Wizard Power

[Fencer_guy]

You are going to play a wizard. Let us say for the purpose of this case you are going straight wizard. Would you take a Prestige class? Also which one?

Asking for me, because I am not sure about prestige classes.

[DonDuckie]

In 3.5 edition I would be a pile of prestige class dips to be a better wizard. In PF I would go straight wizard for achieving straight wizard, maybe a nice archetype like an elemental wizard.

If I'm not aiming for straight wizard, I'd go for eldritch knight or mystic theurge, because I really like those concepts.

[Brad McDowell]

for optimizing...the general answer is no. thematically...i like prestige classes too. i just started a wizard for loremaster in PFS.

[andreww]

Bloatmage is about the only PF wizard PrC which I think is remotely worth considering. You give up two bonus feats for potentially 10+3d12 extra levels of spells per day which is a decent bargain. Absorbing sorcerous bloodline powers is pretty potent as well.

With the FAQ on qualifying for PrC's with SLA's you can even enter the class after a single level of wizard if you find a race with a level 3 SLA. The base Aasimaar works well for this. You lose out on a racial +2 Int but finishing Bloatmage by level 11 is pretty decent.

[Caimbuel]

Magaambyan Arcanist is a great one if you meet its flavor, and gaining a companion in a few feats also goes when using this flavor.

[Caimbuel]

But with Animal Ally you are a full CL wizard with an animal companion, familiar, and the heal spell if maped out right. And as a holy nature loving theme it all sits a bit better then other combos IMO. YMMV

[Rudy2]

For the right deity/boons, I believe that Evangelist can be worth the loss of 1 level of spellcasting, given the boosts to skills, hit dice, boons based on your deity, AC, misc. stuff, and the excellest capstone which you can use to increase your intelligence by 4.

Note that you still get your wizard bonus feats and such, you're just one level behind.

[Gilarius]

Caimbuel wrote:

Magaambyan Arcanist is a great one if you meet its flavor, and gaining a companion in a few feats also goes when using this flavor.

Plus you can take the Sacred Summons feat, with extra rounds of duration for monsters summoned using the Summon Good Monsters feat. Having a selection of druid spells is potentially useful, especially if the GM doesn't allow early entry to mystic theurge.

[Fencer_guy]

I've wanted to try an illusion/shadow type mage but I can never seem to build one that was effective.