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(*) Celestial Healing
Verdict: Whether this was brought in as a correction to Infernal Healing I do not know. It does require 1 drop of blood from a good outsider or 1 dose of holy water, but that's not the point. It's the 1 round/2 caster levels that makes this a nerf to its evil version.

(***)Infernal Healing (Pathfinder – Inner Sea World Guide, p.295)
Verdict: Fast healing 1 for 1 minute. It's quite decent despite the evil descriptor. One of the few spells that anybody can use eventhough it comes from Asmodeus. It does require a drop of devil's blood or 1 dose of unholy water.

(***/**) Repair Undead (Advanced Class Guide, p.191) [Necro.]
Verdict: This will be your go-to spell for several levels to not only heal yourself, but also your undead minions and your party. It's a Necromancer's Cure Light Wounds. Since this spell has no effect on living creatures (except as mentioned above).

(***) False Life (Core, p.280) [Necro.]
1 hr/level self buff that provides temporary HP equal to 1d10 + 1/CL (max +10).
Verdict: Temp HP shields are very useful. This a a good deal that will remain a good deal for many levels.

(*) Life Pact (Advanced Class Guide, p.186) [Necro.]
Bind one willing creature/level together so that if one drops below 0 hp, it receives 1 hp from each creature of the group within 30 feet.
Verdict: Wish this spell could give more than 1 hit point. Doesn't work against death effects or stuff like suffocation either. It's a weak "Oh crap" button, but that's about it.

(**) Fractions of Heal and Harm {Nethys} (Inner Sea Gods, p.234) [Trans.]
Channel portion of next spell you cast into healing magic. As a swift action cast this spell, then next area spell you cast of 3rd level or lower deals 75% damage and heals you 25%. Spell must be cast before the end of your next turn. (Example: 36 dmg Fireball = 27 damage; heals you 9).
Verdict: Every little bit counts, but it only works on spells that actually deal damage. It also only works on spells that are Level 3 or below. The nice thing is that it converts it into either a cure or inflict spell, whichever would actually heal you.

(**) Vampiric Touch (Core, p.364) [Necro.]
Melee touch deals 1d6 points/2 caster levels (max. 10d6). You gain this as temporary HP.
Verdict: Decent spell as it's very hard to kill a Necromancer that sucks the life out of you each round.

(**/*) Vampiric Hunger (Faiths of Corruption, p.29) [Necro.] (polymorph) {Evil}
Creature touched gains ability to drain blood, dealing 1d4 CON dmg. Each round of draining heals 5 hp, or 5 temp. hp (max temp hp = max hp). Failure to drain blood causes target to be exhausted.
Verdict: Part of your utility spells, but a double-edged sword. Can serve as a very morbid way to allow your party members to heal after combat, but expect hurt feelings. The duration makes it less desirable to use on enemies in combat, but can be useful to cause chaos in a camp. Only use this on yourself to heal after combat. It still has the highest potential for temporary hp.

(**) False Life, Greater [Necro.]
Verdict: Another utility spell, but the inability to stack this really stinks. Consequently it really shines when you layer it with other temporary hp spells.

(**) Undeath Inversion (Undead Slayer's Handbook, p.27) [Necro.]
Undead take damage from negative energy and heal from positive energy. Channels positive rather than negative energy, too.
Verdict: Limited application in that you could heal one of your own undead with cure spells, or dealing damage to an enemy undead with your negative energy spells. However, if it's an intelligent undead that channels energy you have taken out one of his abilities lest he heal you or damage his own undead minions.

(*) Death Knell Aura (Book of the Damned Vol. 3, p.38) [Necro. (death, evil)]
Verdict: If this spell actually said that these values stack it would be awesome, but used this way it's only worth a quick boost to either buff a level-dependent spell to heal your undead or your party, provide a buffer to use another spell to drain off the temporary hp, or a quick buff to a damage-dealing spell which you're going to be using soon. Rather underwhelming for this level as there are better ways to use the corpses of your fallen enemies. But, yay, you wasted a Level 4 spell to emit gray light!

(**) Vampiric Shadowshield (Advanced Class Guide, p.198) [Necro.]
Attacker hitting you with non-reach weapon takes 1d6 negative energy damage + 1 point per caster level (max +15). You heal 25% of damage dealt by the spell.
Verdict: At least some way of regaining hit points, but you don't want to get hit and the most you'll ever get is 5 hit points with each hit (see TACTICS section to use effectively).

(**) Repair Undead, Mass (Advanced Class Guide, p.191) [Necro.]
Cures 1d8 pts of damage + 1 point per caster level (maximum +20) on one creature/level that is undead or is healed by negative energy.
Verdict: Situationally useful in that you can heal your cadre of minion batteries as well as yourself if you have the Negative Energy affinity.

(**) Lash of the Astradaemon (Book of the Damned, Vol. 3, pp.38-39)
Verdict: Basically, this spell is what you use when you surround yourself with your undead minions and hope that each round you will crit. to get 10 temp. HP. Since it dishes out negative energy like Enervation, I have to assume that each minion will receive 1d4 x 5 temporary hit points for 1 hour as well. So, unless you are the target of an AoE spell, enemies will have a hard time getting through your bodyguards. If it actually stacked with each attack, that would be awesome. Alas, the rules are quite specific - which makes this spell a bit of a waste. But you can stack it with other temp. hp spells to buff yourself before going into your next combat.

(*) Death Knell Aura, Greater (Book of the Damned, Vol. 3, p.38)
Does the same as Death Knell aura, but also causes dying creatures to bleed 1 hp/round. Also incorporeal undead and targets using astral projection or magic jar take 1d8 points of damage.
Verdict: Because of the bad wording I take it that the damage is 1d8 per round. Still, eventhough incorporeal undead are hard to hit there are better effects through which to inflict damage on these types of creatures. Since the effects still don't stack you're basically just being a dick and wasting a spell slot.

There are also the Greater versions to Celestial Healing & Infernal Healing.

Bestow Wound (Heroes of Horror, p.127)
Negative Energy Ray (Tome and Blood, pp.93-94)
Healing Touch (Magic of Faerun, p.100)
Life Tap (Diablo II – Diablerie, p.42)
Negative Energy Burst (Tome and Blood, p.93)
Transfer Life (Kingdoms of Kalamar – Villain Design Handbook, p.115)
Life Transfer (Dragonlance – Towers of High Sorcery, p.47)
Negative Energy Wave (Tome and Blood, p.94)
Channeled Lifetheft (Complete Mage, pp.98-99)
Leech Undeath (Magic of Eberron, p.98)
Hide Life (Tome and Blood, p.91)
Synostodweomer (Spell Compendium, p.218)

(***) Chill Touch [Necro]
Touch attacks that deal 1d6 HP damage + 1 STR damage. Undead take no HP or STR damage but become panicked for 1d4 rounds +1/caster level on failed Will save.
Verdict: Repeatable, easy, touch attacks which, unlike Ray of Enfeeblement, does allow the STR damage to stack. It becomes a very dangerous spell if used properly.

(**)Touch of Blindness [Necro.]
Use a melee touch attack 1/CL. Each touch causes the target to become blinded for 1 round unless it makes a successful Fortitude saving throw.
Verdict: Causing blindness is a great gimp move at any level, and this will at least allow you a way to do so until you finally get the much better Level 2 spell. The amount of times you can use this is great, but is hampered by the fact that you have to get into melee to use it unless you have the Reach Spell feat.

(**) Cause Fear [Necro. (fear, mind-affecting)]
One living creature with 5 or fewer HD becomes frightened for 1d4 rounds (shaken for 1 round on Will save).
Verdict: A decent save or suck at this level that can buy you some time, and act as a set-up for further de-buffs.

(**) Ray of Sickening (Ultimate Magic, p.234) [Necro.]
Ranged touch attack makes subject sickened for 1 min./level (Fort negates).
Verdict: Quite acceptable as a debuff. The target is immediately sickened for the spell's duration.

(**) Ray of Enfeeblement (Core, p.329 ) [Necro.]
Ranged touch attack causes 1d6+1/two caster levels (maximum 1d6+5) STR damage.
Verdict: Still useful in conjunction with Fatigue, but it doesn't actually penalize encumbrance anymore. Still, even if the target makes the save they still take half of the penalty. So if you're a level 10 caster with a minimum roll with a Fortitude save that's still a -3 STR, a failure on the save with a max roll causes -11 STR damage. Alas, you can't get the STR score below 1. The other bad thing is that you can only use this once since the penalty doesn't stack. Oh how they've nerfed this good spell! So we have to use poison, if necessary.

(****) Blindness/Deafness (Core, p. ) [Necro.]
Blindness is THE super gimp spell at this level (–2 AC, loses Dex. bonus to AC (if any), –4 on STR- and DEX-based skill checks, -4 on opposed Perception checks, 50% miss chance when attacking, DC 10 Acrobatics check to move faster than half speed or fall prone). Casters can still get you with AoE spells, but for them you use Deafness (–4 on Init., auto fail on sound Perception checks, –4 on opposed Perception checks, 20% spell failure with verbal component spells). Your melee guys will love you for this. It has saved my party on many occasions.

(***) Ghoul Touch (Core, p.289) [Necro.]: Very useful staple for quick paralysis.
Melee touch to paralyze then AoE sicken (10-foot radius) for 1d6+2 rounds (Fort negates).
(–2 attack, weapon dmg., saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks).
Verdict: One of the best save or suck spells for the early game, especially if combo'd with the Reach Spell in either feat or rod form. Takes your target just one coup de gras away from death. The chance to lower the saves of nearby targets is just an extra added bonus.

(***) Limp Lash (Goblins of Golarion, p.29) [Necro.]: Third best gimp spell for this level.
Ranged touch atk. on target causes 1d6 STR, DEX, and CON damage each round until caster is disarmed, lets go, or whip-like energy sundered. When any of the three attributes reaches 1 the target is paralyzed (except for the head).

(***) False Life (Core, p.280) [Necro.]
1 hr/level self buff that provides temporary HP equal to 1d10 + 1/CL (max +10).
Verdict: Temp HP shields are very useful. This a a good deal that will remain a good deal for many levels.

(***) Lipstitch (Pathfinder Society Field Guide) [Necro.]
Sews the target’s lips tightly together for 1d6 points of damage on failed Fort save disallowing clear speech, bite attacks, spellcasting, or use of command words. Breaking thread with STR check DC 20 (standard action, no AoO) or slicing it with a piercing or slashing weapon (full-round action and provokes AoO) causes 1d6 points of damage and 1 bleed damage. Bleed damage causes 20% spell failure each round until bleeding is stopped.
Verdict: The complementary spell to Blindness/Deafness when it comes to spellcasters. It's also a good setup when it comes to spells that make Bleed effects worse. Unfortunately multiple castings of this spell don't stack, and creatures without a mouth are unaffected by this spell. Also, creatures with multiple mouths lose the use of only one mouth per casting.

(***) Stricken Heart [Necro.]
Melee touch spell with NO SAVE that causes 2d6 points of negative energy damage and causes the target to be staggered for 1 round. If the attack is a critical hit, the target is staggered for 1 minute instead. Creatures immune to precision damage are immune to the staggered effect.
Verdict: It is still hampered by Spell Resistance, but there aren't many negative energy spells this early on. That means you can even heal yourself with it if you play a Damphir. Plus it comes with a rather nasty status effect.

(**) Spectral Hand [Necro.]
Lose 1d4 hp to create a ghostly hand to deliver touch spells of level 4 and below. Provides a +2 to melee touch attacks. You regain those hit points when the spell ends (but not if the hand is destroyed).
Verdict: Since the hand is incorporeal it can only be hit by magic weapons, has Improved Evasion regarding spells, and 22 + INT mod. AC. Use this to apply your touch spells at range, unless you want your familiar to do it for you. Spectral Hand will last the entire combat (even long ones), but not multiple combats. Sure, the ability to deliver touch spells at range is very good, but this spell will take you out of the combat for the first round (unless you have preparation time) which is a significant drawback. Also, the viability of quickened Spectral Hands at high levels is hampered by the fact that you are limited to Level 4 spells and below. Still, this will be your utility spell to use those pesky touch-based spells for a while unless you have Reach Spell.

(**) Shared Suffering (Champions of Corruption, p.25) [Necro.]
Deal 1d6 neg. dmg + 1d6/2 levels (5d6 max) to yourself. Target takes equal amount of dmg. + Int. mod. (no save)
Verdict: Use this after you use False Life on yourself to bypass as much actual damage to yourself as possible. If you absolutely have no other way to hit your opponent then this spell is it.

(**) Brow Gasher [Necro.]
Imbued slashing weapon when hitting a living creature, causes normal damage, as well as bleed damage on forehead equal to half character's character level. The hit creature takes a cumulative -1 penalty on attack rolls at the beginning of each turn, resulting in all targets gaining 20% concealment at -3 penalty, and complete concealment at -5 due to blindness. this spell imposes on the bleeding creature. You discharge the spell as a free action for its effects to start acting on a creature.
Verdict: Imbue a nearby melee character's slashing weapon with this. You don't want to enter melee yourself. Unfortunately it doesn't work on constructs or undead creatures which limits its application. Stopping the bleed damage ends the spell's effects. Also, a target that is immune to bleed damage is also immune to all this spell's effects.

(*) Life Pact (Advanced Class Guide, p.186) [Necro.]
Bind one willing creature/level together so that if one drops below 0 hp, it receives 1 hp from each creature of the group within 30 feet.
Verdict: Wish this spell could give more than 1 hit point. Doesn't work against death effects or stuff like suffocation either. It's a weak "Oh crap" button, but that's about it.

(***) Sands of Time (Osirion: Lands of Pharaohs, p.27) [Necro.]
Verdict: This spell is like Ray of Enfeeblement on crack. Unfortunately you can't reduce any of the abilities beneath 1, but you can certainly use it in conjunction with Ray of Enfeeblement if you needed it. Either way, it doesn't require a Save (SR applies though)!

(***) Ray of Exhaustion (Core, p.330) [Necro.]
Verdict: Exhaustion is the bane of melee characters (half speed, cannot run or charge, –6 STR and DEX). If the target makes its Fort. save it still becomes fatigued. The devious way to abuse this feature is to combine it with other debuff spells that cause fatigue. If a target is already fatigued and makes the Fortitude save they still become exhausted thanks to this ray. That makes this a good finisher.

(***) Fear (Core, p.281) [Necro.]
30-foot cone-shaped burst, causes each living creature in the area to become panicked unless it succeeds on a Will save.
Verdict: Even if the targets make their Will saves they're still shaken for 1 round, which is not bad if you're trying to stack negatives. If you can corner them while they're panicked the targets start cowering making them even more useless in combat.

(***) Accursed Glare (Blood of the Moon, p.9) [Necro. (curse)]
Verdict: A solid way to allow you to gain another chance to have your de-buff spells work on your target. This curse's duration is 1 day/level which can be useful to continue to bring NPCs under control with other spells on a long-term basis. The almost broken thing, however, is that if your minions have the ability to use Intimidate (even untrained) you can royally boost your ability to bypass SR on your target, because each ally's intervention stacks. Granted, the wording for the Intimidate check is a little strange. I would think it's the base DC, thus being around 16 or 17, rather than adding stuff like Spell Focus feats to increase it to 19+.

(***/**) Fear
30-foot cone-shaped burst that causes each living creature in the area to become panicked unless it succeeds on a Will save. If cornered, a panicked creature begins cowering. If the Will save succeeds, the creature is shaken for 1 round.
Verdict: The idea here is to drive your enemies into a corner so that they cower. Otherwise, if they run away you might not get any experience points. Still, if you have to use it to buy time then buy time.

(**) Vampiric Touch (Core, p.364) [Necro.]
Melee touch deals 1d6 points/2 caster levels (max. 10d6). You gain this as temporary HP.
Verdict: Decent spell as it's very hard to kill a Necromancer that sucks the life out of you each round.

(**/*) Vampiric Hunger (Faiths of Corruption, p.29) [Necro.] (polymorph) {Evil}
Creature touched gains ability to drain blood, dealing 1d4 CON dmg. Each round of draining heals 5 hp, or 5 temp. hp (max temp hp = max hp). Failure to drain blood causes target to be exhausted.
Verdict: Part of your utility spells, but a double-edged sword. Can serve as a very morbid way to allow your party members to heal after combat, but expect hurt feelings. The duration makes it less desirable to use on enemies in combat, but can be useful to cause chaos in a camp. Only use this on yourself to heal after combat. It still has the highest potential for temporary hp.

(****) Enervation (Core, p.277) [Necro.]:
Verdict: Negative levels are the most powerful de-buff in the game. It's a great metamagic target too, as there are no saves! However, casters do not lose any spells or spell slots prepared.

(***) Bestow Curse [Necro.]:
It's very easy to kill enemies when 50% of the things they try to do don't work. It's even easier when the enemy in question is -4 to all d20 rolls. The -6 to one ability score is not worth it as you can't get to 0. However, you can get very creative with this spell to royally gimp people - permanently. The fact that it's a touch spell makes it slightly less desirable than Enervation, but not by much.

(***) Boneshatter (Osirion: Land of Pharaohs, p.26) [Necro.]
Verdict: Effectively ray of exhaustion without a touch component. Half damage and fatigue on Fort save. What makes this spell nice is the damage that it deals.

(***) Shadow Projection
You gain a shadow’s darkvision, defensive abilities, fly speed, racial stealth modifier, and strength damage attack.
Verdict: Despite the drawbacks this spell is good for when you have to go exploring and still allows you to drain Strength from enemies. The bad thing is that you drop to -1 hp when your shadow is destroyed through Turn Undead or other magical means. Also, no spawn ability of a real shadow. We just can't have nice things.

(**) Object Possession, Lesser (Occult Adventures, p. ) [Necro.]
You possess an object and turn it into an animated object. You can't use any spells or other abilities while possessing an object.
Verdict: You can have some fun with this if you're creative enough.

(**) Wall of Blindness/Deafness (Advanced class Guide, p.198) [Necro.]
Permanently blind or deafen creature that passes through the wall.
Verdict: This spell has potential as a major de-buff spell. The nice thing is that the wall can be either in vertical & rectangular, or circular form (both 20 ft. high) and does not need to touch the ground (as long as it is continuous and unbroken). This makes it useful against flying creatures. The problem is the concentration duration, so you have to use it precisely.

(**) False Life, Greater [Necro.]
Verdict: Another utility spell, but the inability to stack this really stinks. Consequently it really shines when you layer it with other temporary hp spells.

(**) Undeath Inversion (Undead Slayer's Handbook, p.27) [Necro.]
Undead take damage from negative energy and heal from positive energy. Channels positive rather than negative energy, too.
Verdict: Limited application in that you could heal one of your own undead with cure spells, or dealing damage to an enemy undead with your negative energy spells. However, if it's an intelligent undead that channels energy you have taken out one of his abilities lest he heal you or damage his own undead minions.

(**) Geb's Hammer (Inner Sea Magic, p.55) [Necro.]
Verdict: Situational spell in that you actually need destroyed undead, whether created by you or thrown at you by the GM. I personally think it's too high a spell slot because it is similar to flaming sphere, but when you keep action economy in mind you have another attack per round. Still, if you do decide to have minions, and they ever run out of usefulness, you still have one last use for them.

(*) Death Knell Aura (Book of the Damned Vol. 3, p.38) [Necro. (death, evil)]
Verdict: If this spell actually said that these values stack it would be awesome, but used this way it's only worth a quick boost to either buff a level-dependent spell to heal your undead or your party, provide a buffer to use another spell to drain off the temporary hp, or a quick buff to a damage-dealing spell which you're going to be using soon. Rather underwhelming for this level as there are better ways to use the corpses of your fallen enemies. But, yay, you wasted a Level 4 spell to emit gray light!

(****) Magic Jar [Necro.]
Verdict: Probably one of THE best necromancy spells. BUT THIS IS NOT A COMBAT SPELL! You just need to be a little creative to use it. It has several limitations that need to be followed: 1) Keep your body safe while you body-hop; 2) Keep other Spell component pouches around, otherwise you need Eschew Materials to continue to cast spells in the other bodies; 3) Control line of effect by having a familiar or ally carry the soul-containing item. The spell is useless if you can only see so many enemies; 4) Always keep your body in spell range or you die. Optional: Combine it with the Persistent Spell feat – you don't want to fail a possession check, because you can't retry on the same creature again. Possess the first monster and use it to kill the next. Once your possessed creature dies, you possess the next creature. Thus you stop the encounter before it even begins. Summon a monster, possess it, and then use Blood Money to drain it of Strength while creating an expensive material component (*cough* 25k Diamond), use the monster to scout ahead, or trip traps are all viable tactics, too. You can also possess your friends and add spells to their bodies using Permanency.

(***) Suffocation (Advanced Player's Guide) [Necro.]
Round 1: Staggered on Fortitude save; otherwise target falls unconscious and at 0 hp.
Round 2: Staggered on Fortitude save; otherwise target drops to -1 and is dying.
Round 3: Staggered on Fortitude save; otherwise dead.
Verdict: Only works on living creatures that actually breathe. However, this spell is quite powerful, and can get quite silly when combined with the Extend Spell metamagic feat or a rod thereof.

(***) Waves of Fatigue (Core, p.368) [Necro.]
30-foot cone-shaped burst renders all living creatures in the spell's area fatigued.
Verdict: Waves of negative energy completely cripple both melee and ranged combatants with no saving throw. Unfortunately this spell has no effect on creatures that are already fatigued. Still, it's a good way to debilitate several enemies quickly, fast, and in a hurry.

(**) Black Spot (Pirates of the Inner Sea, p.28] [Necro.]
Verdict: The spell is a little high for the effect, but the effect is permanent once you get passed the Will save or any SR. It makes your melee guys happy, and serves as a setup for your next Death effect spell like Circle of Death, Finger of Death, Canopic Conversion, Wail of the Banshee, Parasitic Soul, etc. The spell cannot be countered except by break enchantment, limited wish, miracle, remove curse, or wish, but the Constitution damage happens too slow for combat use.

(**) Feast on Fear (Advanced Class Guide, p.181) [Necro.]
Each round target a creature of up to 9HD and if it fails the Fort save it becomes panicked for 1d4 rounds. The creature remains shaken for 10 minutes/caster level and becomes automatically panicked again if it sees you.
Verdict: Unlike other temp. HP spells, this one actually says that it stacks with itself, which is awesome! This spell allows you to redirect the effect each round to a new target, which means you can get up to 45 temporary hit points (you can hit up to 9 creatures at Level 9 and it increases) because the effect stacks when you first get this spell (max. 100 temp. hp), which lasts 1 hour. Now here comes the buzz-kill...It all depends on how many targets you are facing and that they are Level 9 or below. Also, Fortitude saves make this less and less likely at the higher levels, and thus becomes useless pretty quickly, and it does occupy a lot of your time. So, you want to make sure that your targets are thoroughly debuffed and controlled (*cough* Dazing Spell) that you can take the time to pull this off.

(**) Vampiric Shadowshield (Advanced Class Guide, p.198) [Necro.]
Attacker hitting you with non-reach weapon takes 1d6 negative energy damage + 1 point per caster level (max +15). You heal 25% of damage dealt by the spell.
Verdict: At least some way of regaining hit points, but you don't want to get hit and the most you'll ever get is 5 hit points with each hit The way this works is that you cast Vampiric Shadowshield on yourself and have your familiar with fast healing/regeneration hit you for 1 hp or 1 nonlethal damage (if penalties reduce the damage result to less than 1, a hit still deals 1 point of nonlethal damage). If your familiar has the Measured Response (Inner Sea Gods) combat feat then make sure it attacks with a d4 attack. Otherwise, have one of your undead minions do that on you - that way you both get healed at the same time.

(**) Symbol of Pain
Scribe a rune on a surface (which takes 10 minutes) then set a trigger for its release. Everything within a 60-foot radius takes a -4 penalty on attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks. These effects last for 1 hour after the creature moves farther than 60 feet from the symbol. If you don't want your own group to be affected by this spell it takes up to 1 hour to cast.
Verdict: I could see this being useful if you have the time to set up an ambush. However, since it doesn't affect the Save DC it doesn't provide that great of a battlefield control mechanism. It will mess with spellcaster's concentration checks, however.

(**)Possession (Occult Adventures, pp.180-181) [Necro.]
Possess a creature at 1 hr/level, keeping your INT, WIS, CHA, class, BAB, Base save bonuses, alignment and mental abilities. The body keeps its physical stats, hp, natural abilities and automatic abilities. As a standard action you can move back into your body. You return automatically to your body when the target is killed. If your body dies when the spell duration runs out you die.
Verdict: Alas, you neither can activate a body's extraordinary or supernatural abilities, nor use any of its spells or spell-like abilities.

(**) Object Possession (Occult Adventures, p. 179) [Necro.]
Can possess an object up to Large size (3 CP). After 1 standard action to return to your body, you can use the next standard action to possess another object. Only works within Close range of your body.
Verdict: It really depends on the situation on how useful this spell is going to be. You can have it in your spellbook, but it's really not necessary.

(***) Eyebite [Necro.]
Each round, you can target a single living creature, striking it with waves of power. Depending on the target's HD, this attack has as many as three effects.
<4 HD = Comatose, panicked, sickened
5-9 HD = Panicked, sickened
10+ HD = Sickened
Spend a swift action each round after the first to target a foe.
Verdict: Good use for action economy by using a swift action after the initial casting.

(**) Lash of the Astradaemon (Book of the Damned, Vol. 3, pp.38-39)
Verdict: Basically, this spell is what you use when you surround yourself with your undead minions and hope that each round you will crit. to get 10 temp. HP. Since it dishes out negative energy like Enervation, I have to assume that each minion will receive 1d4 x 5 temporary hit points for 1 hour as well. So, unless you are the target of an AoE spell, enemies will have a hard time getting through your bodyguards. If it actually stacked with each attack, that would be awesome. Alas, the rules are quite specific - which makes this spell a bit of a waste. But you can stack it with other temp. hp spells to buff yourself before going into your next combat.

(*) Death Knell Aura, Greater (Book of the Damned, Vol. 3, p.38)
Does the same as Death Knell aura, but also causes dying creatures to bleed 1 hp/round. Also incorporeal undead and targets using astral projection or magic jar take 1d8 points of damage.
Verdict: Because of the bad wording I take it that the damage is 1d8 per round. Still, eventhough incorporeal undead are hard to hit there are better effects through which to inflict damage on these types of creatures. Since the effects still don't stack you're basically just being a dick and wasting a spell slot.

(*) Banshee Blast (Advanced Class Guide, p.174) [Necro. (death, fear, mind-affecting, sonic)]
30-foot cone deals 1d4/caster level (max. 15d4) damage (Reflex half). Those who fail the Reflex save must make a Will save or be panicked 1 round/level.
Verdict: It's good enough to relief most humanoid opponents of weaponry while dealing damage and making them run away. Naturally, you want to drive your enemies into a corner so they cower and don't attack. There are several problems, however. 1) Your enemies get two saves, and there's no Shaken condition - unlike with the Fear spell. So you must've debuffed your enemies before using this spell, or be going up against weaker enemies; 2) It deals 32.5 avg. damage with a Reflex save bringing it to 16.25 avg. damage, which is inferior to spells like Fireball; 3) It won't work on Undead (unless you have the Threnodic Spell feat), Constructs (unless you have the Constructed or Impossible bloodline with Eldritch Heritage), Oozes and Vermin (unless you have the Coaxing Spell feat), or Plants (unless you have the Verdant Spell feat); 4) Classes like paladins are also unaffected by panic. On the upside it is sonic-based which means hardly any creatures with that damage resistance.

(***) Waves of Exhaustion (Core, p.368) [Necro.]
60 foot cone-shaped burst causes all living creatures in the spell's area to become exhausted.
Verdict: Waves of negative energy completely cripple both melee and ranged combatants with no saving throw. Unfortunately this spell has no effect on creatures that are already exhausted. Still, it's a good way to debilitate several enemies quickly, fast, and in a hurry. Just like Waves of Fatigue it's a good way to bypass Spell Resistance.

(**) Recorporeal Incarnation (Second Darkness: Endless Night, p.10) [Necro.]
Replaces target's body with a recently deceased corpse (<24 hours or preserved by gentle repose). Target gains appearance, size bonuses/penalties, extraordinary abilities, natural abilities (natural attacks & senses), but not racial abilities or spell-like abilities. Lasts 1 week/CL.
Verdict: A useful way for a necromancer to not have to rely on illusion magic. Still acts as a near-perfect disguise. When targeted by Detect magic the target sheds no magical aura, though the focus item gives off an aura of strong necromantic magic. True seeing does not reveal the target’s true form, since the disguise itself, while magically achieved, is a mundane (but masterful) disguise. The spell Detect undead, however, does note the target as an undead creature with the same number of Hit Dice.

(**) Object Possession, Greater (Occult Adventures, p.179) [Necro.]
Verdict: Can possess an object up to Gargantuan size (5 CP). Can't use any spells or abilities while possessing an object. Can move up to medium range away from your body.
Verdict: Again, it's situational. Not a must-have in your spellbook, but it could potentially be useful.

(**) Finger of Death
Verdict: Save or die - whooops! Not anymore. Now it's save or take damage. You know - kinda like Disintegrate. If you want save or die vs. Fort, go for Flesh to Stone instead.

(*****) Bestow Curse, Greater (Secrets of the Sphinx) [Necro.]
It's very easy to kill enemies when they can't do squat 75% of the time. Now we can give our enemies a -8 penalty to all d20 rolls. The -12 to one ability won't help you (we still have the minimum ability score of 1 problem), but if you're fighting something stronger then consider this the spell as the initiation. Otherwise, hit them with a -6 to Dexterity and Constitution in general, with Wisdom and Intelligence against spellcasters. The curse of unluck is also a nice touch, but it depends on the GM whether he wishes to invoke it. Putting a 1 round staggered effect on the target each time it takes damage can also be a serious hamper. The other effects can be useful against spellcasters and melee or ranged characters but are more situational.
Verdict: A very useful spell, even if it's just against a single creature. It doesn't have to just serve as a de-buff, you know. Spend a little time on the wording and you can turn a Bestow Curse into something as powerful as a Wish spell by afflicting somebody with Lycanthropy or other kinds of templates. That makes this spell, and its lesser cousin, VERY desirable.

(**) Orb of the Void [Necro.]
As a move action, move 1-ft. Diameter sphere up to 30 ft. per round in any direction. Stops when entering a space with a living creature. Creature gains one negative level (Fortitude negates). Creature must make another Fortitude saving throw (same DC) 24 hours later or gain a permanent negative level.
Verdict: Fortitude-based flaming sphere but based on negative energy. Alas, an individual creature can be affected by the orb of the void only once per round, even if the orb moves through its space more than once.

(**) Possession, Greater (Occult Adventures, p. 181) [Necro.]
Verdict: Works the same way as possession, however, your physical body vanishes. Also, you can possess creatures like non-native outsiders and incorporeal undead. Situational, but at least now you've got a remedy against those pesky creatures.

(****) Clone
For 1,000 gp you can have this "get out of death free card" hidden somewhere safe. Note that if you die, you will awaken in the clone, and the poor Cleric trying to resurrect you in combat is going to be very disappointed. However, otherwise, this is a nice death-contingency (just make sure the rest of the party know). Use a teleport to return, reclaim your stuff, and claim the corpses of your allies. You get 2 negative levels when the clone awakens, so get a restoration too. Or - clone the entire party then you have no corpses to claim. TPK's become near impossible. That's good value for the material cost. Hint: Buy some cheap equipment and leave it with your clone...also leave an extra copy of your spellbook. Being prepared is just the right thing to do.

(****) Horrid Wilting [Necro.]
Verdict: Pure blast, but certainly one of the best pure blasts in the game. No energy types here, you just take damage. The range is long, and you target specifically, so your allies are safe. Fort save for 1/2 damage.

(**) Soul Reaver (Mythic Origin, p.15) [Necro. (death)]
Deal 1d6/CL (max. 20d6) to each living creature in a 20-foot radius spread (Fort. Half).
Verdict: Still faces SR, and has a Close range, but still a solid way to deal a decent amount of damage in an area. Unfortunately it does not distinguish between your team mates and enemies without a metamagic feat. Get's more power at Mythic levels, but we're not worried about that.

(****) Parasitic Soul (Book of the Damned, Vol. 3, p.39) [Necro. (death, evil)]
Verdict: There are already so many shenanigans that you can pull with magic jar, and now you're given a permanent means of doing it, too. This is basically your immortality spell by jumping from body to body, which would even allow you to switch races and certain creature types.

(****) Energy Drain [Necro.]
Verdict: A solid debuff. Just as Enervation, this spell stacks with itself. It's somewhat of a waste though to use it on undead. If you can heal through negative energy, there may be some use to it if you really need it.

(**) Wail of the Banshee [Necro. (death, sonic)]
Verdict: Wow, this spell was horribly nerfed! You better have done some serious de-buffing before you even dare to set this one off. Otherwise, if those enemies make their Fort. save you'll look pretty stupid, and probably end up dead soon afterwards. Also remember that this spell does not differentiate between friend and foe, so be careful when you use it.

(**) Scourge of the Horsemen (Horsemen of the Apocalypse, p.39) [Necro. (acid, evil)]
Verdict: A medium range spell that's best used after you've done some serious de-buffing on your enemies in order to deal decent damage. A bit underwhelming though because of the damage cap.

If we can get light we have a way to grow surface crops underground. Plus, it helps not being in the dark for races that don't have low-light vision and darkvision.

Alfengrape [Dragon 357 p. 55]
A glowing grape-vine magically created by elves that produces grapes all year around that all count as a meal for a day and can be made into very potent wine. Mature plants sell for 100 gp and can live up to 700 years.

Caphorite (Into the Darklands, p.14)
A crystalline mineral found throughout the Darklands that emits a strange, orange-purple glow equal in power to a candle. Reduces the effectiveness of other light sources, but enhances the growth rate of crops planted nearby. So planting anything that has bio-luminescence nearby would be self-defeating unless you are going to replant fully grown specimens later.

Cytillesh Fungus (Into the Darklands, pp. 12-13)
This fungus provides an eerie bluish glow of bright illumination in a 10-foot radius and shadowy illumination in a 20-foot radius. A creature within the illumination of cytillesh requires a DC 15 Will save (+1 for each previous save) every 24 hours to avoid suffering 1d4 points of Wisdom damage to a minimum Wisdom of 5. If Wisdom is reduced to 5 and three more consecutive saving throws are failed, then the Wisdom damage becomes permanent. Though it can cause psionic abilities after years of exposure (or immediate exposure), it mostly causes stillbirths or major birth defects eventhough any time spent within its bluish-white rays reduces aging to one-half the normal rate while so exposed.

Glowvine [Dragon 357, p. 56]
A morning glory derivative that gives of light as a torch. It grows 1 ft every 2 weeks. A seedling sells for 500 gp.

Nightlight (Out of the Abyss, p.23)
A bioluminescent fungus from the Forgotten Realms setting. Nightlight has tall stalks ranging from five to ten feet when mature. The tube-like stems glow with a bright light out to a distance of fifteen feet and provide dim illumination for another fifteen feet beyond that.

Ormu (Out of the Abyss, p.23)
A Forgotten Realms setting fungus. It favors warm, moist areas such as steam tunnels and steam vents. Ormu gives off a soft green glow that provides dim illumination in a five foot radius. If harvested and dried, it yields a phosphorescent powder that can be used to create a glowing pigment.

Phosphorescent Fungus (DMG 3.5, p.76)
Gives off a soft violet glow the size of a candle. Drow grow it for food and illumination.

Radiant Crystal (D&D 3.5 Underdark, p.107)
Some rare rocks are naturally radiant ranging in brightness from starlight to full daylight, although daylight equivalency is quite rare.

Reflective Stone (D&D 3.5 Underdark, p.107)
While not naturally luminescent, caverns made partially of reflective stone can be much more easily illuminated by small light sources than normal. Reflective stone quadruples the radius of illumination of any light source brought inside.

Ash Willow (Dragon Magazine 347, p.48)
This willow tree has dark red bark and at full height can reach 120 feet tall. Ash willows thrive on heat and often grow in pools of lava, growing several feet a year and quickly dominating an area. Ash willows continually smolder and rain ash all around them, eventually creating a unique ashen landscape. One tree can create 1 pound of ash each day for every 10 feet of its height. Fast-growing roots extend runners that spawn 1d3 new trees each month. The trees spread within lava pools and along rivers of lava, often changing highly volatile areas into calm, slow-burning forests covered with ash. Hey, ash can be used as a fertilizer as well as for making soap.

Fireweed (Dragon #227, p.27)
A Forgotten Realms plant, but I like it because it converts heat into food and foul toxins into breathable air. Fireweed is a black, spongy plant, without leaves but with constant branches; its overall structure resembles a gigantic Spanish moss. Its sap is a purplish-red so that could be used as a dye. For each die of fire damage, or each die of heat damage, that it absorbs it grows a foot, thus being able to create a dark wooden jungle pretty darn quickly. Hey, goats eat anything.

Fire Fungus (D&D 3.5 Underdark, p.110)
A Forgotten Realms plant. This fungal growth sheds a much appreciated warmth, raising the temperature within 30 feet of it by 10 degrees. However, any open flame brought within 40 feet of fire fungus causes it to explode, dealing 5d6 points of fire damage to each creature in a 20-foot radius. Such an explosion kills the fire fungus, and it can also be killed by cold damage — 10 points of cold damage is sufficient to kill a 5-foot-square patch.

Fire Lichen (Out of the Abyss, p.22; D&D 3.5 Underdark, p.108)
A Forgotten Realms plant. Pale orange-white in color, fire lichen thrives on warmth, so it grows in regions of geothermal heat or near connections to the Elemental Plane of Fire. Fire lichen can be ground and fermented into a hot, spicy paste, which is often spread on sporebread to give it flavor. Duergar ferment fire lichen into a fiercely hot liquor.

Nahre Lotus (Dragon 357, pp. 53-54)
Water lily native to the Elemental Plane of Water that draws water from its home plane at a rate of 50 gallons per day. Plant sells for 10000 gp, while a seedling sells for 500 gp. It requires abundant light and at least a 100 gallon pond to survive. If you don't have an underground river this will be the only way to get water.

Assassin Vine (Pathfinder Bestiary, p.22)
The assassin vine is a carnivorous plant that collects its
own grisly fertilizer by grabbing and crushing animals and depositing the carcasses near its roots. A mature plant consists of a main vine, about 20 feet long; smaller vines up to 5 feet long branch off from the main vine about every 6 inches. These small vines bear clusters of leaves, and in late summer they produce bunches of small fruits that resemble wild blackberries. The fruit is tough and has a hearty and typically bitter flavor, although some say the berries change in taste depending on what victims composted a given plant's roots. The most murderous assassin vines supposedly produce the sweetest berries.
The underground version of the assassin vine is darker in coloration to the ground dwelling one.

Bloodsucking Rock Cactus (Dark Sun Monstrous Compendium Appendix II: Terrors Beyond Tyr)
Spherical plants from Athas that can be found anywhere that water is not plentiful. They are brown in color, but deepen to black as they increase their fluid storage. During the spring they possess yellow flowers, but the rest of the time they look roughly like spherical rocks. Rock cacti exude a perfume that is undetectable by demihumans but attracts small rodents and mammals. Like most plants, rock cacti rely on insects to assist them to reproduce. It can be peeled and eaten. Each plant produces 1 pound of edible material. The flesh of a rock cactus tastes vaguely like apples and is of similar consistency. As many as 4 pints of fluid can be obtained from a large plant. The plant uses its defense mechanism to stop any casual attempts to eat it. The plants can be farmed and harvested by holding a bag full of straw in front of them and teasing the plants to attack. The spines are severed before the plants can retract them, making the plants defenseless and easily peeled. Live rock cacti, for planting in gardens, bring 5 cp each in most markets. Each tendril that hits absorbs 1 hp of blood each round it is attached. It has a maximum capacity of 100 hp worth of blood, or as much as 10 pints. The blood-drinking variety supposedly has no value, but if there isn't any other then who cares?

Bloodthorn (D&D 3.5 Fiend Folio, p.23)
This plant is a CR 3 creature that could be imported from the Abyss. The plant subsists entirely on the blood of living creatures. Bright red succulent berries continually grow on the plant, but the berries are bitter and provide no sustenance. But they do smell nice. So, we need a goodberry spell to make this viable.

Bloodvine (Dragon 364; Expeditionary Dispatches: The Forest of Flesh)
It's not the same bloodvine from the Pathfinder setting. This vine can be found in Kresht Rhyll in the Eberron setting and produces human blood instead of sap. I thought it a neat thing to include to make it easier to include certain other plant creatures. Given a Miracle or Wish spell I'm sure it could be replicated...

Jack-o-Lantern (Pathfinder Bestiary 4, p.160)
Jack-o’-lanterns are semi-intelligent plant creatures spawned by fell magic and driven to burn and consume living flesh. Immediately after killing and devouring an intelligent being, a jack-o’-lantern excretes its victim’s remains as a smoldering, paste-like slurry that quickly sinks into the ground. One day later, 1d3 fully mature—and ravenous—jack-o’-lanterns emerge from the tainted soil. What is an intelligent being? The answer is found in the description of the Cannibal Ring
(Ultimate Equipment pg. 344). So an intelligent being is any living creature with an Intelligence of 3 or higher. So, you could either feed it an HD 4 animal that put its ability boost into INT, leaf leashies,
or give an animal Blood of Baphomet (Pathfinder #74: Sword of Valor pg. 89) so that it gains the man-eating animal template. We then use a Cracked Pearly White Spindle Ioun Stone (Price: 3,400 gp). That way we can keep the Jack-o'-Lantern alive after lobbing off part of its head for food. To fight a Jack-o'-Lantern we should get some asbestos armor from Pure Steam (it's the cheapest way to get Fire Resistance 5; pg.71-72). Then we get an Energy Heart (Game Master's Guide - Beginner Box, pg. 8; 1,000 gp) for an additional 10 points of fire soak. If your GM doesn't allow an Asbestos Suit then buy Fire Ward Gel (Ultimate Equipment pg. 101; 150 gp) to give you fire resistance 5. You then fight it with a 10 ft. reach weapon. If you think about it, it's just an evil pumpkin...

Vampire Rose Bush (Dungeon #84, p.84)
This bush has many flowering white bulbs and petals, green stems lined with tiny thorns, and many small branches of greenish-brown. Opponents are grabbed and drained of blood. When fully sated with blood, a vampire rose’s petals flush red. I figure that even blood-drinking roses can be used for stuff like rose water, teas, etc.

Wolfberry Bush (Pathfinder Campaign Setting, p. 217)
Carnivorous but blessedly immobile, the wolfberry bush mimics other berry bushes to lure creatures close enough to strike, strangle, and feed. Unlike its cousin, the assassin vine, the wolf berry bush
is incapable of movement, it has thus developed the ability to camouflage itself as any of several varieties of berry bushes indigenous to an area. Its fruit usually tastes the same—overly sweet with a bitter aftertaste—no matter what form it takes. It has the same statistics as an assassin vine, although it cannot move and it never grows larger than Huge.

Divine casters can use the Goodberry or Ironbloom Sprouts spells to convert inedible berries and mushrooms into something edible.

Cursed Decanter of Endless Water
Since this is an opposite effect this item will cost 4,500 gp (2,250 gp to create). Rather than pouring forth an amount of fresh or salt water it instead creates lava. This way we can use plants from the Elemental Plane of Fire, as well as others, which require heat, lava or magma. A lot cheaper than a Pyroclastic Spike, but would require GM permission...after all, you don't want somebody running around with a flamethrower.

Pyroclastic Spike (Down the Blighted Path, p. 62)
Price: 28,000 gp (14,000 gp to create)
We can use this item create a two-foot deep molten river of liquid fire. I guess that could be considered lava or magma at a decent price. This way we can have plants from the Elemental Plane of Fire, as well as other plants.

Decanter of Endless Water (Pathfinder Core Rulebook, p.509)
Price: 9,000 gp (4,500 gp to create)
If we don't have a natural source of water underground we can rely on this wondrous item and make it part of a public fountain.

Gloves of Shaping (Ultimate Equipment, p. 237)
Price: 10,000 gp (5,000 gp to create)
These gloves allow an adventurer to shape stone as if it were soft clay, creating ledges on which to spend a safe night, sculpting exits from would-be prisons, shoring up tunnels against impending collapses, or
immobilizing helpless foes. Just included this as a usable tool for making a livable cavern, like for terrace farming.

Memoriam Root (Healer's Handbook, p. 29)
Cost: 6,000 gp; 3,000 to create
When plunged into the earth over a buried humanoid corpse, the root grows into a young tree in 1 hour. The tree produces 1d4 pieces of magical fruit each day, regardless of the local climate or weather. Each fruit provides nourishment as if it were a normal meal for a Medium creature and restores 1 hit point when eaten. Well, at least we have a use for our dead...

Sunsoil (Heroes of the Darklands, p.29)
Cost: 50 gp
One pound of sunsoil covers a 20-foot by-20-foot area of regular earth and takes 1 minute to distribute evenly. A treated area allows plants to grow without sunlight for 4 months.

Tovar's Instant Well (D&D 3.5 Sandstorm, p.135)
Price: 23,500 gp
This item is a foot-long copper pipe that, when set into the ground and activated with a command word, transforms into a well that produces potable water. Just including this as yet another way to get water without having to dig for it.

Ironbloom mushrooms (Hollow's Last Hope, p. 4; Dwarves of Golarion, p.5)
Small fungi that only grow in dark places with lots of metal, specifically iron. A favorite of dwarves, but can also be eaten by other races.

Stoneshrooms (Dragon 347, p. 47)
Cost: 20 gp
Chalky rock-looking fungus native to the Elemental Plane of Earth that is both edible (1 stoneshroom = 1 meal) and produces spores in the form of breathable air. Also, for 24 hours after eating a Stoneshroom, a creature can hold its breath twice as long as normal. Stoneshroom subsists on minerals in the rock and remains edible for 1 day after picking. So, at least we have another way to gain both food as well as air.

Abyssal Blackgrass (D&D 3.5 Heroes of Horror, pp. 68-69)
Thick black weed native to the lower planes that propagates via tiny seeds. On the surface it appears as 1-foot diamater clumps, but its roots extend in a 50 ft diamater just beneath the surface. Natural healing is prevented when standing above its roots, and magical healing only heals half the normal HP. If the clump is pulled out, the plant survives and regrows the clump in 1d4 days. Though the side effect sucks it will at least provide a regular food source for grazers.

Bluecap (D&D 3.5 Underdark, p.108)
The grain of the Underdark, bluecap fungus is inedible to humanoids, but its spores can be ground into a nutritious, if bland, flour. Bread made from bluecap flour is usually known as sporebread.

Green Air Bramble (D&D 3.5 Complete Scoundrel, p. 118)
Cost: 80 gp
Fast-growing creeping vine that sprouts green berries. Can grow in most inhospitable climates and only needs to be in moist soil for 6 hours per week. Exposure to poison quickly kills the plant, wrinkling leaves and berries. Carrying 3 ft vine grants +2 untyped bonus to resist inhaled poisons, airborne diseases and nauseating effects like stinking cloud.

Gloomwasp (Down the Blighted Path, p.55)
A CR 6 magical beast that looks like a glowing wasp. It feeds on blood, but pulsates with a dim, violet light. Unfortunately, this light can be used offensively by these creatures to cause radiation poisoning. Where before they can become a full infestation, with an Eberron bloodvine they could become a major infestation. They are useful against fungi, molds, oozes, undead, and other creatures with light sensitivity or light blindness, however.

Rothe (D&D 3.5 Underdark, p.109)
These grazing, muskox-like creatures are well adapted for life in the depths. Subsisting on fungi, moss, lichen and almost anything else that grows in the Underdark, rothe are highly valued by most Underdark races and often kept in large corral-caverns.

(Pathfinder Paladin modified with D&D 3.5 + Unearthed Arcana choices, with no Spellcasting abilities)

Human
Level 1 feat, Human bonus feat
Paladin 1 Aura of Good (Ex), Hunter of Fiends (Ex), Have Gun
Paladin 2 Avenging (Ex), Brilliant Strategy (Ex), Military Knowledge(Ex)
Level 3 feat
Paladin 3 Defend the Weak (Ex), Tactical Acumen (Ex), Favored Terrain (Ex)
Paladin 4 Holy Warrior (Ex), Military Knowledge (Ex)
Level 5 feat
Paladin 5 -
Paladin 6 Favored Terrain (Ex), Military Knowledge (Ex)
Level 7 feat
Paladin 7 Righteous Cause (Ex), Tactical Acumen (Ex)
Paladin 8 Righteous Cause (Ex), Holy Warrior (Ex)
Level 9 feat
Paladin 9 Favored Terrain (Ex)
Paladin 10 Righteous Cause (Ex)
Level 11 feat
Paladin 11 Holy Warrior (Ex), Righteous Cause (Ex), Tactical Acumen (Ex)
Paladin 12 Favored Terrain (Ex)
Level 13 feat
Paladin 13 Righteous Cause (Ex)
Paladin 14 Holy Warrior (Ex), Righteous Cause (Ex)
Level 15 feat
Paladin 15 Favored Terrain (Ex), Tactical Acumen (Ex)
Paladin 16 Righteous Cause (Ex)
Level 17 feat
Paladin 17 Righteous Cause (Ex)
Paladin 18 Favored Terrain (Ex)
Level 19 feat
Paladin 19 Righteous Cause (Ex), Tactical Acumen (Ex)
Paladin 20 Righteous Cause (Ex)

Aura of Good (Ex): The power of a paladin's aura of good (see the detect good spell) is equal to his paladin level.

Hunter of Fiends (Ex): You gain outsider (evil) as a favored enemy, as the ranger ability, except the bonus you gain equals half your paladin level (minimum +1). You gain no additional favored enemies at later levels. In addition, you gain Track as a bonus feat and Survival and Knowledge (the planes) as class skills. You lose the ability to smite evil and give up Knowledge (royalty and nobility) as a class skill.

Have Gun: At 1st level, the paladin gains the Amateur Gunslinger feat and Gunsmithing as bonus feats. He also gains a battered gun identical to the one gained by the Gunslinger. This ability replaces detect evil.

Avenging (Ex): Gain Favored enemy (as ranger; may only select aberrations, dragons, giants, monstrous humanoids, evil outsiders, or undead). Lose lay on hands, remove disease, and turn undead.

Brilliant Strategy (Ex): At 2nd level and higher, a Paladin can draw upon his instinct for battle to give him an amazing ability to predict the imminent actions of his enemies and his best options for taking advantage of those actions. Activating this ability is an immediate action; it grants him an insight bonus to AC equal to his Charisma
bonus (if any) for 1 round. A Paladin can use this ability a number of times per day equal to one-half his class level.

Military Knowledge (Ex): At 2nd level, the paladin gains a cumulative +2 competence bonus on Knowledge checks concerning military history or strategy. The paladin gains this again at Level 4 and Level 6.

Defend the Weak (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, a paladin can protect nearby allies in combat. If he uses Combat Expertise, fights defensively, or uses the total defense action, he can grant the dodge bonus to AC from these actions to any single creature standing adjacent to him in addition to himself. This benefit replaces the standard paladin's aura of courage class feature.

Tactical Acumen (Ex): At 3rd level, the paladin gains a teamwork feat as a bonus feat. He must meet the prerequisites for this feat. He gains an additional bonus feat for every four levels attained after 3rd, to a maximum of five bonus feats at 19th level. This ability replaces divine health and divine bond.

Favored Terrain (Ex): At 3rd level, a paladin chooses a favored terrain from the ranger favored terrains table. This otherwise functions like the ranger ability of the same name. This ability replaces the mercy gained at 3rd level. Every time a paladin would be able to select another mercy, he can instead select another favored terrain and increase his bonuses for one existing favored terrain, just like a ranger.

Holy Warrior (Ex): You no longer gain spells as a paladin, but you can now select a bonus feat at 4th, 8th, 11th, and 14th levels. You can select any feat from the following list for which you meet the prerequisites: any divine feat (see page 53), Cleave, Great Cleave, Mounted Combat, Mounted Archery, Power Attack, Ride-By Attack, Skill Focus (Ride), Spirited Charge, and Trample. This is an extraordinary ability.
Special: A paladin who selects this path can no longer use scrolls, wands, or other magic items that require access to a spell list, unless he has another spellcasting class that grants access to the appropriate spells.

Righteous Cause (Ex): Starting at 7th level, a paladin is either rewarded with a bonus to form a lawful community or route out duplicitous intent. The paladin gains an additional bonus at 8th, 11th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th, 19th, and 20th level. The bonus must be drawn from one of the following two abilities.

Inspiring Presence (Ex): A paladin can become the rallying standard for decency and fairness. If a paladin takes the Leadership feat, the character gains +1 to her leadership score, but only for the purpose of attracting 1st-level followers.

Discerning Insight (Ex): A paladin can recognize when a person is trustworthy or not, giving the character a +1 bonus on Sense Motive checks when trying to get a "hunch" about the subject's personality after a 1-minute conversation (see Sense Motive).

This ability replaces Aura of resolve, Aura of justice, Aura of faith, Aura of righteousness, and Holy Champion.

Year One - Semester 1
Fame:0, PP: 0
Spend 100 gp for Tuition
Education check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year One - Semester 2
Fame: 1, PP: 1
-1 Prestige Point (Scholarship Aid)
Breaching Festival Assistant = +2 Fame, +2 Prestige Points

Year One - Semester 3
Fame: 3, PP: 2
-1 Prestige Point (Scholarship Aid)
-1 Prestige Point (Spell Transcription)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year One - Semester 4
Fame: 4, PP: 1
-1 Prestige Point (Scholarship Aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Two - Semester 1
Fame: 5, PP:1
- 1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Gain Library Access -> A day of research grants you a +2 circumstance bonus on any one Knowledge skill check.
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Two - Semester 2
Fame: 6, PP: 1
-1 Prestige Point (Scholarship Aid)
Breaching Festival Assistant = +2 Fame, +2 Prestige Points

Year Two - Semester 3
Fame: 8, PP: 2
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
-1 PP (Spell Transcription)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Two - Semester 4
Fame: 9, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Three - Semester 1
Fame: 10, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Three - Semester 2
Fame: 11, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Breaching Festival Assistant = +2 Fame, +2 Prestige Points

Year Three - Semester 3
Fame: 13, PP: 2
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
-1 PP (Spell Transcription)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Three - Semester 4
Fame: 14, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year One - Semester 1
Fame: 15, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year One - Semester 2
Fame: 16, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Breaching Festival Assistant = +2 Fame, +2 Prestige Point

Year One - Semester 3
Fame: 18, PP: 2
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
-1 PP (Spell Transcription)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year One - Semester 4
Fame: 19, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Two - Semester 1
Fame: 20, PP: 1
Senior Student Status -> produce potions, scrolls, and wands at 10% discount; +2 Diplomacy against other students
-1 PP (Scholarship aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Two - Semester 2
Fame: 21, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship aid)
Breaching Festival Assistant = +2 Fame, +2 Prestige Points

Year Two - Semester 3
Fame: 23, PP: 2
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
-1 PP (Spell Transcription)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Two - Semester 4
Fame: 24, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Three - Semester 1
Fame: 25, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Three - Semester 2
Fame: 26, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Breaching Festival Assistant = +2 Fame, +2 Prestige Points

Year Three - Semester 3
Fame: 28, PP: 2
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
-1 PP (Spell Transcription)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Three - Semester 4
Fame: 29, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Four - Semester 1
Fame: 30, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Four - Semester 2
Fame: 31, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Breaching Festival Assistant = +2 Fame, +2 Prestige Points

Year Four - Semester 3
Fame: 33, PP: 2
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
-1 PP (Spell Transcription)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Four - Semester 4
Fame: 34, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Five - Semester 1
Fame: 35, PP: 1
Professor's Assistant -> You assist a professor of your choice in teaching her classes.
You are now specialized in Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft, and can recruit a student to
aid you in research when you use the academy library, which increases the circumstance bonus
you gain from library access to +4.
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Five - Semester 2
Fame: 36, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Breaching Festival Assistant = +2 Fame, +2 Prestige Points

Year Five - Semester 3
Fame: 38, PP: 2
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
-1 PP (Spell Transcription)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Five - Semester 4
Fame: 39, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Six - Semester 1
Fame: 40, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Six - Semester 2
Fame: 41, PP: 1
Pay Tuition = 100 gp
Breaching Festival Assistant = +2 Fame, +2 Prestige Points
-3 PP (Summoning Specialization - Aasimar Cleric 1 [Bestiary, p.7])

Year Six - Semester 3
Fame: 43, PP: 0
Pay Tuition = 100 gp
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Six - Semester 4
Fame: 44, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Seven - Semester 1
Fame: 45, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Seven - Semester 2
Fame: 46, PP: 1
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
Breaching Festival Assistant = +2 Fame, +2 Prestige Points

Year Seven - Semester 3
Fame: 47, PP: 0
-1 PP (Scholarship Aid)
-1 PP (Spell Transcription)
Education Check - Knowledge (arcana) DC 16 = +1 Fame, +1 Prestige Point

Year Seven - Semester 4
Fame: 48, PP: 1
Pay Tuition = 100 gp
-1 PP (Spell Transcription)

Spend 135 gp on Scroll of Summon Monster II
Summon a Lemure = GRADUATION (FAME 50) <- Guide to Korvosa, p. 53

This is a discussion of how to play the Life-School Necromancer. Necromancers can be quite decent, if built correctly. Unfortunately, we decided to play one of the hardest wizards that Paizo managed to create. Thinking that Necromancy for healing has GOT to be better? You hold on to that dream...Let's face it, you'd probably be better off playing a Twilight Sage arcanist or Life Oracle. Life-School Necromancer was supposed to be an arcane healer idea, but right off the bat we were faced with the fact that the writers didn't put a lot of extra effort behind it. In fact, the more you try to think about how to push the envelope with this idea, the more questions come up of how a lot was intended to work.

Necromancy's big weakness is that it's such a small school already, which makes it hard to have decent spells every level. In fact, with all the splat books that were published they still hardly exist. Secondly, most necromancy spells are touch or ranged touch spells, which makes us live dangerously. Needless to say, we have to push our creativity to the nigh ludicrous to make this a viable build even now. A lot of what we have to do will not exactly endear us to the Pathfinder Society crowd - lets face it, you probably won't even endear yourself to your GM.

The second problem is that the Healing Grace power that comes with the school only works with spells if they have targets, are area-based, or belong to ranged or melee touch attacks. Your spells are limited, especially in the early levels, which means that you have to choose between healing (probably yourself) or being useful in combat. Also, if you tried to heal your party members using this ability, you more than likely would have to resort to fear-based and mind-affecting Necromancy spells and watch the hilarity ensue as you scare the wits out of them. Without making an Infernal or Demonic Pact, or using the Race Builder tool, there's no way in hell to be able to use this to its full potential.

Yes, as a Life School necromancer you will still be manipulating the power of death, unlife, and the life force. Still, unless you're a Pharasmin, or unless you follow the Andoran faction/Liberty's Edge faction, Undead are not without their uses. However, your play-style will revolve around attrition without the main focus being the creation of hordes of undead minions. A true Life School necromancer will drain his own health to heal his group and minions, then drain his enemies of life force to heal himself and his group. Following combat he will animate his enemy's corpses to unlife, and then drain their negative energy to convert it again into life force to heal himself and his party, intermittently buffing himself with temporary hit points for additional survivability. Consequently, any Undead minions he creates become more of a cadre of bodyguards and batteries. Likewise, his team of Undead will be small enough that he always has them within reach.

There are several things you will have to get through your head right away.
1) Your first and primary duty is to be the party de-buffer. The weaker you make them, the quicker the fight will end. This will not change. The problem is that a lot of these spells are safe or suck, as well as safe or die. Consequently, you have to think in a slightly different way than other wizards. It's about progression to increase the suckage before you hit them with the BIG SUCK. Otherwise you'll take a big chance in failing and look like an idiot.
2) Your secondary duty as a Wizard is battlefield control. The more you can change the environment to suit your party's needs the easier the fight will be.
3) Your tertiary duty is that of utility caster. Always have the right tool for the right time and the right moment.
4) Your quaternary duty will be two-fold: you will be a temporary hit point powerhouse, and an out-of-combat healer. You'll never be as good as the Cleric for in-combat healing. BUT we can certainly make it interesting. *wicked grin*

Samsaran (*****): Samsarans gain +2 INT, +2 WIS, and –2 CON; a +2 racial bonus on all saving throws made to resist death effects, saving throws against negative energy effects, Fortitude saves made to remove negative levels, and Constitution checks made to stabilize if reduced to negative hit points. They also get comprehend languages, deathwatch, and stabilize 1/day as a Spell-like ability. That already makes them very good for fighting Undead creatures, but what we're after is the Mystic Past Life alternate trait. Being able to get spells from the other class lists is golden for making a Life School Necromancer, and pretty much the only way to get even close on par with a Cleric. That Mystic Past Life ability allows for decent variety. However, you have to choose whether you're going to get them from an Arcane or a Divine source, and your choices of future spells can't be changed so make sure you know what you are doing. Samsarans gain the same Favored Class option as humans, which means more spells.

Aasimar [Emberkin] (*****): +2 INT, +2 CHA; 60 foot darkvision; +2 racial bonus on Knowledge (planes) and Spellcraft. Emberkin gain pyrokinetics as a spell-like ability, but we'll replace that spell-like ability with the ability to channel 1d6 points of positive energy once per day as a supernatural ability (see Blood of Angels). That gives us a small boost in the early levels to heal our group and to fight undead. Otherwise, take the Immortal Spark alternate racial trait if you want to become a Bloatmage. Like other Aasimars they also have acid resistance 5, cold resistance 5, and electricity resistance 5. Naturally, we give them the alternate Scion of Humanity trait for extra fun. This ability lets you be treated as a human for all effects which also allows you to choose human archetypes and feats. With the Racial Heritage feat you can count as an Aasimar, a human, and any other humanoid race all at the same time, letting you mix-and-match feats and archetypes that would never normally go together. If you want to go Shadowcaster, replace Darkvision 60 feet with Halo. Unfortunately, Paizo has no Favored Class bonus for Wizards...but it could be argued that if they're a Scion of Humanity that they could get the Favored Class option from Humans. Either way, these Aasimar have no real downside.

Damphir (****): Common Damphirs have +2 DEX, –2 CON, +2 CHA, a +2 racial bonus on Bluff and Perception and +2 racial bonus on saving throws against disease and mind-affecting effects, and they can cast Detect Undead 3x/day. However, the better alternative are the Jiang-Shi-born (Ru-Shi). Ru-Shi get +2 STR, +2 INT, –2 DEX, a +2 Racial bonus to Acrobatics and Knowledge (engineering), they can cast Erase 3x/day, but take a -1 penalty on saves against sonic effects and spells. All damphirs take no penalties from energy drain effects, see 60 feet in the dark, and 60 feet in dim light. However, they are dazzled by bright light and are only healed by negative energy. Their favored class option kicks in at Level 4, Level 8, Level 12, Level 16, and Level 20, which gives you an additional +1 CL to necromancy spells each time (for a total of +5). Either way, their heritage cries out Necromancer. If you go Shadowcaster ask your GM to remove Darkvision and pick another 2 RP boon.

(****) Android: Androids have +2 DEX, +2 INT, and -2 CHA, +2 racial bonus on Perception checks, but a -4 penalty on Sense Motive checks for being emotionless. They have 60 feet darkvision and also possess low-light vision. They count as both humanoids and constructs when it comes to spells, bane weapons, and favored enemy bonuses. They also gain a +4 racial bonus on all saving throws against mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison, and stun effects, are not subject to fatigue or exhaustion, and are immune to disease and sleep effects. Alas, they can't gain morale bonuses because of their emotionless state, but that also means that they are immune to fear effects and all emotion-based effects. Their nanite surge ability (1/day, immediate action) gives them a bonus equal to 3 + the android's character level on any one d20 roll. If you go Shadowcaster ask your GM to replace Darkvision and pick another 2 RP boon. Androids gain the same Favored Class option as humans, which means more spells. So, they could certainly fit the job.

Human (***): The flexible +2 to any stat is very useful, nevermind the extra feat at Level 1 which gives an early boost to power. As a wizard you also gain an additional spell in your spellbook each level. More spells means more utility. Also, you can choose Adoptive Parentage to gain access to other race traits and archetypes. Always a solid choice.

Elf (***): A +2 DEX is very important as you're going to be making a lot of ray and touch attacks. +2 Int is very nice for extra skill points and higher Spell DC, and thus the -2 to CON is not that bad. You're immune to magical sleep effects, have +2 to Perception, and gain a +2 saving throw bonus to enchantment spells and effects. You also get a +2 bonus to Spellcraft for identifying magic items. As necromancy has a lot of save or suck spells that require you to overcome Spell Resistance the +2 to defeat Spell Resistance can be helpful later – especially if you decide to focus on Enervation. Elves also add +1/2 to the number of uses per day when it comes to the Share Essence ability. That can certainly become helpful in the later levels, but it won't be your primary focus.

Tiefling [Grimspawn] (***): These kinds of Tiefling have +2 DEX, +2 INT, –2 WIS, and gain 1/day death knell as a spell-like ability. Deathwatch at will with the Soul Seer trait is great so we also take that. Tieflings have the same Favored Class option as elves, which is also good when it comes to the use of the Share Essence ability. On top of that, Tieflings have cold resistance 5, electricity resistance 5, fire resistance 5, and 60 ft. darkvision. They also gain a +2 racial bonus to Disable Device and Sleight of Hand, but this will be less useful to us. No more need for meta-gaming at the table to know how wounded your fellow teammates are at any point. :P If you go Shadowcaster ask your GM to remove Darkvision and pick another 2 RP boon.

Wayang (***): These ugly little runts get +2 DEX, +2 INT, -2 WIS; +1 size bonus to AC; +1 size bonus to attack; +2 racial bonus to Perception and +6 overall bonus to Stealth; 60 foot darkvision; +1 DC to any Shadow spell; 1/day - ghost sound, pass without trace, and ventriloquism; +2 saves against shadow spells; 1/day they can heal from negative energy and be hurt by positive energy for 1 minute. Granted, these guys have a lot of advantages in a small package and become even scarier when you take the Shadowcaster archetype and take the proper complimentary feats (Shadow Grasp, Tenebrous Spell, Umbral Spell). If you go Shadowcaster ask your GM to downgrade Darkvision to Low-Light Vision and pick another 1 RP boon. The only downside is that they have a movement speed of 20 feet and are really shy and elusive, prefer to avoid conflict, and take a position of strict neutrality (see Dragon Empires Primer). Also, Paizo never provided a favored class option for wizards when it comes to this race, so we only have a 3PP option to add +1/3 to the effective caster level of shadow spells.

Half-Elf (**): You get a +2 to INT and a Skill Focus feat, and have the same immunities as elves, seeing 60 feet in dim light and the Perception bonus. However, you can use the Skill Focus feat for quicker access to Eldritch Heritage and Spell Specialization. Access to Paragon Surge could potentially tip the scale for utility and versatility reasons. Still, this race is not my first choice because their Favored Class option is not designed for Necromancy.

Half-Orc (**): Yeah, +2 to any one Stat is good, but to make this race work we'll replace Darkvision with Skilled (+1 skill point each level), and Orc Ferocity with Warded Skin (SR 6 + character level against Divine spells, with demon worshippers having a 10% failure). We still keep the +2 to Intimidate just to round out the character, but the +1 bonus to concentration checks doesn't give us much of an advantage.

Ratfolk (*): +2 DEX, +2 INT, and –2 STR; small size; 60 ft. darkvision; +2 Craft (alchemy), Perception, and Use Magic Device. We'll remove the Swarming trait for Cornered Fury because it's doubtful you'll have a group of Ratfolk. It's still not that great, as is the +4 Animal Empathy with rodents or the 20 feet of movement speed. If you go Shadowcaster ask your GM to downgrade Darkvision to Low-Light Vision and pick another 1 RP boon. Third-party Favored Class bonuses only apply to disease spells, and then the +1/3 effective caster level boost only applies to duration. So, granted, you can make a Necromancer with this race, but it wouldn't be my first choice.

(10-point buy) STR 7, DEX 11, CON 10, INT 18, WIS 10, CHA 7
(If you are Ratfolk drop 3 DEX, and add 2 STR; if Grimspawn or Wayang, drop 2 DEX, and add 2 WIS; Common Damphirs drop 2 DEX and add 2 CON, whereas Ru-Shi add 1 DEX and -1 WIS; Samsarans add 2 CON and deduct 2 WIS; if Elf, drop DEX by 1, drop WIS by 1 and add 2 to CON)

(15-point buy) STR 7, DEX 12, CON 12, INT 18, WIS 12, CHA 7
(Ratfolk add 1 STR and subtract 2 DEX; if Grimspawn or Wayang, add 1 STR and deduct 2 DEX)

(20-point buy) STR 7, DEX 14, CON 14, INT 18, WIS 11, CHA 7
(Ratfolk add 2 STR and subtract 2 DEX; if Grimspawn or Wayang, add 1 WIS and subtract 2 DEX)

(25-point buy) STR 7, DEX 16, CON 14, INT 18, WIS 11, CHA 7
(Ratfolk add 2 STR and subtract 1 DEX; Grimspawn or Wayang, add 1 STR & 1 WIS, subtract 1DEX)

As you can see, the basics of being a Wizard are still there. Your highest stat will be INT to get the largest amount of spells, and increase the DC of the spells you cast. Dexterity not only gives you initiative, extra AC, and increases the ability to use ranged touch/ray spells and touch spells. Your greatest liability is that you are squishy, so having some extra CON is useful. Also, Wizards suffer in Fort saves. Don't skimp on Wisdom, because you don't want to negatively affect your Will saves. Unless you intend to use Threnodic Spell or similar feats to use Enchantment spells on certain creatures, or actually want to have your chosen race's spell-like abilities, you can use CHA as your dump stat. However, you do want to have a certain amount of Strength, because once your spells run out you're down to providing Aid Another actions, throwing stuff, and effectively acting as a weak crossbowman. Therefore, it helps to have extra gear like alchemical items, etc. to keep your utility aspect going.

Now I don't know about you, but Pathfinder has a steep difficulty curve at the early levels. So, unless you have a team that actually knows what they're doing I would recommend you taking a slightly different approach...

CloudCobra's Starting Stats (20-point buy):
STR 9
DEX 12
CON 14
INT 16
WIS 12
CHA 12

A lot of you will already be looking askance at this choice of stats. But it will become apparent once we get further down the line. Overall this gives you a good starting point no matter what you're trying to do.

As a young character you have -2 STR, +2 DEX, -2 CON, and -2 WIS.

Since character traits represent your character's background before becoming an adventurer choose 1 starting trait for now.

For your Level 1 feat take Additional Traits (Advanced Player's Guide, p.150). This allows us to by-pass the Retraining restrictions later.

Now choose a Money Trait and a Knowledge-boosting trait with a focus on Arcana. The reason behind this will be explained soon.

(*****) NOTICE: If you can actually do the Beginner Box's adventure, Skeleton King's Crypt, as an NPC class introduction, you end up with: 116 gp in coins, 400 gp in diamonds, 300 gp in rubies, a +1 Longsword (2,315 gp), a regular longsword (15 gp), a mace (12 gp), a shortsword (10 gp), a warhammer (12 gp), a torch, and a potion of cure light wounds (50 gp). If you get rid of those you don't need a money trait, and it would actually provide a cross-over to becoming a Wizard.

(***) Reactionary (Combat): +2 trait bonus to Initiative. [Ultimate Campaign, p.53]

(***) Warrior of Old (Elf): +2 trait bonus to Initiative. [Elves of Golarion, p.15; Ultimate Campaign, p. 62]

(***) Elven Reflexes (Half-Elf): +2 trait bonus to Initiative. [Ultimate Campaign, p. 62]

(***) Wary of Danger (Human-Kellid): +2 trait bonus on Initiative. [People of the North, p.6]

(***) Hermean Paragon (Regional-Hermea): +2 trait bonus on Initiative checks. [Inner Sea Primer, p.20]

(***) Chance Savior (Carrion Crown): +2 trait bonus on Initiative checks. [Carrion Crown Player's Guide, p.12]

(**) Tactician (Combat): +1 trait bonus to Initiative; 1/day +2 trait bonus to attack rolls on AoO. [Ultimate Campaign, p.54]

(**) Arcane Temper (Magic): +1 on Concentration and +1 on Initiative. [Ultimate Campaign, p.56]

(**) Absalom Hotspur (Regional-Absalom): +1 trait bonus on Initiative checks and Knowledge (local checks). [Inner Sea Primer, p.4]

(*) Bloody-Minded (Combat): Requires CE alignment; gain +1 trait bonus on initiative and Intimidate checks. [Champions of Corruption, p.11]

(**) Inspired (Faith): Once per day (free action), roll twice and take the better result on a skill check or ability check. [Ultimate Campaign, p.55]

(**) Mystery Initiate (Faith): Once per day, reroll any Knowledge skill check. [Quests and Campaigns, p.19]

(**) Numerological Gift (Ru-Shi): Once per day, treat your roll as if you had rolled a natural 20 if you roll your totem number. [Blood of the Night, p.20]

(**) Artisan (Social): +2 trait bonus on a single Craft skill. [Ultimate Campaign, p.59]

(**) Bruising Intellect (Social): Use INT rather than CHA on Intimidate checks; Intimidate is a class skill. [Ultimate Campaign, p.59]

(*****) Chosen Child (Po Li): Starting money increases by 900 gold pieces. [Dragon Empires Primer, p.16]

(****) Rich Parents (Social): Your starting cash increases to 900 gp. [Ultimate Campaign, p.61]
WARNING! A lot of GMs don't allow you to take this one. However, the quick early-game boost is undeniable.

(**) Child of Infamy (Council of Thieves): +1 Perform (act) which becomes a class skill; +300 gp starting gold. [Council of Thieves Player's Guide, pp.8-9]

(**) Get the Cargo Through (Serpent's Skull): +300 gp starting gold. [Serpent's Skull Player's Guide, p. 10]

These three traits are decent fallbacks, but clearly not as great...
(**) Brigand (Kingmaker): +100 gp; +1 to Bluff, Diplomacy. Intimidate, & Sense Motive when dealing with brigands, thieves, bandits, etc. [Kingmaker Player's Guide, p.10]

(**) Ustalavic Noble (Ustalav): +1 on Diplomacy and Knowledge (nobility); +100 gp starting gold. [Inner Sea Primer, p.22]

(**) On the Payroll (Carrion Crown): +150 gp starting gold. [Carrion Crown Player's Guide, p.12]

Only including this if your GM is a prick and you have to take the Adopted trait or Racial Heritage feat...
(***) Coin Hoarder (Dwarf): Starting gold increases to 500 gp. [Dwarves of Golarion, p.11]

(****) Outlander - Lore Seeker (Rise of the Runelords): +1 bonus to Knowledge (arcana), which becomes a class skill. Pick three arcane spells and cast them at +1 CL and +1 DC [Advanced Player's Guide, p.331]

(***) Foster Child (Jade Regent): Gain +2 on any Knowledge skill and it becomes a class skill; +1 attack bonus against foes threatening Koya. [Jade Regent Player's Guide, p.12]

(***) Teacher's Pet (Carrion Crown): +2 bonus to any Knowledge skill, which becomes a class skill. [Carrion Crown Player's Guide, p.12]

(***) Secret Knowledge (Norgorber): Choose any Knowledge skill and gain a permanent +2 to it, and it becomes a class skill. [Inner Sea Gods, p.222]

(**) Arcane Depth (Nethys): Either a +1 on Spellcraft or +2 on Knowledge (arcana). However, neither skill becomes a class skill. [Inner Sea Gods, p.218]

(**) Azlant Fanatic (Human-Azlanti): +1 bonus to Knowledge (arcana) and Knowledge (history). One of these skills (your choice) becomes a class skill. [Taldor-Echoes of Glory, p.14]

(**) Mathematical Prodigy (Magic): +1 on Knowledge (arcana) and Knowledge (engineering). One of these becomes a class skill. [Ultimate Campaign, pp.57-58]

(**) Adaptive Magic (Reign of Winter): +1 on Knowledge (arcana) and Use Magic Device checks. Use Magic Device becomes a class skill. [People of the North, pp.30-31]

(**) Huldra's Luck (Land of the Linnorm Kings): 1/day +1 luck bonus on single saving throw, attack roll, or skill check. [People of the North, p.21]

(**) Empyreal Focus (Empyreal Lords): Once per day, grant any skill check a +2 trait bonus. [Faiths of Purity, p.21; Inner Sea Gods, p.219]

(*) Seeker of Brightness (Elf): +1 bonus on Knowledge (your choice) and on Perception checks. [Elves of Golarion, p.15]

(*) Half-Forgotten Secrets (Ajibachana): Gain a +1 trait bonus on checks with two Knowledge skills of your choice, and one of these skills becomes a class skill.
Note: Vetala-Born (Ajibachana) Damphirs are not that great. I'm just mentioning this trait for completeness sake. [Blood of the Night, p.21]

Knowledgeable Caster (Magic): +1 trait bonus on any Knowledge checks with chosen sorcerer bloodline; 1/day cast Divination spell at CL +1 [Ultimate Campaign, p.57]

Take a Drawback (if the GM allows it) to gain another trait.
Choose either Condescending, Paranoid, Power-Hungry, Pride, or Umbral Unmasking.

You might as well. After going through the Acadamae you're bound to pick up some mental baggage.