What would you make?

[Ughbash]

I am considering a character for a campaign that will start off as students in arcane academy. I am considering focusing the character on crafting.

Possible ideas:

Mystic Theurge (early access) Advantage access to Divine and arcane magic.

Wizard access to lots of arcane spells and the Discovery "Wand Like Staff".

Arcanist (bloodline) Lots of spells known, with Arcane bloodline at level 20 can use spell levels instead of charges.

All of them work fine for your basic craft wondrous or arms and armor since you can bypass requirements with a +5... but which overall would be the best?

[Shae'ura-Drae]

Wizards make for the best crafters all the way around I believe so if I were making a crafter that would be the class of choice for myself.

Choosing a race can be a challenge unless you are planning on completely optimizing. I usually like races for fluff and the overall roleplaying experience.

That being said fluff/roleplay races that can be fun...
Core: Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling (with the Ingratiating alternative racial trait), and Half-Orc
Featured: Goblin, Hobgoblin, and Kobold
Uncommon: Samsaran and Wayang

Then the races that can be fun and are more towards optimized...
Core: Human, Elf, Half-Elf
Featured: Tiefling, Drow, and Ratfolk
Uncommon: Samsaran and Wayang can possibly fall into the optimized category as well

As for classes aside from wizard that excel in crafting to a point:
Magus (Soulforger Archetype)
Alchemist (w/ Tumor Familiar [Valet Archetype]
Bloodrager (Aberrant Bloodline with Aberrant Tumor {Valet Archetype])
Arcanist
Warpriest (Forgepriest Archetype)
Cleric (with the Artifice domain)
And I am sure that there are many more choices you can go with that would be equally good...BUT I don't believe that any of these choices will outweigh the Wizard

[Renegadeshepherd]

I would consider a half elf with that elven racial archetype ,lore keeper?,oracle. Your essentially a mystic theurge without multiclassing ever. With fast learner feat you could add levels to your revelations AND add one spell from oracles list. That would get you I think 10 spells from arcane and all the oracle spells you would ever need without leaving oracle class. Grab a good mystery that provides armor bonuses and you could be as defensive as a fighter while casting arcane and divine spells and Handin out scrolls and such in between.

Edit: did they truly kill eldritch heritage into arcane trick of getting you more spells? Because it occured to me that if not true or u have a GM that is willing to forgo that the half elf looks better and better. He has the skill focus for free and that bloodline bonus adding more spells bridges the gap to what a mystic theurge would do.

[Scott Wilhelm]

Consider the Flotsam subdomain of Water. The Sift ability lets you just find whatever item you need. Similar is the Halfling Feat Well-Prepared.

Have a look at the Master Craftman Feat.

Crafting usually requires skills. Crafting Magic Items usually requires magic. So, what classes give you both? Have a look at Inquisitor and Bard.

Humans are a solid choice for crafting character builds: +1 skill/level. Gnomes are automatically proficient in any weapon they make. That seems a good place to start. Then there are Goblins, ahh Goblins....

There are seige engine feats that should have a look.

There is a 3rd party class called Artificier.

So, I'm envisioning a Gnome or Goblin Alchemist taking Master Craftsman at level 5, so he can make alchemal Wondrous Items like Elixers and Wondrous Pigments. The Goblin would be a Grenadier shooting exploding arrows, or shooting a huge gun with exploding bullets. The Gnome would build all manner of catapults and cannons and know just how to use them.

Maybe be an Inquisitor with the Flotsam Domain.