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you to continue casting a spell even if your hit during the casting process.
That way if a melee fighter gets a hit to connect you can still finish the spell and clobber him.  May help against archers as well.

* HEAL [WIS]: Don't max this one even though it is a class specific skill.
This will allow you to use a medical kit to heal large amounts of damage and cure poison and disease.  A single medical kit can restore up to 30 or more points per use!  Normally you can always heal 20 points with this skill, so with 5 skill points you will heal 25+ damage on each use.  10 points will allow you to cure most poisons and diseases.  The cost of a medical kit is very cheap and you will find lots of them in the game.

* LORE [INT]: Get it high but it's not necessary to max this one.  This skill allows you to freely identify magical items.  It does save you a lot of gold at the beginning of the game so get it high initially.  There are a ton of magic items and potions to help increase this skill.  You can also use the
Identify spell to increase it.  If an item still lists as unidentified when you examine it then this can only mean that the item is so incredibly powerful that you should run to the closest shop to have it identified.

* SPELLCRAFT [INT]: Two words... MAX it.  Wizards are very good at counter-spelling opponents, so you better know which spells you can counter at all costs.  This skills allows you to know what spell is being cast by an enemy mage and gives you a chance to counterspell it.  As a bonus per every 5 skill points in this skill, you get a +1 to ALL spell saving throws.

**** Some good places to put bonus skill points are:

Remember that NON-CLASS specific skills cost twice as many skill points to increase the skill up one point.

* DISARM TRAPS [INT]: I think that every wizard should put at least one point here right at the start of the game.  With just one point you will be able to disarm the vast majority of the traps right up to Chapter 3.  Examine a trap if it doesn't disarm the first time.  You gain a bonus if you examine a trap before you disarm it.  Note: Only rogues can disable traps with a DC of 35 of higher so there will be a few you can't get past.  Here is a trick for disabling the traps you can't disarm.  Cast a Summon Creature I spell on top of the trap and watch the badger set it off.  Yes its cruel but it only costs 1 first level spell.  There are a few chests you won't be able to disarm.  In those cases use your familiar to trigger the trap or bash it open with arrows.
You will need a lot of arrows so be patient.  If that fails try the knock spell.

* SEARCH [INT]: Good skill to place some extra points.  Helps You find traps.
You won't be as good as a Rogue but with the INT bonus you will be better than the other classes.  Of course you can always leave this task to your familiar
(Panther, Fairy...) so you can concentrate on disarming.

* SET TRAP [DEX]: Nice skill for ambushes and you only need a few points here to set good traps.  I personally like to use this skill when there are a bunch of low level monsters in a room.  Just set the trap and then fire an arrow at the middle of the mob and wait.  One decent trap can kill 1-3 low level monsters and damage many more.  A row of traps in a hallway can kill the bigger ones.  Great skill for soloing because it helps you save your spells for the realy tough monsters.

* HIDE [DEX]: OK skill when you are out of spells.  This skill allows you to hide from enemies.  Can be of some help if you choose to solo early on in the game when you don't have a lot of spells.  Also helps if you need to resort to hit and run tactics to kill a tough monster.  Basically cast a few spells then run and hide, rest, repeat.

* MOVE SILENTLY [DEX]: OK skill.  Use this mostly to get a good first ranged attack or spell off.  You get a bonus to your attack if you do this without being spotted.  You will also loose your enemies quicker with this skill if you need to get away.  Use it in combination with the hide skill to make good hit and run attacks.

* SPOT [WIS]: OK skill.  Helps you spot distant or hidden enemies.  Great for spotting enemies before they see you.  Allows you to know what your up against and get the first attack off.

* LISTEN [WIS]: OK skill.  Works like spot except you can sometimes detect a monster through a wall or door.

* PERSUADE [CHA]: IF you have extra points and you can't put them anywhere else
AND you don't have a 8 base score in charisma then put them here.  This skill allows you to have NPC's give you optional quests and better rewards for quests completed.


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E) FEATS
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Feats are innate abilities to your character.  There are no ranks or progression.  You either have the feat or you don't.  Feats are what distinguish a Wizard from a Sorcerer.  Wizards get 4 more feats than
Sorcerer.
This lets the wizard specialize by allowing him to cast more of his spells at full power or longer duration.  Many of the non-magical feats also work pretty well with a wizard.  There are magic items that can grant added feats while they are worn.  A wizard can choose 11 feats during the game.

**** Some of the must have feats are:

* MAXIMIZE SPELL: Far and away the most useful meta-magic feat.  Allows you to cast your spells at full power.  This feat will transform your mid-level damage spells into awesome spells of mass destruction. For example a Flame Arrow spell will hit for 120 dmg or 60 dmg against a successful reflex save.  A Maxed
Cone of Cold does 120 dmg.  Requires you to cast your spells 3 slots higher so a level 6 spell becomes a level 9 spell.  You begin to use this later when your at level 12 or higher.

* SPELL FOCUS: You want to take Spell Focus in a school of magic that has a lot spells that require saving throws.  Begin with Evocation for direct damage spells.  Next take Necromancy for its death spells (lethal to mages) and then maybe Abjuration (for countering mages with dispell magic and Spell
Breach).  Also consider the Illusion school (Shadow Spells for fighting mages and Weird for battling fighters) and the Enchantment school (Mind spells).  You get a +2 bonus against spell saving throws plus the bonus from the spellcraft skill in the chosen schools.  Enemies get -2 penalty to saving throws against the spells from these schools.  The bonus may not seem like a big deal until later in the game when the monsters will have a very high saving throws and every point will count.  Only apply spell focus to each spell school one time as the effects don't stack.

* SPELL PENETRATION: A must have spell feat.  You might think that a +2 bonus isn't that big of a deal, but all adds up.  This feat is invaluable in that you get a +2 added to EVERY spell you cast to beat an opponents spell resistance.
A wizard would be foolhardy to not take this feat.

* EXTEND SPELL: Very useful at mid levels for doubling the duration of buffing /enhancing spells.  A simple Enhanced Bulls Strength cast at level 3 will last
18 hours or until your next rest. Requires you to cast your spells 1 slot higher so a level 2 spell becomes a level 3 spell.

* EMPOWER SPELL: Useful spell feat for direct damage spells and protective spells like Spell Mantle.  Gives you a 50% increase in your spell rolls (number of targets, damage, etc.) except for duration. Requires you to cast your spells 2 slots higher so a level 7 spell becomes a level 9 spell.

* COMBAT CASTING: This feat is very difficult to decide if its a must have feat because it is so crucial to a wizards survival early on, but it then loses its importance when you get to the upper levels.  The feat enables you to cast a spell at close range and not lose the spell if your hit while casting.
Without this feat you get a -4 to all concentration skill checks when engaged in melee combat.  If your hit with anything, even a stray arrow, at the early levels you will loose your concentration and the spell will be lost.  With concentration being your primary skill, it will be very rare for you to miss a
Concentration check at level 16 - 20 if concentration is maxed.  If you chose to try and solo you may want this feat to survive the early levels.  You can solo without it and hope for a magic item early on to increase your concentration score but, you will need to focus on hit and run tactics and save often to survive.  Even if you don't solo this feat will save you early on and may even protect you when your fighting a high level fighter at the later levels.  So if you die because you couldn't get a spell off and you didn't take this feat you can't say you were not warned.

**** Some feats to consider are:

* SILENT SPELL: The only real reason I even consider Silent Spell is for battling Bards and Clerics in multiplayer.  When you get this feat, always -
I mean ALWAYS - keep a Dispel Magic with this feat memorized.  The first time you get your but handed to you on a silver platter by some lower level Bard because they cast a SILENCE spell you will understand why this feat is important in multiplayer.  You will NEVER use this during the single player game but you just never know when a Bard or Cleric will cast Silence, Deafness, etc... so better be safe than sorry in multiplayer.  If you don't take this feat and you plan to play online be prepared to run.  Requires you to cast your spells 1 slot higher so a level 3 spell becomes a level 4 spell.

* GREATER FORTITUDE: Nice feat.  Helps a wizard where he is weakest; to overcome Fortitude based spells, poison, and diseases.  This feat combined with a magic item can be a life saver in the spider infested areas of the game.
You can also count on running into spider pets from other mages during multiplayer.
Adds an extra +2 to Fortitude saves.

* THOUGHNESS: Nice feat early on.  Gives you 1 extra hit point per level retroactively.  So if you take this at level 3 you get 3 hit points plus one more each time you level up.  I think this a better feat to take earlier when you only have 5-7 hit points than later when you have 100 - 150.  The extra hit points can make all the difference.  Early in the game a single stray arrow after a fight can kill you.  Just 1 or 2 hit points will let you survive to run away or cast a spell.  Later on you will also appreciate the bonus hit points after a long and grueling battle.  Gives a max of 20 permanent hit points.

* POINT BLANK SHOT: Good feat when used in concert with the Rapid Shot feet and
a Haste spell.  Take this feat if you want to be more skilled with your bow.
A couple of ordinary arrows can have the same effect as a magic missile spell.
There are a lot of great arrows types out there that do additional damage as well.  Use your bow to take out an opponent who has been weakened and save some