Combat spells:
- Magic Missile is a no brainer, without magic missile you're not a wizard.
- Color Spray is a nasty incapacitating spell, with a decent area effect. Since you need to get close, make sure to coordinate your attack with another party member who can ready an action to step in front of you right after casting.
- Mage Armor gives a decent protection. Since it lasts for a long time, cast it as soon as you smell trouble.
Versatile spells:
- Enlarge Person. The party tank is going to love you. He gets increased weapon damage and +2 Strength (eliminating the -1 to hit from size and netting a +1 to damage), and only loses 2 points of AC. What's more, he gets reach, which is just wonderful in the hands of a good player. A nice thing to remember both in and out of combat is that an Enlarged character can very easily carry another Medium creature without slowing down. Alternatively, the character can move large rocks, carry heavy loads, and just plainly reach higher.
- Expeditious Retreat is great for fleeing and for getting into the position you want. It allows you to move a very decent length and still cast a spell, or to run like hell. If you're Enlarged and carrying someone it allows you to drop the slow tank right in the middle of the enemies and still have enough movement to flee before they react. Outside combat, it allows you to chase down anyone, or quickly take a look of a large room.
- Unseen Servant has lots and lots of uses in and out of combat. Distract enemies, trigger traps, clean your clothes, sweep your room, move small objects, whatever you want. You need good creativity to make the most out of this one.
Special use spells:
- Protection from Evil is going to save your posterior the first time the party tank gets to roll his +3 Will save versus domination DC 22. Plus, it gives nifty bonuses against any evil creature.
- Identify is a must. Attempting to use magical items without identifying them first is not a healthy habit, and there's only so much you can do with detect magic.
edit: a word of caution with Charme. In my experience, this spell is a lot less useful than it seems. First of all, it is Verbal, Somatic, close range. So you have to say "ALABAZOOLA!" aloud and wave your hands right in front of the person you want to charm as well as anyone else who happens to be present. Even if he's blind and deaf, he still knows that someone has used magic on him if he passes his saving throw. This means that lots and lots of times, you can't use it because there are witnesses, and when there aren't, using it is still a bad idea because if the target passes the save, he is going to know that you have tried to cast a spell on him, and whatever you wanted to do is going to become a lot harder. The only character I've seen using Charme successfully lots of times is a sorcerer who used Silent Still Charme, repeated until the target fails the ST.
...but I think I'd go for these:
