How to make a character concept with only the core rulebook

[Kuurgon]

Hi all,

I have recently joined a pathfinder society group and wanted to play a character I have played in other RPGs such as D&D.

Essentially the character is a muscle fire wizard, think a mix between a bright wizard from Warhammer fantasy, and Tormund from GoT. I had him all planned out using the fire arcane school from the advanced players guide, until I found out that our group is only allowing the core rulebook classes, arcane schools etc.

That put a spanner in the works considering in the main rulebook there are only 8 fire spells I can see in the entire thing, which makes me worry if the character will be too under optimized and essentially be unplayable. I understand that the rulebook has many spells, and that blasting wizards aren't the best, but for the sake of the character I can't really see him using most of the spells available in the core rulebook.

I was recommended to take the evocation school but it seems pretty weak in comparison to other schools. So I was asking to see if anyone had any suggestions that I could implement to make this character work.
For reference the character I had in mind looked a little something like this stat-wise;

Human, Kellid
STR 16
DEX 12
CON 18
INT 14
WIZ 8
CHA 9
First Feat : Toughness (HP because of my 9 AC)

Not optimized to begin with, I know, but I had fun & success with a similar character from 3.5 through to 5th edition of DnD. So just wanted some friendly advice, not too sure on all the rules of society play, is it legal to just use the core rulebook? Should I forget this character or maybe go for a Sorcerer/ other class instead?

Any Help would be greatly appreciated!

[Isaac Zephyr]

I made a Divination wizard with just Core to start who is currently one of my favorite characters.

Tips I would give with just core will vary greatly. My suggestion is with the character's strength, don't ditch necromancy, you've got an excellent attack roll for melee spells like Chill Touch and Touch of Fatigue. You are correct, there are few fire spells, but you could sub in transmutation buff spells for yourself and teammates to serve a double role. The big fire spells as you multi-prepped bread and butter, and then transmutation for long lasting self buffs.

Also never underestimate the power of a Quickened True Strike.

[Scott Wilhelm]

You could make a Sorcerer: Rearrange your stats so your Charisma gets the 18. There are a lot of different kinds of Sorcerer Bloodlines. I'm sure you could be a Fire Sorcerer, or a Demon, Devil, or Red Dragon Sorcerer and get lots of Fire.

Or if you want to just be really hitty, then maybe be a Monk and get Fire Elemental Fists, but I'm not sure that's Core.

You could be like a Mystic Theurge or an Arcane Archer. I was thinking that if you took a level in Ranger or Fighter or something, then took 5 levels in Wizard, 2 levels in Eldritch Knight, then take levels in Arcane Archer, you would have a pretty powerful character, all Core, somewhere in between a fighter that can cast a few spells and a Wizard that can do some shooting.

[Asmodeus' Advocate]

If you only really want to use fire (and you aren't allowed to use the kineticist from Occult Adventures) than I'd recommend a sorcerer with the elemental bloodline. It will let you do fire damage with all of your spells, instead of their original energy type.

EDIT

How is it you only have 9 AC? By my count, you should have at least 11 . . .