I just hit level 5 with my wizard, and i am not usre which feat to take first..my bonus feat is used up, so i only have my normal feat left to choose
Arcane Strike (i use my weapon a lot)
or
Craft Arms and Armor (would save me and my group a lot of money)
Whichever i don't take now, i will be taking at lvl 7. My group all thinks i should take the craft so i can enchant all our gear for 1/2 price, and wait on arcane strike because even though i use my weapons a lot i will always be lowest damage in the group.
I WANT the arcane strike, but i am in a brutal campaign and wonder if i would even survive two more levels without my whole groups gear getting a buff.
Well, even a brutal campaign shouldn't require crafted equipment (unless the GM says otherwise). And getting the first enchantment at full price isn't that more expensive in the long run. The expensive stuff are the higher enchantments. So I'd say Craft can wait if you want Arcane Strike so badly.
On the other hand: Even if you use your weapon often, I doubt Arcane Strike is worth a feat for a wizard (barring EK or similar future plans). Your BAB and damage will grow worse with each passing level and I don't think AS will proof useful in the mid levels and beyond. By then, you have more than enough spells and shouldn't need to lift a finger in melee - ever.
Another thing to consider: At your level, AS will grant you "only" +2 damage, while Craft Arms might allow you to increase the enchantment on your weapon by 1, which would be +1 attack and +1 damage. I personally think the latter is superior.
Neither one is really that good for a wizard. A better feat would be one that enhanced what wizards are good at. Which is spellcasting.
Spell pen, spell focus, augmented summoning, the more useful metamagic feats, all are going to be better than AS or a crafting feat (beware of people wanting you to take feats that don't benefit you as much as it benefits them). Now if you are wanting to have the end goal of crafting contructs, then arms and armor and wonderous item craft feats are required. Craft contruct is pretty feat and money intensive though, so you need to know exactly what you are trying to do.
thank you for your advice
(i use my weapon a lot)
Doooooooon't!
Well ok, don't unless your 6th level is going to be a class with proficiency in all martial weapons and your next 10 are Eldritch Knight.
There is zero reason for a wizard to use weapons enough to justify Arcane Strike. That's a feat for Eldritch Knights, Bards, Magi (who want to make difficult choices about their swift actions), and (sometimes) Summoners.
And I hope your 5th level bonus feat is taken by Fast Study--that is a game changer right there.
So, I guess ultimately, I'd recommend the Craft feat, though I'd lean towards Craft Wondrous over Arms/Armor unless you already have Wondrous.
Do you have a Valet archetype familiar? Totally amazing for a crafter.
If you're leaning towards a crafting feat, I would also say go for craft wondrous items, because there are a lot of cool things you can make for *everyone* including yourself: bags of holding, handy haversacks, amulets of natural armor, cloaks of protection, and a huge variety of less common items.