I've read treantmonk's guide and googled on the topic, but haven't seen a consistent opinion on good schools to pick for opposition schools (except that Enchantment sucks).
The character I'm building is going to be a true neutral wizard/loremaster that focuses on crafting (wands and wondrous items) over metamagic. I'm heavily leaning towards a Conjurer specialty as I see this character being a field controller and I like the special abilities the most. However, Divination might be a good choice for a future Loremaster (concept-wise).
The party also has a blaster sorc (which makes Evo a solid contender), and a cleric who is more of a battle cleric than divine slinger.
Based on how specialization works in PF, being able to still use spells from an opposition school takes some of the weight out of the decision. Obviously, I don't want to pick a school where I'll be memorizing spells from it every day. But I can still scribe them to scrolls and cast from that when need be.
I'm leaning toward Enchantment (because I don't like any of the spells, despite being a crafter) and Necromancy (because it's too creepy/evil themed for this character), but I'm not sure how I could fit these two choices together in a character concept, as they are very different from each other. Any thoughts? Or should I consider other schools? Thanks.
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I'd do Enchantment and Evocation, mostly for reasons you list (you have a blaster...and Conjuration is already quite solid at blasting, no Evocation needed, plus you seem to really dislike Enchantment, though I disagree with how weak you seem to think it is).
But as for your real question...a Wizard has opposition schools about as arbitrarily as someone has least favorite subjects in college. The subjects don't need to have much of anything to do with each other (disliking, say, Math and Philosophy is entirely reasonable, or Chemistry and Anthropology), so pick whichever ones you like. They're whatever your character decided not to spend his time on to be really good at Conjuration.
For opposition schools, I'd go with enchantment and either necromancy or evocation as the other schools are too good to oppose. But later on you can always take opposition research to remove an opposition school.
For your specialization, I think conjuration is one of the more useful ones, school powers and spell selection wise. The divination school powers are good, but it can be hard to find 1 spell per lv that would you memorize everyday.
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I recommend evo and enchant. You have a blaster sorcerer and you wont get meta magic feats till you craft your rods. Effective blasting needs heavy m etamagic.
Also necro is not just evil spells. False life, defending bone, blindness, bestow curse, rand enervate are all great spells and not creepy. Necromancy is actually one of my favorite schools after Conjuration.
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Abjuration is not a very good school. The cleric has all the good spells from it anyway.
Enchantment is fun, but it has well-documented problems so you can boot it.
The other school I'd consider is Divination. It's small, it isn't much fun. Every other spellcaster in the party will have the Detect Magic cantrip, but you can spend 2 slots if you really need it. Everything else can wait until level 9 when you can bring the school back with Opposition Research.
Don't dump Evocation, it's excellent. PF is not 3.5, it's a much better school now and Conjuration doesn't have those Orb spells any more.
But later on you can always take opposition research to remove an opposition school.
We are only using the core book, so we don't have that feat.
The other school I'd consider is Divination.
Well, I'm eventually making this character a loremaster, so nixing divination wouldn't exactly be true to concept. :D
plus you seem to really dislike Enchantment, though I disagree with how weak you seem to think it is
I actually like the idea of Enchantment, both as a crafter and as a controller, but the execution leaves something to be desired. Right off the bat, undead and mind-immune creatures won't be affected by it. Plus it's a will save, and sometimes with a bonus, so it will be no good whatsoever against any kind of spellcaster.
Also necro is not just evil spells. False life, defending bone, blindness, bestow curse, rand enervate are all great spells and not creepy.
We're just using the core book, and I don't see defending bone in it. Enervation looks like something better for the blaster sorcerer (though for only 1d4 negative levels, there are probably better uses for a level 4 slot). Bestow Curse and Blindness aren't bad, but there's a lot of competitive spells at those levels. Frankly, the only thing that I thought really shined in Necro was Clones, but I can just use scribe scrolls for that.
But as for your real question...a Wizard has opposition schools about as arbitrarily as someone has least favorite subjects in college.
Granted, but I see some schools as more thematically connected than others. Enchanters and Illusionists probably hang out together. Same for Conjurers and Transmuters. And so on...I mean, you might disagree, but this is just how I see it.
In terms of the character concept, I would like to do Necro and Evo, as it fits the concept better and the blaster sorc can cover those schools. However, looking through the spells, I can't seem to find a good use for Enchantment, while with Evo, I'll eventually be able to craft wands of all the useful low level evo spells (so I don't really need spellcraft penalty).
Evocation, Necromancy, and Divination are usually the ones I would at most for Opposition Schools.
Divination because I would rarely prepare them, and could always have scrolls as back up. Unlike 3.x where opposition school meant you couldn't cast it, it just takes up an extra slot now. So while divination can be useful, it's not something you prepare everyday.
Necromnacy, doesn't really get good spells you want to prepare until later on. The few you may want to prepare earlier can again go on a scroll. If you're not blasting, which is usually ineffective anyways, you can get rid of it without much trouble. Remmeber you can always get any 1 school back with opposition research.
I'm leaning toward Enchantment (because I don't like any of the spells, despite being a crafter) and Necromancy (because it's too creepy/evil themed for this character), but I'm not sure how I could fit these two choices together in a character concept, as they are very different from each other. Any thoughts? Or should I consider other schools? Thanks.
Since you are aiming to become a loremaster, if you decide to stay away from Enchantment and Necromancy, perhaps your PC could oppose these spells because they take away from freedom and natural balance. As a neutral character, the idea of someone being enchanted to do things they might not normally do would be abhorrent. Additionally, the evil inherent in necromancy (from both a metagame and personal PC perspective) disturbs the natural process of decay and renewal. Just a couple ideas for you.
Both enchantment and necromancy deal with the loss of free will. Enchantment through mind affecting charms and dominates and Necromancy through raising the dead, commanding intelligent undead, and bestowing curses. If your character favored free will (plausible given your desire to freely pursue knowledge and lore), it is easy to see why he would find those particular schools distasteful.
But as stated before, reasons for opposition schools aren't really necessary. Perhaps your character doesn't dislike any schools, but just struggles with those two for some reason. He can still cast them, but it requires much more effort (justification for using two spell slots). If I recall the Harry Potter books correctly, Hermione struggled with one or two of the subjects taught to them despite being very adept at most others with no real reason given or needed.
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I tend to ban Abjuration if I have a Cleric around, they can do everything I can do better anyways.
I tend to lose Enchantment and Necromancy from good characters, though both are powerful schools these two create the most ethics problems.
Illusion is really strong at lower levels and then falls off once True Seeing starts getting handed out like candy, I could skip it, but Mirror Image and Invisibility are very strong at low levels.
Evocation is like Illusion in reverse, starts out weak and by 9th level you want it badly. Not nearly as good without Dazing Spell.
Divination is a really good opposition school for an odd reason, it almost never matters if you have to wait until tomorrow and pay double slots to use it. This is simply the least time sensitive school of magic.
I never ever give up Conjuration or Transmutation. If you can't fly or teleport just give up in shame and play another class.