So how do you get a Wizard to focus on utility and buffing while being a viable character?
My gaming group can come up with some interesting and/or potent characters, but when it comes to utility and especially buffing they are terrible. Fortunately those are two areas I like, so I've been playing Bards with this particular group. The one utility area I don't like and we don't need is the "party face" diplomacy person.
Everything is up for discussion meaning traits, feats, school specialization and whatever you can think of to help. If it's impossible for Wizards to viably compete with Bards, then even that information would help. But I want to have a go with a Wizard with your assistance.
Background and Mechanics:
-A mini-campaign from 6th to about 10th level
-20 point buy
-All Pathfinder published material ok, including the obscure campaign stuff.
Right off the bat, one of the best buff spells in haste, and while bards do get it, wizards get it sooner and generally have more slots for it.
The Wizard list in general compares well with the bard list for buffs, higher level spells at the same character level as well as the ability to prepare what is needed give you a nice advantage.
Obviously, what you are missing is Inspire Courage and the ability to cast cure spells. Those are significant but you have other options to replace them. Summon monsters are one trick that can help, a bunch of weak creatures that provide flanking compares well with inspire courage (and provides some battlefield control) and monsters with spell like abilities can provide buff and healing that you don't have yourself. Improved familiar with a wand (enlarge person is a cheap, good buff) can provide action economy.
Your biggest advantage though is being a prepared caster and being able to tailor your spells for the situation. This requires knowing what you are going to be facing though. Sometimes the theme of an upcoming set of encounters is pretty obvious but other times this will require effort. Making sure someone in the party has the skills to find things out ahead of time, and using magic can let you be ready for whatever happens. In addition, don't forget that you can leave slots open to fill when you are more aware of what you will be facing.
So how do you get a Wizard to focus on utility and buffing while being a viable character?
Just focus on learning buff and utility spells. You don't need to do anything special here, and a completely standard wizard build should be able to work just fine for this purpose. Cast Enlarge Person on your melee beastick, Haste on the whole party, maybe a Blur spell on someone who needs a bit of a defensive pick-me-up. Since you're starting at 6th level you already have access to one of the best buffs in the game, the Haste spell.
For school specialization, I feel that Transmutation would probably be your strongest choice. By its nature it has more spells that can target allies than other schools (in addition to having more spells in general) so it best suits your concept. For opposition schools, evocation and necromancy seem to be the only ones you want to get rid of. Conjuration is too important, Abjuration and Illusion have good defensive options, Divination is important for utility, and Enchantment has the Heroism spell which is kinda necessary if you want to do the pseudo-bard thing.
For a utility wizard, I feel the fast study feat is an ideal pick. It lets you prepare a spell in only 1 minute, meaning you don't even need to prepare non-combat utility spells and can simply prepare them on the spot whenever you need them. This gives you pseudo-spontaneous spellcasting of utility spells if you can afford a 1-minute delay. Perfect for the utility-focused wizard. Craft Wondrous Item is another good pick since it lets you craft utility items, and you get Scribe Scroll for free so you can scribe and carry around a collection of utility spells in scroll form. That still leaves you plenty of feats. Extend spell is always nice. Other than that, standard filler like toughness and improved initiative work well.
For ability scores, you're still a wizard so maxing intelligence is always a smart move. It's simply more important than any other ability score. Other than that Dexterity and Constitution are good for survival, and not much else really matters.
Transmutation with evocation and necromancy as your opposed schools.
Pact Wizard gives an oracle curse and witch patron. Pick whichever patron gives support spells you feel are necessary. You can cast patron spells spontaneously using a prepared spell slot. Effortless magic is fast study without spending a feat and you can use it at level one.
Faith magic gives a domain spell from your deity.
Let me add one thing, In most fights a round or two of buffing is plenty, and unless things go wrong you run out of things to do. One nice feature of the bard is that with 3/4 and a feat or two you can fairly effectively join in combat. This isn't so true of a wizard, so you might want to make a plan for rounds in which you don't really need to spend a spell, but combat isn't quite wrapped up yet.
Thanks everyone for the helpful input. I feel better about the concept and the specifics helped. As we aren't playing for a week or so, please keep the suggestions coming.
Let me add one thing, In most fights a round or two of buffing is plenty, and unless things go wrong you run out of things to do. One nice feature of the bard is that with 3/4 and a feat or two you can fairly effectively join in combat. This isn't so true of a wizard, so you might want to make a plan for rounds in which you don't really need to spend a spell, but combat isn't quite wrapped up yet.
[emphasis mine]
One plan is take Craft Wand feat and use those to summon mooks to help the front line out and/or maybe cast magic missile or other nice low level combat spells. I have to remember that my guy can't always and only be buffing but may have to get his hands dirty a little bit in combat.
Toppling magic missile is good for supporting melee allies. Attacking a prone enemy gives +4 to hit and they provoke an AoO if they stand up.
Extend Spell and Reach Spell metamagic feats are amazing for buffs. Some nice buff spells have a range of touch, even if it affects multiple targets, and up that range even to close with the Reach spell will give you a lot more presences while staying safe.
If you can craft your own wands that is a great option. You can, which not many that I've talked to know, create wands with metamagic feats which work great with +1 metamagic feats like Extend spell.
Let me add one thing, In most fights a round or two of buffing is plenty, and unless things go wrong you run out of things to do. One nice feature of the bard is that with 3/4 and a feat or two you can fairly effectively join in combat. This isn't so true of a wizard, so you might want to make a plan for rounds in which you don't really need to spend a spell, but combat isn't quite wrapped up yet.[emphasis mine]
One plan is take Craft Wand feat and use those to summon mooks to help the front line out and/or maybe cast magic missile or other nice low level combat spells. I have to remember that my guy can't always and only be buffing but may have to get his hands dirty a little bit in combat.
While even low level monsters can be somewhat effective up to mid levels of game, they probably won't be much use late in a combat. Between the one round casting time and one round duration, the cheap summon monster 1 wand really is hard to utilize with any effectiveness toward end of combat.
Magic Missile's damage is usually pretty unimpressive and it is a limited resource (and takes away slots from enlarge person which is a good buff and can often be cast before combat even starts saving actions.)
I'd be looking for something that doesn't use much resources. If allowed, Wand of Mudball is pretty awesome (wait until after a bad guys turn and they are blinded until their next turn.) Aid another is a possibility as well. Even investing in alchemical items, like a tanglefoot bags can be useful.
If you are not locked to a wizard, you can go cleric. They are generally better buffers than wizards. You can use Blessings of Fervor where a wizard would use Haste. If you go Cleric(Evangelist), you get bardic inspiration, without being a face. You also get healing.
/cevah
Extend Spell and Reach Spell metamagic feats are amazing for buffs. Some nice buff spells have a range of touch, even if it affects multiple targets, and up that range even to close with the Reach spell will give you a lot more presences while staying safe.
If you can craft your own wands that is a great option. You can, which not many that I've talked to know, create wands with metamagic feats which work great with +1 metamagic feats like Extend spell.
I second these suggestions. Long duration bluffs with Extend Spell can have the whole party buffed practically all day. Saving on action economy and spell slots is crucial to a build like this.
I also recommend the Vast Spell metamagic feat. It's amazing for buffing stragglers for when the party gets too spread out. I've lost count of the number of times the main damage dealers in our party didn't get the benefits of haste just because they charged ahead.
Pick Divination/Foresight for school imo. You can always act in the Surprise Round regardless of whether you notice the enemy or not, AND, you get a healthy supply of substitute rolls with the Prescience ability.
One handy Wizard trick is to get the Additional Traits as a Feat, and pick Magical Lineage and Wayang Spellhunter. You can't retrain Traits, but you can retrain Feats. So if you want to switch around Lineage/Wayang later in the game, you can do so with a bit of coin. I recommend trying out Lineage and Wayang on Fireball and pick up Dazing Spell, now you can AoE Daze for 3 rounds with a 4th lvl spell slot :D
Also, consider getting Preferred Spell: Fireball because then you'll never have to waste your precious slots to prepare Fireball 3-4 times with all your possible MM feats. You can load up your spell slots with Utility spells and always have the flexibility of trashing any 4th lvl or higher spell for a Heightened Dazing Fireball.
Also, make liberal use of Pearls of Power. They're a godsend for spells that you'll want to cast multiple times a day, like Haste, Invisibility, Fly, etc.