I'm planning on taking a Core wizard up all the way to retirement eventually. I'm not sure what item to take as an arcane bond.
I won't be able to use the crafting ability at all until level 3 at the earliest, if I go with an amulet. There don't seem to be many amulets that are very useful for wizards, though. I suppose an amulet of natural armor would always be useful for a wizard who can't wear armor, but it's kinda boring. Are there any amulet-type wondrous items I've overlooked that are available in Core? (Of course I might always get a cool one on a chronicle sheet, but I can't depend on that.)
Alternatively, being able to make wands would be nice at level 5, but being limited to the lowest possible level makes that annoying. One of the nice things about crafting wands in ordinary games is the ability to craft them at higher caster levels, but that's not allowed in PFS. (As far as I know, that is. If I'm wrong, feel free to say so.)
Rings of Wizardry do look nice, but level 7 is the earliest I could use one, making it troublesome to wait that long.
Staves are not a meaningful option, coming online at 11, which is nearly the end of the PFS career. I suppose if there's a staff I really really want at that time I could replace my bonded object.
I don't really expect to use weapons at all, so selecting a weapon would be a waste of time.
So, any suggestions?
Remember that you can change what your Arcane Bond is and you can buy an item already enchanted that you then make your bond.
With Ring, you could buy a Ring of Protection (at full price) early and bond with it. Then at 7th level you could switch to a different type of ring and use the 1/2 price provided by the bonding.
Remember that for PFS you need to have the requisite Fame for the full-price item in order to create the 1/2 price bonded item. That can also limit your selection.
Is Amulet of Adaptation CORE?
The Necklace of Adaptation is Core, pg. 524.
The question is if a Necklace qualifies as an item which falls "into one of the following categories: amulet, ring, staff, wand, or weapon."
It's another term for amulet.
I highly recommend it, great item.
A Ring of Invisibility is timeless and powerful, at whatever level you can get it. Remember that you need to manually reactivate it every 3 minutes.
Combined with strong Core summoning (or other 'harmless' spells) the ring will give you great bang for your buck.