Tsunami spell. The width of the wave is assumingly 10 wide, which makes it worse for leveling cities and armies than Tsunami.

Universal
Wish: Expensive, but so versatile its impossible to not recommend. If nothing else, this spell is a way to save 6,250 gold giving yourself a +5 inherent bonus to your intelligence (12,500 if you dont have craft wondrous item.)

Example Builds
There are thousands of ways to build yourself; dont just accept these as cookie cutter builds you should always take. I didnt want to make a builds section to avoid that kind of attitude. There are so many flavourful things available to the Wizard that you should try things out, especially with all the new races and possibilities available in the ARG. There are hundreds that I would like to try. That said here are a few of my favorite builds.

Basic Human Conjurer

Good Early Game and Stays Strong until level 19 Abilities (20 point buy): STR: 8 DEX: 12 CON: 14 INT: 20 WIS: 12 CHA: 7 Options: Human Race Conjuration (Teleportation) School Familiar Arcane Bond: (Compsognathus or Greensting Scorpion) Feats: 1. Spell Focus: Conjuration 1b. Augment Summoning 3. Superior Summons 5. Improved Initiative 5b. Craft Wondrous Item 7. Spell Specialization 9. Greater Spell Specialization: Summon Monster Spells (Starting with V) 17. Spell Perfection: Summon Monster IX Favorite Spells: Summon Monster Line Explanation: The purpose of this build is to get as much power through summoning monsters as early as possible. This is best achieved by being Human. At level 3 you can summon two to four eagles into combat with superior summons and you will enjoy the superior summons feat as you level up. Spell Specialization and Greater Spell Specialization let you keep the latest Summon Monster spell as a spontaneous cast. Familiar is important with this build because you need that initiative bonus early on until you can grab Improved Initiative. This build has little need for Spell Penetration and Metamagic (besides the obligatory Quicken Spell.) By focusing so heavily on summons you avoid spell resistance and do not benefit as much from the likes of Dazing Spell or Persistent Spell. For the feats that I havent listed you can grab Craft Wand and Improved Familiar if you want a Use Magic Device buddy, or you can grab Craft Rod for the Metamagic and Opposition Research to get back one of your schools.

Elf Universalist Diviner

Good all-around build Abilities (20 Point Buy): STR: 8 DEX: 14 CON: 12 INT: 20 WIS: 12 CHA: 7 Options: Elf Race Fleet-Footed (+2 initiative) Divination (Foresight) School Your choice of Arcane Bond (I like familiar for the initiative bonus) Feats: 1. Improved Initiative 3. Craft Wondrous Item 5b. Heighten Spell 5. Preferred Spell: Haste 7. Improved Familiar or Crafting Feat or Fast Study 9. Spell Penetration 10b. Opposition Research 11. Preferred Spell: Your Choice (I like Telekinetic Charge) 13. Preferred Spell: Your Choice (I like Cold Ice Strike) or Dazing Spell Favorite Spells: None Explanation The purpose of this build is to win Initiative, nothing more. At level 1 you will have a +9 to your initiative (+13 with a familiar), letting you place whatever you want on the battlefield before the enemy gets a chance. At level 10 your Initiative bonus will have increased to +13 (+17 if you kept your base Familiar.) With traits this could obviously be even higher. An Elf Foresight Divination specialist will also have an easy time breeching spell resistance between the racial penetration bonus and the prerolls from the Specialization School. This allows you to pick basically whatever you want to cast. This build has a lot of flexibility as well, as nothing is totally required. If you dont need to craft Wondrous Items you can grab Heighten spell at level 3 and use your fifth level bonus feat to get Fast Study. I definitely think you should pick up at least one or two preferred spells as a divination specialist though since you can Sacrifice your specialization slots for your preferred spell. This basically makes your specialization slot just a bonus spell hence Universalist Diviner.

Dazing Elf Evoker

Does not truly shine until level 9 Abilities (20 point buy):

STR: 8 DEX: 14 CON: 12 (14) INT: 20 WIS: 12 (8) CHA: 7 Options: Elf Race Fleet-Footed Evocation (Admixture) School Familiar Arcane Bond Take Elf Favored Class Bonus every level Magical Lineage: Fireball Trait

Feats: 1. Improved Initiative 3. Craft Wondrous Item (Flexible) 5b. Heighten Spell 5. Preferred Spell: Fireball 7. Spell Penetration (Can also take Improved Familiar) 9. Dazing Spell 10b. Craft Rod 11. Spell Penetration or Greater Spell Penetration 15. Spell Perfection: Fireball Favorite Spells: Snapdragon Fireworks (Dazing) Burning Gaze (Dazing) Fireball (Dazing) Pellet Blast (Dazing, for Constructs) Explanation: The build looks basically the same as the last Elf Build in the beginning except the specialization school, except this time around Familiar is required. You dont necessarily need Improved Familiar, but you want the Familiar for Dazing Burning Gaze and the +4 initiative is also beneficial throughout your entire career. The most important thing you need to grab later on is both Spell Penetration feats because all of your damage spells are going to be subject to spell resistance. This is also the reason you are an Elf. You are also going to want Rods for Selective Spell and other contingency metamagic, and crafting them is a sure way to get them. With Admixture, few things will be able to withstand your dazing spell assault. Obviously this build works best if Traits are available to you so you can pick up Magical Lineage for Fireball. Without that Trait, youre not going to be seeing your Dazing Fireball until level 11.