My favorite make had a kleptomaniac shapechanging raven for a familiar.  She had a thing for buttons and shiny stuff, which usually meant stealing everybody's flatware.<br/><br/>Great write up, Chula!   My personal go-tos are evocation for a battle/destructive idea, transmuter to be great party support, or illusion for a very tricky/inventive type of mage.  In my experience illusion has, by far, the most potential to completely dominate any engagement, but it takes a lot of creativity to carry that off, by thinking of unique solutions to encounters using the setting and overcoming the limitations of illusions.<br/><br/>One thing to add, for those used to D&D 3.5, is that school specialization was one of the small but significant tweaks in the evolution to Pathfinder.  In 3.5 opposition schools were prohibited: given up completely.  In Pathfinder they're only limited: it costs twice the spell slots (limited daily power) but is still accessible.