BTW, this AP is lvl 1-20, and you can maximize/empower fireballs at lvl 9 (when you take "craft rod" feat)
Don't forget thought, as I posted originally, this is a very limited time game session (roughly 6 days at about 8 hours of actual play time per day). We will be lucky if can get through AP 1 & 2. I doubt we will have enough opportunity to start AP 3, which means we will likely cap out at around 9-10th level. Assuming all goes well, we'd pick up the rest of the AP (or as much as we can complete) at next years game.
As to crafting, I will have a cohort (at 7th) that does the crafting. However, I'm still leery about the concept of relying on magic items for the core strategy of the character. Cash, downtime and magic item availability are all matter of DM fiat and this particular DM prefers a more gritty game and less of the core Pathfinder assumption of the "Magic Christmas tree" effect. While I fully understand that purely by RAW I "could" be using empower/maximize by 9th level, there is just no way I can be comfortable making a character that needs to rely on that build structure to be functional, walking into a game where I can't be certain those options will be freely available. Does that make sense?
On a side note, I will be taking the Elemental Spell feat so that I can change the element of any elemental blast spells I take. I'm currently only looking at Scorching Ray (2nd) and Possibly Fireball or Lightning Bolt (3rd) as blast spells and only looking at the 3rd level one IF I can do the rods.
My current spell pool is looking like this at 10th (*Arcane Bloodline):
0-Level: Detect Magic, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Message, Spark, Ghost Sound, Dancing Lights, Read Magic, Detect Poison
(Daze is taken at 1st then retrained at 6th)
1st-Level: Charm Person, Vanish, Disguise Self, Feather Fall, Grease, Mage Armor, Protection from Good, Identify*
(Sleep is taken at 1st then retrained at 4th)
2nd-Level: Alter Self, Detect Thoughts, Glitterdust, Resist Energy, Scorching Ray, Web, Mirror Image, Invisibility*
(Levitate is taken at 4th or 5th then retrained at 8th upon attaining Fly)
3rd-Level: Haste, Fly, Stinking Cloud, Slow, Fireball OR Lightning Bolt, Ray of Exhaustion OR Battering Blast, Dispel Magic*
(Summon Monster III [using the Hellhounds option from SRD] is taken at 7th then retrained at 10th upon Attaining Summon Monster IV )
4th-Level: Confusion, Black Tentacles, Enervation, Wall of Ice, Summon Monster IV, Greater Invisibility OR Resilient Sphere, Dimension Door*
(Summon Monster IV would be retrained at 12th level upon attaining SM V)
5th-Level: Teleport, Telekinesis OR Wall of Force, Overland Flight*
