pbeth's page

Black Blade Arcanist // Inspired Blade Swashbuckler with a rapier is RIDICULOUS

you get full bab with a very nice rapier that scales over time, d10 health, good saves, spell combat (like a magus), arcane reservoir and panache points which both come from INT (ever seen shocking grasp spell combat with the Potent Magic exploit?), 9 level flexible (quick study) arcane casting, and a ton of free bonuses to your effectiveness with your rapier (weapon finesse, weapon focus, scaling damage bonus, etc.).

most powerful character i have ever played, and i have also played paladin/sorcerer and paladin/summoner. was able to solo my way through 2 books of an AP (GM actually had to increase the difficulty of some of the encounters)

You could come up with some "technicalities" that exist in the holy text, maybe some obscure commandments that most of the clergy try to ignore, but still have to recognize as "technically forbidden." Then have the wizard try to bait the party into breaking several of these. Suddenly, they are confronted by a religious authority figure who questions them on their actions. Some room for social checks and knowledge religion of course.

Or the wizard could try and frame them for a serious crime. Grave robbing seems thematic for a desert setting.

^ The same creature they keep killing coming back to attack them would be both suspenseful and humorous. Play the jaws theme for extra effect.

Have some re-occurring symbolism going on. A common tattoo among specific NPC's. A bird that keeps watching them from afar. Play with the fact that players generally assume "whatever the DM says is usually important", and then break that rule a few times. Fear is more powerful with an ample amount of suspense.

Also, if you get your players paranoid, they might do some of the work for you. When you hear them say something like, "what if this food is poisoned?", play off that paranoia by being more specific when describing the next meal they eat (but yu decide if it's poisoned or not)

From the two options you listed, I would go with the Esoteric archetype.

There's another option which may be intriguing to you if you prefer not doing the Esoteric archetype:

You could dip a level into Bloodrager (Blood Conduit archetype, Abyssal bloodline). This would net you Improved Unarmed Strike along with two claw attacks (you can attack with both at highest BAB as a full round action, no flurry needed). Also, since Bloodrager is considered to have a 1:1 caster level (unlike paladin and ranger whose caster levels are -3), you wouldn't lose damage progression with your touch spells. Finally, you get a limited use of Bloodrage, and qualify for the extra rage power feat.