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This would be for PFS most likely, so what races, feats, skills, spells, etc, etc, would make for the strongest wizard overall? Rather than a simple evocation 'kill everyone in the room in a single turn' I am looking for the immortal, smart, conniving, god-killing horror. I'm sure divination would make for a good spell type but I'm not too familiar with the wizard playstyle after a certain point, where you suddenly overtake the fighters in power. How do you play a wizard like that, and what spells do I want early to survive death by housecat?
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Well, PFS generally peters out around level 12, so your chances of getting to "god-killing horror" level of any character build are very slim.
We have a 10-11th diviner wizard in our area who is pretty devastating with alchemical power components to augment spells: Slow + Tanglefoot bags = sad, sad bad guys. Not quite what you're describing, but she's a stunningly effective character, and the player has to hold back lest he let his character solo some of the encounters.
We have another wizard in our area (universalist, I think) who possesses his imp familiar and leaves his body in a safe place, doing all the adventures as his familiar (I've seen other magic jar builds, too). He also carries a spell-storing amulet that he hands out to whatever front liner has a free neck slot, then keeps it loaded with an empowered, intensified shocking grasp. If the front liner can land a hit, it makes short work of the target.
As far as surviving early levels, I generally go by the "be useful and the party will take care of you" approach. Get an area effect spell for swarms and prep a damaging cantrip for when you run out of spells. Control spells like glitterdust and grease are usually very helpful (obscuring mist less so, because it blinds your party, too). Tactical spells like message are often lacking in parties, and open/close can save your lives if you don't end up with a trapfinder at your table.
And knowledge skills will go a long way to making your character very popular with the other players.
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Well, PFS generally peters out around level 12, so your chances of getting to "god-killing horror" level of any character build are very slim.
We have a 10-11th diviner wizard in our area who is pretty devastating with alchemical power components to augment spells: Slow + Tanglefoot bags = sad, sad bad guys. Not quite what you're describing, but she's a stunningly effective character, and the player has to hold back lest he let his character solo some of the encounters.
We have another wizard in our area (universalist, I think) who possesses his imp familiar and leaves his body in a safe place, doing all the adventures as his familiar (I've seen other magic jar builds, too). He also carries a spell-storing amulet that he hands out to whatever front liner has a free neck slot, then keeps it loaded with an empowered, intensified shocking grasp. If the front liner can land a hit, it makes short work of the target.
As far as surviving early levels, I generally go by the "be useful and the party will take care of you" approach. Get an area effect spell for swarms and prep a damaging cantrip for when you run out of spells. Control spells like glitterdust and grease are usually very helpful (obscuring mist less so, because it blinds your party, too). Tactical spells like message are often lacking in parties, and open/close can save your lives if you don't end up with a trapfinder at your table.
And knowledge skills will go a long way to making your character very popular with the other players.
Well, how about out of PFS, I am also playing a game starting at level 8, so I might play the wizard there instead.
The strongest wizard is Schroedinger's Wizard.
Which requires the player to know which spells to prepare each day. So, if you know your GM really well, or he/she drops a lot of hints, or your group is willing to spend a day scouting and divining what is needed, then you can have a powerful wizard.
However, if you choose your spells badly, your wizard will be ineffective and useless.
IE the precise build isn't important. Read the wizard guide and then make whichever type of wizard you like best and don't worry about it's power.
Having realised that you're new to wizarding, I'll add a couple of extra remarks:
Make scrolls of many spells, so you can cast whatever you need - it's one of the main ways to be Schroedinger (having the exact spell you need, regardless of the situation). And wizards get Scribe Scroll at first level.
Also don't pick an archetype - a specialist wizard is all you need. The exact specialism isn't important, go with whichever sounds most fun for you. Conjurers, Diviners, Admixture Evokers are all popular.
The most important thing isn't to know exactly what you're going to fight every day, though it does help. The most important thing is to give yourself a few spells of each level you can use in combat, and leave some slots open to solve problems as they come up.
You also need to if possible use spells which do the most for the least number of slots (don't make an elaborate plan that will involve dumping 3 of your highest spells into an average encounter) and make sure you cover all 3 types of saves if possible in your combat spell selection.
Like other posters have also said, scrolls, especially low level scrolls are your friends for utility spells and spells that don't allow saves. There is a lot you can do with a scroll of silent image if you put your mind to it.
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I'll give you some advices to how to build an "optimized wizard".
I'm Sorry for my bad English but i'm Italian :\
1) Of course you need alot of INT, something around 19, but don't understimate DEX;
2) Dex should be your secondary stat, it's very important for a Wizard!
It's useful for Reflex, AC, Ranged Attack Spells, but the most valuable is.. INITIATIVE!
3) You should always max your initiative! With high DEX but with traits and feats too, and take a Familiar that bust you initiative too (like Arctic hare... it's cute!);
4) That's why... if a wizard act for first it can setup the combat field at his advantage, and be a great help for the party;
5) So your main job is not to deal direct damage. Fireball or disintegrate are fun and very iconic but not you best choice, you should bring advantage to your team with spells like "grease, dimensional hole, web or black tentacles". These spells slow down drastically the enemies and most of the time help your team to kill them before they can make a single attack to you!
6) So, the smartest choice to do when you build your wizard is to choose Conjuration as Arcane School, and better if the Teleportation subschool, this is IMHO the most versatile and useful Arcane School over all (and many wizard guides writes the same);
7) Conjuration gives you alot of field control spells, teleport and some direct damage. Also it has all the Summon Monsters, that you should use mainly for difensive purpose;
8) For defense it's useless to use too many spells that boost your CA. Of course use magic armor, and every magic item that can help you, but your CA will not ever be good as a Class that use armors. And don't waste your feats in Arcane Armor Training, you're a wizard and you should think different ways to protect yourself;
9) And this is a duty for "Illusion School", your main defensive AS that you never should choose as Opposite.
Use Invisibility, Blur or Mirror Images and you will become the most untouchable member of the party! Then use teleport or Summon Monster to avoid that some enemies take you in melee.
10)As opposite Schools i suggest Enchantment and Necromacy (or Abjuration), they are the most situational schools.
11) Always Prepare 1 or 2 "Haste" at day... it's one of the most overpowered buff!
Of course cast Magic Armor every morning, and why not... prepare a fireball or others evocation spells... it's not your main goal to do direct damage, but sometime it can help alot... and it's fun! :)
12) Always do a Knowledge Check at the beginning of a fight to learn the enemy weakness! Take spells that target every ST so you can always be effective.
That's all... of course is just a way to play the wizard, he is one of the most customizable class in the game and my suggestions is for an optimal build... but maybe there will be some better builds too! So be creative :)
A few things to agree with Forcy about conjuration is most conj spells ignore SR. When you get high level and some outsider ignores your spell, well that sucks.
If you build your character for it save or suck spells end a fight faster than damage. Conjuration does this the best.
I also never have a wizard/sorcerer with a high AC. Positioning and illusions spells do much more. That +4 mage armor is only good at low levels and ghosts. At higher levels when things hit you anything more than a 1 it can have no bonus. Invisibility,blink, mirror image are much more useful. Although my level 12 sorcerer with 12 ac positioning is why he has never been dropped.
Detect magic is the one reason you do not set divination to an opposed to school. I dislike divination spells as a whole, but detect magic is magical xrays. It shoots through wood(doors) easily and can let recon things from very far away. I found bad guys hiding in a snow bank because they carried potions on them.
I always check with my teammates before i prepare my spells. If I have a summoner or sorcerer with haste I leave it. My must haves are vanish(at higher level you can cast defensively automatically), fly, grease, create pit, aqueous orb, invisibility, haste, dimension door, and emergency force dome. Someone having these spells can be life savers.
I am a huge fan of the Exploiter archetype.
Normally scrolls are totally the way to go, but to our dismay we get no crating in PFS.
Exploits are fantastic and a lot of them let you steal the best specialization powers without having to take a specialization.
Familiar, Dimensional Slide, Counterspell, Consume Magic Items, Metamagic Knowledge, and Quick Study are all awesome choices.
Cypher Script is a feat that can greatly reduce the cost of your spellbooks, and later on can help condense more spells into Blessed Books so you have to buy less of them to have all the spells.
There are also a lot of strong options among the Arcane Discoveries, so look into those.
Biggest thing you can invest into is Initiative, since going first is way too important for any sort of spellcaster.
Elf is the preferred race since it can get a racial bonus on imitative as well as taking a race trait for it. A Greensting Scorpion, Compsognathus, or Dodo familiar will grant you a +4 on your initiative, and Improved Initiative will get you another +4.
That's a running total of +12 before we even consider DEX.
The best spells you can take, especially at early levels are those that can last multiple rounds in their effectiveness. Consider buff spells since they end up doing more damage than you can do with blasting spells through your comrades.
stats
8 16 14 16 11 7
racial
8 18 12 18 11 7
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Read these guides (and more at Zenith Games Comprehensive Pathfinder Guides Guide):
The COMPLETE Professor Q Wizard Guide (Zenith Games Copy) (Note: metagame changes since then, at least on these forums: Diviner with Foresight has become more valued than Conjurer with Teleportation, although the latter is still considered very good)
Brewers' Guide to the Blockbuster Wizard (for when you just want to cut loose and blow things up; however, I would recommend not completely counting out the spells above 5th level -- the reasons for doing so are usually valid, but you might find exceptions)
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On the idea of the familiar... In general I say go arcane bond as an item. On additional spell per day... And it can be ANY spell you need.... Right. Then.... No questions asked.
Including the teleport spell you didn't memorized that will get you out to fight again. Or the baleful polymorph to try to turn the big bad into a squirrel. Or...
I agree with not worrying about AC, but consider getting a magic Haramaki - no arcane spell failure. Sure,mit gives you almost no protection, but you can add stuff to it... Like spell storing, so if someone hits you they take a force punch! Or energy resistances, or a whole slew of things.
Familiars are great.
Free alertness plus your boon as well as the chance to make multiple skill checks makes them way more valuable than an item, unless there is some exploit to that item like turning it into your INT item early or anything along those lines.
The most important thing isn't to know exactly what you're going to fight every day, though it does help. The most important thing is to give yourself a few spells of each level you can use in combat, and leave some slots open to solve problems as they come up.
You also need to if possible use spells which do the most for the least number of slots (don't make an elaborate plan that will involve dumping 3 of your highest spells into an average encounter) and make sure you cover all 3 types of saves if possible in your combat spell selection.
Like other posters have also said, scrolls, especially low level scrolls are your friends for utility spells and spells that don't allow saves. There is a lot you can do with a scroll of silent image if you put your mind to it.
bear in mind in pfs you cannot scribe your own scrolls, so thiswould not work